The Association Innovation Blog by Jeff De Cagna

Sorry I've been away for awhile...

I want to apologize to TAIB readers for not having posted to the blog for nearly ten days.  For the second time in as many months, I was sick last week and not doing much of anything.  I have certainly missed posting for you and I will try to "catch up" on some things in the weeks ahead.  I just wanted you to know that I'm still here...and that it is really crappy to be sick!

March 15 Google session

This past Tuesday, I presented a free session on Google and innovation for the association community.  The session was hosted by the Special Libraries Association and I want to thank Janice Lachance, SLA's executive director, my friend and colleague John Crosby, and all of the staff at SLA for their great help and support!

I've led many sessions over the course of my career and I've grown accustomed to having my photograph taken from the back of the room.  But I've always wanted to take a picture of an audience from my vantage point, so we can see the learning experience from a new perspective.  It just so happens that we had a great group of association professionals and learners assembled for this session who were more than willing to participate in this small experiment.  Thanks to all of you for your participation and engagement, not only in this photo but in the session as a whole.

I'm looking forward to writing and talking about Google and innovation going forward, as well as to delivering more free learning sessions for our association community.  If your association would like to organize this kind of "thought leader" session for its staff or the community at large, please send me an e-mail.  I'd be happy to chat with you about it.   

Jeff interviewed at podcast411.com

In my March 6 Associations Unorthodox podcast, I mentioned that I was interviewed by Rob Walch at podcast411.com.  Rob has posted the interview on his site and I hope you'll check it out.  I'm looking forward to listening to it myself, because Rob and I had such a great conversation.  Please post your comments below.

If you're downloading, here is the XML feed as well.

Blogs still largely unknown

Last Thursday, CNN released the results of a poll showing that 74% of Americans still aren't familiar with blogs, despite all of the hoopla around them in 2004.  Here is the text of the brief article about the poll that appeared on page A4 of today's The Washington Post.

Blogs Draw a Blank, Mostly

It's been the year (or so) of the blog, which is funny because most Americans say they are not familiar with the online sites.

That's the conclusion of a new CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll, which found that nearly three-quarters of the public -- 74 percent -- is "not too" or "not at all" familiar with the sites. Blogs (short for "Web logs") are online journals in which amateur, and sometimes, not-so-amateur, pundits discuss whatever is on their minds, from television shows to political candidates. The remainder of those polled were divided between those who said they were either "somewhat familiar" (19 percent) or "very familiar" (7 percent) with blogs.

Three percent of the respondents said they read blogs every day; 12 percent said they visit them at least a few times a month. Forty-eight percent said they never look at the sites, and 24 percent said they do not have access to the Internet.

What I find staggering about these statistics is that in 2005, 24 percent of the people surveyed still do not have access to the Internet.  Am I wrong to be that stunned?  Is there some role that associations should play in addressing this issue?  And trust me that it is an issue, not just of technological advancement, but of education, health, political discourse and, yes, economic growth.  Your ideas on what associations can do to lower that number are encouraged and welcomed.   

Another podcast at Associations Unorthodox

An update to TAIB readers...I have posted my latest podcast at Associations Unorthodox.  We're coming to the end of our discussion of The Future of Work by Tom Malone.  I hope you'll listen to my thoughts on the application of markets to associations, a subject I blogged on briefly during the Top 5 issues of 2005 posts toward the end of last year.  I have two more podcasts on the book to post, including an interview that Amy Smith and I did with Professor Tom Malone for our Internet radio show, Association Foresight.  The interview will be up tomorrow!

Coming up on March 18, some very cool stuff at Associations Unorthodox.  Join me then and listen carefully! 

A great conversation in progress

My friend Ben Martin of the Passed the CAE Exam blog and I are having a really great conversation about the CAE and our divergent perspectives on the designation.  Read it, including the original post from the View from a Corner Office  blog that put this issue out there last fall.  This conversation is not only worthy of your time, but important for our community.  Let me just say a couple of things about it right now:

1.  I believe very strongly that the association community needs a master of science in association leadership that is rigorous and interdisciplinary.  I have audioblogged about this before on this blog and I'm bringing it up again as a result of my conversation with Ben.  We DO NOT...repeat DO NOT...need an MBA; we need a degree the recognizes the uniqueness of what we do and integrates the various disciplines that contribute to our work into a theoretical base we can begin to apply in new and compelling ways.

2.  The CAE exam certifies to a minimum standard of competence.  That's fine.  So let's be clear about that reality throughout the community and recognize that while certifiying to a minimum standard may be necessary and appropriate, it is clearly insufficient given the nature of the challenges our organizations face.  The CAE is a voluntary designation, held by only a small percentage of ASAE members (perhaps 10%) and an even smaller percentage of the total association executive population across the country.  Those who hold the designation arrive at taking the exam from many different fields and experiences and while the exam seeks to assess the knowledge they all hold in common around associations, what mechanisms do we have for better understanding the way each of them thinks about and applies that knowledge in their work? 

3.  Some may dismiss my critique of the CAE exam as irrelevant or even inappropriate because I don't hold the designation.  I understand that point of view but I obviously don't agree with it.  My interest is not in tearing down the designation, but in building it up.  But we can't do that unless we're prepared to discuss its shortcomings honestly and openly and that conversation must include a wide variety of perspectives.  I'm just one voice and look forward to hearing others.  Please join in!