Does your association’s website have a “fat ads” problem? Do you even know what that means?

As AdAge recently explained, according to an Ad Lightning report, roughly 40 percent of online ads are larger bandwidth-wise than the ad industry’s own accepted standards state. (For example, the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s recommended number of network calls for an ad is 15—but the average is 60.)

And these bloated ads are creating bloated websites, according to the report. Who gets the blame? Well, it’s not the advertiser.

“Consumers experience these issues in ways that reflect on the publisher much more than the advertiser,” Ad Lightning states in its Ad Quality Report for Publishers. “On average, advertising doubles the amount of time it takes to load a webpage. Offending ad quality issues often delay page loads significantly longer.”

Hop over to the Ad Lightning website to download the full report.

Speaking of Weight …

There are, of course, times when a little extra weight makes sense for your needs. And that’s generally when it comes to your workload. If you don’t feel like you’re flexing your muscles enough, it can eventually make the job feel like a snore.

The above clip from Association Success breaks down how to add a little more of a challenge to your day-to-day process. Read more thoughts on the topic over this way.

Other Links of Note

“If your teammate is asking you to join at the very last minute—and you explain why you can’t in a thoughtful manner—odds are he or she will understand.” Fast Company analyzes strategies for of getting out of a last-minute meeting.

The art of negotiation: Eric Lanke, the president and CEO of the National Fluid Power Association, discusses why organizations playing the long game have more leverage than those focused on the short term.

Struggling to read your stack of books? This guide from Lifehacker’s Patrick Allan offers tips on how to make all that literacy manageable.

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