Building Community with Publications Using Social Media

Spring is here and I'm excitedly preparing to give a number of presentations in May. One such presentation is for the Society of National Association Publications. At this point, I feel the need to confess that I originally thought I was agreeing to speak to another group that goes by the acronym, SNAP...the Social Networking for Association Professionals group. In fact, I was kind of surprised to hear from someone I wasn't familiar with from the networking group since I am somewhat active with them. Now I know.

This experience reminds me to check facts often...even the facts I think I know. At any rate, if you are interested in attending one of the presentations I'll be giving, I'll be posting them to this blog and you can read about the Society of National Association Publications event below.

Cheers!


Friday, May 8, 2009
Come On, Get Social
American Bankers Association
1120 Connecticut Avenue, NW
7th Floor Board Room
Washington, DC
Lunch will be provided.
Register Today

If you could wave a magic wand and make your monthly (or weekly) publication into something your readers interacted with every day, why wouldn't you?

Well, you don't need magic--you just need to tap into the power of social media. With blogs, social networks, Twitter, and other technologies, you can connect with your readers more powerfully and more often. Our panelists will share the stories of how their magazines started using social media, what it takes in terms of resources, how their members have responded, and how you can do it too.

Content Leaders:
Christina Gordon, Director of Communications, National School Boards Association
KiKi L'Italien, Association Chapter-relations Manager, Optical Society of America

Moderator:
Kathleen Rakestraw, Director of Communications, American School Counselor Association
A Special Thank You to Our Sponsors for this DC Lunch & Learn


The YGS Group provides a comprehensive line of editorial and graphics communication services to associations, societies & publishers. Services including creative, advertising sales, printing & finishing, fulfillment and reprint management help provide a complete solution for our customers. Association publishers throughout the country have chosen The YGS Group because of its commitment to quality, innovation and the value of original creative content.

Quebecor World is a leading printer for associations and related organizations that use magazines, journals, directories, books and direct mail to communicate with and serve members. Quebecor World has more resources, in more places, printing and distributing a wider variety of printed association products, than any other printer. And, with its new investments in press, bindery and distribution technologies, the Quebecor World association printing service platform is now stronger than ever.

Big Bang Machine To Be Even More "Big Bangable"

While the magnets at the real-life Large Hadron Collider may not reach extraterrestrials, scientists hope they will help lead to encounters with never-before-seen phenomena and answers to fundamental questions about the universe.

read more | digg story

May CRP Virtual Lunch: Help! I have a Problem!

Our next CRP (Chapter Relations Professional) Virtual Lunch will take place Wednesday, May 27th. We are looking to you to identify some challenges you may be experiencing and would like to bring to the virtual lunch for discussion.

Topics for discussion may include:
* Chapter/national relations
* Leadership training
* Leader conflict resolution
* Communications
* Chapter policies, procedures and operations

Now's the time to discuss your most challenging issues with the people who can help bring resolutions to the table, your fellow CRP professionals.

Please take a moment to think on some items you'd like to discuss and email either Kim, KiKi or Sharon. Ideally we will have about 4-5 discussion to send out in advance of the call.

Sharon Kneebone: sharonkneebone@apta.org
KiKi L'Italien: klital@osa.org
Kim Grimm: kgrimm@nacenet.org

To register: http://tinyurl.com/c5gkwm

Note: You can follow Virtual Lunch discussions at #CRPLunch or you can follow Sharon and KiKi on Twitter - @skneebone and @kikilitalien.

Chapters & National: Collaborate or Compete

I will be facilitating a call on Wednesday with a great group of people, including my Virtual Lunch partner in crime, Sharon Kneebone. Please join in on Wednesday, if you think you can make it! Here's the description:

Chapters & National: Collaborate or Compete

With resources tightening and no end in sight, we thought it would be good to look at collaboration versus competition between parent organizations and their components. Our email thread on parent-organization sponsored webinars might tie into this. I would also be looking for one or two other guests so we can talk about membership retention and recruitment, marketing and the elusive non-dues revenue.

Guest Panalists:

Scott Oser
President
Scott Oser Associates, Inc.

Alex Aderton
Director of Marketing
Associated Buiders and Contractors

Register here: http://tinyurl.com/d6un6f

Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Time: Noon to 1pm Eastern

Cost: Simply your ideas to share and questions to ask -- plus the cost of a call to Minnesota.

Dial in number: 218-936-7979

Passcode: 189780

You can earn 1 CAE point by registering and participating in this event.

You can also follow participants on Twitter:

@scottoser, @skneebone, @kikilitalien

Driving to nj with the fam...listening to rob zombie, jay z, and radiohead. Easter eclectic!

Using HARO to Your Advantage as a Non-Profit

You gotta love someone who plays matchmaker...especially for the media.

I receive daily emails from Peter Shankman. You may not know of him yet, but he is the mastermind behind "Help a Reporter Out" (HARO), which matches reporters with potential contacts to interview for their stories.

Receiving the HARO emails is a good thing to do if you are looking for opportunities to become an expert or idea leader in a specific area. That said, I often fail to open the emails (they come several times a day) and so everyday I am passing by at least one good opportunity to match myself or someone else with a chance to promote a business/service/expertise to the public. However, today I opened up the daily (morning) email from Peter and voila! an opportunity for non-profits in Massachusetts! Why haven't I shared this with the rest of the association world?

Please add this to your "to do" list: Sign up for HARO reports.

Also, be sure to follow Peter on Twitter @skydiver.

Cheers!

KiKi

Mirror to the Mothership

Sometimes the chapters operating as extensions of an organization can seem very alien to it. The more independent the chapter, oftentimes the more strained the relationship can be with the parent organization.

Lisa Junker's recent article on Acronym ("Chapter websites and donors: Food for thought") provided some data backing up the importance of having a consistent and well-supported brand across all components of a Society. The fact that poor or even mismatched websites at the chapter-level can have a negative impact on donations to the parent organization shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. However, it is easy to look around and see how prevalent this problem is today.

After reading the Acronym article, I ask myself:

• What would it take to bring consistency to our chapter websites?
• What is the cost?
• Whom should I talk to first?

This seems to be a fairly easy problem to address with all of the technology available to us today. Now let's see where I can slide it in for my budget. :)