For one meetings-focused association, Hilton Honors points are now as good as cash.

That and more in today’s Lunchtime Links:

Trade in your points: Run a lot of events in Hilton hotels? Do your members have a lot of Hilton HHonors points? What if they could  trade in some of those points for membership? That’s now an option offered by Hilton and the Professional Convention Management Association. “This partnership is designed to help foster professional development and peer-to-peer business networking among those in the meetings, conventions, and business events industry,” says PCMA President and CEO Deborah Sexton. Ever consider a deal like this to boost your member counts?

BYOD’s Privacy Concerns: We’ve already covered the security concerns behind “bring your own cloud,” but could users have similar concerns about their privacy when hooking their own device into your platform? According to a new survey by Fiberlink, as many as 82 percent of users are concerned that their movements will be tracked outside of the office. Is this a concern for your users?

Should you outsource? Recently, we covered the value of outsourcing marketing work for associations — but what if you could take that a step further? SCD Group’s Steve Drake asks aloud: “I’ve wondered how some associations can justify the costs of housing staff in expensive cities in Washington or New York when they could save money by having ‘backroom functions’ based in lower-cost cities,” he asks. Have you considered this?

It’s about us: On many websites (associations included), the “About Us” page might be near the bottom of the list as far as focus — but near the top of the list as far as usage. Inc. magazine’s Jeff Haden argues that it’s where a strong focus needs to go — and that you should put a lot of weight on it. One idea Haden suggests: Skip the stock photos and use real ones. “The pretty boy wearing an ill-fitting hard hat and pretending to read blueprints doesn’t add visual appeal,” he argues. “He just looks silly.”

What’s on your “about us” page, anyway? Show us in the comments.

(photo by derekskey/Flickr)