Comments on: 6 Counterintuitive Ideas for Associations

By: associationjam.org

associationjam.org — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:15:45 +0000

6 Counterintuitive Ideas for Associations — SocialFish…

“Do you notice a pattern here? These are all about going against the grain. Need to make money? Give stuff away for free. Need to develop better strategy? Invite competitors, remove the chain of command/committee barriers – and open the doors to di…

By: Jeff Hurt

Jeff Hurt — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:30:07 +0000

I think we could sum it up in two words: “Opposites attract.” Do the opposite of your conventional thinking and watch it attract new people, ideas, conclusions and strategies.

Thanks for sharing Maddie.

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Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:16:42 +0000

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By: Twitted by deirdrereid

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By: Shannon Otto

Shannon Otto — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:43:03 +0000

I love the idea of a feedback wall. I think it’s so important for associations to solicit feedback from members after their meetings — it’s the only way to truly improve them. Whenever possible, there should be less red tape and policy and more actual conversation. Like you pointed out, the bad economy can award certain advantages to all organizations. It takes a lot of creativity to find out how to make do with less money, and the 6 ideas you listed can definitely be done on a tighter budget!

By: Deirdre Reid

Deirdre Reid — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:35:01 +0000

I love this post and the direction it leads us. My former association’s industry was hit very hard by the recession, and things looked very dire for the survival of many of our local associations. One of our local associations surprised all of us by working with their competition — a for-profit organization that provided insurance and education to small companies in our industry — to provide education and social hours to their members.

It came about because some of the staff from both organizations decided to play nice and do something good for all of their members and not worry about any possible consequences (stealing members from each other) as they normally would. The partnership is working so far. The local association is able to offer a robust schedule of educational and social events — exactly what their membership wants. And both organizations have been able to keep their doors open because of the extra revenue and retention.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:59:58 +0000

I like the ideas here—the more times we hear these types of ideas, the less radical they seem! thanks for continuing to show that there are options to doing things the way they’ve always been done If nothing changes, nothing will change, right?