What’s the one area where you want to see improvement in 2014?
What’s the one area where you want to see your team/staff/organization improve over the coming year? Weigh in on the poll below:
Putting It All Together (originally appeared on Kathy Robinson’s Blog: http://www.kathyrobinsonsblog.com/what-does-teamwork-mean-to-you/)
Strengthen Community Bonds by Being Social
This month I had the privilege of having a guest article on social media appear in Quorum Magazine, a publication of the Washington Metropolitan Chapter of the Community Associations Institute.
Quorom Magazine- October 2013 issue
To read the article in its entirety, click here:
While it was written for professional community managers, lessons for all abound. Here are a few excerpts:
Visual social media is big and getting bigger all the time.
Commit to listening and engaging with your community.
Storytelling has gone to the amateur. You become the reporter, the editor, the storyteller, the photojournalist. People and organizations who capture what’s happening are rewarded with greater attention.
Think about campaigns and themes. Think about what you would find interesting. Be curious. Be spontaneous. Find a new angle on an old story.
Develop ways you can be a resource for your community. Pinterest is a great platform for this. You could put together boards on area restaurants or nearby activities.
Ask questions. Perfect for Twitter or Facebook, asking genuine questions and soliciting input is a great way to engage the community.
Think creatively and stay engaged on social media, and you’ll see both your online and offline presence strengthened in the community.
What I learned when the president of Cinnabon bought me coffee at Starbucks
I had the opportunity to interview Kat Cole, President of Cinnabon, at the ASAE Annual Meeting in Atlanta earlier this month. I had first become aware of Kat through the CBS show Undercover Boss with the episode featuring her last fall. I was excited to learn a few months ago that Kat would be at this conference and reached out to her through Twitter to arrange this interview.
Kat Cole, President of Cinnabon
In the interview Kat touches on a number of topics, but the one I find most fascinating is her deft handling of partnerships. She has worked with major brands like Kellogg, Burger King, and Taco Bell to expand the reach of Cinnabon without taking away from the core business of the franchises. Kat also touched on some of this in her presentation. Her perspective certainly challenges association and nonprofit leaders to consider more thoroughly who they might partner with to create win-win situations.
I walked with Kat from our interview to the auditorium where she would present later that afternoon. As we passed a Starbucks, Kat asked if she could buy me a coffee. What do you say when the head of a major food brand asks if they can buy you an iconic product from another major food brand? You say yes. When you’re also a blogger, you also think, Hey, this could make a really great title for a future blog post! It should be further noted that Kat was impressed with my selection of a tall Java Chip Frappuccino® Blended Beverage… coffee with rich mocha-flavored sauce blended with milk, chocolaty chips and ice. Topped with sweetened whipped cream and chocolate-flavored drizzle. Ah, but I digress. We walked on. I told Kat that I like how playful she can be with the brand on Twitter when people talk about how they can’t resist Cinnabon or how they’ll have to work out more after indulging. Her response: “We’re not building missiles.”
Some of the takeaways from Kat’s session at ASAE Annual:
- Protect the core. Reinvest in what makes you great.
- Leverage something you’re the best at. @Cinnabon did it w/ @Kelloggs_US w/ their cinnamon.
- Be honest about what you can’t do well. Decide if you’re okay with that.
- Culture eats strategy for lunch every day.
- Be humbly bold.
- What is small enough to change, big enough to matter?
- The deal you don’t do is never the one that’s going to kill you.
- What’s the opportunity cost with the limited resources you have?
- What is the one thing we could do today that everything after it will be more effective?
- Be there for your community when it really counts. Are you there for your constituents?
- Be one IN a million … Not one OF a million!
- Guess what? @Cinnabon is not healthy.
- The biggest mistakes are people mistakes.
Believe me, there are some thought-provoking gems here, and Kat’s presentation was well-received. I couldn’t do it justice in even a short blog post. Make no mistake- I found Kat to be approachable and personable in the interview, off camera, and in her presentation, but she is also a focused and determined businesswoman who has not lost touch with her values or who she is. Kat purposely cares for and connects with people, and this comes across genuinely. She furthers her authenticity by being thankful for opportunities, giving credit to others, and admitting mistakes. Many leaders could learn from her approach and her example.
Random ChatterBachs Musings and Updates
It’s the last day of July, and I realize that I haven’t written a blog post this month. Well, it’s not that I haven’t written one, it’s that they’ve gone elsewhere.
I was excited about this interview with Sarah Lugo of Digitec regarding the upcoming ASAE Annual Conference in Atlanta.
I even got to be a part of a JibJab, which, quite frankly, I didn’t even know what a JibJab was until I was featured in one!
JibJab with Sarah Lugo of Digitec and Jay Daughtry of ChatterBachs for ASAE Annual 2013
I’ve also written a guest post which will appear in a DC-area magazine in October (more details on that at a future time).
Additionally, I’m working on a blog post and presentation for a flash learning session at ASAE Annual on “Content Marketing Lessons from Major Brands for Associations and Nonprofit Organizations”. I’m excited about the brands which are willing to talk about their successes for this work. I have a feeling that it’s not going to be a one time and we’re done kind of topic.
I’d also like to explore further the concept of walking meetings or sessions. What are the best cities or venues for walking sessions? How do presenters weave architecture, history, nature, scenery, etc. into the topic at hand? Have you had an experience with this concept? What are your thoughts and feedback?
I’ve advised more clients on visual social media in the past month than ever before. I’m excited about the ways businesses and nonprofits can use Pinterest, Instagram, Vine, and other platforms to better connect with and engage their audiences.
As always, I welcome your comments and feedback below or on Twitter.
08.06 Update: My flash learning session on content marketing lessons for associations at ASAE ’13 is today at10:45 am in Room B218.
Vine, Instagram, and the Evolving Visual Web
I knew that things were becoming more visual in social media. I even tell that to people frequently. YouTube has been cited as the second largest search engine. Pinterest has grown immensely in popularity in the past two years.
The Shift to Visual Social Media (Image by @SociallySorted)
But, as I sit here on a Friday afternoon- the last Friday afternoon of June, and the last Friday afternoon in the first half of 2013- I realize how much my own use has changed in this regard just in the past three weeks.
I now have a Vine account where users can create 6-second looping videos. I’ve used the app to capture moments ranging from my younger son’s field day to a monster truck ride to the disappearance of my morning juice which reveals a photo of my sons in the background. While these are merely experimental, it’s amazing to see what really creative minds have done to take advantage of the six seconds and the looping effect. The appeal comes in that it’s a small investment of time (in fact, it’s so small that one may find themselves watching a video over and over), and it provides a richer experience than a static image. I have to give a shout out to Chris Brooks of Hilton Worldwide whose simple video of cycling around New York City caught my attention and prompted me to sign up for Vine.
Then three days ago I read Ernie Smith’s piece on Why Instagram Can’t Be Ignored. Instagram now has 130 million active users and has launched its video functionality as well. Again, I felt the nudge and activated an account. I found myself looking through photos on my iPhone from the past several months for just the right ones to Instagramize. I’m certainly not one with a trained eye in this regard (my wife is the artist), but I couldn’t help looking through framing and filtering options, trying to decide if Amaro or Hefe or Kelvin was just the right look for a given image. I’ve found the platform to be a great way to connect with friends and those from professional circles alike.
So, as we move to a more visual web, it’s also reminder not to be stagnant. The social media landscape is quickly changing and evolving. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn may be the primary three platforms for many individuals and organizations, but opportunities may be lost for those who think those are the end game. Take time to dabble and experiment. You might be pleasantly surprised with how a new platform can connect you with your audience.
What trends are you seeing with the evolving visual web and social media? What new platforms or apps have you started experimenting with? What are the lessons for organizations as they seek to connect with and inform their employees, customers, and members?
Engage Your Audience like Dove Does
With over 54 million views in two months, Dove has a winner in this Real Beauty Sketches video series.
I’m not here to argue the merits of the campaign with regard to beauty. In my opinion, however, they’ve struck a chord with the general public. The result is a winning content marketing strategy. They’ve challenged people with how they look at themselves and managed to attach their brand to the process.
I think what they’ve also been able to do is intrigue and the engage the audience. From the moment Gil Zamora announces that he is a forensic artist and that he worked for the San Jose Police Department, the viewer is hooked. From the music selection to the loft gallery feel, there’s a calming and inviting sense about the setting. As participants enter, there’s a mystery surrounding the process and what exactly this has to to do with Dove. As they describe their experience further, one can’t help but think what it would be like to be in their position.
We each have difficulty in seeing ourselves for who we are. We may be too critical with small areas. This exercise allowed some to see themselves in a brief but tangible way through the eyes of a stranger. We each come away wanting to know what that moment of realization must be like.
What are the lessons you see from Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches series? What are the ways your organization can use content to better engage your employees, members, and customers? What are the topics or trends in your industry that your brand could be more effectively associated with?
Facial Recognition and the Future of Personalized Marketing
A Face in the Crowd: Say goodbye to anonymity
Recently, I saw the report above from Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes. She made the point that facial recognition is becoming a reality for marketers. It’s no longer Big Brother that we have to worry about but social sites like Facebook which has more photos of people than the government does. The piece also highlights redpepper, an ad agency that has developed Facedeals.
Here’s the way they say it works:
“Facial recognition cameras are installed at local businesses. These cameras recognize your face when you pass by, then check you in at the location. Simultaneously, your smartphone notifies you of a customized deal based on your Like history.”
This could be scary stuff, but it also left me thinking… What are the implications for associations and nonprofits? What is the applicability of this technology for conferences and events?
What are you seeing? Please share your thoughts with me below or on Twitter or Facebook.
digitalNow 2013 in Less Than 180 Seconds- #diginow13
I had the privilege of attending digitalNow 2013 at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Orlando, April 4-6. The notes below are based on my notes and tweets on what stood out to me and are not intended to capture all learning from each of the sessions nor the entirety of the three-day conference. I have put in bold and italics those comments I personally found to be the most impactful or thought-provoking.
Dr. Michio Kaku, Opening Keynote Presentation
- More power in computer chip in musical birthday card than all forces of WWII.
- More power in your smartphone than NASA had in 1969 to send a man to the moon.
- Like electricity, in the future the computer will be everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
- The word “computer” will disappear in next 20 years. Think “electricity”.
- Digitalization of transportation: Driverless cars may make words like “accidents” & “traffic jams” disappear.
- In the future your toilet will have more computer power than an entire university hospital today.
- How much to do the first gene sequence? $3 billion. By 2020? $100. An owner’s manual for your body.
Dr. Michio Kaku, Futurist and Author
Keynote panel with Dr. Michio Kaku
- We are born scientists until we hit junior high school. Junior high school kills scientists.
- We have to create a new sputnik to invigorate education.
- Day to day transactions are obsolete. We have computers to do that. We have to elevate the workforce.
- When hot shot programmers get tired of making social media, they can build firewalls to protect data.
- Some predictions don’t come true: paperless offices, people-less cities. We want proof of kill, & we’re social.
Dr. David Metcalf and Jenny Levine, The “Maker Society”
- Networking Uncommons designated section at conference: have your own session or meeting there, charge your laptop, etc.
- At ALA they’re trying to create a hacker association… engage people w/out a long-term commitment.
- Make your association hackable? You have to break bureaucracy & red tape, engage people on a project basis.
- Encourage organization hacks. Put unofficial events in official program for event.
Stuart Meyer, Your Association.TV
- By 2017 82% of all TVs sold will be smart TVs.
- More than half of senior execs share videos weekly with colleagues. 80% watch more video now than last year.
- Video-based storytelling leads to emotional proximity.
- Two goals with video: give immersive experience to connect to place & people they can relate to.
- Video: Today there is less members-only content because sponsors want more eyeballs.
Susan Etlinger, Day Two Opening Keynote Presentation
- The HIPPO problem- the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion.
- The challenge: Different kinds of media- print, digital, etc. Concept of paid, owned, and earned media. Received on various devices.
- Different purposes of media/content: awareness, consideration, intent, purchase, support, loyalty, advocacy
- Average global company has 178 social media accounts.
- Geico is easier to monitor on social media because it’s not a verb or noun otherwise. The Gap is, has different meanings.
- Advances in technology- Smart carpets detect falls, unfamiliar footsteps.
- Social data is a dress rehearsal for big data.
Susan Etlinger, Industry analyst with the Altimeter Group
John Dorman and Grant McInnes, “Getting the Biggest Bang for your Mobile Buck”
- When you go to the Texas Medical Association web site via mobile, it sniffs that you are on mobile & sends you to a different site.
- WordPress has a theme with responsive design built into it.
- Responsinator- see how web sites look on different devices.
Stephanie Young, “Innovation by Disney: Transforming the Customer Experience”
- After 21 years with Disney, she is constantly surprised & delighted by guest experience.
- Passion for storytelling is the Disney difference… it fuels its culture & its people.
- How can we take what we do & make it better?, a question asked at Disney.
- Disney uses RFID to track cast members’ costumes: check out, return, inventory, laundry.
- We can’t keep everything behind the curtain until it’s practically perfect.
- Innovation cannot take away from current work that we’re doing.
- Does technology enable you to better deliver on your core values?
- What’s in your fan mail? What are your members/customers raving about?
Dr. Alexander Pasik, “The Impact of Emerging Technologies on Associations”
- If you’re not analyzing operational data, why are you thinking big data?
- We don’t need systems that spit out reports; we need systems that use data to help us figure out what to do.
- What are social networks? Personalized associations.
- IEEE saved $500K by moving from in-house email to Google, did it in a weekend.
- Redefine membership in the context of existing platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, & Google+.
- Think about cloud security in same context as “Is my money safer under mattress or in a bank?”
Maggie McGary and Andy Steggles, “Social Media as Viewed from the C-Suite”
- Speed of technology adoption: 50 million users, it took radio 38 years; Twitter, 9 months.
- 3 reasons why execs adopt social technology: fear of falling behind, to get work done &/or to build culture of innovation.
- HR & IT are 2 departments most indifferent to social media.
- Having a complete LinkedIn profile w/ headshot is a living resume. It’s your business card- online.
- Using Google+ helps your findability, appear in Google search results.
- Think about like & share. It’s a different function in an activity feed. What if “approve” started a workflow?
- Internal facing software like Yammer & Chatter can help improve company workflows.
- The most at-risk members- the ones least likely to renew- are traditionally those that are least engaged.
John Maeda, Day Three Opening Keynote
- “Bad design is irrelevant. It is superficial, pretentious…” -Paul Rand
- “Design is the method of putting form and content together.” -Paul Rand
- “I like people who have big dreams and execute well.” -a student of John Maeda
- 80,000 biological specimens at RISD. It’s like a library. “At RISD you can check out a turkey.”
- Innovation= Art + Design
- Artists think in the macro and the micro simultaneously.
- Traditional leaders avoid mistakes; creative leaders accept that mistakes happen & learn from them.
John Maeda, President, Rhode Island School of Design
Interesting stats & quotes
- Between now & 2030 someone turns 65 every 8 seconds.
- Every person is as powerful as a newspaper.
I’d also like to thank those who aided my understanding through their tweets: Tom Hood, Greg Melia, Elizabeth Engel, Jackie Brown, Sheri Jacobs, Scott Wiley, Dan LaBert, Stuart Meyer, Amy Bassett, John Mancini, and others.
What stood out to you from digitalNow? What were the lessons learned? What other blog posts or resources on this conference have you found to be insightful?
The Greatest of Great Ideas in Less Than 180 Seconds- #ideas13
I had the privilege of attending the ASAE Great Ideas Conference in Colorado Springs at The Broadmoor March 10-12, 2013. I was certainly not in a position to capture all that was happening at this inspiring conference. My hope is that if you attended this will serve as a reminder of the material covered in the sessions. Also, may this post and the notes, tweets, photos, and resources below provide you with enough insight that you too will be challenged to think differently about the challenges you and your organization face.
Conference Catalyst, Thom Singer
- This is not a junior high dance. Ask questions. Power in the word, “Hello.”
- #1 reason that people attend conferences: networking. But then we stink at it. Smile. Have name tag visible.
- Invest in people. Anything you need… it’s probably somebody’s 1st cousin who holds the answer.
- Plan while at the conference how you will follow up with people you meet.
Thom Singer, The Conference Catalyst
Opening General Session: The Fascination Advantage: From First Impressions to Lasting Value, Sally Hogshead
- Are you giving your members the orange ticket- a distinct, irreplaceable experience?
- What kinds of personalities do you want to attract to your association?
- Fasination is an intense focus. You’re engaged, in the zone.
- A $39.99 UPS costume. They’re getting your kid to dress up like an employee of a company. Think about it.
Sally Hogshead, speaker and author of Fascinate
Helping Your Association’s Innovators, and Generating Non-Dues Revenue, Jeff Glassie, Whitney Kulesz
- How do we support new business ventures that can transform professions/industries?
- TripLingo: 1st to receive angel investor award from ACTE.
- One difficult obstacle to overcome for angel investing from an association: just selling people on a new idea.
Associations Got Talent, Mark Milroy and Jay Daughtry
- Select 5 objects that describe you.
- How would you finish the sentence “I am…” ?
- How do you identify hidden abilities that others possess?
- Getting people to talk about their talents helps them identify their dreams
- What cues lead to misperceptions about people?
- Give people the freedom to try something new & fail at it.
Career Mapping Tools: Charting the Present and Future, Shawn Hulsizer, Scott Mackenzie
- Creating a career map can help members understand and identify their professional pathway.
- Career mapping helps rethink and reorganize association products, services, website, education, etc.
Creating Meaningful Business Relationships, Shari Harley
- In building relationships, ask more, assume less.
- Going bowling won’t help people work better together. Talking about working style preferences will.
- The people we work with often think they told us what they want, even though they didn’t.
- Candor questions: 3 things that will keep you with organization? Worst boss you ever had? Best boss you ever had?
- Do you prefer to communicate via: email, voicemail, text message or IM?
- When do you do your best work: early am, mid-day, late afternoon or evening?
- Choose candor over comfort.
Components & Strategy- Lessons from Sun-Tzu’s “The Art of War”, Cecilia Sepp, Lowell Applebaum
- If people can help build it, they’ll support it.
- When we lose focus, that’s when we start to hear the noise before defeat.
- Every member of an association should be a volunteer.
- The best marketing tool you have? An engaged volunteer.
- Do what you can when you can with what you’ve got.
Closing General Session: The Vuja De Moment: Shift from Average to Brilliant, Simon T. Bailey
- Reach the point of being uncomfortable with being comfortable.
- The same letters that spell “listen” spell “silent”.
- People engage because of authenticity.
- What are we doing to ignite a fresh a fresh vision?
- There are 20,000 moments in a day. We are in the business of managing, creating & mastering moments.
- In the dictionary failure is before success. Embrace failure. Failure is not final; failure is feedback.
- What would I do if no one paid me to do it?
- An association is a memory, a connection, a collection of moments.
- Ask yourself what makes your association come alive.
Simon T. Bailey speaking at Great Ideas ’13, photo courtesy of Libby Hoppe
Innovation in a Box, Rick Johnston and Becky Granger
- Exercise: In 30 seconds name as ways as you can think of to use a brick.
- Think beyond the normal. Don’t let your mind edit you.
- Win like you are you used to it; lose like you enjoy it.
- Take someone else’s idea and put your spin on it.
- Innovation: Don’t worry if most ideas don’t seem immediately implementable- keep them in your back pocket for later.
Thanks to all who followed my tweets from Great Ideas. Thanks to so many who added my understanding while at the conference: Gabriel Eckert, Libby Hoppe, Dan Scheeler, Amy Lestition, Rachel Johnson, Brian Cheung, Rhea Steele, Katie Paffhouse, Kylee Coffman, Ron Moen, Jenna Crane and more. I also appreciate the numerous conversations in hallways, before and after sessions, at meals, and at receptions. All of this made it a richer experience.
For a recap of the 2012 conference, check out my The Greatest of Great Ideas in Less Than 180 Seconds post.
What lessons did you learn from Great Ideas ’13? What were the highlights for you? What other posts or resources from this conference have you found helpful?
ChatterBachs... Composing Strategies 