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Social Media Roundup: Great Ideas Over This Way

One association executive, inspired by his trip to Colorado, offers a few great ideas of his own. Also: Some deep thoughts on the industry around our greatest ideas.

Admit it: If you’re staying at home, you’re a little jealous of the folks at Great Ideas this year.

Surrounded by smart people thinking in super-interesting ways, the Twitter feed might be nice, but it’s probably nothing like making the trip.

So, with that in mind, here are a few great ways to get in the Great Ideas spirit … even if you’re still at home.

A Great Member Tangent

Didn’t make it to Great Ideas this year? Get a little bit of a lay of the land from Tom Morrison, the CEO of the Metal Treating Institute, who spotted a number of moments that he said exposed missed opportunities for associations far and wide. “In one session,” he points out, “association executives wanted to talk about how to get their members to see their ‘perceived value’, yet when asked if they wanted to expand and talk about non-dues revenue generation, only 4 hands went up in a room of 80+ people. That was a missed opportunity.” Morrison then expands on this point to explain the opportunities available for member engagement. What efforts are you working on to build your own member engagement?

Great Reading for Great Ideas

Just in time for Great Ideas 2013, Harvard Business Review contributor Umair Haque dropped a meta-commentary on the whole concept of great ideas. And … to be honest, it’s a great talker. Riffing off of the TED conference last month, Haque suggests that we may not be doing enough to think beyond short-term goals. That, perhaps we’re treating our best ideas too superficially by packaging them as TED talks. “When ideas are reduced to engineering challenges,” he explains, “the focus naturally becomes near-term utility in the so-called real world. We focus on implementation without ever stopping to question our assumptions. But Great Ideas don’t resound because they have ‘utility’ in the real world — they are Great for the very reason that they challenge us to redefine the reality of our worlds; and hence, the ‘utility’ of our lives.” Does your association challenge its members or redefine their reality? How do your ideas go beyond simple short-term solutions to radical reinventions? All in all, a great piece to get you thinking. (ht @ScottDWiley)

Did you make it to Great Ideas? What’s your favorite highlight so far? Let us know!

(iStockphoto/Thinkstock)

Ernie Smith

By Ernie Smith

Ernie Smith is a former senior editor for Associations Now. MORE

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