Acronym: Comments

Comment on "Some quick analysis from recent social media events"

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:33:36 -0500

Great post - as a content contributor to the workshop I had the advantage of experience in using the tools and took the opportunity to really observe the process of educating and mentoring others. One of my concerns came with the legal module because it is a flashpoint. And, in this case I fear created more anxiety than needed. For the record, this session is critical because we in assn must know where the legal lines are so that we can make good decisions. However, I also think as assns we have a responsibility to challenge the copyright and sharing rules as necessary to remove those aspects that cast such a wide net as to put barriers to sharing.

I do hope that those in the room listened with an ear to what do I need to know to make good decisions - not to back away from socmed. I would like to see this session given from a legal mind who has a command of social media tools and so could address alternatives like widgets and creative commons to address copyright.

- Peggy Hoffman

Comment on "Some quick analysis from recent social media events"

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:32:17 -0500

Scott -
I didn't attend the workshop, nor am I a state veterinary exec, but I still feel compelled to add something to your comments on time.

I hear a lot of organizations saying they don't have the time - and you are correct, it is a value judgment. And part of that judgment involves determining what it is that you are going to stop doing. Because most organizations can't just add another FTE whenever they find something worth doing. In many cases, I believe that whatever you stop doing is going to be replaced or improved by use of social media - but you have to get over the new medium by which you are accomplishing the goal. (Obviously, there are things we should stop doing because they simply don't make sense anymore, but that's another topic for another time.)

It seems like such a minor observation but I think there are numerous ways that we can accomplish existing tasks/goals in new and more efficient ways using social media. But that means that the folks who are doing those tasks now in the traditional form are going to have to change or get out of the way. That is hard to communicate and enforce to individuals who are mired in "but that's the way we've always done it." But if you don't figure it out, someone else is about to do it for you. And if you don't believe that, check out Google's Sidewiki - a tool that lets you comment on Web sites, even if the Web site won't let you. I hate fear mongering, but we cannot escape this.

- Kristi Donovan

Comment on "Free attendance for first-year members?"

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:34:14 -0500

I just saw this post today but I think it's an idea that has worked well in the past. My first association (NAHB) decided to implement a first-timer's free registration for the Builders Show; this was not a staff recommendation but rather a Convention Committee decision based on research we conducted regarding why members were not attending at a higher rate. It did pass the internal budget review process although it was a huge loss leader--I understood it cost several million in the first year of implementation. However, average attendance rose from around 60,000 to 105,000 as well and my best guess is that it was a very effective technique for the long-term, even though systems weren't necessarily in place the first year to ensure that some weren't 'cheating' the system.

I agree with those here who say don't allow everything to be free the first year, but highly visible, symbolic "gifts" that require commitment on the part of the recipient (i.e. they still have to travel and incur expense for lodging and the opportunity cost of being away from the office) probably help more than they hurt. This sounds somewhat jaded, but what really matters is the quality of the first experience. If the new member attends a poorly-attended local chapter event as their first experience, they'll erroneously think that it was given away because it's bad and you needed to stimulate demand. Give away something visible and high-quality, and they'll go back and tell others about it, perceive clear value, and help you promote greater engagement.

When we datamine transactional files and correlate activitiy levels by the membership tenure of each individual, clearly many organizations have a proven trend of having almost NO involvement beyond a local level among their newer members. We also find in conducting membership surveys & interviews that newer members' first instinct is to decline participation because they simply don't know enough to feel that their answers are of value--but unfortunately this is often true for individuals with up to three years of membership! If engagement is highly correlated with retention, providing a push for initial engagement is a great way to eliminate the excuses and the sales objections and to ensure that more members are judging the association's value based on their own personal experiences.

- Kevin Whorton

Comment on "Free attendance for first-year members?"

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:03:29 -0500

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm not surprised that the concern over long-time member backlash has come up right away; that occurred to me in writing the original post, but I left it unaddressed mainly for the sake of length. I'll get to that shortly, but first, a couple other points:

@Jeffrey: I think you've hit the nail on the head when it comes to the central goal here: "convert joiners into contributors and engaged members as quickly as possible." A lot of people argue that the 1-10-90 rule is immovable, but I believe every member who joins an association and isn't meaningfully engaged is simply a missed opportunity.

@Carol-Anne: Thanks for the link to Jeff's post. You're right that meetings have to be highly valuable. I think my entire argument in the initial post goes out the window if your association's meetings are sub-par. If you aren't giving your members a great experience, you have bigger problems to worry about.

@Brian: Indeed, you have to worry about "would they have attended anyway," but I still think that if you promote the deal well, you'll offset the "anyways" with more joiners, more new attendees, and more repeat attendees later. Of course, this is exactly where the number crunching comes in.

@Brian, Bruce, and Cecilia: OK, so drawing the ire of long-time paying members/attendees is a big problem. If there was ever a "blow it up and start over challenge, this might be one. Perhaps the only association that could actually pull off this first-year-free-attendance plan is one that has just been founded. For established associations, there has to be a way of to soothe the angry loyals, though.

Perhaps something like this: at the same time you institute first-year-free attendance, you also introduce a series of free meetings for "elite" members, which are exclusive to members who have been members for at least five years and who have attended your biggest conference or annual meeting at least twice (or however you want to define the requirements). The events are designed to be high-level meetings of the best and brightest, experienced members that you have, and you promote admittance as a reward for loyalty and commitment to the organization.

Just another idea. I'm sure you all have others. (Bruce, I liked your idea of just lowering prices across the board, too.) I just hope that upsetting long-time members wouldn't be an insurmountable hurdle, because I think increasing engagement among new members early is too important to ignore.

- Joe Rominiecki

Comment on "Free attendance for first-year members?"

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:17:54 -0500

I don't think this is a good idea at all. There is no guarantee that if first-year members attend your meetings for no cost that they will spend money on other things.

There is also the collateral damage that I believe an association would suffer by doing something like this, and it's not money.

Long-time members who have supported an organization for years would look at a sweeping "gimme" like this and be turned off. What do they get after attending meetings and spending money on products and services for ten or more years? The right to support the free attendance at meetings for someone who has not proven a commitment to the organization and may very likely walk after their free year.

We need to think more about taking care of the members who are there for the long haul and stop being distracted by the "new." We tend not to see what is right in front of us, and it's usually something wonderful.

- Cecilia Sepp

Comment on "Free attendance for first-year members?"

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:08:31 -0500

Agree with most of the other commenters... I like the idea, and think it would be a great selling point for first year members. My concern is the perception that you're willing to give the education and connections away for free to certain people, but others have to pay for the same experience.

I think a lot of people assign the value of something with its cost. By giving the experience away for free, you may inadvertently do the exact opposite of what you're trying to do with this idea.

I guess my question is: wouldn't making the registration costs lower/much more affordable for everyone (including first year members) also achieve the fact of getting more members to attend your conferences, while also still showing the first year members that there is value in what the meeting provides? If you say you are able to give away the meetings for free to all first year members, you're saying that you can afford to utilize parts of each paying registrant's registration to pay for the freebies. Why not lower everyone's costs, which might get you a larger attendance from non-first year members, and which would also show the first year members that there is value associated with the meetings of the association?

Just a different perspective...

- Bruce Hammond

Comment on "Free attendance for first-year members?"

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:01:08 -0500

Joe, great post! I like the idea and concept, I think our association offered a discount to new members this past year, and it was reasonbly successful---although as with any discounts, the question is; would they have attended anyway? LOL, if anyone can help me answer that question, I would be forever indebted.

I think the biggest stumbling block I would see is members who have to pay or just joined but missed the cut-off, gettin angry that some folks get a free ride...but it might be worth it, any thoughts there anyone?

From a financial standpoint, I'd want to do some really intense number crunching to make sure that I am not totally killing my margins per registration; from the books, each attendee, no matter what you charge them to come, has a per person cost associated with it, as there are costs to put the event on...I'd want to know the potential short-term impact on margins, weighed with the long term gain!

- Brian Birch

Comment on "Free attendance for first-year members?"

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0500

I think this is a really great idea but would qualify that it would only be truly effective if associations are certain that their conferences and other events are in-line with member needs and that they are providing content at the events that represent value that members can't easily get elsewhere. I think this is a big challenge for many NFP's and summed up really well by Jeff Hurt in his recent post on the battle for next generation conference and membership revenue http://bit.ly/2V6A1m. I'd love to hear from an association who has tried this approach and what the outcome was.

- Carol-Anne Moutinho

Comment on "Free attendance for first-year members?"

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:29:54 -0500

- Carol-Anne Moutinho

Comment on "Free attendance for first-year members?"

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:44:30 -0500

Loved the idea, but based on some of the research about value perception and commitment when something is free, I'd tweak it a bit: (1) free for a shorter timeframe (maybe 60 days) or (2) unlimited for one year at a nominal cost that would be reasonably significant, yet not a deal-breaker.

I think the underlying concept could yield lots of additional good eyes if associations included it as a part of strategic conversations: what practices can we put into place to convert joiners into contributors and engaged members as quickly as possible?

- Jeffrey Cufaude

Comment on "Are you a Control Freak?"

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:06:31 -0500

Lauren, 'The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey' is a good book on how to manage tightly without micromanaging. It helps managers keep control (!) while managing using results, which is always better than trying to manage the task itself.

Thanks for a great post Brian.

- Moira Edwards

Comment on "Are you a Control Freak?"

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:14:31 -0500

Hi all, thanks for the thoughtful responses! Its great to get some feedback on these posts, and don't worry, we aren't freaks, we are mostly normal ;)

Lauren...I can say that you have hit it on the head related to taking a leadership role, you must trust the people you are working with...sometimes they will fail or make mistakes, and sometimes they will surprise you and impress you...one good idea that I've learned (and need to apply more often) is to be hard on process, soft on people...meaning focus on removing the barriers that keep your employees from acheiving what you've laid out for them, let that occupy you...also, another helpful tip I've received is to lay out your vision and ask them to achieve it, and tell them what NOT to do, instead of telling them all the things they can do, give them some freedom to figure that out on their own...

I can say from my own experiences that it is frustrating and painful to hold on to aspects of work that you used to do that another person is responsible for...I did that for a long time, and found myself doing it subconciously, not fully realizing how critical I was...finally, as a constant reminder, I printed off a single sheet of paper that said 'Step Back'...the staff laughed at me and thought I was goofy and maybe didn't fully understand why I had that sign in my office, but it was a concious and constant reminder to take a breath and let go---it actually feels nice when you do so...just throwing out some ideas, would love to hear what others think!

- Brian Birch

Comment on "Are you a Control Freak?"

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:51:32 -0500

I think I've been trying to convince myself that I'm not a control freak (or rather, more of the "quality" control freak that Jeffrey mentions), but I think it's time to face up to the truth! :) Part of this seems to stem from being a relatively new manager (but gosh, it's been over two years so that probably doesn't quality as new) and I haven't completely settled into the role. I'm overseeing tasks/programs that I used to perform myself and while I realize there's more than one way to skin a cat, there are certain details that can't be overlooked. Does anyone have any suggestions/strategies for someone trying to more fully embrace a leadership role? I'd like to think that I trust my colleagues (employees) to do the best job they know how, but I just don't seem to be acting that way.

- Lauren

Comment on "Building a better member"

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:49:38 -0500

Thanks Kevin. I like that you mentioned public education, because there's another parallel there between public education and member engagement: in both cases, their positive effects are common sense but difficult to measure, and thus hard to fund.

With a better education system, we create smarter people. But smarter people don't inherently make a community a better place. It's all the little things that smart people tend to do (get jobs, spend money wisely, etc.) and not do (crime, etc.) that make the community better. Those effects take years to happen and are hard to link directly back to education.

In the same way, engaged members don't inherently make an association better. But the things they tend to do more than mailbox members (renew their memberships, attend meetings, share knowledge, buy additional resources, recruit other members, etc.) positively affect the association. But again, these effects are difficult to link back to money spent on driving engagement, at least directly.

The article indicated that local governments in the examples it cited of successful citizen engagement had taken a leap of faith that was somewhat unusual in government but had proven worthwhile. I think the same might go for getting members engaged. You have to do all you can to bring them into the fold and then hope that the association comes out better for it down the road.

- Joe Rominiecki

Comment on "Building a better member"

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:53:32 -0500

I never have big ideas myself, at least not in the past decade, but a couple comments.

I recall that having a more involved citizenry coupled with immigration-driven xenophobia was one of the major drivers for the creation of a publicly funded education system in America in the late 1800s. A better educated populace can certainly be involved and mentally engaged in at least some basic way, although in a world subject to leisure-oriented distractions and very conducive to free-ridership, we have to have good hooks to encourage involvement as well.

I know little about the numbers behind local government civic engagement, but I bet it's far fewer than the typical number of association members we find involved in some way shape or form in volunteer activities (6%-10% in most surveys). They are probably also shooting for both quantity and quality--just as many of our associations couldn't function well if 30% of our members wanted to be heavily involved, so too should local governments want more dialogue and idea exchange without having to create more formal posts and more venues to help citizens air their opinions & greivances.

Putnam's social capital theories have been very influential among philanthropic nonprofits and I think it's a team effort among all entities--governments, associations, religious entities, charities--to try to engage people to be part of something slightly larger than themselves or their families.

- Kevin Whorton

Comment on "Are you a Control Freak?"

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:27:03 -0500

I think those of us who tend toward the "control freak" nature have to force ourselves to constantly ask this question: "What's the worst that would happen if we did (or didn't) do X?"

Unless the answer to that question is "we could go bankrupt" or "people could die," then there's probably at least some room to take things a little less seriously and "let go," as you say.

- Joe Rominiecki

Comment on "Are you a Control Freak?"

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:13:02 -0500

Love this post Brian - I think there is some control freak in all of us (as association professionals) - we want to do what is best and we often feel like we have do it because of our experience/expertise, etc. - but we have to remember that others have the experience/expertise too and it is in collaborating that the true progress is made (it has taken me a while to get to this point) :)

- Cathi Eifert

Comment on "Are you a Control Freak?"

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:01:07 -0500

I love this post, Brian! I definitely have some control freak tendencies, but I think I've gotten them under control in recent years. It's OK to delegate and not do everything yourself! And I love hearing other people's ideas - collaboration is always a good thing. A lot of times I get too stuck on my own idea and can't see other possibilities.

- Shannon Otto

Comment on "Are you a Control Freak?"

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:40:03 -0500

Quality control freaks I like (within reason). Control for control's sake? Not so much.

But I've always wanted us to come up with a better term than "freak." Somehow that just doesn't work.

I think the language we use around this is telling. You talk about letting go, but that almost begs u to examine grabbing on. Looking at our own behavior in both moments is probably worth pursuing.

- Jeffrey Cufaude

Comment on "Are you a Control Freak?"

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:30:56 -0500

Self-awareness is a good thing, Brian, as is a spouse you trust, but, you must be exhausted. I learned long ago that you don't need all the answers, just the right questions. I helped dozens of Type As dwith a half day course on coaching, giving them a different model for mentoring. It worked. They think I am a genius. I am not, just a recovering MBA.

Asking for help is the first step...okay that was a joke. Good luck.
Cheers
Ann Oliveri

- Ann Oliveri