Build Multimedia Into Your Publication’s Strategy
(725 Views)
The web-savvy staffers of ABA Journal spent a year improving their multimedia skills for its Legal Rebels project. Editing podcasts, posting video, and hosting Twitter chats didn't just make for a more dynamic publication. The magazine also came away with a stronger bottom line and a closer relationship with its readers.
By: Mark Athitakis
Stop Turnover Before It Happens
(522 Views)
Your best employees might have one eye on the door, and once the recovery begins in earnest, they'll have plenty of new opportunities to choose from. Experts share advice on the steps you can take now to keep them. (And if your retention efforts fail, they also have tips on how to fill the void that great employees leave behind when they go.)
By: Lynda McDaniel
Five Ways Associations Can Use Online Games
(355 Views)
Bring buzz and "stickiness" to member retention, public outreach, and conference marketing with online games.
By: Jon Aleckson
Scenario Planning Power for Unsettled Times
(249 Views)
When organizations want to develop strategies around potential changes in their operating environment, they often turn to scenario planning. But are they utilizing its full power? Countervailing forces analysis offers a structured way to integrate the unexpected into scenarios and prepare an association for a wide array of possible futures.
By: Bruce E. Balfe and Barton G. Tretheway, CAE
Building Community With Every Sip
(226 Views)
Take your association's message to a product that many of your members use every day.
Make the Move to Mobile
The mobile phones that your members carry around 24/7 are growing more and more versatile every day. Now is your chance to connect and engage with your members wherever they are, whatever they're doing, whenever they want. (Titled "Mobile Tools for Mobile Members" in the print edition.)
By: Joe Rominiecki
The Formula for Publication Growth
NAFSA: The Association of International Educators doubled its publication's page count, increased its ad revenue, and upped its frequency—all in a bad economy. Learn how your association can do it too.
By: Whitney Redding
Board Nominations Know-How
Take a hard look at how your association nominates leaders. It might be tough to admit if your system is broken, because it's the very system that chose you. But you need to get over it. If your association is committing one of several common nominations mistakes, you have some work to do.
By: Nancy R. Axelrod
The Right Way to Fill Your Board Leadership Pipeline
Can you imagine having a pool of 300 nominees to pull from for your next board election? Or watching a cadre of young leaders present your board with solutions to issues facing your industry or profession? If not, read on and learn how to find the right people for the right places in your association.
By: Al Rickard, CAE
Two Associations, One Office
Co-locating with another association offers more than monetary benefits.
By: Aria White
Easing the Withdrawal Process
A three-stage process for smoother sunsetting of programs and products.
By: Jennifer J. Salopek
Transformative Leadership at the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind
When Virginia Jacko lost her sight, it was just the beginning of a new stage in her extraordinary journey. She shares key lessons she's learned about leadership in a career that's taken her from a position as a financial executive at Purdue University to her current role as CEO of the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind.
By: Doug Eadie and Virginia Jacko
Stop Turnover Before It Happens
Your best employees might have one eye on the door, and once the recovery begins in earnest, they'll have plenty of new opportunities to choose from. Experts share advice on the steps you can take now to keep them. (And if your retention efforts fail, they also have tips on how to fill the void that great employees leave behind when they go.)
By: Lynda McDaniel
Two Associations, One Office
Co-locating with another association offers more than monetary benefits.
By: Aria White
Association Finance Trends and Advice
Risk, fraud, audits, nondues revenue, the economy: Just a few of the topics a group of association financial experts recently discussed. Learn what it all means for your association and how you can be better prepared. (Titled "Navigating the New Economy" in print edition.)
By: Facilitated by Andrew S. Lang
Features
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Cover Story:
Build Multimedia Into Your Publication’s Strategy
By: Mark Athitakis
The web-savvy staffers of ABA Journal spent a year improving their multimedia skills for its Legal Rebels project. Editing podcasts, posting video, and hosting Twitter chats didn't just make for a more dynamic publication. The magazine also came away with a stronger bottom line and a closer relationship with its readers.
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Scenario Planning Power for Unsettled Times
By: Bruce E. Balfe and Barton G. Tretheway, CAE
When organizations want to develop strategies around potential changes in their operating environment, they often turn to scenario planning. But are they utilizing its full power? Countervailing forces analysis offers a structured way to integrate the unexpected into scenarios and prepare an association for a wide array of possible futures.
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Membership Lessons From For Profits
By: Kim Fernandez
Membership is no longer just for associations and nonprofits. More and more for profits have jumped on the bandwagon, realizing that by allowing customers to become members, they are fostering a sense of belonging and improving customer loyalty. Now it's time for associations to learn from these for-profit membership models.
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Stop Turnover Before It Happens
By: Lynda McDaniel
Your best employees might have one eye on the door, and once the recovery begins in earnest, they'll have plenty of new opportunities to choose from. Experts share advice on the steps you can take now to keep them. (And if your retention efforts fail, they also have tips on how to fill the void that great employees leave behind when they go.)
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Transformative Leadership at the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind
By: Doug Eadie and Virginia Jacko
When Virginia Jacko lost her sight, it was just the beginning of a new stage in her extraordinary journey. She shares key lessons she's learned about leadership in a career that's taken her from a position as a financial executive at Purdue University to her current role as CEO of the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind.
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When the Welcome Party's Over
By: Lisa Junker, CAE
You"ve read the employee handbook, reviewed your predecessor"s files, and reached out to key staff and volunteers. But as a new employee, you can still be tripped up by an invisible barrier: the unwritten rules that are unique to each association. In this month's Associations Now case study, a new membership director tries to recover from an early mistake.
Departments
Horizons
Intelligence
Small scale
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A Year of Failure Ends in Success
By: Jim Booth, CAE
Making a major change in your organizations AMS system can be difficult, especially during a down economy. One small staff association tried it and shares its lessons.
Community now
Advertisers
Supplements
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New Administration, New Changes for Associations
By: Samantha Whitehorne
It's been a little more than a year since President Obama and his administration made their way to Washington, DC. With their arrival came new priorities, which have meant a number of changes for associations. Here's how organizations are making the most of it and what it means for their day-to-day work.
Ideabank
Now Online
February 2010
From the Acronym Blog
"Aren't we all simply trying to make things better for those we serve? Sometimes the change in value and performance will be huge and groundbreaking and other times it will be minor, yet still worthwhile. I'm quite happy nowadays that more and more product bags have ziplock-style seals built right in."—Jeffrey Cufaude, in a comment to an Acronym blog post, "Innovation with boundaries," on December 16, 2009, part of Acronym’s "Big Ideas Month."
Tackling Turnover
"Stop Turnover Before It Happens" examines methods for keeping your best talent, especially as the economy improves and more attractive opportunities arise elsewhere. Here are three resources for avoiding turnover and dealing with it when it happens::
Recommended by Readers
"8 Steps for Successful Meet-and-Greet Receptions," by Kelly Knowles, Government Relations, January 2010
An excerpt: "Prepare issue briefs before the event. Two days before the reception, provide the representative's staff with your association's top two or three legislative issue briefs as well as a draft attendee list. To avoid an over-scripted discussion, don't go overboard with background information."
Rated "five stars" by online visitors. Be sure to add your ratings and comments to articles and resources throughout www.asaecenter.org.
Links Highlighted in This Month's Issue
Did you just visit this web page after you saw the URL www.asaecenter.org/associationsnow in an article in the magazine? Here are the related resources mentioned throughout this month's issue:
Page 9: Online extra: Join the discussion about change in associations in the comments to "Are We Pursuing Best Practices or Common Practices?"
Page 34: Online extra: For a more in-depth discussion on the basics of scenario analysis, see Barton Tretheway's presentation "Scenario Planning: Not a Passive Forecast" from the 2009 ASAE & The Center Annual Meeting.
Page 61: Link: Adaptive Path's Content Inventory.
Page 61: Online extra: Find out what's changed recently for Brazil-based associations, in an extra question and answer to "Go Global to Get Results."
Page 64: Link: For direct links to the highlighted resources about dealing with conflict, see "Knowledge Center FAQs: Dealing With Conflict."
"Now Online" in previous issues:
2010: January
2009:
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March |
April |
May |
June |
July |
August |
September |
October |
November |
December
2008:
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June |
July |
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September |
October |
November |
December
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