April 1, 2010 (Silver Spring, MD) — The association world is turning things upside down. Dispensing with outdated thinking. Shutting up and putting up—with the aid of six funders.
No More Talk on April 22 at The True Reformer Building in Washington, DC, challenges association executives to start hacking the status quo to implement brave ideas that advance associations—instead of just talking about those ideas. Six funders are putting up seed money to help them move forward. Association executives and staff can register at
http://hackaction.eventbrite.com.
“The future of associations depends on innovation—a different kind of innovation that creates radical new value through a network of stakeholders collaborating to reach a shared outcome,” said Jeff De Cagna, FRSA, chief strategist and founder of Principled Innovation LLC in Reston, Virginia. “No More Talk will surface and support that kind of innovation, acting as a launching pad for extraordinary, community-driven innovation.”
The one-day event invites association executives to start hacking—turning outdated, nonsensical business rules and processes on their heads to increase output and discover better ways of doing things.
“Turning ideas into action is really what this event is all about,” said KiKi L’Italien, blogger and social media strategist at DelCor Technology Solutions in Silver Spring, Maryland. “What’s unique to this endeavor is that companies committed to the association community are providing the seed money that will help participants get started, because so often the resource issue is the first hurdle associations must overcome.”
De Cagna and L’Italien are structuring the day-long event to free participants from old constraints that interfere with big thinking. Following the principles of design thinking, they will lead participants through breaking the habit of developing great ideas only to let those ideas die unsupported and unrealized.
Origins of No More Talk
“Associations are places where great ideas germinate,” said L’Italien. “Too often, those ideas don’t go anywhere. They whither on the vine.”
That is, until somebody speaks up.
In December, ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership—the organization for association leaders worldwide—sponsored Big Ideas Month on its Acronym blog, and it got the association world talking. Inspired by this commitment to big ideas, DelCor and Principled Innovation LLC decided to turn that buzz into action. And to make action possible, they gathered up some funders to provide seed grants.
The result? The end of hibernation—a spring awakening. On April 22, attendees will be spurred to stop talking and start hacking. DelCor and Principled Innovation LLC will facilitate, and funders will make grants to the best ideas that emerge from the day-long event, as voted on by the attendees themselves.
Association executives can register now on
http://hackaction.eventbrite.com and follow the latest developments by following #hackaction on Twitter.
Funders:
DelCor Technology Solutions
Higher Logic
KRM Information Services
Principled Innovation LLC
SusQtech
Syscom Services