The Weekly Wrap-Up of Awesomeness for March 23rd
by Nikki Jeske • March 23, 2012 • Association Management, Community, Inclusion & Diversity, Leadership, Weekly Wrap-up • 0 Comments
Welcome to the Weekly Wrap-Up! Every Friday, I take the time to compile a list of events, articles, and fun tips and tricks for associations that I have found in my journeys around the web. It’s also a recapping of my key takeaways from the weekly Twitter chat, #assnchat. This post is a resource for association professionals, just in case they missed something that would and could be beneficial now or down the road.
SXSW! Early last week, I had the opportunity to spend five wonderful days at SXSW Interactive. It was an incredible experience of education, networking, and professional development. Almost all of the sessions I attended focus on using social media for social good, a cause near and dear to my heart. Once I get all my notes organized, I will be sure to post them here for you all to enjoy. I think I’m right in believing that social good is a cause near and dear to the heart of many associations. 
Another event that happened this past week was the update of new content to our Association Resource Center. The awesome Dean West and Cecilia Sepp of the Association Laboratory wrote an excellent and detailed special report call Looking Forward 2012: Influences on the Association Environment, which provides an analysis of strategic trends in the association business environment identified through their qualitative and quantitative research. Along with that, we’ve also updated our Videos page with lots of new webinars and valuable sessions from our December partners conference.
Alright – fun question! If your association was a color, what would it be and why?
On to the wrap-up!
Favorite Articles
Stop Talking About Social And Do It by Nilofer Merchant. (Saw her speak at SXSW Fantastic!)
- “Leadership” has changed when a decentralized group of people can take down a government. “The Value Chain” has changed when the customer is no longer just the “buyer” but also a co-creator. “Human Resources” have changed when most of the people who create value for your organization are neither hired nor paid by you. “Competition” has changed when individuals can create value through a centralized network of resources: for example, designing a product from anywhere, producing it through a 3D factory, financing it through community and distribution from anywhere to anywhere.
Trapped in an Elevator with a Nobel Prize Winner by Adrian Segar.
- One afternoon in 1975, I entered an elevator at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research located near Geneva, Switzerland. In the elevator was Professor R, soon to be awarded a Nobel Prize, and generally regarded by lowly graduate students like me as a physics god. We were alone, on our way to a lecture he was giving. As he ignored me, the door slid shut, and we began to rise.
The Raccoon Principle – Maybe It’s You by Shelly Alcorn.
- I met the artist and he told me the greatest story about a woman he met while he was drawing a similar raccoon picture. Apparently the woman came up to him and asked him why he would waste his artistic talents drawing pictures of such nasty animals. The artist asked why the woman had such a deep dislike of these clever creatures. The woman told him how one time she had found a raccoon in her shed, tried to chase it out and when that didn’t work, tried to pick it up and carry it outside.
How to Assemble Your Support Team by Steve Kamb.
- Imagine having an army of 1,000 Supermans; pretty awesome right? Wrong! If we had 1,000 Supermans, it would still only take a wee bit of kryptonite to take them ALL down. However, when you have Superman AND Batman AND Wonder Woman AND the Green Lantern…suddenly picking apart your team’s weaknesses is far more difficult.
Go Boldly: A Personal Learning Manifesto by Jeffrey Cufaude.
- This proclamation by Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise became permanently imprinted in my consciousness during a recent Star Trek television marathon. And so I determined this mantra must hold some divine meaning for me and my work as a facilitator, teacher, and learner.
#assnchat Takeaways
So while the always awesome #assnchat was taking place this Tuesday and the past one, I was camping in the Ozarks and at SXSW so I was unfortunately not able to take part in either of them. But Kiki L’Italien had a pretty awesome topic for the chat on the 13th: Associations & Mobile; and Kylee Coffman stepped up and hosted this week’s chat on Career Development for Association Professionals. You can check out the compilation of tweets for Association & Mobile here at KiKi’s page, and the tweets for Career Development over on Kylee’s page. Also check out the hastag #assnchat for all the other awesome updates.
Don’t forget – the chat is every Tuesday at 1pm CST and any and everyone is welcome. You can check out past #assnchat conversation by searching for #assnchat on Twitter. Joining the conversation is as easy as adding #assnchat to the tweet you’d like to share. Come take part in the conversation! I’ll be there. Will you?
