The Blogoclump

Read & discuss at Hilary's blog.

Just wrapped up a day on the beach followed by some shopping. Eating dinner at a great Mexican restaurant and enjoying an ice cold cerveza. #

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Read & discuss at admin's blog.

A thought provoking article written by the venerable Nicholas Carr in July/August 2008 Atlantic Monthly explores how the Internet and by connection Google is changing human cognition:

The Internet, an immeasurably powerful computing system, is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. It’s becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV.

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking [read more]

Read & discuss at Dave's blog.

You attendees might say it was a great learning experience, or excellent for networking, but would they say it’s “insanely cool”? I didn’t think so. I’ve been to some great conferences, but insanely cool? Nope. I’m not even sure what would be involved in an insanely cool conference, because for me some of what would […]

Read & discuss at Sue Pelletier's blog.

What are your principles?

Read & discuss at jeffpi1@gmail.com (Jeff De Cagna of Principled Innovation LLC, the association community's leading voice for innovation!)'s blog.

Yesterday I got an email from a colleague that prior to a class two students (in their thirties) decided to roll around on the lawn (one on top of the other) behind the building and outside the window of where the class was held. And then during the class they talked and GROPED each other. And what suggestions do I have for how to handle it.

Well if class is over, there’s really nothing to be done unless it’s a contact saying “just wanted to let you know that a number of people in class were incredibly uncomfortable with your behavior.” But what SHOULD have happened is that the instructor needed to handle it. If it was me I would do a total stare-down and say in a tone that it’s really important that everyone pay attention; OR I would tell the class we’re taking a two-minute break and immediately tell the students that they can’t “do that” in class; OR during the impromptu break I would tell the staff they need to immediately handle to it.

Where this situation is considerably more impossible for an association executive is when it’s on a dance floor at a convention event (”dirty dancing” taken to extremes including “extreme” kissing), or if a couple is actually caught “in the act” in what they thought was a meeting room “no one was using” or something happens “under the table”. Dance “behavior” is getting raunchier — and when it’s a professional event (and attendees are aged 18-80) there really are people who just don’t want to “watch it” — and there’s no avoiding it when people WANT to be watched on the dance floor. So what’s the solution? Do we tap them on the shoulder and say “get a room” or “you’re really making some here really uncomfortable” — or do we put up a “no lewd behavior, please” sign? And you KNOW how receptive anyone who has been drinking a lot is to behavior suggestions …

As for the “I didn’t think anyone would know/catch us” situations, being caught is often penalty enough — but I don’t think an association can really find a way to prevent that — it would be quite awkward to either announce or have in meeting materials “in case you didn’t know, our classes, banquets and dances are not for sexual activity.”

And the final nightmares are the DJs, comedians, hypnotists or actors who go a bit too far with unsuspecting members. One DJ asked me if I wanted the “adult version” and I was quite shocked to see what options DJs have to “liven up” events (I said NO, if you couldn’t immediately know that I would always say no), the comedians with adult humor (which are really popular) or events where showgirls or actors might sit on someone’s lap, kiss them, etc. with the staff staring like “uh oh, I hired someone to give a public mini lap dance to a member”? After one of my UH OH moments, I ensure contracts with entertainment is REALLY CLEAR about if the show was G, PG or R/Adult — and if there is adult content (which can be fine for adult events) that it’s REALLY helpful to TELL your attendees that (especially if a kids might be at the event too - at least their parents and others can make an informed decision in advance) — such as “Note: Entertainment includes some adult content/language.

And that my friends is what makes association management what it is … one day you’re passing significant laws that benefit the industry, the next day you’re trying to stop 2 students from groping in class.

Read & discuss at CindyAE's blog.

People will always want to associate with other people, whether face-to-face, online, or through venues that have not yet been conceived.

All groups - no matter what they call themselves - engage in a multitude of tasks and require people who possess various skills. Groups can benefit from marketers, fund-raisers, writers, editors, designers, technicians, publicists, facilitators, organizers, managers, and a host of others.

Discussions about the necessity of associations and association professionals, while thought-provoking, often cast the issue as backward-thinking vs. forward-thinking, which is not always accurate.

The nature of association work may change, and organizational structures may change, but associations will always attract people and association professionals will always have something to offer.

Read & discuss at AEM's blog.

ASAE & The Center launched a new series of “vodcasts” called This Week in Associations earlier, uh, this week. Here’s an examination of what’s right and what’s in need of further review with the implementation, from my personal point of view.

Right:

1. High coolness factor. Online video is hot. It got my attention (and my link). People have too much to read. Why not do video?
2. Relevant content. First episode focuses on voluntarism, a problematic issue many associations are facing.
3. Cross-selling. ASAE is promoting a new book, “The Decision to Volunteer” on this topic that should be useful for association execs (by the way, in the coming weeks, watch for a sneak preview of this book before it debuts right here on the Certified Association Executive blog).
4. Flash-based player with e-mail to a friend and grab the link features. Love it.
5. The length is perfect. Less than five minutes. You nailed it, ASAE.

Missed the mark:

1. What the heck is a “vodcast”? I’ve heard of a podcast, a video podcast, and even a vidcast, but “vodcast”? The cast part implies that it should be downloadable and viewable on an iPod, but this isn’t. Why not just call it This Week in Associations and be done with it?
2. Overproduced. I realize ASAE is probably getting video production and video hosting for cheap or even free, but this video is to overproduced what saccharine is to sweeteners. From the green screen background to the post production and animated titles, it’s just too much. Take a page from Robert Scoble’s playbook: lose the style, deliver the substance. As a member of mine says, “One person says that video sucks. Another one says it’s organic.” Finding the right balance ain’t easy.
3. The actress is… I’m sorry. I shan’t say more about her. Use a staff person for this role. Certainly someone on the staff of ASAE is at the same time photogenic, knowledgeable about associations and does not pronounce it “assosheeashuns.” Oh, man, there are so many jokes I’d like to make about this. But I shan’t.
4. Embedding option: MIA. I would have loved to embed the video here or at PITV. It’s not like anyone could mistake this video for being produced by anyone other than ASAE. This is an option that’s being suppressed by whoever’s in control of the program. Clearly the editorial staff at ASAE has the code required to embed the video at Acronym.

All in all, a net positive, but a few things left to tweak. Way to try something new!

Tagged: Association Management; Associations; CAE; Certified Association Executive

Read & discuss at Ben Martin's blog.

I am SO EXCITED. After I was invited to become executive producer of Principled Innovation TV, and put a call out for interested videophiles to contact me, I got several people interested and the first one all set up and ready to go is our very own Lindy Dreyer, she of the awesome Association Marketing Springboard blog. A super smart lady with a wee voice, big ideas and wicked sense of humor, she’s going to be awesome on PITV. Here’s her first video from her new show, Lindy’s Learning Labs. (Get it? Maddie’s Musings, Lindy’s Learning Labs…. yeah, yeah, I know, silly but it works.) Watch it!

And while I’m at it, I might as well give you my usual run down of some of the latest videos on PITV, in case you missed them. It’s been a while since my last summary, so there’s a whole ton of good stuff here!

- Peter Corbett on the Rise of Social Media
- Social Media in Plain English from our friends at Common Craft
- Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, explains how he came up with the concept
- Focus on a Non-Profit - Idealist.org
- cool Edupunk video
- Dr Vinton Cerf of Google explains how brands can leverage social media
- YouTube sets up a NonProfit Channel
- Jeff Gordinier, editor of Details magazine, discusses his book, Gen X Saves the World
- Clay Shirky on Web 2.0
- Shel Israel interviews KD Paine
- Twitter Whore
- CBS News tries to “get” Twitter
- a cool widget for searching YouTube videos by keyword (go ahead, test it!)
- David Lynch on inspiration
- Help support the non-profit 1-800-SUICIDE hotline
- Geoff Livingston on Social Media 101

And finally, Matt’s back! Matt Baehr, regular contributor to PITV, announces his return after a brief hiatus welcoming new baby Maddie (great name btw) into the world.

And, just so you know, I have a PITV headline animator widget over there on my sidebar so you can always see the latest posts and jump right there.

So go on. It’s almost the weekend. Go watch some vids! Enjoy!

Read & discuss at Maddie Grant's blog.

Read & discuss at Matt Baehr's blog.