I’m just back into the groove after a whirlwind visit to Toronto for last weeks’ CSAE Conference and Tradeshow.  Thank you to everyone who stopped by – it was a great show and I was thrilled to meet up with a number of clients - past, present and future.

Not surprisingly, social media was the 'belle of the ball' at this conference.  Whether CSAE association executives are using it or not in their own organizations, just about everybody seemed to be talking about it.

Twitter was abuzz with comments from attendees about the future of the association sector and some of the 'big ideas' people were taking home with them.  Here are a few of my favourite CSAE-related tweets:

“What is an association these days? Does it require dues or just community?”

 “I learned that this biz is still all about face to face relationships”

“As hard as it is with all social media you have to listen before you talk”

“I think assns should use SM if members benefit...increased connections to each other, way to voice ideas to assn, etc.”

“What if soctech has no direct measurable ROI 4 our assns but it builds our capacity to change the world...should we still use it?”

“Assns r struggling w/creating vibrant conversational ecologies in virtual space w/o adjusting old assn paradigm.”

“Social media can be as open or closed as u want”

“The future of associating is mobile”

“Social media, communication and innovation are priorities for associations in 2010”

“Absolutely and profoundly disagree that the assn biz model is fine”

There was definitely a dominant current of excitement over the possibilities of social media and how associations can use it to stand apart from the increasing amount of 'noise' competing for members' attention...But a lot of the people who stopped by to chat with us also still have a lot of questions, concerns and reservations about this growing phenomena. 

From concerns that their blog will turn into an out-of-control forum where members do nothing but complain about the association’s shortcomings to worries over whether there will soon be legal ramifications to what is being posted online through their organization, it was clear that many associations are still holding back. 

Several people also worried about jumping onto the social media bandwagon just because everybody else is doing it, without first making sure that it 'fit' with their association vision, mission, strategy and membership.

Most common of all, however, was the sense of overwhelment felt by many of the executive directors and senior staff we spoke with who are already being run off their feet and simply don’t know how they will plan, implement, measure and maintain a successful social media strategy in an era of deep budget cuts and staff shortages.

There was also very warm reception to our recent survey on Canadian not-for-profit use of social media and, in fact, many of the results echo and build on what we heard at the trade show.  We’ll be discussing the results of this initiative in more detail over the next couple of weeks, so be sure to stay tuned...but in the meantime...

What were some of your big takeaways from CSAE 09?  What are the big ideas that you mulled over on your way home and are thinking of implementing in your own organization?  Be sure to let us know and keep us posted of your progress!