Idea Center - August 2009 Archives
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Chapters Can Leverage Social Media
It began with a simple question asked by a chapter: how can we - with limited dollars and limited resources - get into social media? Generally the response back is its simple start a Facebook group.
KiKi L’Italien and I decided that its not that simple – but then it's not all that complicated either. Our conversation led to a session at ASAE 09 Annual Meeting “Adding Power to Member Communities with Social Media” where we shared our simple formula for getting chapters - and any component - engaged in using social media.
Kiki, who is chapter and student services manager at the Optical Society of America, has used Groupsites.com, YouTube (check out two examples from her chapter contest!, LinkedIn, Facebook and more with her chapters. I’ve also used Wikispaces, Google Groups, Yahoo Groups and GoToMeetings to power our chapters.
Does it take a plan and effort? Yes. But there are rewards: increased community, increased effectiveness (which includes efficiency) in communications, better decision making from the data you collect and the ability to share documents and facilitate discussion, and of course the potential to gain members, registrants, and retention. There’s a big reward for national associations too. Helping components find the right social media strategy provides an incredible opportunity to build a partnership with the component. With this comes the ability to open doors for other partnerships and for data sharing, co-learning and more. It can begin with helping your member community build a strategy using these 5 steps we shared during our session:
1 – Be Clear on the Why
Determine a Goal to Reach For … start small, think bigger.
Start by picking a focused project: e.g., creating conference buzz; building a knowledge base; facilitating a work group; sharing photos.
National's Coaching Opportunity: Help chapters set measurable metrics that they can achieve & celebrate like creating buzz as measured by # of fans, # of LinkedIn subgroup members; # of blog posts, # of subscribers to webpage feed, blog feed.
2 – Know the Who
Understand Your Main Audience … are they already there? What grabs their interest?
Go where they are already! Poll members or compare your email lists against user lists on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
National's Coaching Opportunity: Share with chapters what you know about members nationally including what issues they care about (to build engaging content!); motivations for connecting; ways they connect; social media usage patterns.
3 – Tally Your Resources
You need enthusiastic members, a good coach (that’s where the national org can come in!).
Begin with a social media team with a champion & talent pool.
National's Coaching Opportunity: Be one of their resources! Offer webinars on setting up Facebook, Twitter etc.; encourage chapters to share their links & stories; actively promote social media efforts of all chapters; create award for creative social media programs.
4 – Get in the Know
Take the time to learn the tools and understand the community.
Do your homework – listen, learn, practice (okay it’s really play!), launch.
National's Coaching Opportunity: Share ideas; consider creating a space where members can try out tools, follow Twitter searches or feeds that help understand members and social media community.
5 – Jump In
With a plan mapped out, give it a go!
Be sure to ask the folks you connect with what worked & didn’t work; then tweak.
National's Coaching Opportunity: Help each chapter develop content & an action plan that leverages tools and focuses on community.
During our session we also did an instant make-over for a chapter which I’ll share in another post. And we’re continuing the conversation in our Facebook “Adding Power to Member Communities with Social Media” page. Plus you can view the power point presentation on SlideShare and download the full handout here.
Let me leave you with a right on point piece of advice from a wise social media guru Lindy Dreyer (she probably hates that description):“simple, focused social media is better for a small group than trying to do too much all at once.”
Newsletters & Connections
Here are two posts worth the time to read (and it won't take long) that will help chapters and associations address member communications ...
What to put in your newsletter, a column by Andy Sernovitz (who you may know from "Word of Mouth Marketing") in the SmartBlog On Social Media. In it, Andy offers his advice on what topics to cover and what not to bother adding.
Simple Touchpoints of Loyalty, a column by Chris Brogan. In this one, Chris notes that its easy to tip a good server above and beyond the 15% but seems more difficult to honor loyalty online. In his nine suggestions on how, take a look at #9 for one that resonates well for associations.
What I liked about both these posts is they offer ideas which are doable for a group of volunteers, like your chapter volunteers, yet not so simple that they aren't powerful.
So read and pass-along ...
Gleanings from ASAE09
At ASAE Annual, there are great ideas in the sessions, but some of the greatest I picked up in the hallways, over dinner (or drinks!), on Twitter, via the annual meeting hub. Here are a few:
Control is a figment of our imagination. This theme was pounded into our brains in at least 1/2 the sessions, explored in a number of tweets and posts (like Kevin Holland's). But the best example was in the little ways we met our lack of control. A colleague who is a working mom came into one room frantic because she had to get a signed credit card authorization to a limo company for her stranded daughter before 2pm and it was now 1pm and the document was on an email with no fax in sight. A crack team of assn exec did the ultimate in team work. One produced a flash drive which got the email attachment from email to a printer in the handout station. Another snapped a photo of the signed document and emailed the Iphone pic to a 3rd who used his internal fax to send it along.
The second hottest theme seemed to be the model of membership and volunteership of old is jsut that old. A question/observation that captured this was on twitter jlsdesigner good 2 alwys be reminded RT @DeirdreReid The latter. RT @PBBsRealm: DO members exist for the assn? or do assns exist for the member? #ASAE09
Risk management is a strategic conversation - one that should start at the board level to assess the organization's risk levels - that should be part of the strategic planning process. Assess this both in terms of identify risk exposure and in the organization's level of aversion to risk. Leslie White offered both insight and advice and has this resource section for more.
Picked this idea up on starting free instead of going free from Matt Baer: a free bagel is probably stale but that packet of free ketchum isn't.
Just do it. Okay, that's not a new slogan or new theme. Still so often over the course of the three days, we just did it. We just showed up at a meeting without knowing a soul. We raised our hand and offered an opinion. We admitted we didn't "get" the technology. We got lost in a new city. We got up in front of a room of peers and presented a idea. And it all turned out just fine.
One interesting aspect of the highly-connected learning is that while I left before the closing event (hated too really!) I could still get the learning from Lisa Junker's post on Acronym summarizing Fareed Zakaria's closing general session speech.
One last good read is the list of things attendees asked for in 2010 - there's still time for us to consider these for our meetings in the coming months.
For more random thoughts from ASAE, check out my earlier post.
Random Thoughts from Toronto
When you spend two days immersed in an event, its hard to take time for deep breath much less note-taking. As ASAE’s 2009 Annual Meeting in Toronto this is certainly the case. But before I rest, I need to put down a few random notes.
I learned why thepowerofa.org campaign was so important today … the goal was to get associations a seat at the new table in Washington DC.
If you really want to engage members in the new technology, find the social objects that would draw in people -- for example, looking at the members who raised their hands to volunteer but didn’t join a formal committee. The social object: I need a volunteer; I want to volunteer. (From SocialFish of course!)
If you really want to engage young professionals and emerging leaders, you need create a space for them - one that invites them in, coaches and teaches, and creates a safe community. ASAE Leadership Academy is one example, YAP.org is another.
Ideas for solutions - or at least great tests - are often sitting right in front of you. It takes being counter intuitive - offering free membership to create demand; paying chapters for data to open up sharing.
Twitter is great way to take, share and retrieve notes. Find mine and lots of others at #asae09.
Under lessons learned:
If you offer an open mic, it's now open. You can’t take it back easily from an engaged group.
If you’re planning an event, it’s the little irritants that will get you bad marks (note to self: order extra notebooks and laynards).
Advice heard (and accepted):
In the Leadership Kick-off: Volunteer experience is important … important for the product and process.
In Engaging your Board in Strategic Conversations: Boards need to hear directly from members.
Volunteer Evaluations - How Did I Do?
Today is my first official day off the ASAE Component Relations Section Council. I’ve spent the last six years working on the council beginning with 3 1-year terms as member then 1-year terms as vice-chair, chair and past chair. I am excited to say this is also my official first day on the Executive Management Section Council.
Yes I’m a serial volunteer - and that’s because, just as the Decision To Volunteer study showed, engagement is tied closely to membership value. That doesn’t mean that all my volunteering has been roses. And so before I begin this new venture, I took the time to evaluate my past and set goals for my future.
First, the evaluation. On a scale of 1-10 I’d rate ASAE & the council:
Council Activities & Community
Fun - 9.5
Informative - 9.5
Educational - 9.5
Encouraged networking - 10
Encouraged professional development - 8
Has clear purpose and objectives - 8
Meets purpose and objectives - 8
Effective use of my time - 9
Effective support from staff/organization - 8*
Impact on membership satisfaction - 10
*This is where I have to say the * reflects largely the caring staff (yep especially you Wanda Little Coffey) and on the fact that ASAE continues to search for the right IT platform, willingly admitting that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.
Volunteer Management & Development
Orientation - 5 (actually has improved over the 6 yrs from a 2!)
Training - 5 (ditto!)
Recognition - 6 (getting better!)
Leadership:
Development - 3 (ouch!)
Training - 3 (ouch!)
Coaching - 5.5
Performance Evaluation, Mentoring & Coaching - 1.5
Reward - 8
Impact on membership satisfaction - 6
So, basically the community is super! The Component Relations Council is lots of fun, has a good agenda, accomplishes important objectives, and uses my time well. The biggest area of disappointment is the leadership development and management side -- specifically the lack of performance evaluation, mentoring and coaching. I am not so egotistical as to think I was a perfect leader. As vice-chair I wasn’t sure what to do, did probably less than I could. As chair, I know that I sometimes stepped in before I needed to and I’m sure “under stepped’ in other places. As past-chair, I hope that I got out of the way without abandoning.
Still, I’d like to know how I did. I’d like a 360 evaluation. I’d like ASAE and my colleagues to help me identify where I am strong and where I can improve. I’d prefer this to happen along the way, but I’ll be satisfied to get the input now as I begin the next leg in the journey.
For the record, I know that ASAE is taking a whole new look at this - kudos to them. So here’s my offer - I’ll help you in the process … be a test and a test examiner. Take me up on it?
PS - to my fellow colleagues and especially Leslie White, David Lorms and KiKi L’Italien who’ve given me feedback - thanks and its welcome!
Rock Star Chapters
Maybe it was the title, maybe it was the enthusiasm of Brian Contanzo when I first met him by phone several months ago, but I will go to Developing a Rock Star Chapter at ASAE & The Center’s upcoming Annual Meeting, Tuesday, August 18, at 9:00am (even though this is right before my own session with at 12:45 Adding Power to Member Communities with Social Media).
Brian and Steve Kearley from the Entrepreneurs’ Organization have an exciting story to share. They have vibrant, success-driven chapters. And here’s the kick – they are decentralized! With the right program in place though, 20% of these chapters achieve Rock Star Status. That comes when you complete 42 items that are associated – based on their research – with a healthy EO chapter.
Brian says the secret is in three words: competition, fun, and pride. In truth, EO has a strong point that many associations don’t: their members are entrepreneurs who have accomplished what less than one percent of businesses do globally namely creating a business grossing $1 million or more in sales. They obviously are strongly competitive. But they have another leg up on many of us that we could obtain: a commitment to investing in our components. That investment – which includes a unified database, staff, training and resources – pays off. It shows up in acquisition, retention, sales, volunteer skills and commitment and more.
It’s worth talking to Brian to learn more.
This won't be the only session focused on components. For other topics related to components, visit the ASAE schedule by professional interest – but note that for some reason, KiKi L’Italien and my session isn’t listed there. Our session Adding Power to Member Communities with Social Media is on Tuesday, at 12:45 PM - 2:00 PM. We’re going to do a on-the-spot social media make-over for one lucky chapter. Here's a sneak preview of our session, plus you can follow along via our Twitter hashtag #asae09ll1.
I’ll also be tweeting and blogging – so follow along and comment (use #asae09). Ask the questions you want to be asked and I’ll pass them along.
Happy Birthday!
One year ago I started this blog with a mission to simply share our exploration of association components and volunteers through this blog. Have we succeeded? You tell us!
Meanwhile, we'll continue to explore, share and listen. Thanks for joining us thus far ... and stick around, we're just getting started!
Dear Gentle Friend ...
The email began:
Dear Gentle Friend, My name is Mrs. Doris Kwamen I am a dying woman who have decided to donate what have to you/church ...
It didn't go immediately to my spam folder (they are getting slicker and slicker) but the unknown sender and the generic greeting had my trigger finger on delete immediately. Then I stopped because it occurred to me that the three biggest mistakes we make in volunteer recruitment are:
- sending a request by email
- sending it in a generic email
- sending it from an "unknown" sender
Which is the greater error, is up for debate. We know from the Decision To Volunteer, that the most successful and most powerful request is 1:1, personal ask (55% selected it as the way they first learned and 29% cited not being asked is the reason for not volunteering). And no, an email isn't personal. I blogged about the personal email I got that was easy to say no to.
When its a generic email (think "call for volunteers) it's only slightly better. Again from the DTV, only 5% reported answering a call for volunteers.
You might argue the point that an email if send from the association isn't unknown or one may say that members know the officers ... but the reality is that too often the sender doesn't ring a bell or, in the case of an association email, isn't from an "important" sender.
I know we're all about volunteers but we still don't do a good job of volunteer management. ASAE09 shows four sessions (just enter volunteer into the search window) on various aspects, including an important one on Thanking Volunteers with Authenticity led by a great group of Component Section volunteers (those staff that work with your SIG's, chapters, sections, et al are the front line with your volunteers, so listen to them!)
In many ways it all begins with the ask - how have you asked your member to volunteer?
ASAE09 - 4 Days of Fun & Learning Just Ahead
Headed on Friday to ASAE09 in Toronto and I have to say I’m psyched. If you’re not headed to annual meeting, you can follow all the happenings via ASAE09’s hub (check it out at http://asae09.org/ or http://asae09.org/m/ on your mobile phone) or just head over to Twitter and follow #ASAE09.
I will be starting my trip by meeting up with good friend Leslie White in Buffalo after which we’ll cross the border (neat thing about associations, you meet awesome people and make great friendships!)
Saturday I begin my tenure on the Executive Management Section Council. Having just completed a great term as past chair for the Components Section Council, I am excited to don this new volunteer hat. Then afterhours, the Components Section is hosting a night of Karaoke, Karousing & Killer Talent - it's open, so join us.
Sunday kicks off with a CAE Breakfast for us new CAE’s (we’re also walking the stage on Monday at the 9an General Session).
At 3:15 I’m joining Maddie Grant and Jason Della Rocca at the session CounterIntuitive Paths to Success: Upending the Status Quo, where I serve as a table host/moderator. For more insight, check out Jason's accompanying article in Associations Now.
After sessions on Monday, you’ll find me heading over to the Bling! YAP party. I’ve heard there will be a chance to sample the perfect YAPtini! Of course, I’ve also heard that you need to stop by party sponsors’ booths Avectra and SusQtech in advance to get the bling you need to get in to our VIP area.
On Tuesday, come join me and KiKi L’Italien at 12:45 PM - 2:00 PM for Adding Power to Member Communities with Social Media. KiKi, Chapter and Student Services Manager, The Optical Society (OSA) and I are leading this IdeaLab in which we’re going to do a on-the-spot social media make-over for one lucky chapter.
After we’re all done, Leslie and I will wind our way back to Buffalo and home again. Looking forward to sharing what I learn (as I learn it) on Twitter and here.
Here's the way to say Thanks
In the association world we're always looking for authentic ways to say thanks - thanks for joining, for volunteering, for participating. Well, from Maddie Grant we have a great example of how to say thanks in a way that is authentic, encourages ongoing participation and gently lets the non-participants know not to miss the next opportunity. (And if you missed Buzz2009, here's the recap).
Check it all out at Thank you SO so much.
Always in search of ideas.
