Generation X- Why Work for a Large Organization

This evening I read Tina Gordon’s article in Associations Now.  Tina highlights why a Gen X association leader and a small association may be a good fit for each other.  Many of the GenX traits that Tina identifies would also benefit large associations such as quickly adapting and making immediate impact.  Having only worked for two large national associations, here are some reasons why working for a large association may also be positive for GenXers.

Salesmanship- Working for a large association requires that you learn salesmanship.  Having good ideas is not enough.  You must be able to sell your ideas across departments, divisions and different layers of staff and volunteer leadership.  You become more diplomatic and a better presenter. 

Peer Interaction- It is a valuable experience being able to bounce ideas and viewpoints off of individuals from your own age group.  Gen Xers (and more so GenYers) think and process information collectively using technology as a trusted asset.  Friendships gained are a nice bonus.   

Project Management-  This goes along with Gen Xers tendency to enjoy team projects.  A large association presents individuals with many opportunities to participate in very large and rewarding projects including corporate branding, association management software installations, content management systems installations and major website overhauls.  You can do all of these projects at a small association, but the scale will be much smaller and you will not be managing/leading multiple team members. 

Toys- It is probably a generalization, but larger associations may have more expendable cash flows.  This lets them be very willing to purchase a myriad of exciting new technology including video production equipment, SharePoint applications, high resolution monitors, assorted software and high end computer workstations.  Ask, and within reason, you will often times receive.  You get to stay on the cutting edge of new technology and use it to improve or create new member benefits.

Prestige- It sounds impressive to say you held a rewarding position at a very large and well known association.  Future employers will have heard of some of the projects you led or were involved with.

Intangibles- Many large associations have committed budgets for employee professional development.  Take advantage of it, whether that be getting a Masters degree or higher or attending courses and conferences.  There is also a feeling of safety that exists in larger associations.  It is difficult to go from over 100,000 members to zero in any short amount of time.  The benefits and pay structures may also be better at a larger association.   

Opportunities exist in both large and small associations for GenX.

Branding

I am part of a branding team at work.  We are developing clean, minimalist, memorable and unified images and ad copy.  One of the team members found this funny video of Microsoft dirtying up Apple’s beautiful iPod brand.  It was very appropriate considering our project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeXAcwriid0

Here is the U.S. Air Force’s new brand also employing a minimalist theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h1ozsCPjok

Presentation Tips

I have been busily preparing for a major presentation to ASRT’s senior leadership team.  We are seeking support and funding for a major expansion of our professional development offerings by building a personalized, customized member educational portal.  This educational portal will house a comprehensive suite of applications including a self-assessment, offerings in multiple delivery vehicles recommended based upon results of self-assessment, a wiki library, peer-to-peer learning forums, and much, much more.  Depending on what functions secure approval, I will share more about the development of the portal in future blog postings. 

In preparing for the presentation, I thought I would share some of the presenting best practices I have gathered and try to employ. 

Mingle with your audience- Mill around the crowd as they gather to hear you speak.  Introduce yourself and exchange pleasantries.  This will build a comfort level between you and your audience. 

Use an outline, not a script- The best presenters appear comfortable and relaxed.  They may be standing in front of thousands of people, but you get the impression that they would be speaking the same way if they were speaking with a friend while sipping chai lattes at Starbucks.  Using an outline helps you remember all the areas you want to cover while remaining general enough to reinforce a conversational tone.  You will cause a snooze alert if you read word for word a pre-crafted speech. 

Make eye contact- This is easier to do if you use an outline instead of reading a prepared speech.  Making eye contact tells your audience you believe what you are telling them.  You are not hiding anything. 

Portray excitement- Many times you are presenting to secure approval for a plan or are training an audience on a new way of doing something.  Excitement is contagious.  Building an excited audience will cause them to take action to approve your plan or try out your methods.

Use humor, appropriate humor, and not too much- Incorporating a few safe (non-offensive) jokes or funny observations will help you build a link with your audience.  Humor is best used in sections of a presentation that may be a little dry.  The humor will build a bridge to the rest of the meat of presentation.

Include a memorable sound bite- Attorneys (such as my wife) often use theme statements in their closing arguments.  A theme statement cleanly wraps up all of the facts of the case and leads a jury to their decision.  Try to assign a memorable sound bite in your conclusion and your audience will remember it for a long time afterwards.  I use this sound bite to describe the value of an iTunes presence: Free, but priceless.

Anticipate Questions/Objections- Develop a list of potential questions you may receive from your audience and determine how you would answer them.  Again, your preparation will convey your belief in the merits of your proposal. 

Look into the Future- Think about what approval of your proposal would mean in the present as well as what it could mean for the future.  By being forward thinking, your presentation will also come off as more directly linked to the Society’s long term mission and vision. 

Summarize major areas- If you are seeking funding on a proposal, state directly at the end of your presentation exactly what you are seeking. 

Every presentation demands your best- Presenting can be fun, but you must remember it puts you in a spotlight.  You are being evaluated on a personal and professional level during every presentation you give no matter who the audience may be.  Your performance will be talked about.  A presentation worth giving is worth giving well.

Practice- Rehearse and then rehearse some more.  You should know your topic completely to be able to talk about it freely, comfortably and believably.

Good luck with your presentations.

4Ps Now the 4Rs

Everyone that has ever had an introductory marketing class has heard of the 4Ps, product, price, place and promotion.  This methodology has served marketers well since developed by Jerome McCarthy in 1960.  The 4Ps places importance on getting your message seen by the potential customer.   

However, many marketing experts including eMarketer are advocating the 4Rs model of consumer-centric marketing.  Through social networking, consumers interact with each other to learn about and evaluate products.  The 4Rs consist of reveal, reward, respect and retain. 

Click here to access Webtrends’ presentation on this new marketing paradigm:

https://admin.acrobat.com/_a162502/the4rs/

In listening to this presentation, I kept thinking that the 4Rs model would probably be even more advantageous to associations.  In the presentation, a brand focused around potato chips moved beyond the world of salty snack enjoyment into social commentary on environmental sustainability by building true die-hard customers and brand evangelists.  Would it not be easier for an association brand initially focused on social commentary and public activism to simply deepen this relationship by allowing members to share their personal stories and viewpoints?

Social Networking and Control Discussions

A fellow association blogger (Jamie Notter) has been leading an interesting conversation into associations fears of social networking capabilities such as blogs, forums and communities of practice. 

Check out Jamie’s thoughts and user comments in these two posts:

http://www.getmejamienotter.com/getmejamienotter/2008/02/myth-of-control.html

http://www.getmejamienotter.com/getmejamienotter/2008/02/the-myth-of-con.html

Here are a few of the fears I have heard expressed:

Our members do not blog or participate in discussion boards.

We can’t allow document sharing because viruses will be shared.

We won’t be able to edit all of the postings to ensure they are grammatically correct.

It will be just a place to complain about the association.

It will require too many resources to monitor all of the postings.

What sort of content would we be authorized to remove?

Do we ignore negative comments or respond to them?

How do we capture and bundle peer-to-peer learning from the forums?

Bundling peer-to-peer learning opportunities with traditional learning vehicles is the only constructive issue mentioned above.  The rest are fears that handcuff associations and continue to drive members and potential members to the Facebooks, MySpaces and Nings of the world.  Content should flow two ways in a successful association from the BoD and headquarters to members as well as from the members to the BoD and headquarters.  It is time the members have a chance to drive for awhile.

Podcasting and Vodcasting Strategies

There are many business models that associations are exploring with their podcast and vodcast initiatives.  Below is a discussion of the plusses and minuses for each strategy that I have heard of.

Exposure/Recognition/Branding Strategy-  In this model, you place all of your podcast or vodcast content entirely free and completely accessible through the iTunes store. 

There are other podcast aggregators out there, but iTunes is by far the largest.  The good news is that iTunes tells its podcasting partners that they can conservatily expect 4 times the visitation your content would normally see on your own website thanks to its global marketshare.  The bad news is that the iTunes store displays only free podcasts and do not collect payments like they do for music or audio book content.  If your association has a post test requirement for CE on your own online store you could still charge for a post test related to the free content.  If you do not operate under this CE format, it is a free for all. 

Your success in this model is measured in increased brand awareness, increased name recognitition, and hopefully stemming from this, new members joining your association.  If Apple ever begins advertising for pay for viewing podcasts, this strategy completely changes.  Right now, the exposure/branding strategy is an indirect revenue stream.

Tie-Ins/Add-Ons-  This strategy goes hand in hand with the exposure strategy.  Your podcast and vodcast content appears for free on iTunes, but you sell related products on your own online store.  Articles and webinars that are similar in scope to the free podcast are advertised at some point within the podcast content.  Most of the time, these advertisements are place in the middle or very end of a podcast. 

Sponsorship-  This is another model possibly linked with the exposure strategy.  If you can prove that your podcast is attracting a large audience, your vendor community may be willing to sponsor your podcast or vodcast.  Their ads would appear in the middle or end of a particular podcast or within a related series of podcasts.  As your audience grows, your sponsorship rates can also increase.  Outside of the association world, this has proven to be the most successful business model for most podcasters.   

Teasers/Snippets-  In this strategy, you pull out one really interesting or exciting segment from a larger podcast.  This interesting segment is launched for free on iTunes.  At the end of the podcast, you instruct the viewer where and how they can purchase the rest of the podcast in its entirety.  The inherent value of your podcast content is maintained.   

The association I am employed with is pursuing the Teaser/Snippet strategy.

What are your associations doing?  I would like to hear what your associations are doing.  Please comment below.

What Makes Google the Best Employer?

Beyond some of their really cool fringe benefits, like afternoon tea, I think two factors are the biggest contributors.  One, Google’s famous 70/20/10 work schedules.  A total of 70% is spent working on your normal projects.  Another 20% is devoted to related projects.  The remaining 10% is yours to work on anything you want.  A lot of autonomy and belief in the power of employees to do great things. 

The other factor is how Google is not afraid to go outside of its normal business model, Internet technology.  Google is wanting to move into the eradication of major diseases like the avian flu through its Google Foundation.  Check this out:  http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0801/gallery.BestCo_Google_help.fortune/index.html

Google is an excellent example of a socially responsible employer and I think this resonates positively with its employees. 

Tips from a New CAE

Welcome!  To learn more about this new blog and myself, click here:  https://caeblog.wordpress.com/about/

For my first official post I wanted to cover some tips for prospective CAEs.  I took my CAE credential examination in December 2007 and learned of successfully passing just this last Friday.  Very good news indeed.

Without further delay, my tips:

Join a Study Group- This is the most important tip I can give.  If you are in DC or Chicago, form a live group.  Being in Albuquerque, I joined an online group with individuals in New Jersey, and Louisiana.  We divided up the knowledge domains and developed detailed PowerPoint presentations.  We met online utilizing GoTo Meetings.  After going through the PowerPoints, we would answer series of sample questions as a group.  Our group’s slides were all I studied the last two weeks before the test.  Each party brought different experiences to our group and it was a great learning environment.  The friendships you will gain are a long term takeaway. 

Know Finance-  Many association employees are not financial whiz kids.  But, for the CAE, you will need to know how to decipher financial statements and basics of budgeting.  ASAE has some good resources.  The website investopedia.com also has some basic information.  Page through all of those annual reports you receive as an individual investor.  Schedule some time to meet with your finance manager and have them explain how your association’s annual report is compiled.  Money is good, don’t be afraid of it.

Schedule the Time- The CAE exam is no joke.  By far, the hardest exam I have ever taken.  This comes from someone who has a graduate degree and also took the Series 7 and Series 66 licensure examinations.  No matter how long you have been in the field, I don’t think there is any way to pass the CAE exam without studying.  No association is best practice in every operation.  You need to know the best practice in every facet of association operations.  Studying for this exam was my life for four months.  No other way to say it.  I studied at least two hours every night during the week and averaged 12 hours on the weekends.  Sounds bad, but the CAE credential is just the icing on the cake.  By putting so much into your studying, you will become a better association professional.  I find myself daily utilizing some tidbit I picked up somewhere in one of the knowledge domains.

Work for a Large Association-  Not much you can do with this tip if you don’t work for a large association, but let me explain how this helps you.  I have worked for two large associations.  Both have over 125,000 members.  The CAE examination tests you on best practices, often times this means a large association with staff specialists in different areas of operation including marketing, government relations, public relations, and professional development.  By working for an association with all the operations developed and hopefully working smoothly, you have people within your organization to interact with and enhance your level of understanding.  This was very helpful for my understanding of lobbying and crisis management. 

Don’t Waste Much Time on the Sample Tests–  I spent a great deal of time with the collection of sample tests floating around out there.  In hindsight, this was a waste of time.  The sample tests were nothing like the real exam.  The real exam was almost entirely scenario based where the sample tests were like 30-40% scenario based.  Study the material instead of memorizing answers to study questions.

Stay Out of the Weeds-  Focus all of your attention on knowing the Jacobs, Ernstthal and Cox books cold.  If you suck at finance, add an association finance book to the list.  Ignore new articles and new books.  Really new ideas will not be out long enough to be incorporated in the test.  Take what you read in the core knowledge books and apply them to scenarios you could envision.  This is how your knowledge will be tested.

Read the Question– Read the questions carefully during the exam.  Words like first, best and last have a big impact on what the correct answer will be. 

Don’t Dawdle–  I was always a fairly fast test taker in school and college.  I would be finished before at least half of the class.  I used the entire four hours to complete my CAE exam and only went back to two questions.  There is a great deal of material to read for each question.  Watch the clock, and don’t second guess yourself. 

Check out Ben Martin’s Tips–    Ben is the godfather of association bloggers.  Check out his CAE tips here:  http://caeexam.blogspot.com/2005/03/13-tips-to-help-you-pass-cae-exam.html

 If anyone has any questions for a recent successful candidate, just leave a comment.  Thanks and enjoy.