Happy Friday! It seemed the association blogosphere was a little quiet this week as some people gear up for the Great Ideas conference next week. I can’t wait to read everyone’s posts from Colorado!

Regardless, there was still some great stuff in the community this week!

1. Although this isn’t technically a post about association management, Replacing Leadership With … Warriorship? is a fantastic piece about leadership. Joe Gerstandt discusses the difference between leadership and warriorship, and says that warriorship isn’t a bad thing – and that anyone, no matter their level in the organization, can be a warrior. Check it out!

2. Maddie Grant posted her monthly recap post with tons of useful links for association professionals. From social media and event 2.0 to data and technology, there are many, many great links in a variety of categories. Good stuff.

3. Jeff Hurt got a lot of discussion going this week with his Open Letter to Association Board Members, Committees, Executives. He’s tired of associations paying big money for celebrity speakers when they don’t pertain to the event. There are tons of awesome comments, so be sure to check those out too.

4. I loved Jeff De Cagna’s post at SmartBlog Insights this week: The content challenge. Now that everyone can create and distribute content more easily, there’s the challenge to “curate” — collect quality information and making sure it can support innovation and action. What will your association do with all of the available information?

5. Continuing in the content curation area, Jeff Cobb wrote an excellent post defining what a content curator does and why the role is important. As the amount of content on the Web continues to multiply at huge rates, it’s crucial to be able to sift through and make sense of it.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! One more week until Daylight Savings Time starts — I’m psyched!

Image credit

Happy Friday! Did you have a good week? I did! As always, there was lots of great reading in the association world this week.

1. This is sort of a lengthy article, but I think it’s worth the read. Tapping into the Nonprofit Board’s Talent offers some great advice about how achieve better board relations. The article makes a great case for why your board should be involved in strategic and business operations. New perspectives can be a good thing!

2. Bruce Hammond wrote a great post on how not to fundraise. After an interesting experience with a certain university, Bruce shared some tips for making sure you target the right people in your fundraising efforts. Fundraisers should be trained and data should be carefully studied to prevent awkward situations or potentially losing a donor.

3. Over at ASAE’s Acronym blog, Joe Rominiecki wrote a post about Third Tribe and wondered whether or not it could be considered an association. Is this subscription Web site anything new? Is paying monthly a model associations should consider? How long will Third Tribe last?

Don't have an awkward elevator ride

4. Jeff Hurt had a few great posts this week, but his 20 things to do to make your conference experience more successful was my favorite. From using the Twitter hashtag to practicing your elevator speech, conferences are all about engagement and meeting new people. Jeff’s post captures this perfectly.

5. I’ve written a lot about how important it is to find your members on the social networks they’re already on, and so have Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer. Maddie blogged Thursday about a new tool called Flowtown, which can find your members across social media platforms (for a small fee). Just import your e-mail list and voila! Instant social media insight!

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a fantastic weekend! Let’s finish February strong!

Happy Super Bowl weekend! Any football fans in the house? Anyone have any fun viewing plans? I’ll be hosting a small get-together at my new apartment, and still haven’t decided who to cheer for yet. (I’m leaning toward the Colts, though.) Or maybe you don’t care about football and only watch the commercials … or nothing at all. Regardless, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

As always, there were some great posts around the association community this week with information small-staff professionals can truly benefit from.

1. Jeff De Cagna discussed the five words he’ll be focusing on in 2010. I loved the quotes he included for each word, and coincidentally (or not?), each word begins with the letter I. This post will really inspire association leaders to hone in on what they want to accomplish this year.

2. Over at Association Management Solutions, J Bruce Wardle wrote about how to really focus on your 2010 goals to make this year a success. His great suggestion? Limiting your focus to just two or three factors at a time – it will be easier to concentrate on each one and your success rate will increase.

3. There was a fantastic guest post at Acronym by David Kushner about taking a forward-thinking approach to governance. As an association executive, consultant and board member, David had some great insights into what governance might be like in 2030. The post also attracted some great comments, so be sure to check it out!

4. What’s the difference between certificate and certificate programs? Mickie S. Rops covered this topic this week in a thoughtful post about the value and quality of certificates and certificate programs. There’s a workshop in Washington DC next week (at the same time as ASAE’s Technology Conference and Expo!), so if you can’t make it to Tech10, check this out.

5. I’m loving Cindy Butts’ posts lately! Her newest one has six practical tips for making sure webinars and conference calls are less chaotic. One notable one? Talk about anything besides the weather when waiting for everyone to join you. Or just say “I know you’re all multi-tasking so we’ll wait for the roll-call to start talking.” Great stuff!

From all of us at MemberClicks, have a great Super Bowl (or not) weekend! And if you’re in the DC area or getting snow, stay warm and be safe!

Welcome to the end of the workweek! It was an exciting week for tech geeks everywhere, but the iPad wasn’t the only thing going on this week. There have been some awesome discussions going on in the association community, and I’m thrilled to highlight a few of my favorite posts.

1. Wes Trochlil has been a technology consultant for 10 years now, and I really enjoyed his post about changes he’s seen during that time. Technology certainly has come a long way since 1999, and I expect 2019 to hold even more surprises! What tech change do you think has most affected the association community?

2. Since she’s been crowdsourcing an “action list” for 2010, Peggy Hoffman also turned to author David Nour. Nour came up with a great list focused on building relationships. My favorite? When it comes to social networking, consistency is a lot more valuable than creativity.

3. This post at Erik’s Experts in Membership Marketing surprised me a little: Students and Young Professionals are Influenced by Direct Mail. I’m a big believer in using the right channels to contact people (and they can differ from person to person), and Erik Schonher summed up a 2008 study so well in this great post.

4. I really loved Cindy Butts’ post comparing association executives to student athletes. There are a lot of similarities to be had, and participating in sports can teach us all invaluable lessons for later in life. One of my favorite lessons Cindy highlights is to take pride in your school or team, and by extension, your association.

5. Mark Alcorn, an association lawyer and management consultant, has a fantastic new blog and this week’s post was superb: Top Ten Signs of a Dysfunctional Board. From power struggles and lack of respect to micromanagement and overly powerful executives, Mark tackles many board issues with a unique perspective and clear voice. Can’t wait to read his future posts!

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a wonderful weekend!

(Image via Flickr.)

Happy Friday! How was everyone’s week? I hope it was productive and fun, and I’m sure you guys are ready for the weekend. As usual, there were some good discussions and posts around the community this week. Here are my five favorites.

1. Over at the Acronym blog, Joe Rominiecki chimed in on the discussion about newspapers and associations. More specifically, he discussed micropricing and if it could benefit organizations. He concluded that micropricing could be one way to solve associations’ financial woes, but many are probably reluctant to experiment with it because it’s so tricky.

2. Samuel J. Smith put together an awesome list of 43 Social Media Tips, Tricks, Big Ideas and Real-World Examples for Meetings and Events. There are tons (43, to be exact), of great links separated into specific categories and they are definitely worth taking a look at.

3. I loved this post by Brian Reuwee at the Drake Co. blog: Innovation and Associations. This blog is so awesome because it’s written by staffers at an association management company, so its posts always have a unique perspective. The kicker question? So do stand-alone associations foster a more innovative environment than AMCs?

4. Cynthia D’Amour’s mother just got a new laptop, and the trackpad threw her off a bit. Of course, I wasn’t surprised the encounter made her wonder if associations “train volunteers (or find alternate ways) when asking them to do something not natural to them?” As someone who has helped my own mother navigate her computer, this post hit home.

5. Last, but of course not least, Jeff Hurt busted 10 conference adult learning myths in a great post this week. Did you know that fun and laughter are keys to helping attendees remember important information? Or that people can only remember eeight to 10 messages per day? Head over there and check out the rest!

No matter what you’ve got planned, I hope you have a fantastic weekend!