Hello and happy Friday!

Here at MemberClicks, we’re finishing up a productive workweek and ready to rock next week. First, take a look at five of our fave blog posts from the association community this week.

1. Erik Schonher reports on an early finding from the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey: 62.5% of associations surveyed reported a renewal rate higher than 80%! This is great news, as it indicates that as the economy improves, association renewals will as well.

2. With the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking on the horizon, Joe Rominiecki shared takeaways from a presentation by Dr. Robert Ballard, who discovered the ship’s wreckage in 1985. Joe writes, When it comes time for long-term planning and developing strategy, an association CEO should guide the board to embrace the anything-is-possible perspective.

3. How does your small staff association onboard new members? David M. Patt shares a few great ideas that will help new members, staff or volunteers become familiar with your organization. Which is your fave?

4. Jeffrey Cufaude’s Facilitation Friday post last week reminded us that as a facilitator, you are part of the environment and how you physically fit in determines how you are perceived. Do you stand with the same few people? Do you stand with your back to the majority of people during casual gatherings?

5. Continuing the conversation started in his book Humanize, Jamie Notter writes how you can get serious about collaboration. Take a long, hard look at the areas of your organization that are supposedly collaborating, and ensure they are openly communicating. Are there ways the processes can be improved? Is the group as efficient as possible?

From everyone here at MemberClicks, have a wonderful weekend!

Seth Godin‘s book “Tribes” is written exactly like his blog— that is, it’s not difficult to read at all. In fact, “Tribes” reads like dozens of Godin’s blog posts put together. There are no traditional chapters, and I got through all 147 pages in a single afternoon.

Although “Tribes” may not offer any huge revelations, I did like the overall theme: people should lead rather than manage.

Peppered with real-life examples of true leaders, from Steve Jobs to a librarian in Seattle, Godin’s book explains that tribes are everywhere. And true leaders have to learn how to help their tribes’ members communicate more effectively.

Godin’s parameters for a tribe, a shared interest and a way to communicate, pretty much fit associations to a tee. The book is intended for anyone, whether you’re already a leader in your organization or not, and I think association execs and staffers would find the book extremely beneficial.

Godin writes that, The people who like their jobs the most are the ones who are doing the best work, making the greatest impact, and changing the most. As an association exec or staffer, are you doing all you can to inspire your employees and members, allowing them to grow and evolve?

Godin says he’s not interested in tribes that are stuck. He says they’re boring and that by embracing the status quo, they don’t create anything valuable.

I disagree with Godin — I’m interested in tribes that are slower to change. These are going to be the interesting ones down the road. Just because they’re slower to alter the status quo doesn’t mean they won’t. It’s true that many associations are stuck in the “that’s the way we’ve always done it” mindset, but I think that attitude is slowly changing.

All tribes (including associations) have different motivations and leaders and rates of change. There’s no need to change quickly to keep up with others if your members aren’t ready yet.

Conversely, it’s up to leaders to realize when change is necessary — even if members resist at first.

Inspiring your members to become excited about new things can be difficult. Changing things — pushing the envelope and creating a future that doesn’t exist yet (at the same time you’re criticized by everyone else) — requires bravery, Godin writes.

One phrase really struck me during my reading:

Tribes are increasingly voluntary. No one is forced to work for your firm or attend your services. … So great leaders don’t try to please everybody. … Instead, they realize that a motivated, connected tribe in the midst of a movement is far more powerful than a larger group could ever be.

There’s been a bit of concern lately about how to keep members and what to provide for them in order to keep them renewing. However, I think we sometimes forget that all membership is voluntary. Would you rather have 10,000 apathetic members or 500 excited, motivated and connected members?

Godin’s writing style might have bothered me during my reading, but the message was a winner: If you, as a leader, do what you believe in and continue to inspire, people will follow. Leadership is a choice, and the choice to contribute is yours.

Good morning and happy Friday! The first full week of April is almost over, and wherever you are, we hope it’s been it’s a good one (without those pesky “April showers”).

We’re itching to kick off the holiday weekend here at MemberClicks (as well as the return of baseball), so let’s get right to our favorite blog posts from the community this week!

1. Jeffrey Cufaude wants an organization he cares deeply about – ASAE – to fail. And he says you should want the same thing of whatever organization you’re active in. Why? Because to fail means to not be afraid of risk. Of innovating. Of trying new things. The comments on this one are great as well!

2. We all know that it’s easier to talk about innovating and implementing new ideas than it is to actually implement them. That’s why Mark Athitakis says every team needs a conformist. Why? Conformists are generally more concerned with how to get work done than coming up with big ideas, and every team needs a realist – someone who can realistically think about how a new idea will be implemented.

3. Amber Naslund is a busy woman, so I take her posts about balancing travel and home life very seriously. A big takeaway from this post? When you’re home, be home. If you travel a lot, you should savor the time when you are actually at home. Recharge with your family, your local friends, whoever. How do you balance work and personal lives, no matter how often you travel?

4. As a follow-up to his presentation at Great Ideas, Jamie Notter writes how you can bring innovation to life. How, you might ask? Develop the skill of courage, Jamie writes. Change makes people afraid, so the more courageous you are, the more you will be able to push new ideas along.

5. David M. Patt shares a story of a political candidate ringing the doorbell of his home and attempting to engage David but asking what issues he cared about. Although it may be appropriate to ask for feedback sometimes, that’s not always the case. If you’re a speaker or leader engaging people, be careful how you word questions.

It’s tough, it’s scary, it’s intimidating … but we’ve all got to speak in public at least once in our lives. And whether you’re in front of five people or 500, it can still be extremely nerve-wracking. It’s not for nothing that public speaking is the number one fear of Americans.

Here are some tips for keeping your cool while speaking in public:

1. Use appropriate body language. Make eye contact, walk around the room if possible. Use visual aids if you can. Don’t simply read from a script. I know this seems like common sense but it’s easy to fall into this trap when you’re nervous.

2. Be prepared to adjust your speech based on your audiences’ needs and questions. If your audience becomes visibly bored, you may have to switch up your game a bit. Don’t be intimidated.

3. Take pauses. Don’t obliviously keep talking without pausing for air. Natural pauses allow your audience time to absorb information. And they allow you, the speaker, some time to mentally collect yourself.

4. Use humor (if appropriate). Humor and lighthearted jokes interject a sense of human-ness to your presentation and lightens the mood just a bit.

5. Visualize yourself giving the speech. Be clear, be loud (but not too loud), be confident.

6. Remember – the audience doesn’t want you to fail. They want you to succeed. They want to be informed, they want to learn. No one wants to see you stutter, get sick or whatever your greatest fear of public speaking is. Everyone’s got your back.

7. Practice, practice, practice. Practice may not always make perfect, but the only way you’ll ever improve at public speaking is if you continue to practice it.

8. Tough love time: Know when to stop talking. No one likes a long-winded presentation. (

Good afternoon and Happy Friday! Are you as excited as we are for the Final Four? Did UNC’s loss wreck your bracket? Or do you have a lower seed winning?

Regardless of your enthusiasm for basketball, it should be a fun weekend and we’re already gearing up for our weekly “Gobble and Gab” tradition. Every Friday, we take some time to relax together on our patio or in the lounge and recharge before the weekend starts.

As usual, we’ve got some awesome association blog posts to share – especially in the wake of ASAE’s Great Ideas conference this week. Enjoy!

1. Jeffrey Cufaude wrote a very moving post about the necessity of loving and living the questions. Introspection is crucial for a fulfilled life, and for growing in your career. Jeffrey writes, A wonderful all-purpose question that often elicits powerful thinking when posed is: What one thing, while seemingly impossible, would make a tremendous difference for you and something you care about?

2. From Great Ideas, Joe Rominiecki shared a very telling quote: “Your members don’t care about your association. They care about themselves.” The association’s challenge is how to enrich the lives of its members. The Great Ideas speaker used Apple products as an example: we don’t love our iPhones solely because Apple made them; we love them because they make our lives a bit easier. How can your association do the same?

3. Lindy Dreyer shared some awesome information about this year’s Association TRENDS Social Media Report and Rankings. Although the report isn’t free, it’s definitely chock-full of crazy-awesome stats about other association’s social media stats (330 other associations, to be exact). Would your association consider buying something like this?

4. Tony Rossell shares two websites with some great resources for membership marketing and management. If you need resources on statistics, membership model information, new member sales or renewals, definitely check this out.

5. Last but certainly not least, David M. Patt reflects on the fact that things change all the time. Today’s 50 and 60 year olds were once in their 20s and 30s, thinking that the older generation did things wrong too. As the saying goes, the only constant in life is change. Have you noticed a generational divide among your members?

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a great weekend!