Inside ASI-AP

I purchase my family’s health and dental insurance through Carefirst BlueCross BlueShield. As I am sure most of us have experienced very few doctors and dentists file claim’s on the patient’s behalf and then bill you for whatever you owe... Scott Oser

The other day a coworker and I had a discussion on who the customers are for association professionals. We determined that ultimately, our customers are our members’ customers, since they benefit from the education and networking opportunities we provide to... Katie Paffhouse

As a consultant and a former membership, marketing and circulation director at a number of DC metro based associations I have always been exposed to RFPs (requests for proposals). While I was working at an association I sent out a... Scott Oser

I saw this photo on one of my favorite blogs - she posted it because of its looks, but it's fascinating on many levels for me. First: we don't do giveaways like we used to as an industry. (matchbooks? really?)... Betsy Boyd-Flynn

We'd like to welcome two new guest bloggers to Acronym: Scott Oser and Katie Paffhouse. Scott is with Scott Oser Associates, in Maryland; he brings with him a wealth of knowledge about publishing and marketing. Katie is the senior manager,... Lisa Junker

This month's Associations Now case study, "Compensation Conundrum," was actually inspired by a discussion on ASAE & The Center's Executive Section listserver. As the members of that list were debating back and forth about how confidential salaries should be (and... Lisa Junker

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) is urging businesses and organizations in the impact area of Hurricane Gustav to execute their emergency recovery plans, which should include the following (note: All associations and nonprofits across the U.S. would be well-served... Kristin Clarke

As always, I am proud to report that many associations have already sprung into action in response to the serious threat of Hurricane Gustav, now a Category 4 hurricane heading toward New Orleans, and the potential threat of Tropical Storm... Kristin Clarke

So many associations and nonprofits are considering or expanding their employee volunteer programs that I thought I’d share when many are doing all of this community giveback: on 9/11, in honor of the victims of the terrorist attacks on the... Kristin Clarke

The editors of Associations Now want to get our readers thinking--but every now and then an article gets an even stronger reaction than we had expected. In August, that article was "The Perils of Strategic Planning" by James Hollan. Here's... Lisa Junker

Mary Bowie, VP of Finance for the American Association of Museums, says software is no where near good enough at supplanting people in building relationships with her members. Give her a good transaction system built by people who know what... Scott Briscoe

Here, in no particular order, are a few of the things we learned as a team at ASAE & The Center’s 2008 Annual Meeting and how we are going to apply them at The American Ceramic Society: • We learned... ACerS

One week after arriving home from ASAE & The Center’s Annual Meeting in San Diego, we are just beginning to process the things we learned and how we might apply it here at the American Ceramic Society. For those of... ACerS

Ben Martin at the Certified Association Executive blog beat me to it, but I've been meaning to post a welcome for some new association bloggers who recently threw their hats into the digital ring: - Peggy Hoffman, at the Idea... Lisa Junker

The hospitality sector has long been community-minded, and now many of them are including the planet in their “community,” with special programs, services, and operational practices and goals to lighten the environmental footprints of hotels and other accommodations. I heard... Kristin Clarke

Now that most people have returned from Annual Meeting and caught up on sleep, I'm seeing some great posts sharing takeaways from education sessions and other parts of the conference: - Elizabeth Weaver Engel has a great post that begins... Lisa Junker

During the Annual Meeting, ASAE & The Center's Knowledge Initiatives team sat down with a few of this year's speakers and asked them to share a few additional thoughts on various topics. Thanks to each of them for being kind... Lisa Junker

Association bloggers are still writing thoughtful stuff about the Annual Meeting: - Kevin Holland was disappointed in the closing keynote, but happy with the conference overall. - Peggy Hoffman shares a bunch of things that she learned at Annual. -... Lisa Junker

While this post isn't at all comprehensive for everything that took place on the last day of Annual Meeting, here are a few photos to give you some of the flavor of the conference and San Diego: Riding in the... Lisa Junker

Following up on a post I did on the Association Marketing Springboard, here is a short video from the Annual Meeting of Frank Fortin, communications director for the Massachusetts Medical Society, explaining how he is using Forrester's Social Technographic Survey... Lindy Dreyer