Good morning and happy Friday! I’m off to enjoy a nice long weekend but there were so many awesome posts in the association world this week – perhaps because it was a week after the holiday – that it was hard to choose just five posts to feature here! Read on for awesome tips, insights and comments from fellow association professionals.

1. What does “interactive” mean? David M. Patt follows up on a blog post by Jeff Hurt and reminds association professionals to be specific about what kind of participation you’re looking for. There’s no one best way to structure an event, and not all learning experiences should be the same.

2. It’s getting to be that time of year when people travel a lot (I’ve already been on planes several times in the past few months!) and Jeffrey Cufuaude’s post has tons of great tips for traveling at airports and staying in hotels. Great reminders.

3. Creating a culture of collaboration and innovation is hard. That’s why there’s so many blog posts and books written about it. Maggie McGary summarizes a recent article about innovation with a few key points. The most important one? Trust your staff. Listen to your team. They know what’s going on.

4. Mark Athitakis shares insights he gleaned from a documentary about The New York Times – one organization with two very different ideas about innovation. Reporters are pushing boundaries while leadership is a little slower to react. Definitely also read the comments here.

5. Joseph Sapp discusses challenges he faced when taking on a new role and responsibilities. Change is hard – I don’t think anyone can argue with that. But it’s how you handle it that matters in the end.

Good morning and happy Friday! I hope everyone has had an enjoyable and productive week. Before you head out for the weekend, be sure to check out our Friday Top Five blog posts from the association community.

1. Eric Lanke shares a recipe for innovation at The Hourglass Blog. It includes collaboration, supportive executives, attention to detail and a small, stable team (good news for small staff associations!) How does your small staff foster innovation?

2. Maddie Grant draws our attention to a great case study of how social media transformed a nonprofit medical professional society. A key takeaway: gather as much data as possible so you will be able accurately track all of your KPIs.

3. How do you measure the success of your association’s programs? Jamie Notter shares a new method of measurement – one that changes the “trajectory of the client.” At the risk of stating the obvious, measuring different things can provide different insights.

4. David M. Patt draws our attention to a dangerous practice among companies: refusing to consider hiring people who are currently unemployed. And people wonder why the unemployment rate remains stagnant…

5. In a provocative post, Jeffrey Cufaude questions why all the members of an “‘all-star team” are white. This post is absolutely worth a read – especially the comments, which are even more provocative than the post itself.

Good morning and happy Friday! The first full week after ASAE’s Annual Meeting is always a bit of a crazy one, isn’t it? I hope everyone is ready for the weekend – I know I am.

In addition to being slightly exhausting, ASAE also provides lots of great blogging material! Here are five of my faves from this week – ASAE-related and not.

1. Jeff Hurt provided some good and bad news for meeting planners with his 6 New Meeting Trends to Watch post. What’s not surprising? Digital events are growing in popularity. On the downside, lead times are now shorter than short.

2. Frank Fortin shared his reflections from ASAE, and he gets back to basics with “unsexy innovation.” What does this mean? Association professionals need to remember to get back to basics and keep clean data on members, optimize their landing pages and email maintenance. Good stuff.

3. This week, Wes Trochlil asks, “should your customers be able to cancel online?“. He says he has always advised his clients not to allow their members to cancel reservations online, but a few people commented differently. Join the discussion!

4. I loved Elizabeth Engel’s post about innovation: dare to think BIG! “Think small – and watch your organization die,” she writes. Big ideas can have big implications, and Elizabeth advocates choosing to approach life from love rather than fear.

5. Lisa Junker shared her experience at ASAE’s Annual Meeting as an attendee rather than an ASAE staffer. She reflected on the “us vs them” language and mentality that permeated the conference. If you attended ASAE, do you think there is an inherent line between vendors, attendees and consultants?

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! I’m headed to the beach bright and early Saturday morning, so I’m extra-psyched and ready for today to fly by. Do you have any fun weekend plans?

Before I load up on sunscreen and escape to the beach for a long weekend, though, I wanted to share five blog posts that really stood out to me this week. Please share your own in the comments!

1. At the Engage365 blog, Elizabeth Henderson shared part 2 of What Sustainability Can Learn From Quality. One notable point? Break down interdepartmental barriers and work as a team. I think small staff associations have an advantage here, as their (duh!) small size inherently lends itself to working as a team rather than funneling everything through silos.

2. Jeffrey Cufaude advocates getting back to good old-fashioned brainstorms with white boards, etc. Encouraging people to interact with one another while brainstorming can really help the ideas flow – more so than sharing a document over email. How does your small staff foster brainstorms?

3. Who does your organization belong to? David M. Patt reminds association professionals everywhere that the association belongs to the members, not the founder. Without the members, there wouldn’t even be an association.

4. How are conferences going to evolve over the next few years? Jeff Hurt share four things that will help shape meetings and conferences, including curation, social objects and game dynamics. He advocates that association professionals should start accepting them and adapting sooner rather than later.

5. Eric Lanke shares why it’s crucial to have both courage and clarity to solve problems: if you want clarity, the clarity that comes from the intersection, you’re better served by turning your headlights off and looking at the problem from different perspectives.

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! I don’t know about you, but it is HOT where I live! It felt like 100 degrees Fahrenheit at 9:30 this morning! It’s one of those days where I just want to sit in the air-conditioning all day, ya know?

So, without further adieu, and in the spirit of AC and iced coffee, here is today’s Friday Top Five.

1. Maddie Grant shared a few great tools for supercharging your association’s content: Scoop.it and Twylah. She gave some great uses for each and I think they’re worth taking a look at for small staff associations.

2. This week, Jeff Hurt challenged the traditional notion that we interact face-to-face first and online second. He points out that we register for conferences online, buy movie tickets online, make appointments and reservations online… Heck, I even order food online! Definitely worth a read.

3. Tom Morrison shared a new concept he adopted at his association called Staff Meeting 24/7. It’s a online repository for ideas, concepts and directions that only staff members can see. Tom shared how it has streamlined internal communications for his association and encourages every organization to use its technology to the fullest – something we wholeheartedly support!

4. Cynthia D’Amour wrote this week about the importance of setting up for success. I think this is something we all know deep down, but can be difficult to put into practice. Do you help your members lean into the learning process so they’ll be as successful as possible?

5. Just in time for ASAE’s Annual Meeting and Expo, Engage 365 posted a great article by Jody Urquhart: Seven ways to get the most out of attending a conference. The number one rule? Network, network, network! Where else will thousands of association professionals be under one roof?!