Happy Friday! One more weekend until (American) Thanksgiving … what are everyone’s plans besides being full of turkey and gratitude? Does your family have a special tradition?

Before you head out for the weekend, be sure to check out our favorite blog posts from the association community!

1. Jeff Hurt shares six important connections to be aware of when planning your association’s conference. The most important one (to me, at least)? Connecting participants to outcomes. Your conferences should always arm people to succeed once they get back to the office – and not every new idea has to be big and flashy.

2. Do your staff members sit on the association’s board? David M. Patt discusses why this isn’t a good idea. Staff members and board members have different goals and roles, and they could sometimes conflict.

3. Do you know what your strengths and weaknesses are? (I know my weakness – I tend to work too quickly and make little stupid mistakes.) Aaron Wolowiec shares why it’s important to know your personality, how you work and what you need to work on with regards to your style.

4. Tony Rossell shares five steps to creating a marketing recruitment program: the who, what, where, how and why. I think this is a great article for small staffers to read since duties can overlap and no matter what your title, there’s a chance you’ll be doing some marketing. There are some great comments on this post, so be sure to check it out!

5. Elizabeth Engel shared some great takeaways from a PRSA meeting, including info on Google+ (still made up mostly of early adopters) and LinkedIn (likely the future of business social networking).

Have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! I’m gearing up for another weekend of travel, which of course means things in the office are even crazier than usual today! What are you doing this weekend?

Before I head off to Boston (for the first time ever!), here are five of our favorite association management blog posts from this week.

1. I love when bloggers tie current events into their posts, which Deidre Reid did earlier this week when she discussed Herman Cain and association management. Although Cain remained in the news this week, Deidre’s post does not discuss political ramifications but focused instead on association management and crisis management. Definitely take a look at the comments on this one, too.

2. Aaron Wolowiec shares some tips on vetting conference speakers. There are lots of reasons a speaker could “strike out” – he or she isn’t a content expert or lacks charisma – and lots of ways to make sure a speaker doesn’t strike out. Research, research, research! Meet with your speaker(s) and make sure she/he understand your audience to a tee. Finally – demand customization. Great tips.

3. Joe Rominiecki discusses openness and inclusivity on the Acronym blog this week, and it’s a great article. Joe writes that although some associations may struggle with openness, there are several reasons to pursue it in your association. I’m sure this is less of a problem for small staff associations, but we’d love to hear if your association has experienced struggles!

4. Jeffrey Cufaude has been traveling and attending conferences a lot in recent weeks, and he shares some awesome insights from thought leaders such as Charlene Li and Jane McGonigal. The big lesson here? Never forget that social media is about relationships. You can put money into it and get big numbers, but it’s all about engagement.

5. Do you manage to the rule or to the exception? Wes Trochlil writes that, although, most businesses rules should apply to all business cases, sometimes there are exceptions.

Happy Friday! I’m currently gearing up for an exciting weekend at my alma mater’s homecoming festivities, so needless to say, things are busy at the office! What are you doing this weekend?

Before heading out though, here are five of our favorite blog posts from the week!

1. David M. Patt asks a simple – yet tough – question: As association professionals, what’s our role? Who do associations belong to? And should members be allowed to take some matters into their own hands?

2. Maddie Grant shared a fantastic interview with Mandy Stahl, the community manager at ASAE. There are some great insights into what goes into managing a community and how an association the size of ASAE handles scale. Mandy’s role at ASAE was brand new when she began!

3. Wes Trochlil shares results from a recent survey that indicated 70% of workers at the nonprofits polled were unsatisfied in some way at their jobs. Does this reflect job satisfaction at your small staff association? How do you keep your employees and staff members engaged?

4. Eric Lanke discussed “Race for Relevance,” a hot book among association professionals. He highlights five big changes the book outlines and asks if they are truly “radical” changes as the book indicates. Are the changes possible to implement in your association? Are they radical to you? Why or why not?

5. At the Association Tech blog, Lowell Aplebaum writes about social media and the chapter-leader connection. Should members be able to upload their personal photos of association events to the owned social media channels? What is a chapter’s role in a member’s life and how does social media play into that?

Happy Friday! I hope everyone has a productive week. We’ve been staying busy here and are starting to gear up for the holidays! Are you dressing up for Halloween?

It wouldn’t be Friday if we didn’t share a few of our favorite blog posts with our readers. Be sure to chime in with your own in the comments!

1. How does your organization think about volunteers? Jeffrey Cufaude advocates “thinking of volunteering as something everyone should do because it is one of the most significant ways to build a strong professional network, to connect more to the professional community in general.”

2. Joe Rominiecki links to a great Seth Godin post about the difference between stupid and lazy. Not doing something isn’t the same as not wanting to do something, and association execs should be careful to not make excuses with the word, “can’t” when they really mean “won’t.”

3. Has your association delved into the world of virtual presentations? How successful have you been? Jeff Hurt shares a few things to keep in mind, and how to best plan your presentation. After all, he reminds us: “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

4. Everyone has a different way of coping with conflict. Some people straight-up avoid it, but David M. Patt doesn’t recommend that. Putting off decisions to avoid conflict is not the sign of a good leader. Don’t be afraid to compromise.

5. Shelly Alcorn shares a Dilbert cartoon from last Sunday and challenges association professionals to avoid the common pitfalls of thinking creatively. Don’t insinuate that anyone’s ideas are awful. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’ll sound ignorant. Don’t be afraid to suggest risky ideas.

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! This week has completely gotten away from me! I’ve been busy catching up on all the great association-related blog posts from this past week, so I’m finally getting around to sharing my five faves with you all. Which ones resonated the most with you?

1. I’m glad Tom Morrison has been blogging more because he has so many great insights to share! His latest post discusses how it’s not as hard as you may think to interact with different generations. How has your small staff association engaged with younger professionals in recent years?

2. I shared this post this morning on Twitter, but it seemed to get a great response and I wanted to share it again: cell phone etiquette. David M. Patt shares a story about a colleague taking not one but TWO calls during a meeting and placing a third call on his own. Is this standard etiquette for meetings now?! I hope not.

3. Silos, as pretty much everyone knows, are frustrating. But Jamie Notter reminds us that silos are often in place for a reason. There are lots of stakeholders in associations, and silos can help keep things organized. I don’t think small staff associations necessarily have as many issues with silos as larger ones (for the obvious reason that there are fewer staff members), but this is still a great post for association professionals.

4. Shelly Alcorn used Occupy Wall Street as the inspiration for her latest – awesome – post: Associations are the 99%. Associations were designed to protect the 99%. They have a long history in the United States. Is the message of Occupy Wall Street resonating with your small staff association?

5. You may have heard about a little device called the iPhone 4S and its accompanying new operating system. Android, Blackberry and iPhone fans alike have been buzzing about it all week. Well, it turns out that mobile social web use is on the rise, according to a new Nielsen report Lindy Dreyer shared. Take a look and ask yourself how your association can improve its mobile presence.