It's catching on...

For a while SWANA's been dabbling in youtube and overall the response has been pretty good (at some point I'll update the Social Media Wiki), but last week I knew it was starting to catch on. Our president, who shot one of our first youtube videos a year or so ago, sent a video for me to edit (it had a bit of formatting issues.) And wouldn't you know it, it was a message to a chapter event, similar to the messages we've been putting together.

While I give her all the credit in the world for a great video (it's better than our inhouse ones), something tells me our youtube experience last year may have put the seed in her mind. And the best part, after it premieres at the chapter event, with a little editing on the front and back, we have a video we can use that is exactly what we've been trying to get the whole time. Not forced, but empowered.

Just like our wiki's, my goal is to be in the middle as little as I possibly can - the more member2member interactions the better.

Thanks for reading,
bob

P.S. - I'm slowly getting myself together - crazy summer - and the fun's just beginning.

Up Close and Personal

My FaceBook page serves as my personal and professional page - so there will be times my professional peers and even managers will see a side of me that I normally wouldn't share. A good example was a recent wall post by my sister. While the post itself is fine, it refers to a rather crude - though humorous - video.

Now for me - I don't care that you see that side of me. However members may not be willing to share their personal life (you yourself may not even be able to share that side with your professional peers). This was brought up at the Tech Conference during the Young Professional Facebook session. One panelist mentioned she had two facebook pages - one personal and one professional. And I totally see the point in having two pages - obviously some things probably shouldn't be shared with professional peers.

This is something to consider though as your organization makes its way on facebook and other recreational social sites. Perhaps your members don't want to become social butterflies, they just want to make some new contacts and participate in informal learning. They may not want to put themself out there for all to see. I personally do not keep a personal twitter page because I don't want to be that connected - for me it blurs personal and professional too much (not to mention my personal life is boring).

Now this may be a trival point for some, but members may like the exclusivity your organization offers. Being "out there" may not be appealing to them - though the experience of social networking would be beneficial. I've recieved some feedback along these lines from members who do not feel that facebook or any of the personal social networking sites are appropriate for business use and would not be interested in joining a professional network through any of them.

Don't fret though - this could be an opportunity to examine a closed group such as ning or collectiveX or percieved professional services such as linkedin. You just need to talk and listen to your members to find out how up close and personal they are comfortable getting.

Thanks for reading,
bob

Members on Facebook

To continue on yesterday's post, I've been reaching out to some of my own members on facebook as I have time now that I've had Sr. Staff buy into Web2.0 thanks to Wikis and other experimental social groups. I've recieved a good response so far, some only signed up and used it once, some feel that linkedin or other more professional group is appropriate and there are people who "believe this would be a new and exciting tool for networking"

So far I've reached out to about 20 members and so far I've made 9 new friends and recieved a better idea of how our members are using it and how we can play off of this.

And if you're a young association professional, this could be a good time to introduce your board and executives to the concept of social networking and get them onboard - that is if they aren't already online.

Thanks for reading,
Bob

P.S. Thanks to the posts by Maddie on twitter, I've joined the next great phase of web2.0. I'll give my feedback in future posts.

Finding Members on Facebook

Intitially I believe there are 3 people who can benefit from social networking:

• Those already online
• Those who are participating in a conversation
• Those who need technology to participate

Today, I'm going to help you find members online because it's much easier to empower members who are already participating then trying to get newby's online.

So here are the quick tricks that I've learned for finding members online using facebook:

• Export a member list into a CSV file (no larger than about 1000).
• Use facebook's friend finder (must sign into to facebook to use).

Some tips for using friend finder:

• Once you select your list and upload into the friend finder it will begin searching - there is no activate button
• Members on facebook will appear from the email list automatically checked off. You can't send a note to them from this page nor can you track who a friend request was sent to, so it'd be a good idea to save this list and send out an email before or directly after you invite members to be friends
• After you select friends it will bring up emails not in facebook. I would seriously consider not inviting them to join facebook for two reasons: it will look like Spam which means they'll delete it, and second - think organic.

Upon successful uploading, you may have found more members online than you thought. Ask them to be your friend and reach out and see why they're online. If they're already talking, let them continue the conversation, maybe even help it continue to flow. Members already using the technologies may just be the WOM you need to get the later adopters online.

You can also search facebook groups, you never know, your organization or event could already have a group. What you do with the group is completely up to you - but it might at least be worth checking out to see what's being said. Organic growth will happen in one form or another.

Thanks for reading,

Bob

Wikis to the Rescue

Typically I've found that any projects with a committee have had the following chain of events:

• Committee reviews document
• Committee submits comments to me
• I format comments and send to contractor
• Contractor makes appropriate changes
• Changes are sent back to me
• I sent revised document to committee
• Committee reviews document

And so goes the circle of colloboration. Now this process typically takes a couple of days (with one day lost from the time I compile comments to send to the contractor to the time they are actually reviewed.)

But I shouldn't be such a major player in the process - I hate middlemen - yet here I am working as one (notice how many of the steps I'm directly involved with). Well in an attempt to allow members to work with each other as opposed to through me, I've been using a wiki on my most recent project for the past couple months.

I've found the following 3 benefits of the wiki so far:

• Members can build off of each others comments
• Contractors can view comments as they're submitted
• I'm a smaller part of the equation

Members can build off of each others comments
No more repeat comments. Wikis allow members of the committee to see what has already been reviewed as well as the feedback on those sections. This allow members to build off of the comments and/or focus their time on areas that may not have been as thoroughly reviewed.

Contractors can view comments as they're submitted
Long story short, I recieved a revised lesson from a contractor with the following comment:
"I pulled the comments from the Wiki, so it is good to go."

I'm a smaller part of the equation
Outstanding! Now some people may freak about this, but not me! I'm not a Subject Matter Expert when it comes to Solid Waste, my area of expertise is helping groups work together and thanks to the wiki I've done that. Because in the end it's not my association, it's the members, I just happen to be lucky enough to be along for the ride!

Thanks for reading,
Bob

P.S. If anyone from my organization stumbles on this - just because I'm a smaller part of this equation doesn't mean I'm not busy :)

MySpace or Facebook?

Ben Martin posted a note that Facebook actually passed MySpace in users. I don't think this is a huge shock if you've ever been on the two sites. Facebook is much more toned down than MySpace, this may be due to its roots.

While myspace has been open to anyone with an email from the get-go, Facebook's roots started with Colleges (for a while you needed a college email to join). I think this, along with a cleaner layout helps facebook.

Personally, I would never use myspace for an association or any business proposition that caters to anyone out of high school. Three main reasons:

• False Friends
• Hacks
• Too much noise

False Friends

False friends are spammers in the world of myspace. They are usually young girls, sometimes in inappropriate attire. And if for some reason you make the unfortunate mistake of friending one, you find that they have traits that a young professional, or any professional for that matter, should avoid. And depending on how often you sign into myspace, you may see friend requests with the ever prevalent X - which means there account has been deleted. Take a guess why.

Hacks

Some actions in myspace require you to sign back into myspace. Be careful! This could mean someone is taking your myspace info, which means your friends will receive countless comments on their pages about great deals, etc. Here is a classic example of a hack:

"whats up? i found this site and thought i'd tell everyone, it shows you if anyone at school likes you. i dont know how it works but its really cool, it told me a couple different people who have crushes on me. you gotta try it!"

This exact message was sent by two separate friends. Needless to say, they both know I'm married.

Too Much Noise

Whether it's customized backgrounds, music, or the lack of organization, MySpace is too big without maintaining it's small town feel. Indivduals accounts are too open (you could change the settings, but I just want to get on and network). Overall MySpace is a bit of a jungle, and if you're introducing members to social media, avoid myspace.

On the other hand, I'd use Facebook or even Ning.

The benefits of both are you don't get hacked, false friends and it is user friendly without the worry of the former two. I actually prefer both sites.

Facebook is good in the fact you can connect to other individuals. This could be good or bad, depending on if you want to mix friends with peers.

Ning on the other hand is group based. The group is the foundation of the network, unlike facebook which focuses on the connection.

My best advice is to try them out for a little while before looking to launch anything for your membership. You know your members better than anyone, so you can tell if facebook, ning, or some other social network is the right fit. Just remember one thing - don't force it. Wait until there's an opportunity to connect. Have them start the conversation first, then use social networks to facilitate the conversation. And on this note I am happy to say that my session on Capturing the Conversation - Implementing Social Networks was accepted by ASAE and the Center's Annual Conference. So I'll hint around at this now and again to peek your interest in the August session.

P.S. I know I’ve been a sporadic blogger at best, but I’ve been learning a lot about blogging (even though I’ve only posted 3 posts). More info on this soon.

Is your Association a Facilitator or a Director?

The Young Association Professional blog was originally proposed as a committee blog, but that idea was rejected. The association that hosted the committee preferred to support their association blog and not support competing blogs – even niche blogs that could compliment the larger blog. That’s fine, I’m a big boy (don’t let the photo fool you), I’ll just blog on my own. But this begets the question, as association professionals, are we facilitating our members conversations/energies or are we directing them?

With the internet connecting like minded individuals easier than ever with blogs, social networking sites and other emerging technologies, it’s time to really take a hard look at the conversations our members are having.

Thanks to these Web 2.0 (or 3.0 or 2.1 or what ever version you consider it) technologies, members can now have conversations and interact with each other without having to come to an association event – or perhaps more terrifying – without having to join the organization.

We as association professionals need to transition ourselves (if we haven’t already) from middle-people to facilitators. And while Web 2.0 threatens associations, it also offers opportunities to strengthen them. We as a community of association professionals know the technologies that are out there and we know how to use them. Now we need to open our ears toward the conversations our members are having and empower them with these new social technologies to help them continue the dialogue with each other rather than through staff or committees.

Listening to these dialogues as they happen will allow us to:

• Get a real time pulse on our members needs/wants/interests
• Connect members who may not have connected otherwise
• Make networking easier (imagine opening a social network before each conference to allow members to network before the event – taking out the time and anxiety that comes with networking with strangers)
• Develop programming/white papers/ educational tools and products our members need
• Give all members an opportunity to become active in the association

Let the conversations happen naturally. If members are talking, listen and facilitate that conversation, harness that energy. Because if you direct a member to a destination they don’t necessarily want to go to, they may go rogue. And if they go rogue on too many items, they may leave your association and open one on facebook, or ning, or use one of the other emerging technologies. And while it may not cause the organization to go under, there is an awful lot of value in free. And there are young professionals who have connected to individuals across the country without ever having paid a due.

So case in point – if no one member is the same, how can one blog serve all equally? (Is it so bad to branch into niches?) While it wasn’t accepted by the committee, I welcome any and all young professionals to join as a blogger on Young Association Professional as a full-time blogger, or simply as a guest blogger. Simply email me at rawolfejr@yahoo.com and I’ll add you.

P.S. (Do blogs have post scripts?)
I am happy to report that I was actually mentioned by Ben Martin, CAE Blogger, as one of the candidates for new blogger of the year (I was at the bottom of the list though, but on the list none the less). This was really a pleasant surprise because Ben has one of the most valuable blogs on association management. If you haven’t visited it, check it out on the side bar. His blog is a great mix of tech, links, and insight padded with some lighter moments (the caulking of the tub post is a classic example).

So it’s been almost two weeks since my last post – er… my first post, but I’m back, and hope to be mentioned by Ben again next year – maybe as up and coming blogger (hint, hint). Thanks Ben for the acknowledgement and for getting me started up again.

What is the minimum age for your membership?

As a Young Association Professional, this question is quite near and dear to my heart. While I don’t deal specifically with membership in my association, I would recommend you ask the above question.

ASAE and the Center did and I thank them for it (Please note this has not been endorsed by ASAE and the Center – it’s simply an organization that I participate in as a young professional). The result was the rising star membership, a membership fee that is reduced to entice young professionals an opportunity to join for a significant discount.

Why is the discount important to me as a young professional?

• The $100 annual fee is easier for me to pitch to my supervisor (a $265 membership fee as a new employee could be a hard sell)
• It shows me that the association is at least acknowledging young professionals in the field
• It breaks down the barriers for me, as a young professional, to join the American Society of Association Executives – a title I am at least 10 years away from
• It allows me to attach myself to my industry as opposed to just my department/position (Over the last 3 year's I've transitioned from a training professional to an association professional)

What about the benefits for my organization/member’s company?

• Effective way to invest in younger staff
• Effective reward/incentive for younger staff
• Increased insight into the industry, allowing for a better understanding of company's goals/procedures
• Build network of industry peers earlier/different set of peers from executives in my association

What about the benefits to your association/host association?

• You potentially get a 20-40 year member (even if I pay the $100 over 20 years, ASAE potentially recruited a $2000 member – if I pay $100 for 5 more years and the normal $265 over the following 15 that is a $4475 – assuming I only pay for membership)
• Ability to implement programs proactively for future generations of membership
• Keep up and coming stars in the industry (Isn’t the overall goal of the association to advance the industry?)
• Referrals – whether I recommend a fellow young professional to join or sign up my new employee after their 90 day review (which I recently did) – providing services to young professionals naturally increases the reach of the association

Now, not every association may have a significant need for young members because there are a variety of professions where individuals start with experience, such as… well there’s…. wait, everybody at some point starts out as a young professional before they become an executive or manager. So why doesn’t every association have student/young professional memberships?

Time constraints/costs/lack of staff?

Associations can provide the following services right off the bat for younger members:

• Mentoring programs with Sr. members – (good opportunity to use new web technologies
• General information to break in/advance in the industry
• Making information provided to regular members available to younger members for a discounted rate
• Opportunities to participate in committees/volunteer opportunities (Web2.0 and social responsibility initiatives are both good opportunities to engage younger members)

Remember, in 10, 15, 20 years from now as the association leaders of today retire, it will be young professionals, such as myself, who will continue the legacy that’s been started today. Wouldn’t it benefit the industry you’re working in as well as your association to groom the future leaders of tomorrow today?