The FORUM Effect

A BLIND VISIONARY WHO TOOK COMMAND OF HER OWN CHANGE

The workshop that I presented at the Forum in late April, "Taking Command of Strategic Change," focused on some very practical techniques for identifying high-stakes issues and fashioning strategic initiatives to address them.  Since then, I've been working on a new book, tentatively titled "The Extraordinary Odyssey of a Blind Visionary," which focuses on the incredible experience of my co-author, Virginia Jacko, who is one of only a handful of blind CEOs in the United States.  In addition to telling the story of Virginia's courageous journey from Purdue University - where she began to lose her eyesight while working as a senior financial executive, to the Miami Lighthouse For the Blind, where she started all over as a vocational rehabilitation student and four years later became the president & CEO - our book provides the reader with practical lessons for leading his or her own change, drawing on Virginia's experience.  Virginia is an amazing person, and our creative collaboration on the book has been a true labor of love for me.  It will come out from Governance Edge in October 2009.  Anyone who would like to discuss it can contact me at 800.209.7652 or Doug@DougEadie.com.

Doug Eadie, President & CEO

Doug Eadie & Company

Develop a Social Media Strategy or Just Jump In?

Lots of professionals have felt the need to get into the whole social media thing. It is quick and easy to set-up a Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter page and get started. But, is this the best approach?

At today's Association Forum annual meeting, the session on social media given by Greg Fine and Sherry Budziak covered a lot of good ground but what struck me the most was how they emphasized the need to develop a social media strategy. It is so basic but true. The old saying "Ready, Fire, Aim" could be applied to the way many of us -- including me -- attacked social media. We just wanted to get a first-hand look at the media to judge for ourselves and find out what the buzz was about. Fortunately, there is time to step back and now formalize a social media strategy.

The steps Greg and Sherry suggested are straight forward and bear sharing here:

1. Define your objectives. What do you want to happen as a result of being involved with social media?
2. Think about segmenting your customer (or membership) base. This is just good marketing so that you can direct targeted messages to different segments which have different needs and perceptions.
3. Design an overall integration plan. How will your social media fit with the other things you are doing especially in marketing areas but don't forget meetings, membership, and publications?
4. Evaluate the various platforms (the Web sites such as Facebook) and learn a bit on how they work and how they are different from one another. There are new platforms and new apps coming online nearly daily.
5. Look at the potential to generate some revenue from social media activity. You could sell more books or increase the attendance at the next conference. What else?
6. Plan to devote the time and resources to manage the whole process. Involvement in social media is not a set-it-up-and-walk-away thing but something that needs nuturing to grow organically. As a rule of thumb, social media sites should be reviewed/updated several times a week if not daily.
7. Put the analytical metrics in place to study the Return-on-Investment (ROI).

So, if you haven't started with social media yet start by reading my article in the June edition of FORUM. Then, develop your own social media strategy and jump in. The good news is most of this is free except for staff time so the upfront investment in small. The benefits are there so what are you waiting for?

Blazing the Social Media Trail

Associations have been engaged in the meeting business (conferences and conventions) for as long as anyone can remember. For those association executives having a hard time getting their arms around the new social media, they can think of it in terms of the traditional meeting that they know and likely love.

Traditional meetings have attendees who come to meet with peers and experts to exchange ideas and discuss solutions to common problems. Attendees also spend time with vendors/exhibitors to learn about the latest technology or business solution. They usually hear experts deliver presentations filled with good advice on a range of topics.

At the end of the traditional meeting, attendees ideally go away with new contacts, greater knowledge, and a renewed sense of being connected with a group of people who share a common field of interest.

This can happen all online with by using the capabilities of social media. The new media offers ways to exchange information, mutually discuss solutions or the merits of products and services, obtain knowledge, and make meaningful new connections with those of similar interest or those with knowledge to be shared.

Association executives can look to the new social media for creative solutions to some age-old challenges of generating revenue, connecting professionals with similar interests, providing a forum for discussion, and sharing valuable information in new and, most of the time, more immediate ways.

The novelty of the this media gives associations new tools to have continuous engagement with their membership. So, try blazing your own trail with some of the social media in your organization. At the very least, this media gives associations some inexpensive networking tools to start conversations before their traditional meetings, continue them at the event, and continue it afterwards.

Read the June/July Digital Edition Today.

       

Read the June/July 2009 digital edition here.

they’re just not that into you

Associations are always concerned with first year members that do not renew.  In following up with members who drop after their first year, the reason they state most often is “Not Interested”.  No need to close your office door and weep quietly – it’s not you, it’s them.  Engaging a first year member is like dating.  If you do not offer what they’re looking for, they’ll move on and date your competition.  Your association can not be all things to all members.  Concentrate on your member benefits and what makes your association unique.  And, if after using your most engaging ways to make the first year member into a life-time member, you fail.  It’s okay; they’re just not that into you.

However, if you have a member who drops after the second year, there is cause for concern.  They have invested two years worth of dues and time into your organization.  They have given you two years to prove your value to them.  They were interested enough after the first year to give you a second chance.  Call them, survey them, in some way contact them to find out what happened.  This will be a gold mine of information for you on your products and services.  You don’t have to like what you hear, but you need to hear it. 

Your Membership Marketing & Social Media

If you're like me, you've been getting invitations to numerous webinars about social media.  I've attended a few and have noticed significant angst to most of these presentations.  There seems to be almost a panic factor. "These groups will form with or without you - so you should be there (wherever 'there' is) NOW!" Don't panic.  If you know your membership, then you can establish your social presence and create a marketing plan to support it. 

Since I direct the marketing for healthcare groups, I'd like to share our recent social media experiences.  One group is a nursing organization.  We created a page for them on Facebook late in March and they currently have over 500 'fans'.  We make sure that the page had great content that would appeal to both member and non-members and we update our messages frequently.  Another group is primarily physicians, we created a Facebook page for them at the same time and they have 8 fans even though we created the same type of robust content for them. 

At the same time, we set both groups up on LinkedIn with similar content to the Facebook pages. With very little promotion to the membership, the physician group has three times the members of the nursing group.  We are pleased that we have attracted both members and non-members to all of our sites and will be tracking whether there will be a conversion factor.  However, we did have a non-member from the physician LinkedIn group register for our annual meeting. 

Conclusion - know your membership and you will know how to market to them.  Our physician group is more comfortable in the LinkedIn environment and our nursing group is more comfortable in the Facebook environment.  While we will keep all the sites updated, we know where we will have the more effective member reach and will use them accordingly. 

If you've had a similar or even different experience with your members and social media -- I'd love to hear about them!

To Tweet or Not?

The new social media is getting a lot of notice these days. Even the traditional media (magazines, tv/radio, and newspapers) is paying attention and trying to "get into the game" or appear "with it". Traditional media involvement starts with its own online editions but has gone further.

Have you noticed how television news programs stress going to their Web site for more information?

The Chicago Tribune, one of the icons of traditional newspaper journalism, now has features with content picked up from the Web. The Trib is showing, for example, the best Tweets (messages posted on Tweeter, a popular micro-blogging Web site based service) and has short features such as the most searched online topics.

The hard news lately is that Tweeter will start charging. I wonder if that will slow down the pace of new sign-ups. Most social media is enjoying new sign-ups at record paces. In some cases, you could call it explosive. For example, LinkedIn is predicted to surpass 50 million users by year-end.

A lot of what is traditionally available on the Web is free. In some cases, you get what you pay for in terms of inaccurate, unverified information but, as most of us know, there is also a fabulous wealth of facts, figures, and opinions available 24/7 on the Internet. As the social media moguls and even the traditional media start to charge for online content and use, it will be interesting to watch how that effects the use. My sense now is that there is a bit of fear to start charging with the prospect of losing users or viewers but they will have to because advertising alone rarely supports such a venture. Much of the social media is still in the courtship phase of its relationship with many users so enjoy it free while you can.

Another aspect to ponder is: Will the new social media make us all more connected or has it, in some cases, made us less connected by substituting online messaging for face-to-face interaction? Use of the social media like most things in life has to be balanced and not overdone. We can discuss more of this next time.

Quick tips for promoting your meeting

Looking for some simple, low cost steps to promote your meeting in a tough economy ─ consider the following:

1.    Develop a dedicated meeting section on your Web site and include a prominent link to that section on the home page.

2.    Add a conference promotional message to the outgoing e-mail signature line for all of employees.

3.    Offer free advance webinars on topics that will be featured at the conference to “tease” the conference. 

4.    Build interactive meeting discussion groups into your online social network to include one for each topic track or special session on the conference agenda and have speakers begin discussions well in advance of the meeting.

5.    Market your meeting aggressively with regular targeted messages to your key attendee segments. In your marketing messages and materials tell them they will be exposed to career-saving tools that can only be obtained by attending your convention or exhibition.  Answer potential attendees’ two most important questions: What's in it for me? Why should I come to your event? 

6.    Offer attendees copies of new industry research reports or whitepapers that are available exclusively at your meeting.

7.    Keep members and exhibitors up-to-date on the latest meeting planning developments, alerting them to major speakers, special events or new educational sessions through an ongoing series of e-mail blasts.

8.    Invite new members and first-time meeting attendees to a special onsite networking reception.

Build meeting attendance using socially responsible activities

Some experts are making a business case for social responsibility as an innovative way to engage potential meeting attendees.  In this faltering economy the greening of meetings is being suggested as a way for meeting planners to attract more people to their events.  According to ASAE’s online blog, Acronym, meeting planners can use socially responsible actions to attract more people to their events.  Two options to consider:

1.    Hold a service day as part of your conference. 

People want to connect and interact with one another and working side-by-side on a community-based project is a great way to bring meeting attendees together. It provides a great opportunity for networking and to build camaraderie and leaves people feeling good both about themselves and their association. 

 

One great example of this is a program the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) has sponsored each year since 2000 in concert with its annual meeting. The day before the meeting starts AAOS brings together Academy members, Board members, exhibitors, industry vendors and sponsors with neighborhood volunteers from the convention host city to build a safe, accessible playground for children in underprivileged communities.  AAOS works in partnership with KaBOOM!, a national non-profit organization that brings together business and community groups to develop and construct safe places where children can play.  KaBOOM! also manages construction of the playground and helps recruit financial sponsors for the project.

Several months in advance, AAOS holds an onsite “Design Day” event to give local children, parents and community members a chance to provide input before the formal design process begins. The children share their ideas about what makes a great playground and draw pictures of their own dream playground.

On the day of the build, hundreds of volunteers come together to create the new playground, spurred on by members of the community, local celebrities and the media.  The project is completed within a matter of hours and a ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opens the playground. 

The benefits of this effort are that the host city receives a permanent, valuable community asset, the kids get a fun and safe place to play, the orthopaedic profession has a chance to demonstrate its commitment to help prevent childhood injuries and AAOS gets recognition as a socially responsible organization. In addition, everyone who participates feels good about themselves ─ the volunteers, the sponsors, exhibitors, even the AAOS staff. 

As your association makes plans for its next annual meeting, consider how the organization and its members might be of service to the host city.

2.    Consider implementing some “green” strategies.

Offsetting greenhouse gas emissions is one option that is gaining greater popularity with a number of associations as part of their meeting planning. Figuring out the total airline or other transportation mileage of attendees is relatively straightforward and the carbon totals can then be easily calculated online and offset through tree planting, energy credits or other options. It’s not expensive to offset and it helps demonstrate that your organization’s commitment to social responsibility is a conscious effort.

Other associations are offering their members "green coaching."  This activity can range from providing a one-stop resource desk at an event to pick up relevant tips lists to discussing the latest industry eco-trends and benefits or connecting members interested in the same green steps.

For example, the Association of Woodworking & Furnishings Supplies (AWFS) has crafted the concept of a "Green Desk" for its upcoming conference, the July 2009 AWFS Fair. The Green Desk will provide “a place where anyone in attendance can stop by to ask questions related to green practices and issues that are impacting virtually all businesses.” This one-on-one approach is in addition to the association’s education track, “Going Green,” to help corporate members move to more sustainable products and processes, and to meet new “green building” standards.

There are many options to consider for integrating social responsibility into your association – you are limited only by your imagination.  To learn more: http://blogs.asaecenter.org/Acronym/

CEO AS CHIEF BOARD DEVELOPER

    The CEO of the American Association of Diabetes Educators, Lana Vukovljak, played a key role in the board development initiative that is described in my article in the April issue of Forum, "Taking a Good Board to the Next Level."  But Lana was much more than just an active participant in the process, along with a number of AADE Board leaders serving on the Governance Task Force that came up with the board improvement recommendations and oversaw their implementation.  She was what I call the "Chief Board Developer" - a role that the CEOs of associations that bring off highly successful board development efforts always play, in my experience.

    As Chief Board Developer at AADE, Lana:

1. Made the effort to become a true expert in the rapidly changing field of association governance well before the AADE board development task force got underway.  She had a clear vision of what a really high-functioning, high-impact board should look like.
2. Took the initiative in contacting me about serving as consultant to the effort, and really grilled me about my philosophy of governance, my methodology, and my experience before deciding that I was the right consultant to work with the task force.
3. She played an active, hands-on quality control role, meticulously reviewing and, as necessary, revising materials prepared for task force meetings.
4. And she played the same active, hands-on role in implementing the task force board improvement recommendations as she did in fashioning the recommendations.  For one thing, she spent hours with her senior managers, developing and executing a staff-support strategy to ensure the new board committees got off to a good start.

    The AADE experience confirms what I've learned in hundreds of other board development projects over the past two decades:  success depends on the CEO truly being the Chief Board Developer.  For a CEO to merely function as a member of the board development team, or worse, to take a hands-off approach, would seriously jeopardize success.

Doug Eadie