Happy Friday! What’s everyone doing for the Super Bowl? Will you be watching the commercials, the game or both – or neither? I’m excited for a football-themed road race Sunday morning, brunch with friends and then cheering on my team in the game that night! Even if you’re not a football enthusiast, I hope your weekend will be spent happily, with friends and family.

Before you start loading up on queso and buffalo chicken dip this weekend (or is that just me?), don’t miss five of our fave association blog posts from this week. Share your own favorites in the comments!

1. Aaron Wolowiec writes about a topic near and dear to my heart: millennials. The oldest baby boomers turn 65 this year, and  Aaron asks if millennials are willing to step up and lead associations. Yes, this younger (and large!) generation wants to make a difference in the world, but Aaron asks if they are interested in the “generalist lifestyle,” or if they want to become experts in one particular field instead.

2. Is your association’s member recruitment strategy effective? Erik D. Schonher shares a great list of how you can structure a well-designed membership recruitment strategy. Our favorite? Keep in mind that an initial investment today, even if it incurs a loss in present day dollars, if done correctly can acquire essential knowledge to refine future acquisitions and set the stage for long-term organizational growth.

3. Google’s attempt at a Facebook and/or Twitter replacement can no longer be ignored by association professionals – no matter how small your association. Deirdre Reid provides info on Google’s new algorithm and how not being on Google+ can negatively affect where you appear in search results. Is your small staff on Google+?

4. If you’re into technology for associations and not reading Wes Trochlil’s blog, you should absolutely add it to your reading list. His post this week on parallel processing included great, practical info. Wes says he always advises his clients to not engage in parallel processing, and explains why here.

5. David M. Patt advises association professionals that, while social media isn’t a silver bullet, it’s still a great tool. Social media adds to the marketing mix, it doesn’t replace everything in it, David writes. Wise words to remember when so many sources are proclaiming that social media is the be-all, end-all of marketing.

You may or may not have heard the news, but Google rolled out brand pages for Google+ on Monday. Brands like Macy’s and The Muppets have already hosted hangouts, and H&M shared videos from its launch party for a collaborative line with Versace on Tuesday night. What does this mean for associations?

Associations can now create – yes, yet another – social presence online. Personally, I’m not fully convinced that Google+ will be a “Facebook killer” or whatever it’s supposedly labeled as. But, it’s got Google money behind it and it’s also not something to completely ignore. If members are really into Google+ – and some people are – there’s no reason not to create a profile for your association.

Here are some things to keep in mind regarding Google+:

- “Circles” are G+’s version of Twitter lists or Facebook friend lists. I still think the concept of circles is a bit confusion, but you can add people to more than one circle and only share certain things with specific circles. This could be good for members who are also volunteers and may be privy to additional information.

- Hangouts are video chats that take place within G+ and can include multiple people. I love this concept and this could be useful for small staff associations who work remotely.

- To send someone a direct message on G+, navigate to your home stream page and start out by typing the + symbol, followed by a specific person’s name.  Once you choose their name from a drop-down menu, it will only be shared with him or her.

Happy Monday! We’ve got some more recaps from ASAE’s Annual Meeting in store for this week, but today, check out some presentations I found that I think small staff association professionals can benefit from:

We’re (almost) halfway through the workweek! I hope everyone’s week has been busy and productive, because there’s nothing worse than being … bored and unproductive. Right?

This morning, I wanted to share a few slideshows/presentations that I found recently with our readers. Please let me know what you think!

Do you use Google Docs? I think the free Docs is one of the greatest things out there for small staff associations. Staffers can give others access to docs and they can easily be viewed from any computer with an Internet connection since they’re stored “in the cloud.”

If you don’t use Google docs, though, news from late last week might just change your mind. Google announced big changes regarding the types of files it now supports. Instead of just PDF, .doc and .ppt files, Google Docs will support the following file types:

• Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 / 2010 (.PPTX — before, only .ppt and .pps were supported)
• Apple Pages (.PAGES)
• Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
• Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)
• Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)
• Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)
• PostScript (.EPS, .PS)
• TrueType (.TTF)
• XML Paper Specification (.XPS)

Reminder, though: You can’t create these types of documents in Google Docs — you can only work off of them. I think these changes add a whole new dimension to Google Docs as a viable free document sharing software small staff associations can use. There are a plethora of ways to use these free collaborative programs. Just being able to access documents from any computer is a major plus in and of itself! But imagine you have computer issues (it’s been known to happen!) and your computer has to be sent away to get fixed. Although everyone should have their files backed up, knowing that there are other versions in the cloud can be immensely comforting.

Does your small staff association use Google Documents?