Awards and Recognition

I have the absolutely fun job of working with our awards and recognition program and committee. We wrapped up our award nominations at the end of July and the committee has been working hard the last couple of weeks evalutating all the nominations. We come together as a group on Monday to select the winners.

This is my first year as the staff liaison to this committee so there has been a lot of "learning on the go" but nothing could have prepared me for what I have learned about PCMA's members.

I am totally not surprised by how amazing our members are, but what does amaze me is how their complete commitment to the industry is unfaltering. They mentor, they teach, they write articles, they Tweet, they blog, they share, and share and share.

After selections are made by the committee, my time focuses on planning the award celebration with our meetings team. But before I finalize too much, I'd love to hear from you on the following:

1. If you've won an industry award, what is the one thing that made the ceremony most special?
2. If you had time to say a few words after receiving the award, what did you say? Who did you recognize?
3. Any thoughts on what would make a great awards celebration?

Send me your thoughts no later than October 15!

Christine

Labor Day...

Looking forward to recharging my battery this long Labor Day weekend. Going into the sprint to the Annual Meeting and I know it will be here before I know it. How does that always seem to happen?

We're also excited to see so many new members coming into PCMA...WELCOME!

And to those returning - THANK YOU!!!

I'll be back in touch after the weekend!

-christine

Optimism for 2010

If your organization is like PCMA you have or are in the midst of budgeting for 2010. If there ever was a time where I wish I had that crystal ball that would tell me how next year would play out - this is THE time.

Unfortunately I don't (if you do can you please send it my way?)...so I am going to rely on my sense of optimism that the worst is over and 2010 is a year to stabilize and grow.

How have you approached your 2010 budgets? What's your biggest budget challenge and how did you deal with it.

Tips to share???

-Christine

Crowdvine...

Hey there. So PCMA is using a product called Crowdvine to help annual meeting attendees connect with each other and it also filters Tweets and Facebook and all that cool, fun stuff. Today is the first day and it's pretty fun.

Last week at ASAE I attended a lot of sessions about social media and the importance of it in your organization. Below are some nuggets that I learned and hope that you find it helpful.

- Engagement Pyramid - Curators at the top, Producers, Commenters, Sharers and Watchers (at the bottom)
- Can't tell ROI on the technology, but you can tell ROI on the goals for participants in that technology
- Let go of control - in a true relationship you don't own all the control
- Define the sandbox - that is define the walls that the organization is willing to let people play in
- Focus on relationships - not technology
- Start small, but start
- Authenticity - be open
- Bravery - try new things
- Comment on your own blog - as many others might be afraid to "be the first"
- Brand videos with logos
- Keep videos short (under 3 min)
- ROI - create goals against: 1) # of members; 2) # of discussions; 3) # of tweets

Do you have any to share?

-Christine

blogs still worth it...

I was relieved, and a little stressed, to learn at ASAE09 that blogs are still worth it. Relieved because I truly do love to write a blog, but stressed out because I realize I still have so much to learn about effective blogging. Then there is the whole idea around finding enough time in the day to dedicate to a good blog.

So, I'm going to recommit myself to this membership blog - but I'm looking for ideas of other bloggers that you admire and if you have tips to help me stay on top of this. Send them my way.

I'll be back..........

-Christine

Back in the saddle

Hi - I'm back at work. Really it's been 2 months already, but it's taken a little time to get caught up on everything.

We've moved into a lot of Social Media while I was out and I continue to shephard our efforts with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter (just started yesterday).

Are you using these technologies?

I'm going to an Association Forum brown bag on Tuesday regarding how associations are using social media for their education...I hope it's good....

Today I'm at Association Forum for a session regarding the 2009 Economic Impact on Associations that McKinley Marketing produced. HIGH expectations on this to hear and learn some good stuff to help us out.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Christine