Technology vs. gravity

In this technological age, businesses and individuals alike suffer from advances that seem to be moving faster than light. Just as you buy an iPhone (the last big thing) a new one comes along; before you pay off the $1800 laptop an improved one is available for $600. As I catch up with tech purchases I’ve been behind on, my capitalist heart goes out to the companies that must struggle even more with the pricing: the manufacturers.

As friends know, I move in a circle of associations and nonprofits. Hence the title of this entry. In associations, it’s not usually tech vs. better tech, but how to move straight to rockets from the horse and buggy. Even the largest organizations with the biggest budgets operate with frugal constraints, and it can be hard to convince a volunteer board why it will cost XXX (often topping a million dollars) to create a new website that will enable dynamic order processing, event registration, member interaction, etc. Boards are active in their organization and don’t always think like the “average” member, so they don’t realize the scope of problems encountered by members navigating a site that has evolved organically from its 1995 origins. They don’t realize the encumbrance placed on an eager new member when they have to download a form, fill in a credit card, and fax it back, so a human can hand-capture the purchase. (Hint: the fax better be in a locked room to comply with bankcard requirements.) There are organizations that don’t even allow that ….you apply, and a staff member or committee decide how much you should pay, and then send you a bill, and then you send in the payment, maybe, or maybe you postpone that part until 3 or 5 months go by and you get the journal for free in the meantime perhaps, and then you decide not to pay, and then maybe someone takes you off the rolls but you probably still get the enewsletter because frankly, there isn’t enough staff or any updated management system to coordinate all these efforts.

Then someone calls me because the membership retention is down…

I think the hardest pill for association executives to swallow is believing that things can change, that a business case can be made for improving processes. Because Board members and other volunteers are an organization’s greatest evangelists, they deserve to envision their organization as the modern center of its field. Once in a while, at least once a year, help them overcome gravity by painting a picture of what it would look like…before a competing organization does.

With that in mind, look forward to the launch of the Social Networking and Media Association, which promises to set an example of just how far into the stratosphere associations will need to go in order to trump what the internet can do without them. Kudos to Andy Steggles for giving legs to the vision.

“Blog This Meeting”

Day 1 at the American Society of Association Executives’ Membership & Marketing Conference ended with a lot of energized and excited faces spilling into the halls. Ben Cross, Stephen Sye & I have been dividing the schedule to maximize our intake from dozens of speakers and panels…great case studies from some speakers I have not seen before, and rich content from some of the favorites that we need to hear again and again to realize the full value (folks like social networking guru Jeff deCagna of Principled Innovation).

I’ve been focused on the business of learning, networking, and sharing ideas and did not bring a computer to truly “blog the meeting”, but this is an opportunity that all associations have to meet one of their key challenges for marketing to the under-40 crowd. OK, I’m 52, so I’m being generous to my peers…even some of the 30s guys are just spinning up on social publishing.

The point is, every annual meeting, every training event a society offers there is an opp to market on the fly: Offer a scholarship (even a partial scholarship) with the condition of blogging the event. This gives you running publicity, word-of-mouth among a certain generation of peers, and even a chance to peep into the mind of your future members. 

When blogs first came out, associations hit the “terror barrier” immediately: what if someone said something negative about the society or (God forbid) offended a VIP? the past 3 years have been spent passing that dread question up and down the halls to determine how scary it really was. The truth is, the decision for blogging takes fearless leadership at its best.

Tip Kendall of American Association of Equine Practitioners shared the value of the AAEP blog, http://www.aaep.org/blogs/outofthestartinggate.html, a semimonthly entry by a young professional member in his/her first practice year: When other people studying, undergoing, or considering entry to the profession see this blog, which sometimes provokes readers to tears, they realize the great heart, wisdom, and grace it takes to manage…and even be willing to euthanize…these intelligent creatures. It is a bonding instrument for the profession, a glimpse into the rite of passage, and an inspiration to stay the course.

Associations also have to understand that negative press is out there. Transparency and candor are valued more by millenials than any pomp and circumstance, as is the ability to laugh at oneself. And if the boomer generation can’t take it…well, we shouldn’t have raised our kids this way! But we former hippies taught them to say it like it is, be true to themselves, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Now we have to listen to what they have to say.

Imagine the savings on research if your open blog allowed people to post the complaints about the organization as well as the testimonials. (We’re not immune; our clients and colleagues can chime right in here.)

Think risk vs. reward. Remember, online, we go to travel websites to find hotels, and there are 87 hotel ratings, some good or bad…we read them all and decide whether to take it. A smart hotel would read too, and change for the better, even post apologies and corrections! Associations spend a lot of time and money contemplating what people may like or be frustrated by, but they don’t open themselves to public remonstrance through a blog.

But an association blog is a resident columnist first; it is only second the subject of peeved letters to a nonexistent editor. Experiment with a trusted columnist and a members-only writing policy, and…as is the intended nature of social publishing…find out what the “association”–the MEMBERSHIP–has to say. Chances are they will aim to strengthen and fortify one another, as they have done on listservs for years. With so many tools to make a trial instantaneous, and just as easy to discontinue, you have nothing to fear but fear itself!

All my best,

Leigh Slayden
President & Fearless Leader
Bigger Better Marketing