How Your Association Can Embrace Technology to Serve Your Members Better

Associations can use various technologies to serve their members better. According to Bob Treadway, Denver based national speaker, the three most easily implemented and essential are: Voice Mail Systems, Fax On Demand Systems, and On Line Services, including electronic bulletin boards and various ways of creating channels of communication with members.

Let’s take the first one, Voice Mail Systems.Today, most associations are reluctant to put in Voice Mail Systems because they feel they’re going to be very expensive and difficult to maintain, and they put a layer of technology between themselves and their association members. The opposite is true. Voice Mail Systems can now allow associations to engage in non-simultaneous communication. Treadway believes that non-simultaneous communication is one of the most crucial skills for the future.

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Decide What Deserves Your Energy

With so many fascinating opportunities before you each day, how do you decide which are for you? Start by asking yourself these nine questions to help you judge whether an action is appropriate for you.

1. DOES THIS EARN A LIVING FOR ME? In a material world, we all have responsibilities that cannot be ignored.

2. CAN I LEARN FROM THIS? Can I grow as a human being by doing this particular piece of work? Will I acquire new skills or insights?

3. IS IT USEFUL? Who is depending on me to do this and why? Sooner or later any piece of useful work involves us with other people. Will this action bring me together with people in a worthwhile way?

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Build Emotional Connection Through Eye Contact

Eye contact is an important way to emotionally connect with your audience of any size. Here are some ideas to help you:

1. Generally speaking, the longer the eye contact between two people, the greater the intimacy is developed. In a business, sales and speech situation, look at members of your audience for a thought, phrase or idea. If you are sitting at a boardroom table, make sure you share eye contact with everyone.

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Communicate Your Association Image Through Your Association Staff

Every single member of your association staff, no matter what the job description, is a member of your Public Relations department. Just one unhappy or “bad attituded” employee could do terrible things to your public image.

Your customers are your association members. Not only are other groups and situations demanding their time and money, most of your members have to be constantly ‘resold’ on the value of their membership fees, to say nothing of the importance of attending Association meetings and events. Your staff, especially the front line and membership contact positions ,have to be staffed with the right person, in the right job that is matched to their skills and your goals and service standards.

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Want to Book More Dates? Collaborate!

Collaboration is when two or more small, mobile, intelligent units get together on a project, but still maintain their own identities. More and more corporate American businesses are working this way. Speakers, too, can reap big benefits from temporary or on-going collaborations.

WHY COLLABORATE?

In both the business and speaking worlds, there are three good reasons to collaborate:

  • For profit (obviously!)
  • For education (learning something new!)
  • For fun (the best reason!)
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Tribute to Cavett Robert

Cavett always wanted his money’s worth out of life! His incredible energy never ceased to amaze me. In 1977, I attended my first National Speakers Association convention and was tremendously excited at the prospect of attending Cavett’s weekend seminar with Merlyn Cundiff. Cavett had flown in just a few hours earlier and had been up all night. But even with no sleep, he was magnificent and vibrant.

The last time I saw him was at the Speakers Roundtable meeting in the summer of 1997 after the NSA convention. We were a group of about thirty-two including spouses. Cavett and Trudy had stayed up late the night before for the dinners and events, yet there they were, looking fresh and rested at the 7:00 a.m. prayer meeting. They were almost twice my age, but I knew I could never have done it.

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“And What do YOU Do?” A Simple Booster That Adds to Productivity!

If we want to have strong, self-confident teams in our businesses, let’s ask, listen, and learn about each other’s accomplishments. You’ll be amazed at the talent all around you, some that even your colleagues may not acknowledge in themselves.

One of the best ways to feel connected with others in a company is to have good meetings, the kind where information is shared and people leave energized and ready for challenges. When I owned my hairstyling salon, I opened our regular staff meetings by asking everyone to share what they were most proud of in their personal and professional lives since the previous meeting. Too often, such e=vents go unacknowledged by us. The discipline of needing to report made everyone more aware.

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A True American Success Story

Patricia Fripp is a true American success story–except that she is British, born in a small English town. “Probably the best thing that happened to me,” says Fripp, “was growing up with an absolutely brilliant younger brother. I assumed I wasn’t as smart as others, which made me work twice as hard. That’s where my good work habits started.”

At age fifteen, Fripp became a hairstylist in Bournemouth, England. To “keep up,” she worked early, late, and through lunch hours, soon earning 30% more income for the salon than the experienced male employees (who were paid three times as much).

Where could she best exploit her talent, tenacity and capacity for hard work? “The Colonies!” she decided. At twenty, Fripp arrived in San Francisco with no job, no place to live, and no contacts. She quickly became known as an innovator, the first prominent woman in the new industry of men’s hairstyling. One day, she looked around and realized she no longer had to rush to keep up with everyone else. She had left them miles behind. She cut the hair of Cavett Robert and many past NSA Presidents and Hall of Fame recipients.

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How to Deliver Bad News and Still Look Good

In every association executive’s life the day will come when you must deliver bad news. Sometimes you have to tell the bad news to your Board; every so often you have to tell your membership; periodically you must tell your superior. But whoever is on the receiving end of the message, the way you deliver the news can determine how the messenger (you) is treated.

An example of “bad news” having to do with money was handled in an exemplary way a few years ago by the National Speakers Association. According to Barbara Nivala, the then Executive Vice President of the organization, ” we wanted to take a long term approach, upgrading the membership and projecting a higher visibility in the meetings industry. To do this, we felt we had to double the membership dues.” No one was happy about that, but the president of the NSA, Tom Winniger, approached the problem by calling the dues increase a “restructuring of dues.”

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How to Make Your Association Leaders Look Professional

with Diane Parente 

PART I — Meetings

While your elected leaders may be quite at home leading the annual board meeting, public speaking may not be their favorite arena.

As even the most seasoned of speakers may experience jitters before opening meetings, introducing speakers, making announcements or speaking on panels, it’s no surprise that association leaders may feel uncomfortable in these situations. Here are some ideas that can make them, and therefore you, the Association Executive, look good.

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