Happy Friday! It’s been a busy week here in MemberClicks-world but that’s the way we like it! With the Sweet Sixteen this weekend, there will likely be lots of exciting basketball games!

Let’s get right to it and share our five fave blog posts from around the association community this week. Which ones were your favorites?

1. Jeffrey Cufaude shared nine questions related to authenticity. Sure, we all tweak aspects of our “selves” to fit the moment, Jeffrey writes, but it’s important to cultivate a unique sense of authenticity. There are also some great book recommendations.

2. I’m sure many of us will agree that Apple stores generally cultivate a positive shopping and learning experience. Jeff Hurt uses this analogy to explain how your association’s meeting space should be equally inviting. The space should focus on learning and intertwine service within.

3. Mark Athitakis used one word to describe the word for associations and the economy in 2012: meh. Is your association optimistic, or are you feeling the effects of the report ASAE published recently as well?

4. David M. Patt shared an anecdote from a meeting where one committee member commented loudly on the budget for a particular event. The meeting, David said, quickly became a childish fight – until the meeting chair stepped in to calmly make sure everyone returned to the agenda. How does your organization stop bad meeting behavior?

5. KiKi L’Italien shared three great ways organization leaders can embrace leadership succession. Do you create room at the top for staffers to grow and be promoted? What kind of career growth does your association offer?

From all of us at MemberClicks, have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Friday! We hope everyone has had an awesome week!

I’ve one of those weekends full of laundry, taxes (yes, finally) and cleaning ahead of me. Not super exciting, but definitely necessary. Will anyone be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow??? (I’m 3/4 Irish and my mom sends me a care package every year to celebrate.)

Before the holiday weekend starts, don’t forget to share your fave blog posts from around the association community in our comments! As usual, we’ve shared our own.

1. David M. Patt implores PTAs to stop the bake sales in a blog post this week. Why? They’re simply not profitable. There are many other fundraising activities PTAs can organize, Patt writes. If the goal is fun, a bake sale might be a good fit. If the goal is fundraising, consider another tactic.

2. Eric Lanke reviewed Shelly Alcorn’s report, “Provocative Proposals for Change,” by focusing on just one of the ideas: the idea that associations are losing themselves in the marketplace due to management techniques that are too corporate. Eric goes on to share a personal story from a past association. Definitely worth a read.

3. Who owns an idea? This is a question posed by Mark Athitakis at the Acronym blog this week. Mark writes, So what works when it comes to crediting members and staffers with ideas—and, perhaps more important, how do you mend fences when somebody feels their ideas were poached?

4. This week, Jeff Cobb attempts to take defining what it means to be a lifelong learner – and comes up with consciousness, faith, engagement, reflection and humility. Do you agree or disagree with his manifesto? What would you add?

5. The always-smart Shelly Alcorn responded to a SmartBlog article by defending “stormy leadership.” Do you think effective leaders must have sunny dispositions? Is it a requirement?  Or should leaders be “stormy” and willing to shake foundations? What do you think?

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Friday, everyone! We hope everyone has had a good, productive and fulfilling week. In keeping with our Friday tradition, below are five our of favorite blog posts from the last week in the association community.

1. Jeffrey Cufaude shares 10 tips for engaging a volunteer community. Small staff associations likely have to rely on volunteers for many things due to limited resources, so this list is definitely a must-read!

2. How do big brands manage social media? Maddie Grant shared a great – long! – video about how large brands manage their social media efforts. There’s also a conversation about social media management systems. Of course, most nonprofits and small staff associations likely do not have those types of resources, but there are always lessons to be learned and idea for how to scale your own efforts.

3. Could your association implement social dining? Deirdre Reid examines the concept and gives some great background info. (I kept comparing it to the speed dating concept in my head as I read.) Although your organization might have to rely on volunteers, social dining could be a fun member meet-up.

4. Pinterest really is everywhere right now – even on association blog! KiKi L’Italien shares how nonprofits and associations can utilize the popular pinning social network. You may already be familiar with the social network for personal use, but KiKi shares great tips for how your association can get involved. The best tip? Make your content pin-friendly.

5. Aaron Wolowiec shared feedback from one of his quotes from LSAE: There is no such thing as constructive criticism. Does “real” constructive criticism exist, or is it simply criticism cloaked in good intentions? There are great lessons here for all leaders and managers – the first being, to give positive feedback first, then follow it up with things that could use improvement.

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a great weekend!

Happy Friday! Here at MemberClicks, we’re enjoying a delicious barbecue lunch in honor of Alabama’s 2011 college football national championship. (Our founder, Thomas Howard, is a proud Bama alum.)

All college sports talk aside, it was a great week in the association community! Here are a few of our favorite posts from around the blogosphere.

1. Wes Trochlil always shares great, practical advice – particularly about databases, which we’re definitely interested in. This week, he shared a wonderful example of collecting data you don’t use  (such as fax numbers!). Stop collecting that stuff and simplify your databases!

2. Shelly Alcorn relates an unfortunate customer service incident at a popular bookseller. This is a reminder that your customer service processes should be as simple as possible. Don’t over-complicate things for your members.

3. Does your association make it clear to its volunteers that they are representatives of the organization? David M. Patt reminds us why that’s so important, and why they should exhibit the same levels of professionalism and sense of responsibility as your staff members.

4. It’s always hard to decide when to let someone else fail, Jeffrey Cufaude writes. However, do we even have the right to make those decisions? Jeffrey explores this question in a wonderful blog post this week.

5. You may be familiar with one of the latest social media platforms – Pinterest – but do you know why it could be important for nonprofits and associations? Those of you who are visual learners especially will find Pinterest – a virtual pinboard and scrapbooking tool – interesting.

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How many times have you sat yawning in a two-hour meeting, only to go back to your office or cube and think, What just happened?

In any office environment, meetings are a fundamental necessity to keep different departments and people up-to-date on various goings-on. But without proper planning, a meeting can take a turn for the worse as participants struggle to stay awake or leave feeling as if they accomplished nothing.

First, decide if you even need to have a meeting. Some issues can be solved through a few simple e-mails. Meetings aren’t the only way to convey information to multiple people.

To ensure your association’s meetings are effective and purposeful, begin with the end in mind. Set a measurable objective and goal, and make sure all attendees are aware of it.

During your meetings, stay focused. Assign actionable duties and responsibilities to people so follow-up will be easy. (This will also make it easy to determine how successful your meeting was.)

Everyone should leave a meeting with new tasks on their to-do list, or at least a sense that they’re headed in the right direction concerning tasks they’re working on.

Meetings don’t have to last hours and hours to be effective. I’m sure many small-staff organizations could have quick 30-minute catch-up sessions and be good to go.

Whatever you do, don’t just meet for the sake of meeting. Everyone should have something new to contribute and leave with new takeaways. If you ever leave a meeting and think, “Well that was useless,” definitely take some time to consider if it was worth it. Meetings take up employees’ valuable time — staffers at smaller associations in particular have no time to waste as they juggle their varied day-to-day tasks.

How often do your association’s staffers touch base? Do you have formal meetings with agendas, or does a more casual style work for your organization?