I was browsing SlideShare the other day and wanted to share a few presentations I found. I think small staff associations can benefit from them both — there’s some great information here, and they both come from excellent sources (ASAE and Peggy Hoffman, respectively).

What do you think? Has your organization started getting involved with mobile technology or crowdsourcing (or both)?

In yesterday’s post about the Membership Marketing Benchmarking Survey, I wrote about how small staff organizations can offer excellent customer service to their members. I was reading the report again this morning and I noticed that small organizations (those will 1,000 members or fewer) are more likely than others to have renewal rates higher than 90 percent.

Additionally, organizations with 5,000 members are fewer are more likely to use more personal onboarding tactics, such as welcome phone calls or new member reception.

Could the two be related? I don’t want to draw any conclusions that may not be accurate, but I think it’s safe to assume that the fewer members an organization has, the easier it can be to offer more personalized experiences. If members don’t feel like just another statistic, perhaps they will be more likely to renew.

No one wants to be a nameless, faceless number. According to the survey, respondents felt people joined their association for the networking opportunities. People like to be connected to those with common interests or professions.

The report says:

Another communication tactic that is correlated with renewal rates of 80 percent or higher is a volunteer or staff welcome phone call. Furthermore, associations showing increases in overall membership over the past year are significantly more likely to use this ‘personal service’ in the form of an in-person new member reception.

So personalization = higher renewals (in most cases). Not exactly rocket science. But small staff associations with a shortage of full-time staffers probably feel the crunch and have too little time to make a phone call to new members. This is where volunteers come in. Having volunteers call new members is not only personal, it could also help new members get acquainted with current ones.

How does your organization create a personal welcoming experience for new members?

Happy Friday! I hope everyone’s week has been happy, productive and fun. I’m still in disbelief that we’re just about halfway through May – where did the month go?! Of course, there were lots of fantastic posts and ideas around the association community this week. Here are a few of my personal favorites.

1. The CAE exam was one week ago, and KiKi L’Italien chronicled her study process at her blog, From Failure to Fabulous. Her reflections on the exam were so inspiring, especially after she took the exam last December with undesirable results. It’s been great to read about her journey, and I would encourage anyone thinking about taking the exam to read her archives there.

2. At the Idea Center, Peggy Hoffman wrote about adhocracy and how, despite the term’s popularity, organizations have been slow to adopt it as a practice. Defined, adhocracy means “episodic volunteering,” and Peggy writes that associations should redefine what it means to volunteer and not be afraid of conflict.

3. I love love loved Frank Fortin’s post about the difficulty of breaking silos. He writes that every new communications channel in an organization requires silos to break down and shares an example from his own organization. There’s no magic pill. There’s only one way revolutions happen – one conversation at a time. Definitely a must-read.

4. Deirdre Reid had a fantastic post published at SmartBlog Insights yesterday – she discussed how association professionals can foster new ways of associating for members. First and foremost, it’s the members’ association, she points out, and reminds us that younger members want to contribute and be heard just as much as “older” ones.

5. Jeff Hurt wrote about the five different memory lanes in our brains and how event organizers can provide great, memorable experiences to attendees. There are different strategies the human brain uses in different situations, and Jeff provides several tips and suggestions to take advantage of each strategy.

What were your favorite posts from the past week?

Whatever your plans are this weekend, we hope you have a great one!

Photo source

Happy Friday! Of course, the major buzz this week in the association community was the cancellation of ASAE’s Technology Conference and Expo and the emergence of an un-conference, UnTech. Organized by a group of volunteers and supported by several vendors, UnTech was a virtual un-conference and had 500 total attendees — 75 in person and 425 on a Webcast.

MemberClicks is proud to be a sponsor, and although we wish we could have made it to D.C. to participate in the awesome-ness, it is quite a bit warmer in our Atlanta office.

However, UnTech wasn’t the only thing association bloggers wrote about this week. There were lots of other awesome topics covered, so, in no particular order, here’s my top five.

1. Aaron Woloweic wrote a fantastic post about tips for studying for the CAE exam. His five tips will help anyone who is already taking the exam, or thinking about sitting for it. There’s a lot of material covered, to be sure, but determining a schedule adn sticking to it can help you earn that CAE designation.

2. After the Super Bowl was over, Deirdre Reid wrote a thoughtful post about the National Association of the Deaf’s reaction to The Who’s “deaf, dumb and blind” lyric that was sung during the halftime show. NAD posted a message on Twitter saying they would take action against the offensive lyric, and Deirdre wants to know if the person behind the tweet was authorized or just acting under emotions. What would your association do?

3. What’s the best marketing and communication strategy, Scott Oser discussed this week. Does your association understand how to use market research and incorporate the results into its communications? Direct marketing is tricky, and it’s important to get a complete picture of your members, vendors and volunteers.

4. In the first of a five-part series, Shelly Alcorn tackles the economic uncertainty still facing the country (and world) and how it affects associations. Don’t fall prey to hubris and think that your association isn’t at risk. Success can be your own worst enemy and can lead to neglect of the members and programs that got you to where you are, Shelly writes.

5. Finally, after the first day of UnTech concluded, Peggy Hoffman shared some reflections about the power of volunteers and patience of attendees, as well as praising ASAE for recognizing the force that drove the community together. It’s pretty amazing to see the power of volunteers and social media at work.

I encourage you to participate in the second day of UnTech 10. Check out the schedule here, and be sure to follow the action on Twitter with the #UnTech10 hashtag.

Have a fantastic Presidents Day and Valentine’s Day weekend! Hopefully some of you have Monday off — enjoy it!