It’s one of those things we have no control over. No matter how much you plan and how detailed those plans are, we just can’t control the weather.

So what do you do when the radar map for your area looks like this, as it does for Washington, D.C., just days before you’re supposed to travel or host an event for your organization?

What are your provisional plans?

And how can you follow ASAE and The Center’s Technology Conference and Expo if the snowy weather prevented you from getting to D.C.?

Provisional plans

Hosting an event during winter can be tricky. Even if you’re not in a city where snow is common, things happen — and if attendees live in Northern cities, they could have trouble leaving their local airports.

There’s no reason why keynote speeches and learning sessions can’t be streamed online, or at least recorded for future viewing. Publicize which sessions will be recorded and available later, and make them available in as many formats as possible – YouTube, a blog, links on Twitter, etc… Inclement weather is an unfortunate and unavoidable situation, and with today’s technology capabilities, no one should be denied a virtual experience if the situation is out of their control.

Plan to post presentations on SlideShare for easy sharing in the future. (Here’s my summary of SlideShare from the Beyond the Big Three series.)

Enlist volunteers to tweet and take photos during sessions. The more information out there, the better.

Amy Lestition, Executive Director of Association Media and Publishing, posted her organization’s provisional plans for the Technology Conference on Twitter earlier this morning.

Each of these tools are fantastic for sharing information quickly because they store data on the Internet and are mobile. Google Wave hasn’t quite taken off the way Google expected, but it’s still a great resource to communicate with multiple people and share files amongst yourselves.

As for our own provisional plans, MemberClicks team members had originally planned to leave for Washington on Wednesday morning. Not surprisingly, flights from Atlanta to D.C. had been cancelled. So they packed up their bags a day early, hopped on a flight to Richmond and are braving the icy roads to drive the rest of the way. It will definitely be an adventure, but everyone will have a good story to share once they get there!

A virtual Technology Conference

Snowpocalypse, Snomg, Snowverkill, Snowmageddon … there are many variations of the blizzard Washington, D.C. is experiencing right now, but no matter what you call it, it’s created a tricky situation just days before ASAE’s Technology Conference and Expo.

ASAE’s Technology Conference Twitter account (@TechConf) tweeted Monday that the show would not be cancelled and then changed plans this afternoon. Unfortunately, countless flights to D.C. are cancelled, and attendees and exhibitors alike are making provisional plans on the fly.

There are alternate “unofficial” plans in the works for those who already made it to snowy D.C., so be sure to check our Twitter (@MemberClicks) and the #Tech10 stream for information if you’re in D.C.

There will still be lots of info available online, though. There has been talk of speakers putting together mini-webinars of their presentations, recording them and putting them online for everyone.

ASAE created a great hub to compile all the tweets and blog posts about #Tech10. Visit http://tech10.org on your computer or http://tech10.org/m on your mobile device to get the latest info from in-person and virtual attendees. All the tweets that contain the hashtag #Tech10 are included.

Other tools to follow the hashtag: TweetChat, TweetDeck, HootSuite and Seesmic Desktop. If the Technology Conference is anything like ASAE’s Annual Meeting, the Twitter feed will be blowing up with gems from attendees during sessions and expo times.

The Acronym blog also put out a call to association bloggers who will be updating during the Technology Conference. The blog roll can be found here, and there are tons of awesome blogs on the list — everyone will have a unique experience, so read around to get lots of different perspectives.

Stay tuned for back-up plans to this year’s Technology Conference. There will still be many “unofficial” events going on, and possibly webinars of learning sessions, as well.

This is the tenth in an ongoing series called “Beyond The Big Three,” which highlights social networking sites other than Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are tons of other social media outposts on the Web, and they’re great places for associations to curate content. The first nine installments can be found here. Stay tuned.

When you click over to UStream.tv, you might be wondering what makes it different from other video-sharing sites such as YouTube or Vimeo. The awesome thing about UStream is you can record video live!

(Coincidentally, I began writing this post and saw KiKi L’Italien’s new “Social Media Sweet Spot” show, which she recorded live on UStream last Friday. This is a great example of how live video can be used for communication both at the time of recording and later on.)

On its About page, UStream explains, In less than two minutes, anyone can become a broadcaster by creating their own channel on Ustream or by broadcasting through their own site, empowering them to engage with their audience and further build their brand.

There are so many possibilities for associations who want to use UStream. I’ve written a bit about virtual attendance for conferences and meetings, and UStream could definitely be used to stream keynote speeches or learning sessions.

There is an interactive broadcast functionality, which allows viewers to interact with whoever is broadcasting. If the presenter chooses, virtual attendees could ask the presenter questions rather than just being passive viewers.

For larger events (such as a keynote speech), UStream also offers a one-to-many broadcast feature.

Associations could also use it for various training sessions, speeches or rallies or other events.

You don’t have to have an account to view videos, which is nice for people who just want to watch videos occasionally.

Getting started is very easy – all you need is an Internet connection and webcam.

Click image to enlarge

How could your association use UStream?

Also, I want to add that association professionals should by no means feel obligated to use all of the social networking sites I’ve highlighted in this series. I’ve always advocated picking and choosing based on which ones are correct fits for your organization, but definitely take the time to explore the ones you’re unfamiliar with.

Happy New Year’s Eve! Instead of reflecting on the past year, I thought I’d share a few predictions for associations in 2010. I could be way off base, but that’s OK! Feel free to share what your association is excited about going into 2010, too!

- Virtual attendance gains traction. Maggie McGary tweeted a link the other day about how the American Society for Parental and Enteral Nutrition is offering virtual attendance for its 2010 conference. I think this is a fantastic idea – today’s technology absolutely supports this kind of thing, and in a still-unstable economy, people may not want to travel as much.

- Crowdsourcing becomes the norm for associations. ASAE and The Center experimented with this for Associations Now, but I think the concept will grow for associations in 2010. Use it among your staff, or give your members a say in some of the association’s decisions.

- Organizations will stop adopting social media just for the sake of it. This is more of a wish than a prediction, but I hope it comes to fruition. Obviously “social media” was the trend of 2009. But what does it mean? To me, social media is just another level of communication with your members and staffers. Perhaps you can ask your members how they prefer to receive information (get your “crowdsourcing” on) and create different options. You don’t have to be everywhere, all the time, online.

- Young professionals become even more active. From ASAE and The Center’s Young Professionals resources and committee to YAPStars, Gen-Xers and Gen-Yers are making their presences known. These groups allow for great networking opportunities and professional development, and I love the enthusiasm YPs are displaying.

- Associations embrace mobile technology. Who isn’t attached to their phone these days? (Seriously though, if you aren’t, I envy you.) Maybe 2010 won’t bring an iPhone app for your association, but it’s definitely time to embrace the real-time access our smartphones provide. Twitter has accomplished this in a way, but 2010 can take it a step further.

Have a wonderful and happy (and safe!) New Year’s Eve. So long, 2009!

(Image via Optical illusion on Flickr.)

This is the sixth in an ongoing series called “Beyond The Big Three,” which highlights social networking sites other than Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. There are tons of other social media outposts on the Web, and they’re great places for associations to curate content. The first five installments can be found here. Stay tuned.

If your organization (i.e. your membership) isn’t ready to dive headfirst into the social Web, there are tons of smaller social media sites that can supplement your communications goals. SlideShare is one of my favorites.

You may have already — unknowingly — used SlideShare. Usually, whenever anyone embeds a slideshow into their blog or sends you a link to a presentation online, it’s hosted on SlideShare. Not only can you share presentations (generally PowerPoint files), you can also upload documents and PDFs.

You can use SlideShare to assist with virtual meeting experiences – if members can’t attend in person, it’s easy to upload the presentation to one location and send the same link to everyone. You can adjust the privacy settings for each presentation you upload, so the links can be private and only accessed by those who have the link.

SlideShare can provide your organization with the tools to easily get your mission or message out to many people. You can even sync audio to your slides for a complete presentation experience.

You can use SlideShare to:

- Get the word out about your organization
- Give information to those who can’t attend an event in person
- Embed presentations on your blog or Web site
- Connect with other association professionals

Another great feature – the transcripts of your presentations will be indexed by Google, which will help your organization be found more easily in search engines.

The site is also searchable, so you can find other presentations and documents relating to association management or your organization’s particular industry.

Check out this — what else? — presentation from SlideShare. It’s a great explanation of how the site can be used, and shows you what an embedded presentation looks like.

This is part two of a series exploring the value of virtual attendance following the Aug. 25 Association Chat (#assnchat) on Twitter. Part one can be found here.

It’s no secret the economy is flailing. And, though things are looking up, a trip to Toronto for ASAE and The Center’s Annual Meeting and Expo probably wasn’t in many organizations’ budgets this year. Creating a fulfilling virtual experience one year can drive “real-life” attendance for the following year, which should be ASAE’s goal.

I initially was going to rehash some highlights and quotes from the transcript, but I ended up retyping practically everything. Some key takeaways, though:

• Virtual attendees could pair up with exhibitors for sponsorship on blogs. For example, a blogger would host an ad for a certain exhibitor in exchange for them sponsoring the blogger’s virtual attendance. (@maggielmcg)
• Create a virtual event manager role to maximize virtual attendance. (@maggielmcg, @jmoonah)
• Charge for the edited package of video, audio, etc… There should be a revenue stream attached to valuable content. (Many participants shared this view.)
• What if virtual attendees had access to the live sessions and then paid what they thought it was worth afterward — otherwise known as the Radiohead model? (@dcoriale)
• “Virtual” could encompass a lot of items put together that could not be so easily replicated (i.e. professionally edited packages). (@spkrinteractive)
• Offer a “teaser” for free (perhaps of the general sessions), but have virtual attendees pay for other content. (@spkrinteractive)
• Most content creators want to be paid for what they create. (@busyevent) (My thoughts: Does it matter who pays them? It could be the association, the virtual attendees or perhaps the exhibitors.)
• Volunteers could tweet and take video from each session. (@ceosolutions)

The amount of interaction available to virtual attendees should determine the event’s monetary worth. Maybe it’s worth nothing. Personally, I like the idea of hiring official content creators to document each session — they could essentially function as reporters. (I think it’s the journalist in me really likes this idea!) At this year’s ASAE, it seemed as if the majority of active Twitter users went to the same few learning labs, which minimized the amount of possible coverage.

Jeff De Cagna (@pinnovation), the chat’s moderator, said he was concerned that “associations are looking for ways to make virtual attendees pay for value that should be free. [IRL attendees] pay for the actual value of experience.”

Although I agree with that statement, shouldn’t there be a certain level of experience and interaction that comes with virtual attendance? Of course, face-to-face interaction always trumps electronic, but virtual attendance is becoming more viable as technology continues to evolve.

Perhaps there wasn’t a huge capability for a stellar virtual experience at ASAE this year, and that’s OK — we should look ahead to ASAE 2010 and explore different options. At the rate technology is evolving, there are probably possibilities for next year we haven’t even thought of yet.

The chat’s transcript is available here.