Happy Friday! I can hardly believe Christmas is next week … but somehow it is. Have you finished your holiday shopping yet?

It’s not only the holiday season, but also Technology Conference Season! Several of the posts in today’s Friday Top Five are reflecting on lessons learned at ASAE’s Technology Conference. (We’ll have our own posts here in the next few days.)

1. Jamie Notter discussed four tips for building trust. They may seem a bit obvious (be consistent and transparent), but I really do think they’re easier said than done. It’s easy to “talk to the talk,” to speak, but quite another thing to actually be consistent, all the time.

2. A question I think a lot of association professionals struggle with regarding online community is, if you build it will they come? Scott Briscoe at the Acronym blog had a great post with a few takeaways from the Technology Conference, and it’s crucial to be persistent and know your members’ favored communication channels.

3. I really enjoyed Lynn Morton’s post, Associations on the Go, about mobile. Mobile is something I think many association professionals struggle with – is it necessary? how much will it cost? will my members care? Her post is a great summary of one of the sessions at the Technology Conference.

4. David M. Patt also wrestled with the “if you build it, will they come” question this week at the Association Executive Management blog. He discusses the print vs. digital dilemma and why it’s so important to have a digital strategy if you’re going to explore that area.

5. Another post from the Acronym blog, this time from Joe Rominiecki – he writes about the necessity to create an emotional connection when using videos. I’ve discussed this a bit before, but if you want your videos to resonate with your members (and potential members!) you don’t want them to be bored while watching – you want them to be enthralled.

I’ll be back soon with some photos from our in-office festivities today. We’re hosting our annual gift exchange, and things could get interesting!

Just a reminder that we’re at ASAE’s Technology Conference today! Come stop by booth 110 to say hello and chat about small staff associations, technology and everything in between! We’ll also be at several of the learning sessions.

The holidays can be a stressful time. Between holiday parties (psst … you’re invited to the MemberClicks bash!), making sure your charitable gifts are in order, buying presents of rloved ones and wrapping up loose ends from the past year, it’s easy to get burned out. But I think it’s crucial to make sure you don’t get burned out by taking some time for yourself.

How you do that is up to you; everyone has their own definition of “me time.” Personally, I like to go for a run, attend a yoga class or unwind with a few Netflix DVDs. But maybe you prefer to take a luxurious bubble bath, get a pedicure, go hiking, spend some time doing yardwork, watch television with your children or get a massage.

I’ve found that if I don’t take some time for myself, I wind up spreading myself too thin. I get caught up in the rush-rush-rush of life and, without stopping to breathe, it’s suddenly the new year and I have no idea how that happened.

In small staff associations especially, this can happen. Members get needy, your staff gets anxious to start spending quality time with their families and your already heavy workload becomes nearly unmanageable. If, for just a few hours each week, you can set aside some time for yourself, you’ll become rejuvenated and more productive.

Are the holidays a stressful time for you and your association? If so, how do you deal?

Photo source

Does your association have any special holiday traditions?

It’s pretty common for organizations to have holiday parties or luncheons of some sort, but does your small staff do a gift exchange? For example, those of us at MemberClicks participated in a “white elephant” gift exchange last year, in which gifts could be “stolen” up to three times. Some gifts were serious, but most were humorous in some way and we had a lot of laughs.

Our office pup Huck examining the requisite rubber chicken.

If a gift exchange isn’t your association’s style, here are a few other ideas for fostering community during the holidays:

- Volunteer at a soup kitchen. You’ll be giving back to your community together.
- Host a viewing of a traditional holiday movie, such as “Miracle on 34th Street” or “A Christmas Story.”
- Have a bake-off with holiday treats, such as snickerdoodles or gingerbread.
- Play carols in your office (if everyone agrees, that is)
- Host a potluck dinner for all staffers and their families. Ask everyone to bring a dish or two that’s a specialty in their family.
- Ask staffers to decorate their workspace with fun holiday trimmings.

No matter what holiday everyone celebrates, how can you make this time of year festive in your office?

Look what arrived yesterday from Virtual Management … a box of sweet treats in appreciation for our work on their Web site!

Virtual Management is an association management company that specializes in managing small- and mid-sized associations. To manage the members-only portion of their Web site, they turned to MemberClicks and our talented designer Brandon Gilbreath matched the look and feel of the original design. According to its “About” page, Virtual Management applies “advanced technology, industry best practices and efficient staffing solutions to running operations with the same modern discipline as for-profit businesses.”

Its clients include the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, the Search Engine Marketing Professional Association and theApplication Service Provider Industry Consortium.

It was such a surprise to receive the lovely package yesterday, and Clickers — not just Brandon — soon devoured the chocolate-covered pretzels, espresso beans and the other yummy sweets!

A huge thank you to Virtual Management for the opportunity to design their members-only Web site — and for the delicious surprise!

Lately, I’ve dropped the ball when it comes to reading. (This is very upsetting to me.) Joe Rominiecki recently wrote about crowd-sourcing over at Acronym, and it reminded me to step up my game. I’ve been staring at “The Wisdom of Crowds” by James Suroweicki for the past month or so, and I’m only about 100 pages into it so far. I’m a voracious reader, but I’ve found myself reading novels lately rather than nonfiction.

Black Friday unofficially kicked off the holiday shopping season, and it’s also never too early to start thinking about New Year’s resolutions. Somehow, I’m practically done with my Christmas shopping but have barely started on my own wish list. And since one of my goals for the upcoming year is to read more nonfiction, I’ve compiled a list of books I want to tackle in the coming months. I think they’d be great for association and nonprofit staffers, too!

1. “The Wisdom of Crowds” by James Suroweicki. I’ll finish this one eventually, and can’t wait to review it. Although the book was originally published in 2004 and then revised in 2005, the concept — crowd-sourcing — still applies today. So far, the book has been chock full of real-world examples, ranging in subjects such as pop culture, sports, business, biology and psychology.
2. “The Milkshake Moment: Overcoming Stupid Systems, Pointless Policies and Muddled Management to Realize Real Growth” by Steven S. Little. Associations are famous (notorious?) for their many policies and procedures. Although this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, they can be stifling to an organization’s growth and prosperity.
3. “Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School” by John Medina. Despite the research out there, I remain a consummate multitasker. I’m hoping this book will finally convince me of the error of my ways and show me why focusing on one thing at a time will make me more productive. (Of course, I realize in theory this is true but I can’t help flitting from task to task.)
4. “Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business” by Jeff Howe. Yup, more crowdsourcing. I think it’s important to read more than one book on a topic to get as many perspectives as possible.
5. “Outliers: The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell. Why do some people succeed while others don’t? Gladwell argues that superstars don’t come out of nowhere – there are common factors to their success. And if you haven’t read Gladwell’s famous book, “The Tipping Point,” I would highly suggest that one, as well.
6. “Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone” by Mitch Joel. This is another one I’m embarrassed to have not finished yet. It’s been sitting on my bookshelf for a few months, but I’m excited to delve into it. Clearly the Internet is changing how organizations can get their messages out, and from the reviews I’ve read, I think association staffers would enjoy this one.
7. Finally Charlene Li’s “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies” should definitely be on your wish list this year if you haven’t taken a look yet. Li was a keynote speaker at ASAE and the Center’s 2009 Annual Meeting, and she’s an expert in social media analysis. I read a review that said this book has “staying power,” which, when it comes to social media books, is rare.

Have you read any of these books? Would you recommend them? What would you add to the list?

(Image via roland on Flickr.)