Skip to main content

A look back, a look forward

My first post of 2009 - w00t!

Looking back, 2008 was a major year of change for me. In April, I welcomed my beautiful daughter Madeline Louise into the world. Then, in October, I started my first ED job with the Arlington Soccer Association. Needless to say, those two events have really driven my life this year. I think I can honestly say that right now I am the luckiest guy I know. A great family and a job that I was built for.

2009 looks to be just as exciting as I watch my little girl grow by the second and as I start to get the ASA where I know it can go. I am not one for New Year's Resolutions (as I never keep them), but there are a few things I know I need to work on. This blog is one of them. I dropped off a great deal once I got the new gig. Things were crazy and I just didn't get it done. I need to get back on track to win one of Ben's awards for 2009.

So, I give you permission to kick me in the butt if I go back to slacking. I would also like some help with some topics for my posts. My frame of reference has changed a great deal. I am not working for a big, international association in membership anymore. I am ED of a small, local association working from home. So what do you want to hear about?

I hope you all have a great 2009 and I look forward to our conversations.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Thoughts on #ASAE10

Ok, so I could have spelled out the title, but chose the hashtag - #asae10. Supposedly there were over 8,000 tweets with the hashtag, but probably countless more direct messages of messages that left out the hashtag but were conference related. Two years ago, we were using twitter as a backchannel to talk about speakers. Now, over 800 people sent conference related tweets. If you aren't on Twitter, you are already late to the party. Anyway, on with the post... In no particular order, my thoughts on this years ASAE Annual Conference: 1. LA was a good venue. Lots to do. Hotels close by. Only downside was the rooms were a bit of a hike. 2. I missed Sunday because of family obligations. That really put me behind the 8 ball. Since I led a session, that meant I only got to go to 3 true sessions. Sorry, I don't count Joy Behar and the closing session. Although Marshall Goldsmith was good, I probably wouldn't have gone to see that speech as a Learning Lab. 3. Based on #...
11 comments
Read more

Sunk Costs, Marginal Costs and Economics

When I was in college, I hated Economics. Then, several years later, I found myself teaching undergrad Econ and learned an appreciation for it. Now today, I have an even bigger appreciation for it. I have also noticed that not enough people have a solid grasp of some basic econ concepts that can be applied to everyday life. Two of these are cost related. Here are some basic definitions from The Economist website : Sunk Costs - When what is done cannot be undone. Sunk costs are costs that have been incurred and cannot be reversed, for example, spending on ADVERTISING or researching a product idea. They can be a barrier to entry. If potential entrants would have to incur similar costs, which would not be recoverable if the entry failed, they may be scared off. Marginal Costs - The difference made by one extra unit of something. Marginal revenue is the extra revenue earned by selling one more unit of something. The marginal cost (or whatever) can be very different from the AVERAGE c...
1 comment
Read more

Do you want your association to be Walmart?

Earlier this week, I had a small Twitter discussion with Kevin Holland ( @associationinc ) regarding aggregation as a value proposition. @associationinc - Deciding your role is to aggregate other people's value is like George Costanza wearing sweatpants. "You're telling the world, 'I give up.'" @cardcat - Interesting comment about aggregating. Don't you think it is a viable option for a small association who can't afford it? @associationinc - Nothng wrong with aggregating content as long as you don't perceive it to be your value proposition. There's no real future in it. @cardcat - Don't think it is THE value proposition, but I think it could be A value to members, a big value. @associationinc - A big value is something you offer that nobody else can or that u can do better. Aggregating content is easy, there4 unsustainable. @cardcat - True, it isn't sustainable. But I almost think if you don't act as an aggregator, you risk folks...
3 comments
Read more