For as long as I can remember I’ve made a conscious choice to do what I can. It’s mainly been by doing things like reducing consumption and minimizing waste. To be honest it’s not that hard – switching to energy efficient light bulbs, turning off lights, computers, and appliances when I’m not using them, recycling everything that I can, and driving a little less. Does it make a difference? I can’t say for certain but I firmly believe that the impact can be profound, especially if we were all to do it. In the words of the English Playwright and Poet John Heywood: “Many hands make light work.”

Whether you think that we are impacting the climate or not, consider this: we only have one planet to call home and it’s ours to do with as we see fit. We can leave it a little bit better than we got it or we can simply ignore the responsibility and do nothing. In the end, it’s all about choices. As for me, I’m choosing to do what I can. I want my son and all of the generations that follow to be able to marvel in this great place that we call planet Earth.

However, I also refused to let my distance keep me away from the action and have found that ASAE has done a pretty good job of laying the foundation that allows folks like me, who couldn’t attend, to stay tapped into the action and activity. I say “pretty good” because I am noticing things that could be changed to provide an even better virtual experience. This isn’t a rant on how ASAE isn’t meeting my individual needs – I think they are doing a good job at that – just a perspective of someone who had planned on being there but couldn’t and would love to be engaged in more of an immersive experience.

Here are some initial thoughts:

1. The ASAE Annual Hub rocks. This is great for physical and virtual attendees alike and I love the mobile integration – when I tested it a few weeks ago it worked perfectly on my BlackBerry and I heard that iPhone users had a similar great experience. However, one nag that I am seeing is the Twitter feed does not update in real time. Call me a zealot but if you go to the trouble of creating a “one-stop-shop” for all things conference related don’t make me have to (a) constantly refresh the screen if I want to see the updated stream or (b) have to go somewhere else (e.g. TweetChat or Twubs) to get what I want. It’s not to hard to integrate the technology to make this possible but for somebody who does understand the technology it’s somewhat of a glaring oversight. Again the Annual Hub rocks – refreshing does not.

2. Speaking of the Twitter stream, I applaud ASAE for embracing Twitter and all of it’s goodness for disaggregating content creation and crowd sourcing live coverage of the many events that comprise the conference itself. I do worry – especially given Twitter’s troubles over the past few weeks – that this is a huge risk equivalent to placing all of one’s eggs in a single basket. All that separates success from #FAIL is another #DDOS attack on Twitter and the stream would effectively grind to a halt. This would not only isolate virtual attendees who are monitoring the stream to stay as in-tune with what is going on as possible but it would also probably disrupt event communications as Twitter also serves a secondary purpose as a back channel for planning and coordinating attendee activities. It’s not always the first thing on the mind of technology folks but risk mitigation is tremendously important – always have a plan B and plan C.

   I think an option for future consideration would be using something like Laconica – the opensource twin of Twitter that could be installed on a private server and could keep going even if Twitter went down. Identi.ca is a great example of a Laconica site (here is a good review too). And because Twitter and Laconica have an extremely similar interface and the API is pretty much identical, the Laconica-powered stream could serve as the primary, while still streaming updates to Twitter, it could serve as a very viable fail safe and still involve anybody who is interested. Sure it’s a bit more complicated than I have laid out here, but it’s not overly complicated and ASAE has continuously proven to be extremely proficient with technology so I have no doubt they could pull this off with aplomb.

3. I saw a tweet from ASAE announcing the fact that 70 of 115+ sessions were being recorded and were available on physical media in exchange for the coupon on the learning journal. This is, and has been a great value add for conference attendees. Let’s face it, it’s always tough to get to every session you want to attend and this allows you to get a whole lot more bang for your buck. But what about virtual attendees? There’s nothing here for us. Since the session are already recorded why not pick a few select (possibly highly attended or some other quantitative measure) and post them online for virtual attendees to enjoy. It’s not terribly expensive or time consuming to have someone grab the audio and slide deck and throw them into a tool like Articulate Presenter or Camtasia and produce a pretty-good quality presentation for online viewing. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just good enough to make me want to buy the recordings later or at least know that this is a must attend event in the years to come. Logistically it could be done overnight and posted on the Hub site the next morning. To me that would represent a terrific value add.

Let me reiterate that I think ASAE is doing a fantastic job with Annual this year. I can see it based on my own experience with the tools and resources they have put in place and through the great feedback that I am seeing from others, I just wanted to highlight some areas that would make the virtual attendee experience even better than it is now. I’m sure I’ll have more to share as I continue to observe/participate from afar, but until then have fun!

World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival on Vimeo

This is simply amazing and a great object example of the power of people united for a common purpose. Think about it. What can a common purpose or unifying force do for your organization? I think the results could be amazing.

I took the tweet from Lindy as a suggestion (normally when Lindy recommends something to me it’s going to be a hot topic so I have learned to listen to her when she does) to take a good look at the Power of A and weigh-in n what I thought. Admittedly, at first I really didn’t get it. Not only didn’t I grasp the purpose but I also didn’t immediately realize who was behind it. It took me some clicking around to realize that (a) it was produced by ASAE and the Center and (b) it was extolling the virtues of Associations. Granted it was a user-friendly interface and I found it aesthetically pleasing but I still didn’t get it. I thought that ASAE already had a website and if anything this type of information should have been housed there. I did privately wish that the ASAE website were as easy on the senses, but that is a different topic for a different day. After my cursory review, I sent a tweet back to Lindy to tell her that I didn’t get it but I did like the presentation and left the topic go…at least for a while.

Over the weekend the topic popped back on my radar screen through a bunch of Tweets and a blog post by @maggiemcg (The Power of…huh) responding with her thoughts on the whole thing. I think that was about the same time that I finally pieced everything together and saw what was going on. I left my own half-baked comment, many others followed more thoughtfully, and a stream of Tweets – #PWRA ensued. Needless to say, I think the whole thing wasn’t being viewed too positively – at least not initially – and the comments seemed to corroborate that fact. A follow-up post by Deirdre Reid seemed to push the paradigm even farther (The Natives Are Restless – How Do You Respond?).

After letting the topic stew for a day I began to better understand what I did and didn’t like about the website/approach and what I thought could have been done to make it better. On the positive side I liked:

1. the fact that ASAE was jumping up and telling the world about the impact that Associations can have for business and society.
2. the use of multimedia: text, audio/video, graphics, etc. to make the site welcoming, easy to use and full of a lot of decent information.
3. how ASAE embraced a myriad of social media tools (tagging, sharing widget, twitter stream, etc.) to not only bring in some of the resources referenced above, but also to encourage sharing and feedback.
4. the use of specific examples to drive home concrete messages about the true power of associations. I think this is a lot more of an effective approach as compared to listing specific benefits without substantiating them.

However, what I really didn’t like was:

1. the fact that the audience that this was directed at wasn’t really apparent. I came to find out that this site was specifically designed for our friends on Capitol Hill. While I know there is a pretty active campaign to gain additional support from our lawmakers during our country’s economic malaise, I think this site could have served many masters, not just one, equally as well.
2. the fact that ASAE and the Center engaged a PR Firm, actually not just any PR firm but one of the best and likely most expensive, to assist with the creation of this campaign. Now I happen to be a big fan of PR done right and also think highly of Ogilvy, but for the purposes of this campaign, I think it sends the wrong message. It looks like it is saying that the power of associations lies in the ability to use it’s funds to engage high dollar PR firms, not that it is part of the solution to some of woes that are ailing our nation as a whole.
3. while I do like the specific examples, I would have preferred to see the site go live with a lot more info than what it currently has. Sure, this is a superficial comment, but the examples while detailed only go so far in detailing all of the great things that associations do for their members, business and society.

What would have I done differently? Quite a bit actually.

1. First, I probably would have created the site as a sub-domain of the main ASAE site. You could have still had the vanity URL and accomplished all of the same things but visitors would have been all that much closer to the ASAE site. I would have also played up who was responsible for the site, not downplayed it. The first visual cue that you get that the Power of A site is part of ASAE is if you scroll to the bottom of the page. Why hide it?
2. Second, I would have definitely made the site serve different purposes depending on who the visitor was. Capitol Hill lawmaker? Go here. Association Executive or staffer? Go here. Association member or member of the general public? Go here. Employer? Go here. Associations have multiple stakeholder groups and ASAE is no different. As a former association staffer and current association (actually multiple association) member I would have liked to have seen the benefits of belonging spelled out clearly. After all, being currently out of work – which many are these days – I need to be reminded why an association membership is a great investment and ultimately an investment in my future. Likewise for employers. Why, when they are in the midst of slashing budgets and cutting back on professional development, should they continue to invest in association memberships for their employees?
3. Third, I think that a lot of this could have been done in-house. Again, no offense to the work and/or talent of Ogilvy, but who better to demonstrate the power of associations than associations themselves? A general call could have been put out or a tiger-team/task force could have been assembled and a myriad of social media tools could have been employed to create the same type of resource probably as quickly and a lot more cost-effectively. When your members are the exact people you want to hear from why go to a third party to solicit their feedback?
4. Fourth, I would have made the site a lot more dynamic (e.g. living and breathing) than it is now. I would have made it almost all user generated (with some oversight of course) and allowed to be something that was continuously changing and being updated with compelling stories from associations, from members and from businesses. My guess is that by really opening the site up it would have a much longer shelf-life and much more compelling content that would have mass appeal.

Surely these aren’t the only ideas that could have made the site much more reflective of the true power of associations, but it would have been a good start. If you were to ask me, I would say that the true power of associations lie in the membership so who better to tell the world about it?

What did I miss, what other ideas are there? How could we take this from a target for criticism to a true reflection of the power of associations? Share your thoughts, ideas, feedback and criticism below!

I have always thought that one of the most important responsibilities that an association has, especially in tough times, was that of as a place of refuge and inspiration for their members. I personally refer to it as the “lighthouse effect” – or the idea that the association is the beacon of light helping their members stay safe and on course in rough weather and turbulent sea’s. While the decision to cancel their event was obviously a last resort and in recognition of the economic realities facing the news industry – and our nation as a whole – I think it indirectly sent the message that the members are on their own. If I put myself in the position of one of their members, especially with everything else that is happening to the industry, I would interpret the decision as a final acknowledgment that the news industry is in the final throes of death.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am among those that think the news industry reacted far too slowly to industry movement and consumer preference for news when and how they wanted it. This situation seems to add insult to injury especially when they had a number of key business, (dropping the word “paper” from their title and finally admitting web editors to their membership), key business that could reshape the mission, vision and purpose of the association and help the association and industry as a whole regain relevance at such an important time.

In examining the press release more closely, I would have also been a lot more descriptive about how they were going to bridge the gap that canceling the conference created.

“In the meantime, Hall said the organization will increase reliance on the Web to help editors share what they are learning as they reinvent their news organizations for multiple platforms.”

What does this mean? They should have been leveraging the web already so this tells me nothing to give me hope or some sense that the captain isn’t asleep at the wheel. To be honest, I do think the cancellation was a very sound business decision, but I would have reinvented the event as an online conference of some sort or another instead of canceling it outright. Definitely a missed opportunity.

They already had a good deal of time and planning put into making the event happen. Having been involved with the planning and implementation of a number of large-scale events I know that most of the big ticket items were probably already ready to go – key note speaker, general sessions, etc. Much of that planning could have been re-purposed for an online format that they could have come together to create an inspiring and interactive event to re-engage and inspire the current membership and also demonstrate the associations willingness to take a leadership role and re-invent itself in a very disruptive point in time.

What if the association put together a live webcast where the President of ANSE, Charlotte Hall, could address the membership, talk about the state of the industry, the challenges and opportunities, and the key initiatives on the table? They could create more of a two-way conversation by allowing members to send in questions and Ms. Hall could address some of the common themes that appear. They could also create a special forum or discussion area where members and staff can interact, discuss the situation in a structured and moderated fashion and maybe even come up with some proposed answers or approaches to the challenges. They could also take some of the general or educational sessions and provide a platform/location/forum where they could still be presented and members could attend regardless of where they are. It doesn’t have to be a multi-day affair, it really doesn’t have to be an all day affair, but by doing something it not only sends the message that the association is still there for the membership and wants to create/provide as much value as possible – even in tough times – it also provides the staff and membership a forum for future discussion.

I think the point I am trying to make is the fact that even in times of total change and uncertainty there are options and alternatives but status quo is not one of them. The key is not overlooking any potential option fearing that it is too little. What the members of ASNE probably want and need is some sort of grounding force to bring some clarity and uncertainty to rather uncertain times. They need to be inspired and kept hopeful. The news industry itself is definitely not in the position to do it but it would have been a great opportunity for one of the industry associations to step up and assume a leadership role.

One final note. While I may have been strong in my choice of words and how I used the example of ASNE as the source of inspiration for this post, I don’t want it to be misinterpreted as an attack on the association itself. ASNE did, and will continue to do, what is in the best interest of their membership and the association as a whole based on good stewardship and a intimate knowledge of the realities of their situation. I simply meant this post to point out additional opportunities, that may or may not be viable or visible, from the perspective of an outsider and as someone who realizes the potential and power of change. Even in times of disruption and change, there are always alternatives and opportunities…seeing them however is and will continue to be the challenge.

Note: I made an edit to this post to correct an egregious spelling error. My apologies to Jeff De Cagna for the mistake due to fat fingers and a small keyboard.