Yet Another Thanksgiving Blog

When I sat down to figure out what I would write in my blog, the ubiquitous “Thanksgiving’s Blessing” popped into my unimaginative mind. There must be a reason that George Washington issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation on Oct. 3, 1789, and Abraham Lincoln declared the fourth Thursday in November Thanksgiving. So I decided, why not?

Like most Americans, on Thursday I will take a moment, surrounded by family, friends and turkey (and tofurkey for some of our vegetarian family members) with all the trimmings, to count my blessings. Believe me, I have many for which to be grateful. However, I wanted to take a moment to thank the people I encounter and especially the ones I work with everyday at Drake & Company. I’ve also included a few crazy things for which I’m grateful. Here are just a few:

• Thank you to all the members of the associations we manage. Their willingness to join makes each association unique. Talking with them, helping them in some small way, helps me to learn their business better. 
• To all the allied industries, sponsors and advertisers who invest in the associations’ future to enable them to be voices in their fields, thank you. 
• For all association members who volunteer to serve on committees, boards and focus groups, thank you! Your commitment of time and effort is invaluable.
• I am thankful for our DrakeCo team for all of their efforts to make each association the best it can be – we really do “Make Dreams Fly!” 
• For those fellow DrakeCo team members who take the time to explain and teach me how to do things that are outside of my comfort zone, please know that your efforts are greatly appreciated!
• I am grateful to work with such a creative group at Drake & Company. If you doubt the creativity of this bunch, see the photo I’ve included at the start of this blog.
• Thanks so much for the graphic artists I work with who what I send them into top quality magazines and brochures.
• Even though I hate to admit it, thank goodness for e-mail. For example, it lets me contact IFTA members half way around the world in minutes. 
• Every time my computer does what I want it to do, I am amazed and grateful. 
• And last but not least, I am thankful for my family every day – not just on Thanksgiving. 

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

A Few of My Favorite Things ...

Don't worry - I'm not going to break into the score from the Sound of Music. (Although now I will have that tune running through my head the rest of the day.) Instead, I wanted to take a minute to share a few of my favorite things - those "tech" tools that make my job a little easier.

Some of these are old news - ones that we, and probably many of you, have been using forever. Keep in mind though, that "forever" in the world of today's technology may mean less than a year. Others are ones that I'd heard about but have just recently found ways to adapt to our clients' needs.

1. Delicious - This social bookmarking site has been on my radar for a year or two, but I never understood the appeal. Maybe it's because I'm not a big "bookmarker" -- it's always seemed just as easy to turn to my old friend Google to track down what I needed. But this year I've seen the light. For associations that are trying to keep track of their news coverage without the help of expensive media monitoring services, Delicious can be a simple and easy way to organize these story and article links. Each day, I can check my Google and Yahoo News Alerts, as well as my blog searches, and pull all relevant links into my Delicious site. Gone are the days of staff members constantly e-mailing links around the office -- these are all collected and easily viewable from one single site. And it's easy to share with others outside the office, such as clients or partners, and easy to sort with the use of tags. 
2. Splitweet - Ok, I know I'm probably going to get blasted for this one, as I've been told time and again of the vast superiority of Tweetdeck and other Twitter applications. And depending on what you're trying to do, they can be. But for basic posting across multiple accounts and clients - particularly when you have multiple "tweeters" in your organization, Splitweet is simple and straightforward. (But then again, maybe next month I'll be telling you about my new love affair with Tweetdeck - technology is a fickle mistress.) 
3. SurveyMonkey -An oldie but goodie. It may not have many bells or whistles, but it gets the job done. Its simplicity also makes it less "frightening" for our less tech-savvy members, which increases the likelihood that they'll respond. From meeting evaluations to consumer surveys to publication feedback, SurveyMonkey continues to be our go-to online survey service. Although, I'll admit, Zoomerang has more recently caught my eye -- would love to hear feedback on this service from someone currently using it. 

So, tell me, what are a few of YOUR "favorite things" at the moment?

Wings & Trees for Troops

For the first time since my time at Drake & Company, we hosted a fundraising event for one of our clients, the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation to benefit the Trees for Troops program. The work put in to make the event a success came full circle last night at Buffalo Wild Wings from 6:30-8:30 p.m. With little idea of what exactly to expect, I entered the restaurant blindly with boxes of information to set up at our designated table. However, looking back, there was very little that I should have been concerned about. After initially hearing about Buffalo Wild Wings fundraiser nights, Steve Drake encouraged the CSF team to contact a local BWW. Contact was made and a Wednesday night fundraising event was chosen over a month ago. 10% of the proceeds from the evening's sales with a flyer they provided went back to the foundation. As soon as we began promoting the event internally at Drake & Company, our staff hopped to. BWW stressed that each diner had to have a printed flyer in hand for proceeds to be donated back to the foundation. Together our staff began pushing out copies of the flyer, links to the flyer on our Web site, tweeting it (which drew in a handful of new supporters), creating a Facebook event and publicizing it every way we knew how. After discussion at a meeting the CSF team decided to take full advantage of our time and table space at BWW. Other than nicely displayed information, we organized a raffle and requested donations of goods, gift cards and gift baskets. The response from the Drake & Company staff was overwhelming. They made my job easy! With generous donations of spa, relaxation, holiday and house warming gift baskets we were able to offer our supporters a variety of gifts to try their hand at winning. The staff at the restaurant was willing to work with us and help us make the most of our fundraising efforts. CSF was able to show a video about Trees for Troops on the big screens during our rush, and a staff member also made the rounds to encourage diners to check out the information table and the raffle prizes. BWW's mascot also made an appearance!

With help from a wonderful staff and their supportive family and friends the event was a success!

Think Like Your Client

One of my clients is getting a “face lift” of sorts with a new Web site, set to launch on January 1, 2010. As with any transition, we have run into a lot of questions, a lot of confusion and copious amounts of head scratching. Not that we thought transitioning all of our content would be a cakewalk – but as we move our Web site into the 21st century by having more online compatible functions (such as joining our organization, ordering merchandise, registering for a course, etc), we have run into some roadblocks. Some of the roadblocks are just par for the course of using a new online system and familiarizing ourselves with a new program. At first I felt overwhelmed, thinking to myself, “I can’t even anticipate what kinds of questions to ask in order to make this transition smoother.” How was I to know how to set up our online store? Couldn’t it be set up five-hundred different ways? What made the most sense in terms of setting up subscriptions for our online e-learning resource? I had no idea. Although we’re getting support from one another as we learn, as well as online support from the new Web site company, the experience of this has been an extensive, albeit interesting learning process. Today I was having a discussion with a colleague over how we should set up a page on our new Web site when it occurred to me. Think like a member. How would I want the site set up for good functionality if I were a member? And better yet, if I were a complete stranger to the concept of this client’s mission and goals, how would I want a Web site set up to help me navigate for my needs? After spending some time thinking like the client, some things that did not make sense before started to come together. Although it may not help us to learn the technicalities of the new Web site as fast, this does help to at least point ourselves in the right direction. Now instead of feeling like I’m walking in the dark, I feel like I’m taking a walk towards the light (in that non near-death experience kind of way). :)

Knowing your clients’ needs sounds like a “duh” concept – but I think it is easy to get caught up in managing them that you can forget a basic need. At Drake & Company we always say how well we get to know our clients, but sometimes I find that because I am so ingrained in the inner workings of their business I can forget the most basic concepts. I may only forget for a second, but it always helps me to take a step back and think like a member. So, as we move forward with the Web site transition, I’m going to try harder to look through the eyes of a current or potential member. I feel good about this approach as we move ahead!