Reflections on #associations, chapters, #twitter and the future

I recently keynoted the 40th anniversary of our chapter in Iowa (our Midwest chapter). The celebration featured a gathering of 14 past NMA and AIIM chapter presidents, with representation from each of the past four decades. At the dinner the night before the keynote, I was struck by two phenomena that I have witnessed at other similar events.

First, the span of industry history represented by these people was staggering – and mostly unknown to new entrants to our industry. 

Secondly – and more importantly -- these people truly care about each other.  They have friendships within the framework of a technology organization that span decades.  They know each other’s spouses and kids.

The whole event put me in a bit of a reflective mood about the future of chapters – not just at AIIM but at associations in general.

A few years back, many of us in the association world read a book by Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam called Bowling Alone.  The premise of the book was that: a) much of the success of the United States was based on an extensive supply of “social capital” – mutually reinforcing cooperative habits that are both a cause and byproduct of participating in communities; and b) this “stock” of social capital was rapidly declining, due to all the causes with which many of us in the association world are very familiar – things like lack of time, increased work stress, double-income families, and expanded family commitments.  Putnam saw the decline in organized bowling leagues over the past 30 years as reflective of this overall societal change – hence the name of the book.

If you gather people together in my profession – the association management profession – our conversations often wonder about the continuing relevance of chapters in a world that is increasingly moving on-line.  Gather chapter leaders together, and you will hear a concern about declining attendance, overworked volunteers, unresponsive HQ support, and a lament that things are so much harder than they used to be.

All of which was running around my head as I made my keynote focused on a key challenge facing those in my industry – how to make sense of the ever-increasing volume of adhoc and collaborative content in ever-changing varieties and forms.

Many in the association community see this set of technologies -- the "Facebooking" of the world -- as a threat because it gives people the potential to organize without organizations.  A simple question pestered me – would there be anyone forty years from now to celebrate the next generation of my community in the same fashion as the 14 former presidents in Des Moines?  Are we all ultimately destined to Bowl Alone?  Or could these collaborative technologies actually provide the spark that will ultimately reignite chapters and organizations?  

Another interesting book came to mind -- Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody. Three observations from the book are particularly striking to me in thinking about the future of chapters in Associations.

First, “…organizations that assume geography as a core organizing principle, even ones that have been operating that way for centuries, are now facing challenges to that previously bedrock principle.”

Well now.  That certainly doesn’t sound very encouraging.  The collapse of transaction costs associated with cooperation that began with e-mail and continues with blogs and wikis and texting and twitter (BTW, you can follow me at jmancini77) creates opportunities for networks and communities that never existed before.  Flickr and Facebook and Wikipedia and LinkedIn (have you signed up for the AIIM ECM group?) and InformationZen.org (for those in the information management space) are the first glimpses of what it possible.

My second Shirky passage hints at these possibilities: “ …now we can do things for strangers who do things for us, at a low enough cost to make that kind of behavior attractive, and those effects can last well beyond our original contribution…When people care enough, they can come together and accomplish things of a scope and longevity that were previously impossible.”

I think the kinds of on-line cooperative activities that are now possible among “strangers” can be viewed as the seed corn (I guess Iowa really did have an impact on me) for incredible new chapter opportunities.

The reason I say this is that right now, we in the association community tend to see a dichotomy in “networking” that won’t exist forever.  Shirky points out that many tend to see “networking” as divided into two forms:  the “real” mainstream networking that occurs in person and often in chapters, and the “cyber” form that occurs in goofy places like Facebook and Twitter.

The time is coming, though, when we no longer will divide the networking world into these artificial buckets.  Some of this is generational.  But not all of it.  Soon the tools for adhoc organization and collaboration that now seem exotic and whacky will be commonplace.  Witness data point #1 – my siblings are now on Facebook for crying out loud!

Which brings me to my third Shirky quote:  “Revolution doesn’t happen when society adopts new technologies—it happens when society adopts new behaviors.”  And when this point comes – and it will be here soon – we may see a renaissance of local chapters and local activities.

For a glimpse of the future, check out MeetUp (http://www.meetup.com).  The first thing you will encounter is how many goofy groups there are out there.  But look further.  Look, for example, in our industry for a group called “Web Content Mavens” in the DC area.  1,000+ members.  They have meetings every month.  Attendance at their last 6 meetings averaged 77 people per meeting.  Something is clearly going on here.

For those of us in the world of associations, now is the time to take advantage of unprecedented opportunities for frictionless collaboration and connectivity on-line.  And marry this unparalleled opportunity with the dedication and commitment that I saw among my 14 Iowa presidents.  And when that happens, it will sure be interesting.  

So what do think?  Both out in the AIIM community and among my fellow association professionals?  I’d like to hear from you.