District of Columbia Bar: Now That’s a Close Vote

Here’s a nice bit of evidence you can share the next time your association has an election and you need to prove that voting is actually worth your members’ time.

On Monday, the District of Columbia Bar announced the results of its elections, and the two main presidential candidates were separated by just 35 votes, according to Legal Times  (opens in a new tab).

Annamaria Steward, an associate dean at the University of the District of Columbia’s law school, won the vote with 3,193 ballots cast in her favor, but media lawyer Laura Possessky was right behind, with 3,158 votes.

Just 9.6 percent of the association’s members, or 7,212 people, voted in the election. If 9.7 percent had voted, it would have been just enough to shift results entirely.

“It absolutely is the closest race in our history,” D.C. Bar spokeswoman Cynthia Kuhn said in a statement to Legal Times.

Embrace the Maker Movement

Be a Maker at Your Event: http://t.co/mEc0iqpmWk  (opens in a new tab) #eventprofs  (opens in a new tab) #assnchat  (opens in a new tab) #bizbash  (opens in a new tab)

— Visit Cincy (@Visit_Cincy) June 4, 2015  (opens in a new tab)

You tinker and tease all the time when working on weekend projects. Why shouldn’t it be that way with your meetings?

The maker movement is a great inspiration for your events, according to Cincinnati USA’s MTG PLNR blog. The reason? It’s an excellent way to ensure that your attendees are engaged and have a sense of ownership over the events they’re attending.

“And why are people so sold on [the maker] trend? You can point to many factors, but the most obvious is the sense of accomplishment,” Cincinnati USA states  (opens in a new tab). “And it doesn’t matter how weird it looks, you made it and if you can actually use it in some way, the pride increases tenfold.”

Some of the ideas in the post—for example, teaming up with a Habitat for Humanity chapter—are fairly easy to implement, while others may be trickier but can create a real pop. Think you could take a strategy like this to your next conference? (ht @CincyUSA  (opens in a new tab))

Other Links of Note

Trying to draft an effective contract with a meeting hotel? Successful Meetings has some useful tips  (opens in a new tab) for “bulletproof” contracts in what’s become a seller’s market.

If you ramble too much at networking events, check out this piece of advice  (opens in a new tab) from Harvard Business Review.

It’s not just about Throwback Thursday. Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog has hashtags you can use for every day of the week  (opens in a new tab).