Principled Innovation LLC

Exploring the new look of associating

September 15th, 2009

A compelling conversation about the future of membership is underway in the association blogosphere, and I plan to weigh in with some detailed thoughts on the topic in the near future.  For right now, however, here are three quick points I’d like to add to the mix:

+Interaction is cheap and plentiful, but trust is not.

+Contributing is more useful than joining.

+Purpose and meaning are more valuable than products.

There is more to come on each of these points, and others as well…stay tuned.

The timing of this dialogue is interesting because it is taking place just as I am about to begin a three-part webinar series called The New Look of Associating: Innovation Strategies from the Social Web.  During the series, I plan to explore the membership question in the context of the broader shift emerging around the concept of associating in a Web-enabled world.  Here is additional information on the three sessions of the webinar series:

September 25, 2009

Building Social Platforms: What Associations Can Learn from Facebook and Twitter

Public social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have made it possible for us to see and manage valuable relationships that were previously invisible to us, as well as create new virtual connections that can be sustained with less effort than face-to-face. This session will challenge participants to question long-standing assumptions about membership, and re-imagine traditional association approaches to building and coordinating member relationships.

October 2, 2009

Building Collaborative Communities: What Associations Can Learn from Wikipedia and Firefox

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia and the social browser Firefox are more than just powerful Web properties. Both are dynamic knowledge-based resources created by global collaborative communities in which all contributors are involved on a voluntary basis. This session will challenge participants to think differently about how communities can drive innovation, and devise new strategies for organizing association stakeholders for value creation.

October 9, 2009

Building Distributed Engagement: What Associations Can Learn from the iPhone and The Mobile Web

The worldwide adoption of Web-enabled smartphones continues to grow unabated. In less than two years, the iPhone has become the market standard for mobile devices, and the mobile web is already emerging as a promising platform for distributed engagement. This session will challenge participants to explore new forms of stakeholder participation, and embrace the design of simple and lightweight opportunities for meaningful engagement.

There is still time to register for the entire series (the better deal), but you also have the option of registering for any of the three webinars on an individual basis as well.  (The titles above are linked to registration pages for each webinar.)  I hope you will consider joining me for this unique learning opportunity.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  I am pleased to announce three associations that have already decided to join me for all three sessions are the recipients of a BONUS webinar with me at the conclusion of the series, during which we will consider the specific implications of the series content for those organizations:

Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists
Cascade Employers Association (Oregon)
Pennsylvania Association of Homes and Services for the Aging

Your association still has an opportunity to win a BONUS webinar as well, but only if you register for the three-part series by this Friday, September 18.  Three more associations will be chosen at random and announced early next week. I hope your organization will be one of them!

Learn about my upcoming webinar series at bit.ly/KcsTQ.
Please follow me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pinnovation.

Entry Filed under: Principled Innovation Blog, Announcements, What's New?, Social Media, Innovation, Associations, Extreme Makeover, The Association Innovator, We Have Always Done It That Way, PI Events, Garage Memes, Embrace the Revolution