Happy Friday! Unfortunately, the weather is pretty dreary in Atlanta — I hope everyone else’s Friday weather is more uplifting!

To begin what I hope will turn into a recurring Friday feature here, I’m going to share a few of my favorite association-related links from the week.

Maddie Grant compiled some comments from people who couldn’t attend ASAE. Budgets seemed to be the biggest concern, which wasn’t too unexpected. Some people also said ASAE didn’t provide education for their core duties, which may or may not have been true. Regardless, I think the number of learning labs at ASAE was great, but there weren’t enough time slots. Offer fewer learning labs at a time, and the problem is (hopefully) solved.

Over at TechSoup, they discussed why small- to medium-sized organizations should care about cloud computing. This is basically what our membership management software provides, and we think technology can really help small organizations become more efficient and organized.

Peggy Hoffman wrote about how chapters can leverage social media, which I loved because this is one of my objectives. Every organization has different needs, but social media is a great tool to keep your members more engaged and recruit new ones, as well.

With what I thought was a great metaphor, Wes Trochlil compared new processes in data collection to the failed “Clash for Clunkers” program. Launching a new initiative can be difficult and time-consuming, and it’s important to do the right amount of testing and research.

In a comment on a previous post here, Robert Swanwick referred to one of his blog posts about a virtual meeting. There are some great tips and thoughts about hosting a virtual meeting on a tight budget that small-staffs can absolutely learn from.

Have a great weekend, and feel free to share more links below!