Tuesday Buzz: The “New” Association Is Global and Accessible

Associations may need to think bigger and open themselves up to a new worldwide mindset, says a meetings expert who helps put on the Olympics. Plus: Event planners can make their events just as impactful as the blockbuster Titanic.

If there’s any organization that knows something about globalization, it’s the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

So it might be worth listening to what IOC’s head of events and hospitality, Panos Tzivanidis, has to say on the matter. Speaking to Association Meetings International at the International and European Associations Congress, he said associations need to present a more global attitude  (opens in a new tab).

He recognizes there are associations that have been set up to address international issues, problems, or needs—but there is a growing global sentiment among members, he says, and associations should do better to reflect that. He suggests that associations shift from “understanding and adapting” globalization to “accepting and acting” upon it.

Pointing to millennials, Tzivanidis noted that “We have to accept that the younger generation … working for associations or being members of associations, they are global; they were born global; they were born with a need of having an instant, not territorial … different cultural” response to their associations.

Titanic Impact

What Event Planners Can Learn From the Movie Titanic #Eventprofs  (opens in a new tab) http://t.co/LOUDvxC7pZ  (opens in a new tab) via @eventmb  (opens in a new tab) pic.twitter.com/vHx3TDDi0w  (opens in a new tab)

— Cathy Key (@drCathyKey) May 12, 2015  (opens in a new tab)

Everyone loves James Cameron’s 1997 picture, Titanic. The film will forever be considered epic. And events can be equally epic.

Cathy Key, Ph.D., an event technology professional, says that, like Titanic, events can also have a multidimensional pull. Meetings can use stories and build around a theme, with effects, visuals, and features as part of a full program.

“To create epic events you need to include at least three dimensions and engage more than just the mind,” Key writes in her piece  (opens in a new tab) on Event Manager Blog. “Everything we see, hear and feel takes us on the journey of the event.” (ht @drCathyKey  (opens in a new tab))

Other Links of Note

Donors can be turned into fundraisers. It’s absolutely possible, Caryn Stein, Network for Good’s vice president of communications and content, writes on the Nonprofit Marketing Blog  (opens in a new tab). But only if organizations make fundraising fun, easy, and relevant for their recruits.

Build and work with communities now; don’t wait until it’s too late. “Those that don’t invest in real community simply won’t last in the next 10, 20, 50 years,” Carrie Jones writes at CMSWire  (opens in a new tab), describing the successful ways in which some are doing this today.

Struggling to save time in meetings? The cloud-storage startup Dropbox has an organizational tip that may just help; Rebecca Hinds and Bob Sutton explain in their piece for Inc.  (opens in a new tab). Let productivity reign!