The Association Innovation Blog by Jeff De Cagna

asae & the center annual meeting: part one

Well, I'm back from Nashville, and I have to say that I had a REALLY GREAT time at the ASAE & The Center Annual Meeting.  The staff did a fantastic job.  It was obvious that a great deal of creativity went into the planning for the meeting, and all of their efforts paid off by elevating the energy and enthusiasm level throughout.  The buzz among the attendees was awesome...everyone I talked to had fun and learned a great deal.  Most importantly, no one walked away from the meeting with the impression that this was your typical cookie-cutter ASAE meeting.  The spirit of the merged organization was unleashed in Nashville. Now it must be sustained everyday, day after day.  I'll offer a few thoughts on that subject on another day.  Today, I want to focus on some reflections on Nashville.

Now this is a great idea...

Today, I received an e-mail from ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership that allowed me to proof my name badge for the upcoming Annual Meeting in Nashville.  Here is an image of what I received:

This is a terribly exciting development, not only for ASAE & The Center and for meetings in general, but for me personally.  I have struggled my whole life with the challenge of getting others to spell my last name correctly.  I cannot tell you how many hundreds of times over the decades other people have substituted their judgment for mine when spelling my last name.  People have actually argued with me about it, suggesting that the space in my name is not necessary or not a mistake.  The joke I make is that if I could get back all of the time I've spent correcting error-filled spellings my last name over the last 37 years, I'd still be 18 years old!

To me, this very simple e-mail is more than just excellent customer service.  For me, it is a sign of respect, a recognition of my individuality and a very simple step that allows me to regain control over how I present myself to others.  Oh sure, an incorrect name badge could be corrected at the meeting.  But now I'm know that ASAE & The Center cares about me as a person, not just as a meeting attendee, and that's a wonderful feeling.  Bravo!

UPDATE:  Rich over at the Trade Show Marketing Report pokes fun at my enthusiasm about the badge proofing option.   But Rich doesn't get my mail...today's extraordinary new spelling of my last name:  DeAcagna.  Now that's one I haven't seen before...full marks for originality.

The XtremeASAE Blog fun has begun...

It is with great pleasure that I announce the XtremeASAE Blog is now live and ready for you to visit!  This blog will be a resource for both Annual Meeting attendees and for members of the association community who are unable to join us in Nashville.  My advice to you:  subscribe today!  You can do that by visiting the site and entering your e-mail address in the Subscribe box on the right side of the blog.  When you subscribe, you will receive ONE E-MAIL per day with all of the updates to the blog for the previous day, so you won't have a bunch of new messages cluttering up your inbox!

I'm personally excited about this new blog, because we have such a great group of bloggers and we are actively seeking your participation in this blogging experience.  If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please email us at xtremeasaeblog@gmail.com.  We look forward to engaging you!

ASAE Annual Meeting blog launches Monday!

Great news!  ASAE & The Center are moving forward with a blog for the Annual Meeting in Nashville!  The blog will launch on Monday and I'm pleased to say that a group of association bloggers will be managing it, with the advice, guidance and support of the ASAE & The Center staff. It is an honor to be a part of that group, and I know that you're going to be pleased with what we're doing.

We're writing this blog for everyone who is attending the meeting, of course, but we're also doing it for the overwhelming majority of association professionals who won't be able to join us at Opryland.  We want the blog to be a useful resource for everyone, something you'll check daily over the next month and even after the meeting.  We will also make it a little bit provocative--dare I say "xtreme"--to capture your attention and spark your imagination!  And we very much want to get you involved!  More on that to come...

So get ready...and check out the various association community blogs over the next few days for updates.  It's very exciting!

The EMSAL debate continues

My friend Ben Martin of the Certified Association Executive blog has posted a response to my posting from late May regarding the EMSAL (executive master of science in association leadership) proposal.  You can read the comment I posted to his blog offering my take on his most recent points when you click through on the bold red "a response" link above.

I'm really glad that Ben has stayed in this conversation with me.  He's a great guy and very smart.  Thanks Ben!  I'm really looking forward to what comes next...

Online article about podcasting for associations

This month's online edition of ASAE's Association Management magazine includes an article on podcasting in which I am extensively quoted.  As the association community's podcasting pioneer--a new completely immodest, self-referential superlative that I just created (whadda ya think?)--I'm very proud to have been included in the article.  I'm grateful to Jesse Alter, who was with AM at the time, for the fine job he did with this piece.  I hope you'll check it out!

Nashville Blogger Confab

Fellow blogger, friend and all around good guy Ben Martin is organizing a blogger confab in Nashville at the ASAE Annual Meeting in Nashville.  David Gammel and I have already expressed interest and, if Ben doesn't mind my self-organizing, trouble-making nature, I'd like to extend the invitation to members of the association community who are seriously considering entering the blogosphere, either for themselves or for their organizations.  (So if you don't know what the blogosphere is, you shouldn't participate.)  Ben, if I have overstepped here, just smack me down!

Sounds like it will be fun.  There's lots to discuss.  I'll see y'all there!

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!

A new post/podcast on Associations Unorthodox

Just wanted TAIB readers to know that I have put up a new post/podcast on my Associations Unorthodox blog.  Over the next few weeks on that blog, I'll be posting about the book, The Future of Work:  How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style, and Your Life by Thomas W. Malone.  On March 9, I will be facilitating the next ASAE Book Club on Professor Malone's book, and I want to take the opportunity to use this new blog and the podcasting option to create a richer and more interesting experience for everyone.  I encourage you to check it out and consider subscribing for regular updates!

7DoB Day 3: ASAE/The Center Merger and HBR 20 Breakthrough Ideas (AUDIO)

A rather long audio post (sorry text lovers!) about the merger between ASAE and The Center, as requested by Ben Martin, CAE of VSCPA. Also, a brief mention of HBR's list of 20 breakthrough ideas for 2005, and the essay of Dean Roger Martin of the University of Toronto's business school. Very good stuff!

BIG NEWS:  As of right now (10:55 pm on 2/2/04) you can download a FREE COPY of the HBR 20 Breakthrough Ideas from the website I listed above.  Just look for the link in the frame marked "Harvard Business Review."  I don't have any idea how long the offer will last...