A Holiday Greeting

Forecasting the Future

Wouldn't it be nice to know what the future holds? Of course, predicting exactly what is going to happen in the future is impossible. While we cannot predict the future, we can forecast the future. To do this requires that we understand where we are now and where we have come from.

The past helps explain the future. To forecast the future, it is important to look backward, follow a trend to the present and make logical predictions about what is going to happen. I can say with near certainty that in ten years, we will not be flying around in cars. But what I can say is that in ten years, hybrid automobiles with embedded "online" communication systems will probably be common. GPS devices will "collect" better information about road and traffic conditions and will be "smarter" and we will be much safer because of it.

Social networks will include our health information (because we want it to, not because it is mandated), handheld devices will "recognize" people and places and give us more information, and for those who allow themselves to be "open" to their trusted network, where they are and what they are doing will be even more accessible. Of course, computers will be faster, televisions thinner, clearer and larger, and as a society we will be "greener" and hopefully too, more healthy.

Anticipating the future is important to help determine those things we need to be doing now, in particular as professional associations. If we are not looking forward to the future, we risk becomming less relevant to our members. A grassroots organization can literally pop up over night and if it better able to serve your member's needs, there is a risk you could lose your marketshare.

I am a big fan of the Institute for the Future, an independent nonprofit research group which works with organization to help them make better, more informed decision about the future. I heard IFTF Distinguished Fellow Bob Johansen speak about his book Get There Early last summer and his ideas are profound.

During the next year, I hope to gain a better understanding of where we are headed and maybe even be able to forecast what the association world might look like in the year 2020.

Expand your social network

When I began “social networking” more than a year ago, I did so in a way that might seem backwards to most people. Rather than creating a network of people I already knew, I found people I did not know that I had common interests with.
For example, through Twitter, I found runners (I was training for a marathon), Leukemia and Lymphoma Society supporters (I was raising money while training as part of the Team in Training Program), writers (I am writing a novel) and technology geeks like myself which led to blogging for CJOnline.

I had a few people that I actually knew and would come to know, but for the most part my friends were people I had never met and most likely never would meet. I joined FaceBook to connect with a group of people whom I met at a national meeting a few months ago who use technology within professional associations. Association work is what I do for a living.

But a funny thing happened along the way. My sister asked me to be her friend. And then my mother. Then came a few people who grew up in my home town. Suddenly, my network of friends actually consists of real friends, not just people I have connected with in a professional sense. For me that has been a change and a good one. In just a very short time, I have reconnected with some friends I hadn’t talked to in a very long time. But as much as I missed out on the obvious, those that only connect with those they know might be missing out on something very important, which is expanding their network to people they do not know.

You see, there is a young lady in New Mexico who is battling leukemia that has rekindled a passion within me to run another marathon. I have gotten to know a runner in Florida who has a connection with the association world who has also participated in a Team in Training Marathon and donated to my fundraising campaign last year.

The contacts I have made in the association world have educated me in ways to enhance our communications at my work which have been successful. Those communication strategies have enhanced what I have done for our local Rotary club with its website and newsletter which has now led to serving on the communications committee at my church. These things may have never happened if not for the connections I made with the people I have never met.

So don’t limit yourself in the social networking world to those people you already know. It’s important to keep those relationships alive, but there is an exciting world out just waiting for you to join it. So take a leap and become friends with someone like you, even if they live clear across the country. That friendship might just be one that will change your life.

What makes a social network tool a success?

Some recent posts at the A-List Bloggers Network have prompted me to ask the question, "what makes a social network application a success?" While I believe that answer is highly subjective to the association that launches the program, I do think that having some way of measuring the success is important.

I always have found the challenge to be how to measure success. Is it a number of people who sign up on the social media application or the people who implement it? Or is it a failure because you don't see the success since you can't really know for sure if your members are finding the benefit in the service you create. 

Jeremiah Owyang writes that setting goals should be part of the planning before the launch of a social network. A few examples might be:

• We were able to learn something about customers we’ve never know before


• We were able to tell our story to customers and they shared it with others


• A blogging program where there are more customers talking back in comments than posts


• An online community where customers are self-supporting each other and costs are reduced


• We learn a lot from this experimental program, and pave the way for future projects, that could still be a success metric


• We gain experience with a new way of two-way communication


• We connect with a handful of customers like never before as they talk back and we listen


• We learned something from customers that we didn’t know before

Of course, in associations, our customers are our members. A translation to this might be that:

• We engage members that haven't actively participated in our association before


• We offer an opportunity for members to interact and communicate effectively through their association


• We are able to increase communication to our members


• Our members feel that they are part of something big


• We create something of value to the members

Looking at quantitative data such as the number of people signed up to the social network respond to blogs may not give a true indication of the success of your program. When the Kansas Dental Association set up it's social network, I was surprised who had signed up first. It wasn't the members I expected, rather it was dentists who had not gotten involved directly in the association. To me, just reaching some of these people was a measure of success. The usual suspects later came along as expected.

Putting those goals into writing and conveying them to your target market should be part of the plan as well.  Your members need to know what your expectations are from them from the beginning. 

Use Ning to create a social network

I have done a lot of thinking lately on the purpose of associations. Specifically, I have been thinking of associations in terms of a very trendy topic called social networking. Just what is social networking anyway?

According to Wikipedia, a social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.

Each of your members has a common activity, which is their profession and presumably, have the same goal of making it a rewarding and ideally a profitable experience. Many of your members probably belong to your professional organization, or at least participate, to explore the interests and activities of their colleagues and have the ability to interact with those colleagues and their profession.

Social networking really is a buzz word for the Twenty First Century association. It’s the method of communication and the speed in which that communication occurs that has changed and not the purpose. Today associations can literally pop up overnight with a force far greater than most of us can conceive

Associations can open those doors to their members and create the pathways for members to “associate” with one another in the Twenty First Century. Ning (www.ning.com) allows associations to create their own social networks. An association social network would allow your members to create their own “online” identity and participate in group discussions about issues, education, and even share photos and video with their colleagues.

It’s their voice, their connection and their network, all designed to give them the opportunity to be a Twenty First Century participant in their association.

The Social Media Starfish Map

DBarefoot posted this excellent map of social media applications and their particular uses.  It's particularly good for those "Starting out" in social media.  It's referred to as the Starfish Map because, well, it looks like a starfish with a couple'a extra tentacles.  

Tips on Using Twitter

I am a big fan of Twitter. I believe it has changed the way we communicate in a very short period of time. Now that individuals have discovered ways to use it, associations are now exploring ways to implement it into their networking tools. There have been some really good postings on this topic over at the A-List Bloggers, a site for association bloggers. Here are a few of those posts. Lindy Dreyer over at Association Marketing Springboard also has a post on this.

Connecting 08 - The ASAE Annual Meeting & Expo

The American Society of Association Executives has put together an absolutely amazing series of web 2.0 sessions, covering everything from a Meet the Bloggers session to Second Life. Bottom line, ASAE has created the opportunity for connectivity in an amazing way. My network of association social media experts has grown from virtually nil to over 100 individuals who understand this far better than I. For me, this has been an amazing learning experience into the world of social connectivity. It will take me a few days to sort through all this, but I am extremely excited and motivated to get to work.

In the meantime, here is a link to the ASAE blog and other resources that might be helpful in your world as well.

Why Cloud Computing is Still Years Away | CHIPNIT

ChipNit thinks true cloud computing is still years away and blames it on the lack of free wi-fi in airports and coffee shops.  He makes a great point and I agree.  Until we can access the cloud from virtually anywhere, we can't really work in the cloud.

I have become a fan of Microsoft Mesh which synchs your documents across all linked computers.  So while you may not have access to the cloud, you can still access your documents on your own computer.

Why Cloud Computing is Still Years Away | CHIPNIT

Sony Movie Software

I referenced the video software the KDA uses for it's video minute. We use Sony Vegas Movie Studio. Sony just announced its new version, version 9 which is available here. We use the studio Platinum version.

Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds

Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends

Wordle - Beautiful Word Clouds

See twopoint0media.com in wordle

Presentation Zen

Looking for great information on presentation delivery? Presentation Zen has some great ideas, including presentation methods.

Presentation Zen

Earthquake Demonstrates Twitter's Power

I wrote about Twitter a few months ago in my CJOnline Blog. Yesterday, we saw how effective Twitter can be when communicating information quickly. According to various reports, cell phone coverage went down during the Los Angeles earthquake, but Twitter did not.

You see, Twitter has fought for legitimacy since its inception. The concept of microblogging is still relatively new. Those of us who use it probably use it more than any other web 2.0 service and there is a great reason. The idea is quick information as it happens, which just happens to be suited perfectly for breaking news.

Immediate posts during the earthquake notified people across the world of the event, creating citizen journalists, minutes before the news media broke in and announced it on the traditional news outlets. In the breaking news world, especially if life might be at stake, minutes are huge. It was reported as it happened, by those who were there.

No longer are we a world that waits for the traditional media outlets to report to us. Technology gives us the chance to report information that needs to be told and told quickly. 

Twitter is an excellent tool for for putting the power of the media in our hands. Yesterday in Los Angeles, Twitter proved that.

Looking for great fonts for your design? Check out dafont.com.

ASAE & The Center Engaging Associations in twopoint0 World

Greg Hill, Assistant Executive Director of the Kansas Dental Association, presented a session at the American Dental Association’s annual Management Conference on Association Communications Using Web twopoint0. The presentation, which highlighted many of the different Web 2.0 applications the KDA has incorporated into its website (blogging, social networking, video productions, etc.) was broadcast live over the internet and aired on the Kansas Dental Association website. That presentation was recorded through the UStream.tv service and is available to be viewed by other association staff members who were unable to be at the conference or those who may simply wish to watch it again.

More importantly, the presentation demonstrated many ways in which associations can reach out to their members in ways never before imagined. One of the true purposes of professional associations is to organize like-minded individuals around their profession. This new concept of social networking is built upon this premise and the ASAE and the Center is engaged in leading associations toward this exciting new medium of social networking.

The presentation highlighted many of the individual social media applications the Kansas Dental Association has been using, including an in-house video news feature titled the KDA Video Minute, our public blog, videos from annual not-for-profit charitable event at KMOM TV, our MySpace page, and our use of Google Maps to create innovate views of our membership data (visit http://www.twopoint0media.com/powerpoint/aP%20Lite%20Flash/index.swf, items 44-46).

The KDA is further exploring a self-contained social network of KDA members to replace its existing member’s only section, allowing members to create their own social identity and interact virtually within a controlled environment. Members would be able to post their blogs, photos, videos and create their own networks of KDA members. This concept is currently in the development phase, but is discussed in the presentation.

Thank You to the ADA Management Conference

I want to thank all of you who were in attendance yesterday, both at the American Dental Association and online, for my presentation on Web 2.0. I hope the presentation was informative and you were able to take some very interesting and future looking ideas not only from my presentation, but from all the presenters yesterday. If you wish to share some of your ideas either with me or the group, you can leave a comment here or post in the discussion room in the twopoint0media network or email me at greg@twopoint0media.com.

JJ Abrams Mystery Box Presentation

This is the full presentation by JJ Abrams at TED I referenced in my presentation to the American Dental Association.

ADA Presentation Replay

Looking to watch my presentation at the American Dental Association? You can view that here directly or visit this link.

Live streaming video by Ustream

New York Times looks at Virtual Meetings

The New York Times published an article on Tuesday talking about how companies are going with virtual meetings and saving money over the cost of transportation.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/technology/22meet.html?_r=1&ref=technology&oref=slogin

Back to the Future

One of my favorite movies is Back to the Future, or more specifically, the Back to the Future trilogy. I particularly enjoy the parallel scenes that take place in each of the movies, each in the time in which Marty McFly has travelled.

There are several of these scenes, for example, the skateboard scene in which Marty McFly uses a soapbox scooter in 1955 and a hoverboard in 2015 to escape the chase of the high school bully Biff Tanner and his grandson Griff. The two scenes take place in the same place on the town square, but different only in the year in which the scene takes place.

As I watched this scene one day, I realized that these parallel scenes reflect the history of associations, in particular, their functions over time. I researched the history of the Kansas Dental Association and found that in 1871, when the organization was in its infancy, that the core functions of the association were to provide a means of communication with its members, to educate its members, to promote the profession and to protect the public.

The difference was the means that were used to communicate these functions. In 1871, it may have been by the Pony Express and train or horse drawn carriage. As time has moved from the Old West, through the industrial revolution and now to the digital age, the means of communication has added the telephone, the post office, desktop publishing, the fax machine, and now the internet with its limitless means of communicating these functions.

I believe that now, with Web 2.0, the functions have not changed, but there is an amazing opportunity to dramatically increase the availability of this interaction with your members and the public. As leaders of your association, I believe you have an obligation to your members to continue to use the tools the internet offers to provide the best information to your members.

Web Design Trends

Web Designer Wall has compiled a very good resource of web design trends. Personally, I think that whether or not it is a web design, PowerPoint design or a design for a newsletter, these themes can really make your publication or presentation stand out. I opted for the vintage style, but there is plenty more to look at http://www.webdesignerwall.com/trends/2008-design-trends/

Logo Design

Your logo is important. It's how people will remember you and recognize you. It should reflect your product. Learn some of the new logo design trend http://www.logoorange.com/logo-design-08.php