How Introverts are Finding Their Way in Associations

A professed introvert tells how the rise of online social networking tools is giving him and his fellow introverts a comfortable way to express themselves and connect with their communities.
By: Vinay Kumar

Preview of the 2010 Healthcare Association Conference

Here’s a look at this year's Healthcare Association Conference, taking place in November.

How to Write Policies That Work

Plan and write the right policies for your association using these checklists.
By: Leslie White

Is Your Lease Negotiable?

By: Kim Fernandez

Certification Done Right

The benefits of a certification program can be obvious, but plenty of legal and organizational problems can damage your best intentions. Here's how to get smart about your credentialing.
By: Mickie S. Rops, CAE

MP3 Players Help Meeting Attendees Store Information
The American Association of Neurological Surgeons gave each of their 3,500 meeting attendees iPod Touch devices loaded with meeting content and give them reasons to use it all year long.

How One New Question Transformed an Organization
At MATHCOUNTS, the core program was successful, but growth was stale. When one person asked a question that no one had asked before, staff and board members started to think outside the box, and it changed the organization deeply.
By: Lou DiGioia, CAE

Save Money, Strengthen Staff
The American Society for Surgery of the Hand’s cost-cutting effort didn’t just save money. It also built a more cohesive staff culture.
By: Mark Athitakis

Associations in 2020
Are you ready for a time when association members vote for their leadership? That’s just one of the changes two workplace experts predict in the next ten years.
By: Interview by Jennifer J. Salopek

Web Metrics That Matter
These sample outreach, engagement, and conversion metrics can help you design a measurement program that supports your website goals.
By: David Hollender and Amy Hissrich

Associations Now Video

CEO to CEO: Staying Energized

Gregory Balestrero, CEO of the Project Management Institute, talks about how he stays energized as an association CEO. Read this month's CEO to CEO print edition here.

Membership Restructuring Success Story

Sarah Lee, CAE, MPA, deputy director of National Volunteer Fire Council, explains the organization's membership restructuring and how it affected membership numbers, its small staff, and its visibility on Capitol Hill. For more membership restructuring experiences, read "Rethink Your Membership Structure" by Lynda McDaniel.

Features

• Cover Story:

  How to Think Like a Designer
  By: Scott Steen, CAE
  Design isn't just about making things pretty—it's a way of thinking that can create new opportunities for your association to excel. Here's how to put the processes and tools that designers use to work in your organization.
• How Will Gen-Xers Lead?
  By: Mark Athitakis
  Now that Generation Xers are taking on management roles at associations, they’re building different relationships with their boomer and millennial peers.
• Associations in 2020
  By: Interview by Jennifer J. Salopek
  Are you ready for a time when association members vote for their leadership? That’s just one of the changes two workplace experts predict in the next ten years.
• Foster Partnerships Within Your Industry
  By: Mikel Smith Koon
  Associations are uniquely positioned to give a helping hand to partnerships among their various industry stakeholders. Find out how the Association of Public Health Laboratories' Sustaining Member Program has benefited the industry and public alike.
• Save Money, Strengthen Staff
  By: Mark Athitakis
  The American Society for Surgery of the Hand’s cost-cutting effort didn’t just save money. It also built a more cohesive staff culture.
• Exploring the Decision to Learn
  By: Lillie R. Albert and Monica Dignam
  A new survey from ASAE & The Center shows that learning programs can have a profound effect on the sense of affiliation that members feel toward an association.
• The Challenge of Business Model Innovation
  By: Jeff De Cagna
  To create organizations that will succeed in the 21st century, association leaders must learn to embrace new ways of doing business.
• How to Handle a Difficult Volunteer Leader
  By: Jacqui Cook
  Do you have a volunteer who's constantly talking down to staff or missing deadlines? Learn what needs to be done to get everyone back on track.
• Rethink Your Membership Structure
  By: Lynda McDaniel
  Changing the way your membership is built can increase membership numbers and revenue. Here's how four organizations changed their structures for the better.
• The CEO vs. the Board Micromanager
  By: Lisa Junker, CAE
  A new board member takes his fiduciary responsibilities very seriously, but perhaps he is going about his oversight in the wrong way. How should the CEO respond?

Departments

• How One New Question Transformed an Organization
  By: Lou DiGioia, CAE
  At MATHCOUNTS, the core program was successful, but growth was stale. When one person asked a question that no one had asked before, staff and board members started to think outside the box, and it changed the organization deeply.
  

• MP3 Players Help Meeting Attendees Store Information
  The American Association of Neurological Surgeons gave each of their 3,500 meeting attendees iPod Touch devices loaded with meeting content and give them reasons to use it all year long.
  

• A Day in the Life: The Enlightened Telecommuter
  Archana Verma of IABC shares what she's learned in four years of full-time telecommuting.
  


• Just-In-Time New Product Delivery
  By: Andrew S. Lang
  The American Society of Transplant Surgeons created exactly the service its members needed and got it to market in just six months.
  


• How to Write Policies That Work
  By: Leslie White
  Plan and write the right policies for your association using these checklists.
  


• University Partnerships That Promote Research and Benefit Associations
  By: Daryl Strouts, CAE
  Universities are looking for outside partners to help commercialize research and inventions. Your members and your association could benefit.
  


• Joint Ventures May Pose New Antitrust Risks
  By: Jonathan T. Howe
  A 2010 Supreme Court antitrust ruling could change how associations approach joint ventures.
  


• A Look at the Future of Volunteerism
  By: Interview by Samantha Whitehorne
  Jackie Norris of the U.S. Corporation for National and Community Service sees changes coming in the volunteer landscape. Plus: Which U.S. cities have the most volunteers? A recent study reveals that and more.
  


• Help Your Exhibitors Find and Keep Leads
  By: Ruth A. Hill
  If your exhibitors aren't getting the business they want at your tradeshow, these six tips can help. Plus: A new white paper from the Trade Show Exhibitors Association offers recommendations for show managers.
  


• Smart Technology Selection
  By: Nancy Mann Jackson
  Is that new software, hardware, or technology service right for your association? Consider this advice on making the right choices when faced with tough technology decisions.
  


• The Favorites Game: Melissa Etheridge on "Fearless" Team Building
  By: Kristin Clarke
  The award-winning musician shares her favorite advice, her favorite Springsteen album, and more.
  

• It's Not High Touch Versus High Tech
  By: Leila Faucette
  How does one full-time employee run an organization? Fast decisions and fast responses are two ways she keeps it together.
  

• CEO to CEO: Management and Core Values
  CEOs discuss how they became association management professionals and their organizations' core values.
  


• Preview of the 2010 Healthcare Association Conference
  Here’s a look at this year's Healthcare Association Conference, taking place in November.
  


• Smart Moves
  A roundup of new hires and personnel announcements in the association industry.
  


• What You Need to Know About the 2010 Virtual Annual Meeting
  Frequently asked questions about this year’s Virtual Annual Meeting.
  


• ASAE & The Center Fellows Volunteer
  Find out how the group helped a local community.
  


• Partner corner: Preventing Employee Theft
  By: Michelle Evans
  Incorporating a few safeguards during the hiring process can curb future theft.
  


• Strategies for Career and Life Empowerment
  By: Laura DeCarlo
  Changing the way you think can change your career and your life.
  


• Readers' Comments
  Readers share their views on recent Associations Now articles.
  

• Ad Index
  

Now Online

August 2010

From the Acronym Blog

"LeBron delivered the classic 'It's just business' line, which is always a mistake. [...] Yes, of course business decisions are business decisions, and moving to the Heat was arguably his best option. But 'It's just business' will fall on deaf ears 100 percent of the time.—Joe Rominiecki, in an Acronym blog post, "Lessons from LeBron" on July 13, 2010

Membership Changes

"Rethink Your Membership Structure" examines several associations that have done just that. Here are three more ideas and resources for changing your membership program:

• "Bonus-Level Membership Adds Premium Benefits for PMA Members," by Bruce Aldrich, CAE, Membership Developments, March 2010
• "Benchmarking the Concept [of Tiered Membership]," by Dawn Moliterno, Association Management, May 2005
• "Research, Then Revamp," by Miriam Meister and Arlene Farber Sirkin, Association Management, June 2001

Recommended by Readers

"Making a Successful Career Transition," by Gerard F. Hurley, CAE, Executive IdeaLink, June 2010

An excerpt: "[T]he CEO life can be a challenging and lonely one. It's not for everyone. You may be better suited to be a COO, an important and admirable aim. Develop certainty about this key objective; it will define how you market yourself and prepare your job transition materials (i.e. resume, cover letter, and so forth)."

Rated "four 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 11: Link: American Association of Neurological Surgeons' iPod Touch tutorials

Page 32: Online Extra: See sidebar titled "Scott Steen's Favorite Designs" in "How to Think Like a Designer."

Page 38: Links: See sidebar titled "Gen-X Resources" in "How Will Gen-Xers Lead?"

Page 48: Link: "Visions for the Future of Associations"

Page 55: Sample Document: See "Corporate Membership Opportunities Brochure" under "Membership Tools and Resources: Brochures" list in ASAE & The Center's Models & Samples collection.

Page 57: Link: "Sustaining Member Program: A Study in Corporate and Member Value," (PDF)by Mikel Smith Koon, Mosaik Strategies

Page 66: Video: See Mark Milroy, director of learning, ASAE & The Center, discuss The Decision to Learn and preview its presentation at the upcoming Annual Meeting & Expo in "Exploring the Decision to Learn."

Page 69: Online Extra: See extended Q&A with JoAnn W. Klinedinst in sidebar titled "How One Association Makes Distance Learning Work" in "Exploring the Decision to Learn."

Page 88: Sample Documents: For links to documents, see sidebar titled "Online Extra: Sample Documents" in "Rethink Your Membership Structure."

Page 105: Online Extra: See interactive timeline on the 50th anniversary of the CAE credential at www.cae50.org.

"Now Online" in previous issues:
2010: January | February | March | April | May | June | July
2009: January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December
2008: March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December