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5 tips to help prevent credit fraud at your organization

Guest Blogger — Wed, 04 May 2011 20:37:36 +0000

Nearly every association, professional society and nonprofit is involved in some sort e-commerce. This piece is part of a 6-part sponsored series over on our sister blog, SmartBrief on Leadership.

Some of the risks that credit fraud pose to businesses are obvious: Money lost from reimbursed goods and non-refundable processing fees are two examples that can undoubtedly hurt a company’s bottom line. There are more subtle costs too, however. Fraud can indirectly hurt sales by decreasing customer satisfaction and by damaging a company’s brand.

Your organization could be subjected to fraud through breaches in your computer systems, from physical acts of theft at points-of-sale or from your employees themselves. It is important that companies have a plan that that decreases their vulnerability to all types of fraud.

Here are five steps to take when creating this plan:

Identify vulnerabilities in your data-management system. The first step toward knowing how to protect your customers’ information is knowing exactly how that information travels through your company’s databases. According to the Better Business Bureau, companies should complete a comprehensive checklist that includes the type of information being collected from customers (members!), the places where this information is stored, the people who handle the information and the devices used to input that information.

Keep your databases up-to-date. This means keeping your virus protection software updated and paring down the existing databases on a regular basis. If you have customer (member) information that you don’t need anymore, get rid of it — it only creates more liability.

Monitor areas in your business where goods are exchanged. Many instances of credit fraud originate from employees who have either hatched a plan or have been swayed by an outside contact. It might be a good idea to put a security camera near cash registers as a precaution. Also, a quick, easy way to implement an internal policing safeguard is by creating an ethics hotline, or what some call a whistle-blowing hotline. According to former FBI agent Ken Springer, most employees are more loyal than you think and will speak up if they see suspicious activity.

Know your state’s credit transaction laws. Many states have laws that require businesses to follow certain procedures when handling online payments. Being compliant with these laws will not only help keep your customers’ information more secure, it also will minimize your company’s liability if your security is breached. A good place to start reviewing these guidelines is at the PCI Security Standards Council.

Make fraud protection an ongoing operation. Unfortunately, there’s no single solution to avoiding credit fraud. Fraudsters’ methods evolve almost as quickly as the safeguards put in place to stop them. Because of this, preventing fraud is an ongoing operation more than it is a single policy change or software implementation.

How does your .org prevent credit fraud? Has the increase in e-commerce and mobile commerce changed the way you handle fraud prevention?

Association leadership: Transforming governance to stewardship

Guest Blogger — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:04:39 +0000

Shelly Alcorn, CAE, is a thought-leader, speaker and association management consultant. Reach her on twitter @shellyalcorn, on LinkedIn or at the Association Subculture blog. This is the third post in our Words Make Worlds series (Part 1:Why associations need a head check; Part 2: Challenging membership may mean challenging labels), taking a systematic look at major areas of commonly accepted terminology in association management and searching for alternative language to apply to see if we can create new realities. This post challenges the term “governance.”

At the core, governance is the decision making structure within any organization. These decisions are reflected in the policies we implement and enforce. According to Amos H. Hawley in Human Ecology: A Theoretical Essay, ecological social systems develop policy along a change continuum. All policy is designed to facilitate the following four conditions: “to preserve the status quo by excluding change, to reverse a change in process, to accommodate a change underway or to produce a desirable change.”

Recognizing the underlying function of policy — to start, modify, reverse or prevent change — gives you an important tool to use to evaluate the decision making structures and policies within your association. By identifying where policies fall on the change continuum, you will develop a clearer understanding of the culture in your association. You will begin to recognize policies which were ostensibly written to facilitate change and yet include operational barriers and language undermining the change the policy purports to seek.

A few key points:

Many times, associations look to policy to reinforce control. This is a natural outcome of using the word “governance” to describe our decision making structure. “To govern” has a hierarchical connotative meaning built into it that we instinctively recognize. As a consequence the board, other groups of volunteers and staff may become embroiled in turf battles using policy as the weapon of choice.

Policy is also often used as a way to marginalize the “troublemakers.” In some cases, making policy in response to the actions of the singular individual is necessary. However, reflexively using policy to prevent dissent or maximize control is a dangerous practice. A democratic citizenry may buckle under for a while, but will not stay silent forever.

We use corporate policy to our detriment. There has been an unmistakable push in recent years to overlay our volunteer structure with a more corporate model for decision making processes. Some associations have manipulated policy and ultimately ended up in ivory towers from which proclamations ensue and wild guesses are made as to “what the members want” (subtext: will buy). Unfortunately, democratic social systems don’t work that way. Perhaps it isn’t really a matter of “finding a better marketing message,” but rather of providing platforms for members to engage with.

Corporate terminology impacts policy and governance. We frequently use terminology such as “stakeholders” or “customers.” This reduces the nature of “member” to “customer” and serves to create a “lever/pellet” transactional relationship between your citizens and your association. In this case, “governance” is really about controlling the product that is produced and less about social justice and change. In practice, this two-dimensional view undermines the three-dimensional nature of a fully engaged citizenry.

In conclusion, perhaps we should consider changing our terminology from “governance” to “stewardship.” As stewards of an association the board and volunteer leaders embrace those duties assigned to them by law, demonstrate careful oversight of the finances, and focus on removing barriers to allow change and innovation to flourish within the citizenry. A “governor” operates from a position of power, the “steward” serves the others who own the house. What a great metaphor to use to describe how we take care of our members interests. That’s what your boardroom can be – the people’s house. They elected you. They entrust you with the responsibility to use their money well, listen to their concerns, represent their interests with integrity and resist the influence from corporate sponsors who may attempt to buy their way into your decision making process.

Stewards, (both volunteers and staff), work hand in hand and generate only those activities that advance the great vision of the organization. Stewards protect and provide the comfort of rituals, ceremony and the transmission of customs and culture in a transparent manner. What a different role than the body that “approves” committee work-plans and “runs” the association.

If you changed your terminology from “governance” to “stewardship” what changes might happen in your association? Do you see additional opportunities to change the way you interact with each other in matters of policy as you pursue a meaningful mission and vision? Does it give you more freedom to delegate and allow members to create additional realities?

How to make time for a “small bite” of community

Guest Blogger — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:07:43 +0000

Deirdre Reid, CAE, is a freelance writer who helps organizations create content and conversation. Connect with her at Reid All About It or @DeirdreReid.

Social media pioneer Chris Brogan wrote earlier this year about online communities and “platform fatigue.”

“We want to connect on maybe two or three networks tops. One or two of these will remain the “commons” services like Facebook or Twitter. The rest of people’s interactions are going to fall into smaller communities, often private or self-selected in some way.”

Our time, attention span and dedication are limited. How much can we spare for a new online community if we’re already spending time on Facebook, Twitter and other sites? What about your members?

Think about your usual online haunts. Where do you spend time? What prompts you to go there? Do you have to make an effort to go there or does the platform remind you somehow to visit? That prompt can make a difference when a community isn’t yet a habit.

Maybe your habits are similar to mine. I start my day with Google Reader, reading blogs that interest me professionally and personally. I use Hootsuite to visit Twitter at least once a day. While on Twitter I chat, click links and open tabs to read later. Twitter is my most valuable professional and personal hangout, so I schedule time for it.

I dip into Facebook about once a day, more often on weekends, to check and reply to updates. Facebook helps me keep up with friends and family, well worth my time. I sometimes scan LinkedIn network updates in my Reader and group discussion digests that delivered by email. I only go to the LinkedIn site to change my status or comment on an update.

Isn’t that enough online action? If you’re hoping to get my participation in yet another community, you’ve got a challenge on your hands. My time, brain and heart are already stretched too thin. If you want to play with me, you’ll have to come to one of my playgrounds — blogs, Twitter, Facebook — unless you deliver an enjoyable experience and an efficiently packaged value that I can’t get anywhere else.

However, for people who aren’t yet immersed in social media like me, an online community can be a good stepping stone to a full association experience, if it provides value they can’t get anywhere else. An online community also gives members a way to develop relationships with other members. Face-to-face events become more alluring and easier to negotiate once the ice is broken online.

Brogan advises brand managers to settle for “small bites” – small communities. Focus on the quality of the interactions, not the quantity of members.

Associations can excel in this world of “small bites.” Provide an experience where members can connect to others with the same professional and personal interests, have meaningful discussions, get questions answered, share interesting resources and create their own small communities. Give them one-stop shopping — a package of experiences they can’t find anywhere else in one place. That’s the type of community I would find time for.

How about you? Are you a member of any small online communities? What is it about that community that makes you find time to spend there?

How associations can engage a crowd of curators

Guest Blogger — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:44:58 +0000

Deirdre Reid, CAE, is a freelance writer who helps organizations create content and conversation. Connect with her at Reid All About It or @DeirdreReid.

How would you like to curate an upcoming art exhibit? You won’t even need a graduate degree in art history or museum studies to do it. In 10 minutes you can help curate an upcoming exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, Split Second: Indian Paintings.

Inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, the museum’s online survey takes the viewer through three stages to view and rate 40 randomly generated paintings from the museum’s collection.

In the first stage, two paintings appear side-by-side. The viewer has four seconds to click the one she prefers before the next pair appears.
Then, a painting appears with a question about it. I was asked to give the first word that came to my mind. Others viewers are asked about the number of figures, subject or mood, dominant color, or what’s happening in the scene. Then the viewer rates the painting’s appeal on a scale from ‘meh’ to ‘amazing.’
In the last stage, the viewer is asked to rate the painting but only after reading one of three things: the painting’s caption (title, painter, dimensions and date), tags (keywords) or interpretive wall label.

More than 3,300 people have participated so far. In July, the museum will exhibit “the paintings that generated the most controversial and dynamic responses during the evaluation process.” The museum hopes to learn how certain types of information influence the way viewers perceive art.

Like many associations, art museums are experimenting with new ways to engage their audiences. A participant who invests time and thought into rating paintings will be curious to see how it turns out; I know I would. I’d also like to learn more about the paintings that intrigued me. The museum’s experiment worked: the experience converted me into an engaged prospect and provided data to help guide its work.

“We are becoming a culture of curators,” says Molly Hanse of the Center for Arts Management and Technology.

“Organizations that are at the forefront of online audience engagement are presenting ideas that go beyond simply offering information about programming. Instead, they are experimenting with different ways that audiences can become co-creators of content, which can then lead to a sense of ownership in the institution.”

In the age of American Idol, Kickstarter and Threadless, we can all be curators and creators. We want to be asked for our opinion. We want to have our say. We want to make a difference. Is your association providing enough of these participatory experiences?

Look for ways to give your members a voice and a vote, interact with each other, and respond to and engage with ideas, arguments or other conversation starters. If many of your members are not digitally active, find traditional or ‘analog’ ways for them to participate so your results reflect a diverse spectrum. Be clear about the intent and goals driving your crowdsourcing efforts, and how your members’ participation will move you toward those goals. Provide enough guiding information to your members so they know how to give you their best efforts.

Find situations where you can intellectually engage your members on something meaningful and useful to them, and on something they are qualified to handle. The crowd won’t always be able to do it alone. Associations have a curatorial responsibility to use staff expertise to scout, filter, guide, analyze and organize member- (or crowd-) generated content to provide the best experience possible.

Image credit: Brooklyn Museum.

What Associations Can Learn from Borders’ Struggles: Amazons On The Border

Guest Blogger — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 18:11:32 +0000

David Hollender is the chief Internet Strategist for Mind Sky, an online communications consultant for associations, nonprofits and social enterprises.

You may have heard about the continuing troubles of Borders Books at the hands of more tech-savvy rivals like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But the true story behind the fall of Borders is not really tech-savviness. Rather, it lies in the company’s struggle to meet increasing expectations for service and convenience in a rising digital age.

It is true that e-Readers produced by other companies are technologically impressive; likewise the search tools, recommendation engines and usability engineering that have gone into their respective websites. But the coolness of these marvels is nothing compared to the capabilities, convenience and ease of use each delivers to their happy recipients.

My paperback-sized e-reader has saved trips to the bookstore, and offered features to make my reading more productive and fun. That it enables me to download and read collections of classic books – for free – hasn’t hurt either. Many of us now take it for granted that the websites of Borders’ competitors provide functionality in the form of recommendations, reviews and search capabilities that make it so much easier to find books to read in the first place. Borders has come to the party, unfortunately too late. But it provides an archetype for examining the fortunes of old-style organizations struggling in a digital age.

The pundits will say that Borders was beaten to the web by more crafty rivals. But others – especially Amazon – not only arrived first to the online world, they figured out how to wield its tools to improve their services, in a meaningful way. Therein lies a secret to success. By asking how can we better serve customers, rather than what we should build, organizations can focus on the most important aspects of their businesses.

Before embarking on a website project, associations can ask, how do we make our membership renewal process more customer friendly, how do we identify and highlight content that is timely and compelling, or how can we empower members to help each other? The answers will lead to a specific set of tools and technologies, and ways to use them. By asking first, and building after, organizational decision-makers should never have to say, “Okay, we’re on Facebook and Twitter… What do we do now?”

I have heard too many social media gurus intone the Nike motto, “Just Do It.” For many, including Borders, a visionless trek into a muddle of portable apps, social networks and online forums leads at best to modest results. By letting vision lead, technology choices become orders of magnitude easier to make. By seeking to be a visionary amazon, decision makers can conquer any borders.

Strategic Planning in a Changing Environment

Guest Blogger — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 18:27:04 +0000

Shelly Alcorn, CAE, is a thought-leader, speaker and association management consultant. Reach her on twitter @shellyalcorn, on LinkedIn or at the Association Subculture blog.

One thing many association executives still haven’t recognized is that strategic planning is neither the first nor the most important step in the organizational planning process. The first step is establishing a clear mission, articulating a vision of the future, followed by creating strategic plans to fulfill the mission and vision.

For many years, the strategic planning process was the main focus for associations. Many strategic plans were written for a three, five or even ten year cycle. Leaders within the organization typically held regular retreats and reviewed this strategic plan for adjustments and revisions but did not regularly make significant changes to the overall plan. Those long term strategic plans were considered the primary roadmap to follow to achieve the goals of the business.

However, as the rate of change has accelerated, our understanding of the role of strategic planning has evolved. As mission and vision have taken their rightful place at the front and center of organizations, the strategic process has evolved to a more flexible, reactive process. Effective strategic plans utilize both data driven strategies and scenario-based forecasting to allow for faster, more targeted reaction times and results.

Let’s briefly describe the major components in organizational planning to more clearly illustrate the relationship between them:

Mission is the purpose for which the association exists. A mission statement tends to be a paragraph or less, and is frequently broadly cast and sometimes not particularly compelling.

Vision is an inspiring, long-term, fixed view of where the organization is headed. Vision statements include articulation of core values, core purpose, a huge goal and a vivid description of what achievement of that goal would mean.

Strategic Plans are specific, limited-time initiatives aimed at changing conditions, circumstances or beliefs, all in furtherance of the organization’s mission and vision. Associations should generally have from three to six strategic goals.

Operating plans set forth various ongoing programs and activities, such as products, services or pricing.

For example, if the association did not have an annual trade show, and it wished/needed to start one, doing so would be a strategic goal. Once the goal was achieved (i.e.: a trade show has been established and operates on an ongoing basis), it becomes an operating plan.

Now that we have an understanding of the major components involved in the planning environment, let’s take a look at five keys to implementing strategic plans that will move your association forward into its envisioned future.

Mindfulness – Maintain an awareness of what strategic planning is and what it is not. Make sure you actively work to sort out strategic initiatives from ongoing operations. Ensure all individuals involved in strategic planning remain focused on the vision of the organization and can clearly articulate why a particular initiative will advance your overall cause.

Prioritization – You can’t do it all. Meaningful strategic plans will, by necessity, require prioritization and must be adequately funded and resourced. Many times, achievement of a vision will include elimination of pet projects and programs.

Alignment – All decision making bodies within the organization must work in alignment. All committees, task forces and volunteer groups must have a clear understanding of their objectives and how achievement of those objectives will impact the greater good. Power struggles over turf and territory must be directly dealt with.

Flexibility – Circumstances in today’s environment often change quickly and without warning. There must be dedication to creating momentum through sustained action and yet, the ability to modify plans or change course if necessary. You must carefully balance two extremes – giving up too quickly in the face of adversity and stubbornly persisting in spite of evidence to the contrary.

Enthusiasm – Don’t discount enthusiasm on the part of the staff and volunteers as a key component of creating a strategic environment that encourages success. People who are involved and supportive will work to ensure their success. They will seek to solve problems creatively and rise to the occasion when called upon.

Associations that focus on clearly articulating a vision, collaboratively establishing strategic plans and then putting those operations in place to achieve them have been able to, and will continue to, accomplish great things on behalf of their members and society at large.

Give New Life to Your Press Release

Guest Blogger — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:00:47 +0000

Deirdre Reid, CAE, is a freelance writer who helps organizations create content and conversation. Connect with her at Reid All About It or @DeirdreReid.

With the rise of social media, some pundits have declared the press release dead. Others say that’s an extreme view; a good release still plays an important role. However, too many releases deserve the dustbin — poorly crafted, irrelevant and self-serving announcements disguised as press releases.

To avoid ending up in that category, the next time you automatically open your release template, ask yourself: Is this really news? Is my target reader going to find it valuable? Who is my target reader? Don’t become irrelevant to your media contacts by sending them announcements of no interest to anyone except a handful of your industry leaders.

Instead of making an announcement, pitch a story worthy of publication. When I think about the releases that came into our magazine inbox, most of them announced a new product but didn’t give our editor any story ideas that would interest our readers. The releases were all about them — the company and their new product – but they didn’t make the connection to the reader’s life and business. If you want an editor or blogger to write about your news, find an angle for them.

Keep it short and relevant. Don’t go on and on about your association, no one cares. Instead weave your ultimate message into a story. Connect it to the real world, perhaps piggy-backing onto a current event or trend, or recent survey or study findings. Create a case study as story that your reader would relate to. Don’t rely on quotes from your CEO or official spokesperson; include testimonials from people your target audience can identify with.

First you have to get the attention of the editor or blogger. Jiyan Wei at Copyblogger tells us how: “Reduce the basics of your message down to one sentence that answers the 5W’s of reporting – who, what, when, where and why — and find that story hook that will help them write a story their readers won’t forget.” And for the reader, provide the “what’s in it for me?” in your first paragraph.

Maddie Grant at Socialfish explains the new online environment we work in. “For an organization’s “news” to stand out, it needs to reach three audiences: traditional media, online media bloggers/digital influencers and the general public; and be understandable to three kinds of readers: humans, search engines, and social networking sites.” Here are additional tips for writing a release that will provide buzz for your organization:

• Provide links to pages within your website, not to your homepage.
• For search engine optimization, use keywords that are connected to your brand and message.
• Use language a reader will understand, not industry lingo and acronyms.
• Make your story easy to share. Provide short blurbs for bloggers, Twitter and Facebook.
• Include links to blog posts, videos, podcasts or photos that provide more depth to the story.

Don’t forget your call to action — going to your website to learn more, spreading your story, registering for an event or purchasing a product. Make a connection between your story and your reader’s life or business, just like you would with a political action alert. Announcements are boring. Connect to your reader’s intellect and emotions with a good story.

What Associations Can Learn from Online Conferencing Done Right

Guest Blogger — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 21:00:20 +0000

Shelly Alcorn, CAE, is a thought-leader, speaker and association management consultant. Reach her on twitter @shellyalcorn, on LinkedIn or at the Association Subculture blog.

Like many association professionals who specialize in conferences and professional development, I come to any educational experience with some pretty high expectations. On any given day I am either the bombard-ED or the bombard-EE in terms of planning, executing, attending, presenting at, marketing, celebrating and/or lamenting this thing we call “conference.” So, not only is it hard to get my attention in the first place, you can lose me at any number of points along the way.

Imagine my surprise and delight at running across the Reinvention Summit 2010 – A Virtual Summit on the Future of Storytelling. I was immediately drawn in despite my best efforts to find reasons not to load my calendar up. I simply COULD NOT ignore it. The sheer audacity of setting up a conference and yelling, “Here we are, where are you?!” to the world was inspiring. I wanted to yell back, “I’m over here!” I found it downright charming and infectious. Every idealistic bone in my body was completely sucked in.

Although I was sicker than a dog with a vicious cold during the entire two weeks and spent most of my listening hours in a Nyquil induced coma, I came away with this feeling that not only had I tapped into a community that was exciting and engaging – but they know how to run an excellent online conference! Here are some key lessons I hope all association online conference planners can embrace.

Accessibility – They set price points that were affordable, sensible and leveled up according to the type of engagement/participation you wanted. Those of us who knew some of the speakers but weren’t sure what the Reinvention Summit was all about had a low-cost, low-risk option to take. Here’s the best part – the lowest level Explorer’s Pass was not a cheap-smoke-and-mirrors-bait-and-switch imitation of the real thing. It was a complete experience if that was all you could afford.

Technology – I am not completely sure what they used in the way of technology although I know Adobe Connect was involved. The experience was not without its moments, but login was simple, content and audio streamed very well, the online chat was fun and any hiccups they had were efficiently handled with good humor. They were able to switch between pre-recorded sessions and live sessions almost seamlessly.

Informality – I believe informality is a necessity in a virtual environment as anything that feels remotely canned is hard enough to listen to in person, and virtually impossible to listen to online. Their engaging style was evident from the first introductory video on the website in which Michael Margolis of Get Storied just talks about the ideas behind the Reinvention Summit all the way through to the tone set by other organizers and the presenters.

Scheduling – Instead of trying to get my undistracted online attention for 8 hours a day they scheduled four, one hour sessions per day over the course of two weeks and varied those sessions among the three tracks they had. That meant I could easily fit in the one or two sessions per day I felt I couldn’t miss. We got overnight reminder emails with descriptions of the sessions that were on deck for the next day. In addition, they recorded all sessions for playback and I have 60 days to get to the ones I missed.

Enthusiasm – I am convinced this group genuinely believes their mantra, “Storytelling can change the world.” That enthusiasm made me a believer too. What was unique about this virtual conference experience is each of their presenters appeared to genuinely adhere to the purposeful and clear message, while simultaneously providing their unique and personal perspectives.

Conferences are hard enough to plan and virtual, online experiences even more so. But by keeping our eyes on these five elements, I believe we will be in a much better position to create online experiences that our members will not only appreciate but will actually learn from in addition to being able to meaningfully connect with new “virtual” colleagues.

I can’t find you: Search Engine Optimization Basics for Associations (Part 1)

Guest Blogger — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:17:58 +0000

Ray van Hilst is Director of Client Strategy and Marketing at Vanguard Technology - an online technology service provider for associations and association management companies. Connect with him @rvanhilst or rvanhilst at vtcus.com.

Nice website. Shame I didn’t find it when I did research on your association’s industry.

Associations are natural thought leaders and like to be known as the “go-to-expert” for their niche. However when I ask web users, “How do you research something related to your work,” their answer is almost always “Google.”

Not “I visit my association’s website.”

Search Engine Optimization is constantly evolving with new technologies helping web users find the right websites.

Yet every day I see association websites lacking SEO basics that could help them be shown in more industry related searches.

For all intents and purposes, Google doesn’t even know the site exists. So where should you start?

Your acronym is not a search term.

Many .orgs assume the best search for their site is based on the acronym. But if your acronym is AWA, do you want to be found as the American Water Association or Applied Widgets Association?

Start with a look at your industry and key terms that apply to your area of expertise. List the most relevant ones covering what you do and your content. Here are just a few sources and considerations:

Use the full name of your organization including the industry.
What are the hottest topics at your conferences or in your publications?
What search terms help you find your competitors – whether it’s another association or a vendor offering education?
Look at your website analytics, what terms are already delivering traffic?
What are key terms the media uses about your industry in either mainstream media or business trades?
If your organization is regional, include what area you serve (state, region, city, etc.).

There are many tools to explore search terms including the keyword tool that is part of Google AdWords as well as paid tools and services. Spend some time with them to build a concise list.

Lastly, avoid jargon. Remember, how you refer to a subject may not be what outsiders type into Google.

Meta Tags – Love Them. Use Them.

Meta Tags tell the web browser about the page you are reading including the page name, description and the keywords for the page. It’s also the first data a search engine reads when it finds a web page and stores it in the search engine database.

And yet many websites don’t have any Meta Tags on their pages.

Modern Content Management Software systems easily add tags to your website. Go back to your list of keywords and make sure you are adding them as part of the process of creating and updating web pages. Include:

Title Tag – Generates the title at the top of your web-browser. Give every page a title that relates to page content and includes one of your keywords.
Description Tag – Provides the description shown in the search engine results page.
Keyword Tag – Tells the search engine the subject of the page.

Next week, I add tips on content and discuss why links matter. What do you think is key for SEO for associations?

Association Management and New Year’s Resolutions

Guest Blogger — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:57:16 +0000

Shelly Alcorn, CAE, is a thought-leader, speaker and association management consultant. Reach her on twitter @shellyalcorn, on LinkedIn or at the Association Subculture blog.

Maybe a good New Years resolution is swearing off resolutions for both ourselves and our associations we work in. Ironic, perhaps…but let me explain.

The world as we know it ends every day – not just on Dec. 31 of each year. We are given endless opportunities to survive negative and promote positive changes on an ongoing basis, not just an annual basis. The challenges we face this year may be similar but not identical to last years. Our Board members will change. Our staffs may change. Projects we are working on can look vastly different from day to day and week to week.

At this particular time of year, many of us stop and reflect on what was, what is or what could have been. It’s almost as if life itself programs us with a basic subroutine for “personal strategic planning.” Many of us go through a similar, natural annual process triggered by family, cultural, secular or religious traditions, the gathering of old friends or even the consumption of specific treats we associate with this time of year. (Many of us find our association careers dictate this is the ONLY time of the year we can truly call our own after having run the previous years gauntlet of board meetings, conferences, etc., and playing “Legislative Committee Roulette” or “Regulatory Agency Twister.”)

After we have stopped, reflected and taken stock of our situation we sometimes feel a compulsion to appear to be “doing something about it” so we step forward and make pronouncements otherwise known as “new years resolutions.”

That’s where we blow it.

The resolution isn’t enough and typically it isn’t anything new. Most of the time the resolution is something we’ve been meaning to do and just haven’t dedicated the resources to actually doing. Resolutions are notoriously unsuccessful, particularly when given an annual time frame for achievement. With cultural programming like this, is it any wonder our boards have such trouble with their own annual strategic planning process?

I’m guessing your organization goes through a similar process at their annual Board retreat. They reflect on what was, what is, brainstorm an ideal future, make some “annual strategic priority” pronouncements and then what happens?

Resolution – “Our association will achieve “x” outcome.”

Reality – The outcome statement goes to a committee who holds one meeting just to “figure out what the board means by that” and several more meetings to develop ideas on how to go about it, someone mentions doing a survey and months are eaten up developing, executing and analyzing the survey results at which point the strategic operating environment has changed again, six months in the budget is undergoing some fine-tuning to get to the end of the year on target so some retooling on costs of proposed ideas gets underway, members come on or go off the committee leading to some loss of institutional memory and the need to get the newbies up to speed, a little undermining here and a little obstructionism over there, staff goes on vacation which puts off implementation of any idea for weeks, several meetings are spent talking about new priorities subsequently assigned by the board that don’t have anything to do with the original outcome and by that time everything they HAD scheduled is interrupted by the annual meeting, staff has no time to work on any committee projects and suddenly the board is back at the annual planning retreat coming up with a resolution to give that goal another go next year.

Let’s agree to stop the personal and organizational “resolutions” madness – new years or otherwise.

By all means, regularly set aside time to stop, reflect and plan to move forward. Celebrate your successes, revel where you are in the moment, evaluate your current environment and visualize a compelling future. But resist the siren song of the “sweeping resolutions” which left unchecked can distract you from actually achieving your ultimate goals. Set strategic priorities that are obtainable, within a certain time frame (ideally shorter than a year because we are almost pre-programmed to blow off annual goals), properly monetized and do everything you can to minimize interference and/or distractions.

Go out and live this year according to a more natural rhythm. Swear off the resolutions and stay focused on the reasons you made them in the first place.

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5 tips to help prevent credit fraud at your organization

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