Xer-Rated: Grade A Fresh

A delicious new conversation has erupted due to Maddie Grant's Xer Meme. Matt Baehr of BlogClump fame tagged me and now I am here picking up what Maddie is putting down.

The gist of the conversation? "Have Xers Sold Out?"

I think I quit my first real job out of college because of that question. My younger sister (who was attending art school in Chicago by day and singing in an all-girl punk band called "Twat Vibe" at the time) accused me of selling out. In her eyes, I had given up on my idealistic dreams of being a poet/artist in exchange for wearing suits to my marketing job where I made a whopping $26K a year.

But guess what? Along with loving stationary and pens and pretty paper; I also really got a kick out of seeing my name on a business card for the first time. I loved the chance to "change something from the inside" and it made me feel like I'd achieved something special. I liked wearing suits. I liked having an office. I liked having a steady paycheck and access to logo items. Who couldn't use a dozen golf towels with my company's logo on it? Class-y.

But my sister's comments made me wince. Had I sold out? What if I had? Should I try to do something else? Was it too late? Had I become just another cog?

I quit my job. I don't think I claimed the "sell out" reason at the time, but I know it played a role. I was a rebel in high school and had always prized individuality and creativity above all else. After I quit my job, I decided to immerse myself in poetry again and started working on a plan to have a creativity workshop based on exploring the five senses (an idea I still really like). I went so far as to have the area art studio, which was supported by grants from the NEA, agree to let me host the classes there. But I doubted myself too much and backed away...and went back into the "corporate world" where I could at least be sure I had insurance.

Today I truly believe I am living a GenX-agreeable lifestyle. Yes, I have the regular job, but I also do creative things on the side (and get paid for them). Yes, I have a nice car and live in the 'burbs with my husband, child, and dog...but I also went rollerskating with my sister after I had my daughter and still listen to the Cure on rainy days. I still push the envelope, too. I still expect more from my workplace than a paycheck. And yes, I would still walk away from a workplace if I didn't enjoy it. Absolutely.

I bring creativity to my day-to-day job and push into new areas focusing on building relationships. I do a lot outside of my paid work to learn and broaden my horizons...Gen Xer's are all about access to knowledge and I am no different.

I think the biggest change for me has been in my beliefs. I believe in myself more and consequently believe in others more than I ever have. I am hyper-aware of the changes that have taken place recently for our society and the ability for all of us to communicate with each other with an amazing speed!

Matt's opinion matches my own. I haven't sacrificed my integrity or morals for a paycheck. I've been able to apply my spirit and desire to change things to my work - all of my work.

This was fun to think about - thanks to Matt (and Maddie) for passing this on to me! Now, I will tag a few more people on this for their thoughts:

Deirdre Reid
Shannon Otto
Elizabeth Weaver Engel

It's All About the Benefits: Discussing the Latest Developments and Trends in Membership Benefits

This Wednesday is another CRP* Virtual Lunch and we will be discussing association membership benefits and the trends for developing new, shiny perks for our members.

Erik Schonher, editor of MEMBERSHIP 2.5: REINVENTING VALUE (http://bit.ly/1shp8D), will facilitate on the call.

People can register for the free conference call at http://www.asaecenter.org/ProgramsEvents/EventDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=43460.

I love these Virtual Lunches...I always learn something new and I usually marvel at the ideas I come up with while listening. This time I'll be taking notes for an article later, but I'm expecting great things!

Here's the announcement that went out earlier:

Each month the Component Relations Section Council has a discussion on a topic of interest to its members. Share with your fellow CRPs your challenges and successes! This is an opportunity to bring new ideas to the table and get some feedback! Follow the discussion on Twitter at #CRPLunch.

This Month's Topic: It's All About the Benefits: Discussing the Latest Developments and Trends in Membership Benefits

Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Time: Noon - 1:00 pm EDT
Fee: Complimentary
Dial in number: 218-936-7979
Passcode: 189780

Please note: this is an Audio Only program.

KiKi L'Italien
Manager, Membership & Education
OSA
+1 202.416.1432
klital@osa.org


*CRP = Component Relations Professional

Engaging Your Chapters with Social Media: Resources

In my recent presentation "Engaging Your Chapters with Social Media" at the ASAE Annual Meeting (with co-presenter Peggy Hoffman), we mentioned several resources we found to be useful for listening and monitoring online conversations about your organization or industry. I decided to share several of these resources here. Please note that I haven't included information on paid online community sites as that topic lends itself to a blog post all its own (NFi, HigherLogic, Socious, ...etc...). If you have questions about these sites or if you know of some new sites that are even better, please comment here.

The two basic social media alerts you need to have now!

Google Alerts
Examples of things to monitor:

• Mentions of your Society

• Mentions of your competitor
• Industry keywords

Google alerts

Google Alerts are emails automatically sent to you when there are new Google results for your search terms. You can also choose to have your alerts delivered via feed to the feedreader of your choice (e.g., Google Reader or add the feed to your iGoogle page). They currently offer alerts with results from News, Web, Blogs, Video and Groups.

SocialOomph.com (formerly known as "TweetLater")
Examples of things to monitor:

• Mentions of your Society

• Mentions of your competitor
• Industry keywords

SocialOomph
SocialOomph can be used to set up alerts and track keywords in the public Twitter stream. SocialOomph monitors the Twitter tweet stream and periodically emails you a digest of the tweets that contain those keywords. You can also use this to track your @replies.

Another great thing you can get from SocialOomph is the Twitter aliases who are commenting on your topic area or Society.

For example, some of the people who post information you put out are not your members...

1. You can get new members this way

2. You can identify current very vocal members this way

3. You can also view these sources as outlets for your news...how many followers do they have?

Transparency is the expectation.

Some examples of free groupsites you can use to start member communities:

Groupsites.com (formerly known as "CollectiveX") http://www.groupsite.com/

Ning http://www.ning.com/

Drupal http://drupal.org/

Great sites for managing multiple Twitter accounts:

HootSuite: http://hootsuite.com/ **Note: I really enjoy HootSuite for its ability to track link clicks when using its link shortener which is built in and doesn't require visiting another site!

TweetDeck: http://tweetdeck.com/beta/ **Note: I like the way TweetDeck is formatted and its iPhone app works well for tracking various hashtags and groups!

Splitweet: http://splitweet.com/

Other helpful links:

Twellow: http://www.twellow.com/ **Note: This particular link will be very helpful to you if you are trying to build up your list of people to follow (listen to) for your association. You can identify Twitter users who follow or show interest in your association topics/industry.

Polldaddy: http://www.polldaddy.com/

KnowEm UserName Check: http://knowem.com/


These are just several of the helpful resources you can use to help manage your online social media engagement with members. I have my favorites, but I've included some second and third favorites here since tastes can vary. Do you have some that you think should be added to this list? Essentials you can't live without for your monitoring and engagement practices?

Testing blog app from iPhone

...what else would I be doing on a Saturday night?

My Highlights from the ASAE Annual Meeting

I am a learning junkie. I like to jump into whatever subject is near to my heart and then learn as much as possible about it. That’s why going to something like the ASAE Annual Meeting, which is what I did last week, is especially exciting for me.

Along with learning more about some of my favorite topics, like membership development and community building using new media, I was also able to talk in person with members of the Association Twitterati, who are without a doubt some of the most innovative and fun-loving people I have ever met. Maddie Grant, Lindy Dreyer, Elizabeth Weaver Engel, Sandra Giarde, Jeff De Cagna, Jamie Notter, Jay Moonah, Ben Martin, Matt Baehr, Peggy Hoffman, Jeff Cobb, Deirdre Reid and numerous other association superstars met up at the meeting and generated a plethora of tweets and posts. We are all geeks about engagement and that made the conference a kind of nerdy heaven for me. I’m surprised we didn’t make up campfire songs. Oh wait…we kind of did at dinner one night. Nevermind.

Anyway, the miracle of the meeting will be if I can possibly keep by note or memory even a tenth of what I learned.

Here is my Top 10 List of the Absolute Coolest Highlights of the ASAE Annual Meeting:

1. Hanging with my ASAE homies
2. The Delcor/Syscom Party at the Fifth Grill
3. Talking about Netbooks and then about trends with Clay Shirky and about 15 other people
4. Charlene Li answering our small group’s questions – easy with only 10 people in the room
5. Listening to David Nour’s presentation on Relationship Economics
6. Good lunch food provided on the show floor…on bamboo plates no less!
7. Tweetups and the active Twitterstream for #asae09 (Also, the online hub! And the WiFi!)
8. Meeting some awesome vendors in the Expo Hall
9. My session with Peggy Hoffman, naturally!
10. The Online Engagement Lounge (thank you, ASAE!)

Here is my Top 5 List of Things That Could Have Been Better:

1. Ribbon bar available at registration area by council meetings for the volunteers on the first day…I didn’t actually get my ribbons until Day 3 of being there and I noticed several others missed out on theirs. It would have been more natural to pick them up right in the beginning.
2. Bamboo forks were kind of ridiculous. The idea was good, but fell short in execution.
3. Not such a long walk from one side of Convention Center to the other
4. A bag check by the front of the Convention Center for Tuesday
5. My scheduling abilities – I missed out on a couple of things I wish I could have attended…I did better than last year, but STILL missed out on a little even though I planned ahead of time. *sigh*

Moral of the story? I’m not sure. But I had a fabulous time in Toronto and will write some follow up commentary from the notes I took during the Nour and Shirky presentations..

Adding Power to Member Communities with Social Media

View more presentations from Kiki L’italien.

When Do You Become the Great Benefactor?

This post is a bit of a departure from my usual association-related fare, but I am interested in how y'all might respond to the subject, so let me begin...

I went to a small college in Southwest Missouri called Missouri Southern State University. MSSU was not an Ivy League, but we grew plenty of moss in the pond out by the biology lab. In fact, in preparing to settle into this post I attempted to visit the website for facts about my alma mater and the site is still loading. Do I need to say more?

What made MSSU a diamond in the rough was something called the "International Mission" - a promise that the institution made to its students to help engage them with the world outside of Joplin, Missouri. And the promise wasn't empty - rather, many students took part in overseas study with partial to full funding in the form of travel grants.

I took part in the International Mission and along with my participation as editor/writer for The Chart campus newspaper, I consider it one of the shining examples of how a small university can provide a well-rounded experience to students.

...er, considered it I should say. Past tense. Because I discovered that with a new campus president and the economic downturn in 2008, several distingushing features of MSSU were disappearing and one of them was the International Mission.

What I couldn't understand and what infuriated me most was why the alumni hadn't been consulted before a public announcement about the end of the program. Certainly, an institution's "mission" was important enough to consider all the options and all the avenues for possible support. After many years of my explaining to my friends in DC (and worldwide) why I had not missed out by going to a small, little known college in southwest Missouri; how the International Mission, award-winning paper, and top-notch faculty had all offered me a unique and personalized experience; I was watching a huge foundation stone for the future of MSSU crumbling to dust without so much as a postcard asking for financial help from the alumni.

Blind donations? I understand why people wouldn't want to be bothered. But for something like a trademark mission? Some things are big enough to ask for the dollars.

Last week I received hope in the mail. A letter from MSSU asking their alumni who had experienced the International Mission for a donation to support the same kind of programs that we had experienced. I was ecstatic. Finally! A chance to help! I thought I'd send in $300 for this year...something I could do without that wouldn't be difficult to miss. But now I want to do more...I want to send in more than that. This is my chance to do something to change a situation for the better!

My question: How? How do I reach out and motivate people to contribute to the cause?

Anyone in fundraising have some good ideas?

Wanted: Member Communities in Need of a Social Media Make-Over!

We’re looking for one chapter who would like to create (or re-create) their social media presence for a FREE make-over at a special session at ASAE & The Center 2009 Annual Meeting in Toronto.

Every nonprofit is looking to create a presence on the web that boosts visibility, creates a strong fan base, builds community and translates to more members, more dollars and ultimately moving the mission forward.

For chapters though it’s a little challenging. There are generally fewer resources at hand. Plus a chapter should be building this presence in a way that supports national’s efforts.

That’s where this contest comes in. We’re going to show associations how it can be done with success and pizzazz!

Here’s the scoop: Some of you may know that master CRP* KiKi L’Italien (Optical Society of America) is also a much-sought after make-up artist to the stars (really!). So we’ve invited her to work her magic on a very lucky Chapter. With able assistant (and also master CRP) Peggy Hoffman CAE (Mariner Management, an AMC), KiKi will create a Social Media Face on the spot.

When: It all takes place on Tuesday, August 18 from 12:45 - 2:00 pm in the session “Adding Power to Member Communities with Social Media.” During the session, attendees will also see real life examples and gain a simple social media strategy outline for chapters.

How do you get involved? Nominate one of your chapters for a social media make-over. All you have to do is answer the following questions and email to Peggy Hoffman (phoffman@marinermanagement.com) by August 10, 2009. We’ll contact one lucky winner by August 15.

*That’s Component Relations Professional in Association-speak!

I Nominate ____________________________________ for a Social Media Make-over!

Your Name:
Your Association:
Best Way to Contact You:
Briefly describe who your members are:
National Website:
National Outposts:
LinkedIn:
Twitter:
Facebook:
Other:

Describe the national organization’s social media efforts thus far, noting any particular successes or challenges:
Will you or someone from your association be in Toronto?

Chapter Name:
Chapter Location:
Chapter Website:
Chapter Outposts:
LinkedIn:
Twitter:
Facebook:
Other:

Resources/options available from National (e.g., do you handle or host their website? Offer a members-only community?):
Describe the chapter’s social media efforts thus far, noting any particular successes or challenges:

Briefly, why did you nominate this chapter?

Pre-July 4th Smackdown on Social Media News

It's a sunny day outside while I sit here typing away from my home office. Things are good - the birds are chirping and I am tweeting away myself...adding my voice to the ever present online buzz.

It is time for reflection and realizing that I am not a great writer, I am going to do this post as a list - a list of thoughts I'm having at this time about social media and associations.

1. Confession: I still haven't found the "sweet spot" for explaining social media and how to use it to association colleagues.

I stumble between the "What is Twitter?" folks and the "Could we use this as a widget?" people when they are in the same audience...which is every time I speak about this stuff. I feel energized and at the same time I feel like a failure. It's like explaining the telephone to people before they had ever used it for business...you know how important and incredible the possibilities are, but it is hard to show people as a group how they can apply social media tools to their work in an association to make it exceptional.

I am embarrassed at this and feel like I should be better at navigating a room by now...better at explaining these tools. I am trying to think on this and I need to employ better communication methods in order to get my point across.

2. I'll still use the overused word "authentic" when talking about how associations need to aim for transparency.

I do agree that it should already be a given, an expectation, but I am not sure all associations are really there yet. There is definitely a divide, though it seems to be narrowing. The need for less marketing speak and more of a "human" voice is growing as we rely on more and more new methods to reach out to members. Promotional materials still need to exist. We just need to be sure the copy on our promotional material doesn't get copy and pasted into the wrong areas where honesty and tact is expected.

3. I'm still having fun. I'm still enjoying trying new applications and platforms...still reading up on social media all the time. But I can admit I am sometimes internally rolling my eyes when I hear someone explain for the billionth time what a hashtag is, or shared bookmarks, or tags, or the importance of using filters on Facebook.

I know these are legitimate questions that I have no qualms about explaining to someone...but to listen to someone else explain the same things to a group is hard. Is that elitist or rude?

4. Finally, my God, how much has my life been enhanced professionally by social media!?! I have friends I have never met face-to-face and to think what my job would be like without the benefit of social media's tools is crazy...

There. How's that for a pre-Independence Day post? I feel like I just wrote in my diary. If anyone at all reads this half-abandoned blog of mine, I hope you enjoyed this post and feel free to comment as you see fit.

Are you the Karate Kid of Networking or the Guru of Program Navigation?

Have You Mastered the Art of Attending ASAE’s Annual Meeting?

Are you the Karate Kid of Networking or the Guru of Program Navigation? Maybe you are a newbie to the ASAE Annual Meeting and aren’t sure what to do to get the most value for your registration dollar…

“How to Make the Most of ASAE Annual” – featuring a panel of people with experience and tips for future attendees – is a free Virtual Lunch call scheduled Wednesday, July 22, 2009 from noon until 1 p.m. Eastern. (Everyone can register for the call here: http://ow.ly/gcnQ.

Among the possible topics for discussion:
• Where can I find out about unofficial social events while at the Annual Meeting?
• How do I meet other people who are in my line of work?
• How do I manage to bring back something tangible to show my boss?
• What am I supposed to do with the Exhibit Hall? (I am/am not in the market for purchasing anything…)

If you think of yourself as knowledgeable about the ASAE Annual Meeting and would like to participate as one of our guest panelists for the call, please email me at klital@osa.org. Ideal panelists will have examples they can share and a handful of tips for the upcoming meeting.

Note: This Virtual Lunch is part of the monthly CRP Virtual Lunches hosted by the Component Relations Section Council.