The post-conference Euphoria (capitalized on purpose) that
is what remains after an ASAE annual has finally start to wear off, and before
all the excitement from Dallas subsides to everyday life, there are a few
highlights and thoughts that stand out that I want to make sure don’t get lost
in the next eleven months.
Ideas are everywhere – Last year in St. Louis I
think I poured over the guide for hours trying to choose my sessions – which would
I try to go to? Could I do half and half
to double dip? This year the sessions still
looked amazing beforehand, but I worried much less. First, the ASAE twitter feed during
conference ROCKS. Seriously, as a
contributor but mainly as a learner – if you follow the conference feed you can
get the highlighted learning nuggets from so many sessions. Compile
these after, review them – you can do a whole presentation for your staff on
learned lessons from conference just from these alone. With that said, some of the best ideas that I
discovered in Dallas were not in the sessions.
There were three places I found a-ha moments this year:
a.
Innovation Lounge/Social Media Lounge (Sorry
Mandy – I don’t remember what this is ‘officially’ called) – these two lounges,
situated across the hallway from each other proved to be hubs of conversation
that was at once public in who I ran into, but private in affording comfortable
space to share ideas. Eventually, when I
walked in – whether it was for a break, to check email, to innovate (see the
next section) or it was on my route – I could glance around the people in
either place and feel ideas waiting to be discovered.
b.
Foundation events – I am a big believer in
giving back to those causes and places that help you succeed. For me, as ASAE has given me a stronger
career path, giving back to the Foundation has been a logical choice. The opportunities I had to have conversations
with fellow association professionals at Foundation events in Dallas who feel
similarly was inspirational. To hear
personal stories of how their lives have been changed by association and
Foundation efforts, or how they have chosen to get involved and why only fueled
my fire to want to do more.
c.
Best session of the conference – At a break
between sessions I was sitting for a moment in the Innovation Lounge when I was
joined by a colleague and friend. Though
we had spoken often before, there was an opportunity to just ask – what are you
trying to get out of this? What do you
want to do in the association world? How
can we make a difference? A five minute
conversation became well over an hour – by the end of which I had further
refined by own career path, educational goals, and what I would like to try and
accomplish for associations. I believe
that my colleague did the same. Daniel
Pink was an amazing speaker. The networking
and new contacts were invaluable. My
ultimate learning moment? Hearing a
colleague’s association vision, passion and journey, and sharing my own.
Innovation isn’t only for Great Ideas – I attended
the Great Ideas conference for the first time last year, and can’t wait to go
back this year. I was happy to see an
Innovation Lounge this year – and though I fear the term ‘innovation’ is
getting overused, the concepts of development, betterment, ingenuity and
creation are still cutting edge. This
year I saw different approaches taken to how leaders collaborated and made
plans. I was part of various
conversations that weren’t focused on the way things have always been, but
rather on the way things ideally could be.
I saw the start of projects, initiatives and efforts that will be months
if not years in the making – and they each started from a single point of
synergy or debate. Innovation appeared
to be inclusive of anyone who sought it out – and this year’s conference was
truly a playground for the concept.
Inspiration from leaders, colleagues and friends
– At each ASAE event I attend I am again and again amazed at the new people I
meet who bring such varied strengths, perspectives and approaches to some very
homogeneous aspects of the association landscape. Through these introductions my own
perspectives broaden, as I consider options and opinions that would never
before have occurred to me. I was lucky
enough this year to either run across or be included in a number of meetings of
leaders – both volunteer and staff – who acknowledged the important work that
had to be done, but were open and excited to find different, improved paths for
greater success. With so much to learn,
and so much to experience, in the end the greatest take away from ASAE12 is
still the people. My colleagues who I am
proud to call friends, my new fellow professionals who I look forward to seeing
again, the larger community that I want to continually contribute to….the
intangibles that truly ‘make it worth it.’
There is of course more….specific experiences, hospitality
and socializing (I still dance like a 7th grader, I just care a
little less now), volunteering, recognition, appreciation. One thing I know for sure – ASAE13 in Atlanta
is already on my calendar.
