ASAE11 was a great experience on many levels.  But it also prompts me to ask a question. My top five reasons for giving ASAE staff, volunteers and attendees an A+:

1. Lots of variety. We had a stand-bys (general sessions, learning labs, socials, engagement lounge and exhibits). We had some new concepts including the unsession learning tours, innovation forums and the  deep dive, game changer, and flash sessions. They even had what looked like a great first-timers program – check it out. By the way, ASAE already has a slideshow to show you what you missed J.
2. Accessibility. From the meeting location to the availability of wi-fi to the vibrant social media to on-site communications, it was easy to connect. Check out the Hub for a peak.
3. People. It always comes down to having the right people in the room.  I enjoyed the mix of the association professionals (and in that phrase I include vendors, consultants and all those who don’t sport the “regular” badge).
4. Ideas & more ideas. I returned home with lots of resources, tips and ideas. Two of my favorite takeaways are from two sessions I almost didn’t attend.  From the Collective Intelligence session I learned a simple process to jumpstart innovation and from the session on gaming the idea to build a game that can help members prepare for certification.
5. Involvement of attendees. I signed up to be a guest blogger for Acronym along with a crew of members (check out the feed) like Jeffrey Cufaude, Brandon Robinson, Maggie McGary, Lowell Aplebaum, Frank Fortin, CAE, Shelly Alcorn, CAE, and Scott D. Oser. And that’s just one of more than a dozen ways ASAE tapped members/attendees to be active participants. This gave my participation an added focus that helped me dig deeper into the experience. I was a “reporter” so my eyes and ears were perhaps more open.  BTW, my contributions included:

• Getting My I On
• It’s not just the topic that counts. It’s the community.
• 3 lessons from day 1

And now the question. As association executives who offer learning events for its members and decry members who don’t take part, how come so many of us don’t take part in our association – ASAE’s – events? How come we don’t invest in our professional development as we ask our members to?

I started to write my own New Year’s post several times … you know the “resolutions list” or “advice on resolutions” or even the “big questions we need to ask ourselves” post. But frankly I’ve having too much fun (and truth be told creative sparks) from the ones I’m reading. So, here are the gems I found – hope you get a creative spark too!

Capital Bike Share launched today. It’s a marriage of new and old. It’s reaching out and using the technology available while holding on to the traditional ways that still resonate.

It’s very simple. Use the sophisticated metro system to get part way to destination. Then, pick up a bike and go the rest of the way.

What can associations learn from this?

Just checking out the new unconference headed our way: The Hacking Associations Unconference is coming.

Its about putting your money where your mouth is (ok and getting a pay back!). It's all inspired by Acronym's Big Ideas Month. Behind it are Principled Innovation's Jeff De Cagna) and DelCor Technology Solutions' KiKi L'Italien. If you are ready for innovating your association, check out the video here. mark the date (April 22) and follow #hackaction.

It was an experiment – this unsession as an add-on to ASAE & The Center’s Great Ideas conference. Simply put we wanted to start a revolution in how associations connect with their volunteers. So we focused on the three days of Great Ideas with conversations on the ground, on Twitter, Facebook, and more (read a volunteer unsession).

The first step was throwing out a bunch of questions to get people talking about what’s at the heart of volunteerism. Several bloggers accepted the meme challenge – read their postings:

Are their SAGA Associations ... the non-profit version of SAGA corporations Google, Starbucks, Apple, and Amazon?