Association Puzzle

Freshen Up Your Blog!

Obviously, I haven't been blogging much the last few months for the reasons most of us have to drop things off the list: lack of time, energy, and money!

However, I'm very happy to be back and feeling the writing juices flowing again. Cleaning up my blog today reminded me that freshening things, even if you can't do a major overhaul, can really brighten your outlook and get the inspiration trickling again if not flowing like a river.

If you manage your own blog design via a service like Typepad, there are many options to make your blog look "happening" instead of aging in place:

1. Change the color -- especially if you can tie the color to your logo for a business.

2. Add a piece of clipart or a file photo related to your topic rather than using your headshot -- it gives the eye something interesting to focus on and builds your brand. (Yes, great place for your logo.)

3. Clean out your old posts! We all try to help each other and our organizations by sharing news about job openings and upcoming seminars, but if you keep too many of these for too long your content becomes outdated and cumbersome.

4. Clean out your old lists! Lists can get too big, or you can have too many. Pare down both in list content and number of lists for a cleaner look to your blog.

5. Add some new categories; if you have content you'd like to repurpose on your blog, think of a fun name like "Blast from the Past" or "Retro Post." But remember to give credit if it was published somewhere else, whether on paper or in pixels.

Share your comments here about ways you have freshened your own blog!

 

 

Blog Content: Places to Find Inspiration

This month I made a commitment to post five times per week. Quantity is not always the measure of a good blog, but there is so much going on in the world at any given time, it's hard *not* to find something to write about!

However, there are days where it seems nothing clicks. When I need inspiration, I do the following:

1. Read ASAE & The Center listservs; there's always an idea that can be found among the comments and questions.

2. Check my Facebook home page; someone could post something that sparks an idea!

3. Skim the newspaper; non-profit management is a business practice and much that is reported in the front section or the business section can be applied to association management. 

4. Organize your old emails; I often find a message from weeks ago that reminds me of a discussion I found interesting.

5. Watch the news; there's so many talking heads on the cable channels that someone is bound to say something that makes you remark: "You've got to be kidding me . . . "

6. Review my calendar; with all the meetings, programming, and conference calls, an appropriate topic could be hiding behind the notation "Committee Call."

While a blog written by an individual has a lot more leeway when it comes to content, organizations can also find inspiration in breaking news stories or exciting trends that your members will find of interest. 

Inspiration can be found anywhere; just look around and you'll see something that sparks an idea!

A Posting for My Brother Jim

This is a posting for my brother Jim;

I always have looked up to him.

Not just because he is taller,

or because he's louder when he hollers;

But because he is funny and kind and smart,

And he has a lot of heart.

I think he is one of the best --

if I could just explain to him RSS . . .  ; )

Even Blogs Evolve

I had the pleasure of meeting some people a few weeks who had read my blog and were very complimentary of both its look and content.  However, one of them asked "what is the theme of your blog?"  (Obviously, it's not always about association management.)  Well, the first thing out of my mouth was not chapter relations.  It was basically what you see as my new tagline, which I post for the first time today.

When I started out writing this blog about two years ago, it was going to be all about chapter/component relations.  Having built most of my career in that area of association management, I felt I could try to explain what seems so confusing to so many. 

However, like many projects we embark on, this blog changed.  It evolved as I realized I had more to say and share than just information about chapter relations.  It's such an interdisciplinary function, you learn a lot more than how to fill out subordinate organization tax forms!

Ultimately, the new technology, organizational charts, big ideas, management gurus, strategies, planning, meetings and products are all side effects of the "why" associations exist -- the connection that comes when two or more people with the same goal get together and make something happen, whether it is staff, members, or a combination of the two.  This is what truly sets associations apart from the for-profit world.

To me, associations will first and foremost be about people: the ones you like, the ones you don't, and the ones that you see but maybe don't always notice. 

Farah's Sowaleef

I was reading "The Weekly Standard" yesterday (January 30, 2006 edition) and read an interesting article on Saudi Arabian bloggers.  One in particular caught my eye, so I visited the site. 

It's called "Farah's Sowaleef" (sowaleff means "chitchat") and it contains the musings and commentaries of a young Saudi Arabian woman, who is attending college at King Saud University.  Farah gives insight into the life of women in Saudi Arabia, and at times bemoans the restrictions she must live with in her daily life.

However, electronic communication has set her free.  She has discovered "Die Gedanken Sind Frei" -- meaning, roughly, that a person's thoughts are their own, and will always be free.  This German phrase is also the title of a German folk song that was banned by the Nazis because it encouraged free thinking.  Hmm, reminds me of what the Chinese are doing by banning Falun Gong . . .

Blogging gives Farah's thoughts free rein, and based on the comments she receives, her blog is quite popular.  There's a link to Farah's blog below under "Interesting Blogs."  Visit it -- it's worth the trip. 

Lyrics to "Die Gedanken Sind Frei"
Die Gedanken Sind Frei
my thoughts give me power
Die Gedanken Sind Frei
my thoughts freely flower
no hunter can trap them
no scholar can map them
no man can deny
Die Gedanken Sind Frei

Returning the Favor

Something has taken root in cyberspace, and it calls itself the "Association Blogoclump."  You've already heard of it, I'm sure, but this is the core group of association blogs that got the movement going. 

Initially, this was a group of unrelated blogs that started to spring up over the last year or two, and they were constantly visiting and commenting on each other's sites.  Eventually, in late 2005, all this activity culminated in them coming together at the Association Blogoclump site.  You can access many of the leading association blogs right there, all in one place.  (See "Association Related Blogs" list below for a quick trip to the Clump.)

Several of the "Blogoclumpers" did me the favor of adding a link to my site on theirs in the early days of Association Puzzle, which was always much appreciated.  Thanks, guys!

So, I'm finally returning the favor by getting my blog reorganized, updated, and listing many of these blogs. 

Since I'm not a regular blogger, I don't consider myself part of "the clump," but I'm sure glad to be linked to this dedicated group of bloggers. 

Keep the conversation and the ideas flowing.  Maybe someday we will no longer hear, "But that's the way we've always done it" ringing down the halls of Associationana. 

Switched to Feedblitz

Just a point of information:
This blog now uses Feedblitz to manage subscriptions.  If you were previously a subscriber through Bloglet, your subscription "migrated" to Feedblitz last week. 

If you are not currently a subscriber and would like to sign up, please use the handy subscriber form on the left of your screen. 

TrackBacks Can Bite

Today I learned a lesson about "trackbacks."  These are links that can be added to a weblog that can lead people reading my blog back to another site; these can be added without my permission or knowledge. 

Unfortunately, there are many unscrupulous people out on the internet, and some of them use automated systems to add trackbacks to any site they can get in touch with. 

This led today to my getting a message from Typepad that a pornographic website had added a trackback to my blog!  I blocked this site from ever talking to my blog again, and then deleted the trackback. 

If anyone out there saw it, I apologize that my blog got hit by pornographers.  Next to murderers and child molesters, these are the worst people on earth as far as I'm concerned.  They are nothing but sexual slavers and should all be hauled off to prison for the rest of their lives.   

Anyone who says that pornography is a legitimate way to make a living, or a matter of "free speech," should read Traci Lords book about the rapes and drug addiction she endured as a young girl lured into that sordid underworld.  She got out, but too many don't. 

Speak out against pornography, not only online, but in print and film.  This industry has no redeeming value at all.  It puts money in the pockets of the few at the expense of destroying the lives of the many. 

What does this have to do with association management?  Not a thing. 
But, it has everything to do with creating the kind of world we want to live in.

Check Out a New Blog

There's a new blog (at least recently gone public) called http://dcgrrl.blogspot.com/

This blog is written by Heather Harris, a very cool marketer at Chadick & Kimball.  It's got excellent observations on marketing and some great insights on life. 

Check it out!  We need to keep the blogosphere a market of ideas.   

Blog Update

There was a problem recently with Bloglet and it was not sending subscriptions for my blog.  As a service to those of you who have been kind enough to subscribe, I am sending this message to alert you that there are two recent postings. 

Thanks for visiting!

Associations Unorthodox

Jeff De Cagna, a leader in association blogging, has asked that I help spread the word about his latest endeavor in the blogosphere.  He now has a new podcasting blog, Associations Unorthodox (www.associationsunorthodox.com).  The blog is in a totally audio format (save for brief descriptions and occasional announcements) so that people can listen to it on the Web and also download a podcasting feed as well.  Jeff believes that it is the first blog in our community that is offering podcasting.

If you're a pod person, check it out!  If you're not (like me) we'll have to take longer to get around that technology curve.  Enjoy!!