Happy Friday from all of us at MemberClicks! What are you doing this weekend? (Personally, I’m all about the NFL playoffs!) Whatever your plans, I hope there’s adequate relaxation and recharging!

As usual, we’re sharing some of our fave association blog posts from the community today. What were your favorite blog posts this week?

1. Aaron Wolowiec asked fellow association professionals and/or consultants how they prepare their speakers and educators at meetings. If associations are supposed to be curators, they should take an active role in shaping speakers to be successful at their particular event or conference.

2. Is your small-staff association purpose-driven? Jeffrey Cufaude shares several reasons why now, more than ever, associations and their leaders need to be purpose-driven, not fear-driven.

3. Tony Rossell shares some great information about membership marketing benchmarks and setting up expectations. All “good” results are relative – he shares the example that 72 degrees is a good temperature if you want to go for a walk but not if you want to have a cook-out. Be sure to take context into consideration when determining whether a benchmark for your association is good or not.

4. Facebook has come a long way from a social network exclusively for college kids and is now a mainstream part of our culture. Jeff Hurt shares some great ways to increase engagement on your association’s Facebook page – and a lot of these things are easy to do! One big one: post daily. Posting once a day is a great way to keep your association out there but not create fatigue among its Facebook fans.

5. Is your association in tune with what is going on with its membership? Shelly Alcorn shares a few dismaying stories from her community to remind everyone to foster a zero-tolerance atmosphere in your association. This is quite a thoughtful topic that probably doesn’t get as much attention as it should.

Have a wonderful weekend!

I was fortunate enough to attend a social media conference on Wednesday, but I have to say – I was a little disappointed. It seemed like the majority of the speakers were only present to promote their own websites or companies. There were a few good speakers, but, for the part, I was disappointed and don’t really feel like I learned much.

How could this conference be improved, and what lessons can small staff associations learn from this?

For one thing, all speakers (except panel discussions) were limited to just 10 minutes. Ten minutes may be sufficient time for one speaker, but not for another. I think the schedule and line-up could have been more carefully thought out to reflect each individual’s strengths.

Please, provide good coffee. This may sound like a minor thing, but I heard more than one complaint about the quality of the java at Wednesday’s event. For better or for worse, a lot of people (myself included) rely on a daily dose of caffeine.

Encourage speakers to focus not on the background of their business, but on their future plans. It was interesting to hear some of the stories, but I would have preferred a more forward-thinking approach from these speakers. I wanted to know their future plans and how they thought social media would affect their businesses in the coming months and years.

Plan to have a strong wifi signal and make sure your venue has adequate 3G service. My iPhone had sketchy service at best throughout the day, and even my MacBook had trouble connecting to the Internet. I was almost unable to do the little work I needed to get done at the conference, and tweeting and taking notes on my phone was extremely difficult. Even if you don’t think your audience will be tech-savvy, be sure they can connect to the Internet. And try to have your event in a venue with outlets!

What practical advice for conference planning can you share?

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

I was thumbing through the most recent issue of Associations Now and was incredulous at the article “What a speaker wants.” The publication interviewed some awesome association people, including Joan L. Eisenstodt, Leslie White and Jeffrey Cufaude.

I was blown away that many times, the speakers didn’t know exactly who the audience was going to be! Isn’t that the most important thing when planning a speech or session? Of course, your speaker’s area of expertise doesn’t change, but the people to whom they’re speaking do.

When you’re scheduling speakers for your next conference, meeting or event, here are some things to tell your speakers:

• Audience demographics and professional experience
• Audiovisual and room set-up information
• How flexible is the room set-up?
• Are there opportunities to speak to audience members before the even to learn about their expectations?
• Does the audience have experience with new and social technologies, if applicable?
• If any organizations have difficult names to pronounce, phonetic spellings can be helpful
• Is the audience used to holding Q&A’s at the end of the session, or during it?
• Will there be a Twitter feed for the conference?
• Will there be a Twitter backchannel used during the sessions?
• Give them information on the entire event. Background info is a must.

Some of this information is readily available, and there’s no reason speakers shouldn’t have access to it.

Check one of Jeff Hurt’s archived blog posts: How to help your conference speakers succeed. There are some great links as well as downloadable forms to guide both you and your speaker.

Image credit: Flickr

Happy Friday! It’s absolutely freezing here in Atlanta. (Our fountains aren’t frozen yet, but sometimes I feel about as cold as one!) I guess winter is finally upon us… I was hoping for a few more autumn days, but I guess I should start gearing up for the holidays. I’m still in denial than 2009 is almost over. I feel like I was just watching that ball drop!

There is so much fun stuff going on in association blogs right now, so let’s get right to my favorite posts!

1. I’d love to link to every “Big Idea” post, but Acronym has taken care of that for me. So go check them out and if you’re a blogger, start brainstorming! If you’re not a blogger, comment! Or better yet, start your own blog! Personally, I think the more voices and opinions out there, the better.

2. OK so this one is Big Idea-related, but before you start crankin’ out ideas, make sure it’s spongeworthy. Jeffrey Cufaude drew parallels to Elaine Benes’ sponge dilemma in a classic episode of “Seinfeld.” Don’t act like resources are scarce when they truly aren’t – part of putting big ideas into action is experiencing setbacks. Don’t be afraid to put something into practice, even if the “experiment” doesn’t quite pan out as planned.

3. Jeff Hurt compiled a great list of tips and guidelines to help speakers succeed at conferences and events. In addition to a contract, Jeff gives speakers a ton of helpful forms (including an AV form with requirements, a travel and lodging form and a Speaker’s Guideline form). The best part? Jeff included each form for download as PDF. Such a great resource!

4. Do you have an excellent member experience to share? Peggy Hoffman shared one from an ASAE listserv this week. As one association professional was leaving the industry, she posted a moving farewell note on the listserv — it’s a reminder of how valuable membership can truly be. Does your association create a welcome and enjoyable atmosphere for members, volunteers and community?

5. Wondering how the economy is going to affect other event and meeting planners? This article from planyourmeetings.com has a bunch of statistics relating to event planning looking forward to 2010. The top two concerns among meeting planners are how to attract higher audiences and how to offer better value for money. What are some concerns you have about your events in 2010?

I can’t wait to read more “Big Ideas” posts from around the community, and I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. Stay warm!

(Image via moria on Flickr)