Lessons from a difficult year in associations
ASAE
Tough times come with tough lessons. One association professional shares some hard truths she's learned during a period of tight budgets and high staff turnover.More

Associations report jump in new members, renewals and total membership counts
Membership Marketing Blog
Membership organizations reported a triple play in membership numbers in the soon to be released 2011 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report. From this year's survey, which included 650 participating associations, the major indicators of membership health — total membership, new members acquired, and membership renewals — all showed substantial improvements from the previous year.More

The abuse of 'must have' in recruiting and hiring
Management Excellence
Aside from a few obvious technical and vocational roles, there are very few positions in most organizations that absolutely "must have" someone who has held the identical role in the same industry with the same job. Nonetheless, the use of must have remains a staple in recruiting and hiring. It's too bad, because over-reliance on must have can lead to a chronic case of mediocrity, or worse, a terminal case of recycled bad ideas from industry participants.More

Be careful what you complain about
The Hourglass Blog
Few things say more about organizational culture and character than how employees complain about the customers and clients they serve. It's important for association staffers to put things in the proper perspective. And ideally, that perspective has to transcend the conception of members being your customers.More

Ideas are fragile (handle with care)
Management-Issues
Ideas are fragile. They can mean everything if used or nothing at all if wasted. There are many ways of wasting good ideas, even if people do share them. There are also many ways of sending the message that people with good ideas would be wasting their time if they shared them with you.More

Secret reasons why we attend events
Event Manager Blog
Are you sure your event marketing is hitting the right buttons? We mostly think of the usual motivators when trying to get more people to attend our event. Have you considered your audience's real motivators? What can you do about it?More

What's your social media strategy?
Harvard Business Review
To understand how businesses are approaching the challenge of social media, this study analyzed strategies and practices at more than 1,100 companies across several industries and continents, and conducted in-depth interviews with 70 executives who were leading social media initiatives. The research revealed four distinct social media strategies, which depend on a company's tolerance for uncertain outcomes and the level of results sought.More

Do you see beauty or blemishes?
Management Excellence
Motivating by providing a never-ending string of criticisms is only going to demoralize people and teams and suck the life and creativity out of your organization. A more balanced approach that acknowledges beauty where appropriate and offers encouragement and criticism will produce far greater results.More

Report: Events have room to grow their social media use
Midcourse Corrections
Following their successful 2010 study "Twitter For Events," amiando, a European online registration and ticketing company, has released "Social Media & Events Report 2011: How Is The Events Industry Using Social Networks." amiando wanted to show the relevance of social media to the events industry, understand its future potential, identify common problems and provide tips to event hosts when using social media. The report shows that social media is an important marketing tool for events and will continue to increase in importance.More