So I call the bank/ phone company/… to ask a question about my latest statement, for example, and  I get a voice mail prompt to enter my account number. After several more auto-queries (and often quite a few expletives), I get a human on the other end of the line. The first question they ask is…”What is your account number?”

At a recent board meeting with one of our association clients, the board discussed how to reach out to local national members who had not joined the chapter. I can relate to the non-chapter affiliation. I recently joined a professional association as a member-at-large because I knew nothing about the two chapters closest to me, and wasn’t sure which would be a good fit. Within a week of joining, I was contacted by the president of one of those chapters inviting me to attend the next meeting, which was scheduled for the following day.

In the December 14th posting on the Personal Branding Blog, Roger Parker discusses his strategies on a successful content marketing in 7 Content Marketing Tip for Small Business Success. The one point that really struck me was to think of your readers as students and you as the teacher.

In the November issue of Popular Science (yes, sometimes I do more than look at the pictures!), there’s a great article about one of the world’s foremost network theorists, Albert-Lazlo Barabasi. He recently developed a program, which using cell towers as nodes, allowed him to predict, with 93% accuracy, an individual’s location within one square mile.

There's a fascinating piece in the November issue of Popular Science re the Santa Cruz Ca police department's use of datasets to predict tomorrow's crimes today. Not quite the "Minority Report", but definitely aligned with Reggie Henry's (ASAE's CIO) mantra "we need to be present at the moment of need".

Tina Brown, Editor-in-Chief, Daily Beast-Newsweek, closed her remarks at #ASAE11 with a statement: "I hope you become our readers in every way." How easy -- and life-changing for an association -- to substitute member for reader. Let us help our constituents become members in every way.

Member engagement is a "popular topic" now. I realize that in associations we must talk a topic or trend to death before we act. Soon we must act. And Tina gave us a game plan.

This morning I opened a new container of a certain product only to discover that it was barely 2/3 full. Of course, the container was marked with the standard “Packaged by weight not volume. Contents may settle during shipping and handling,” but this was a simple powder. How much settling could have occurred? Now I don’t necessarily have a problem with the actual amount in that container—it is, after all, what I paid for. I just have a problem with the initial appearance of much more.

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!

On Sunday, I joined with a two other women to complete a half-iron - that's a triathlon which generally consists of Swim 1.2 miles, Bike 56 miles, Run 13.1 miles. This one - The Half Full Triathlon a charity event to raise dollars for young adult cancer support - purposely set the mileage at 70.

PRSA is going through a gut-wrenching by-laws debate (get a glimpse here). At issue is the current requirement of holding the APR credential to serve on the national board. The proposed amendment would make the APR credential an optional qualifier for board service.