Nike has resigned its seat on the board of the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce (NY Times 10/1)
and Apple resigned its membership (Washington
Post 10/6) over the organization’s outspoken
resistance to potential carbon regulation. Pacific
Gas and Electric, PNM Resources and Exelon have
announced plans to pull out of the Chamber over its
climate policies.
COMMENT: The
consequences of attempting to advocate for a diverse
constituency; read on.
AARP’s 40 million members are evenly divided
over health care policy (NY Times 10/4).
Half of members have access to Medicare, the other
half are too young to be eligible. “Tens of
thousands (but less than 1%) have resigned in
protest” over the debate. The association has
mounted a massive outreach campaign, meeting
personally or via telephone with over one million
members.
As texting goes mainstream, acronyms are growing and
becoming more complex – there are now more than
2,000 according to NetLingo (WSJ 8/5). One
trillion text messages were sent last year according
to CTIA-The Wireless Association.
CAUTION: A woman texted her friend, “I’m
sorry to hear about your mother passing away. LOL.
Let me know if there is anything I can do.” She
thought LOL meant “Lots of love” not “Laugh out
loud.”
Rogue board members can be expensive. The United
States Chess Federation, the governing body for
chess, spent $400,000 in legal fees last year over
stolen and obscene leadership email messages
resulting in claims of libel, slander and business
disparagement (NY Times 8/11). In another
situation, the president-elect of the American
Academy of Actuaries defamed the executive
director of the Society of Actuaries (saying
that she had “looted” the society and taken
kickbacks) resulting in a suit that cost the Academy
over $2 million (NY Times 10/4).
LEADERSHIP: Do you vet leadership candidates
adequately?
“Second Life is gaining popularity as a setting for
trade shows, meetings and other corporate events for
the likes of Northrop and IBM.” (WSJ 8/18)
Second Life, launched in 2003, is a
three-dimensional virtual domain where avatars
interact with other residents. It averages about
one million monthly users. IBM held a three-day
event on Second Life with a peak of 250 users last
year.
The Gold Prospectors Association of America
has experienced a 20% increase in membership over
last year to 50,000 as panning for gold increases
with high unemployment and high gold prices (USA
Today 8/18).
QUESTION: Non-dues revenue opportunity?
“As the recession took hold, most Americans cut back
on volunteer work” according to a study by the
National Council on Citizenship (NY Times
8/27). The survey found that 72% of Americans
said they were devoting less time to volunteering
and other civic activities.
COMMENT: While this study focused on public
service, I would think it unlikely that association
volunteerism trends would be significantly
different.
“Which brings us to the all too common disease of
the association world – underpricing. Left to their
own devices, associations will not charge what they
should. I simply cannot go into all the reasons why
the vast majority of associations ‘leave money on
the table,’ but they do, and they do so in alarming
amounts.” says Andrew S. Lang, CPA (Association
Trends July-Aug 2009)
AMEN: My observation over the years as well.
Challenged to articulate the return on investment
for your trade show? Try the ROI Tool Kit at
www.CEIR.org (Forum 8/2009)
The Business Travel Coalition has changed its
position and now support s passenger rights
legislation that would require airlines to let
people off planes delayed for more than three hours
(USA Today 9/8). The National Business
Travel Association and the American Society
of Travel Agents are also supporting the
legislation “after 10 years of shattered promises of
self-policing by airlines.”
Lions Club has lost 200,000 members from its
peak of 570,000 in 1978 (Houston Chronicle 9/14)
but today has 5,000 followers on Twitter, 2,400
friends on Facebook and 400 connections on LinkdeIn.
COMMENT: If the Lions Club can do it,
you can too.
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