Some people say great leaders are born. Others say great leaders are made. Either way you spin it, though, there’s always room for improvement. Not sure how to become a better leader? Take notes from the best! Here are five habits of highly effective association leaders:

1. They know how to delegate. - A big part of leadership involves delegation - knowing how to divide tasks, who to assign tasks to, etc. But while all leaders delegate, the best ones delegate as they go. They make adjustments as needed. If someone is drowning in work, a good leader will step in and see how he or she (as well as others) can help. Workloads should be somewhat balanced, and a good leader understands that.

2. They see the big picture. - We all know how easy it is to get lost in the day-to-day shuffle of things - checking emails, running reports, completing projects/tasks, etc. And because new projects/tasks are always popping up, it’s sometimes easy to forget why we’re even doing them. But a good leader can see the big picture. They understand how all the little tasks add up, and consequently, they can help keep others focused.Plus, if something doesn’t go exactly as planned (for example, a goal isn’t met or event attendance is low), a good leader can put that into perspective. They can remind people of the big picture and re-instill hope among the team.

3. They understand communication (how and when to do it). - The best leaders are those that understand communication. They know how to communicate with people (face-to-face vs. email, light-hearted tones vs. serious ones, etc.), as well as when. They know when to provide feedback and when to “sit back” and let others take the reigns. (This is actually one of the best skills professionals of any industry/job level can possess.)

4. They inspire action. - Good leaders inspire others. They work hard to the point where others want to work hard. They’re also extremely passionate - and that passion spreads. Good leaders don’t sit back and expect others to do the work. Instead, they’re the model for how the work should be done.

5. They practice the golden rule. - When it comes to effective leaders, the best of the best do this: They treat others the way they want to be treated, and 10 times out of 10, that’s with respect. They don’t put others down or tune people out. Instead, they build people up and take feedback/opinions in. And truth be told, if you want to have an impact on your staff and organization, this is the number one way to do it.

Being an association leader is tough. Not only do you have your staff members to manage/please, but you have your members to manage/please as well. Need a little help? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Membership Management below. It’s filled with best practices for membership recruitment, engagement, retention and more!

This article was originally sourced from Member Clicks and written by Callie Walker. 

77% of people say that when they’re attending live events they often (or always) use their smartphones for business. Another 13% say they sometimes use their smartphones, while only 10% say they rarely or never use their phones. That means that 90% of your event attendees are on their smartphones. So where are you?

If your organization isn’t putting event information where its attendees are, on mobile, then you’re not engaging conference-goers effectively. You’re losing them to work email and random YouTube videos that they’re just using to kill time between sessions. You may even be frustrating attendees who are actively searching for your event information on their phones.

Mobile Event Experience Research - The numbers above are taken from a study titled Great Expectations: The Evolving Landscape of Technology in Meetings, completed by American Express (AMEX) Meetings & Events division. AMEX surveyed hundreds of meeting planners and event attendees to find out how technology is impacting meetings today.

What they found is that nearly every attendee is on their mobile device while at live events, making it critical that you provide mobile event tools to keep attendees informed and engaged. That’s fairly intuitive, though. We know we love our gadgets. What’s more surprising and helpful to associations and businesses are the other findings from AMEX’s study. Instead of needing multiple, complex mobile event tools, AMEX’s study found that event attendees only wanted to be able to do three main things on mobile. Here are the three features that your mobile event experience must have to be successful.

Top 3 Features Event Attendees Want on Their Mobile Device:

Feature #1) Agenda and Personal Scheduling - Give your event attendees access to event agendas and personalization tools.Agenda and scheduling tools were by far the most important mobile event features to attendees. In AMEX’s study, 79% of attendees stated that access to a meeting or event schedule was extremely important.

75% responded similarly for access to session descriptions and 64% wanted the ability to create a personalized agenda.

Make sure your mobile event tools include comprehensive agenda options including:

• A full event schedule
  
• Session descriptions
  
• The ability for attendees to add and remove sessions from their personal agenda
  

To provide an even better experience, you can also include speaker bios, which 51% of attendees noted as an important mobile feature.

Expert Tip: Agenda tools are unique in that attendees will likely access them from a variety of devices, including work computers as they prepare for your event.

To give these attendees a truly unified digital experience, make sure your agenda tools are the same across all devices and work on all operating systems. That will allow attendees to review their schedules from computers, tablets, and smartphones without having to learn a second set of tools.

Feature #2) Updates - 69% of event attendees said one of their top priorities was easy access to updates from meeting organizers. That makes event updates the most popular mobile tool after agenda options.Make sure your attendees can access event updates quickly on mobile devices. A likely reason why attendees are so interested in updates is their busy schedules. If anything changes with your event or its agenda, attendees need to know so that they can update their own schedules to arrive at the right session at the right time.

Give your attendees fast, easy access to updates so that they can quickly scroll through the changes that are relevant to them. Then, make sure that your agenda and scheduling tools are in the same mobile toolset so it’s painless for event attendees to adjust their schedules based on updates.

Feature #3) Networking - According to AMEX’s research, 63% of event attendees want the ability to network and share contact information with new connections they meet at the event. 60% also want a directory of attendees. To further put those numbers into perspective, remember that AMEX isn’t the only organization whose research has highlighted the importance of networking tools.

The 2016 Membership Marketing Benchmarking Report also found that networking was essential for members. In fact, it was the number one reason why people join membership organizations in the first place. All of that makes providing networking tools essential for both membership organizations and businesses, whose customers are often interested in making connections that will improve their careers. To meet attendees’ expectations, create a mobile event experience that makes it easy for people to connect with peers and experts. You could provide options for attendees to automatically send their contact information to peers, or make that contact information easily accessible after the event ends, for example.Use your event's mobile tools to provide lasting networking benefits.

Many event apps and microsites do this by sharing attendees’ profiles, complete with contact information, professional titles, and photos to help attendees remember one another.

Expert Tip: How often have you met a colleague at an event and never contacted them afterward? To make networking an even greater benefit for your attendees, help them overcome this problem by providing lasting connection options. One way to do this is to integrate your mobile event experience with your private customer or member community.

When your online community is connected with your event’s mobile tools, attendees won’t just have one another’s contact information, they’ll be connected in the community they use every day, week, or month. They’ll be able to see their event connections online, review what activities they’ve performed, and interact with them through discussion forums, blog posts, and private emails. That makes it less likely for new connections to forget one another, providing lasting networking benefits for your event.

Takeaway: Mobile Event Features that Attendees Want - Your event attendees won’t automatically love any mobile tools you give them. They have their own priorities and concerns, so you need to dig into what your customers or members are really interested in. Event agendas, updates, and networking tools are some of the top options.

Event attendees expect you to provide these types of mobile tools. They expect you to look into their needs and preferences, providing what they care about most. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t go above and beyond. Attendees want information and tools that help them get value from your event, but if you can find ways to transform that value into long-term benefits then you’ll really blow your attendees away. Build out your mobile tools with that in mind. Ensure that your mobile event experience meets your attendees’ expectations and gives them a little something extra. It’s one of the best ways to not only make your event’s mobile experience useful, but to ensure that your event as a whole is successful.

This article was originally sourced from Association Universe and written by Julie Dietz. 

Your company’s website is sort of like its virtual storefront—so when your website gets a facelift, it can almost feel like you’re moving into new digs, or at the very least getting a major renovation. That’s something you obviously want to approach strategically, and doing so means communicating your vision to the designer, while also making sure you have the right expectations about the finished product.

If you don’t have much experience talking to Web designers, you may be unsure of what to ask. Allow us to recommend a few basic, important questions to get you started. What Should You Ask Your Web Designer?

What’s my role in the process? Your designer will need to solicit your opinion or obtain information from you at various points, and if there is any delay in your response, it could stall the whole project. Make sure you have a good sense of what’s expected of you.

What are the most common hold-ups in the process? Along the same lines, you might ask your designer where projects usually stall, and how you can avoid that happening.

What resources can I provide up front? Most designers will be happy to receive marketing materials, brochures, links to old websites, etc. to get some sense of your style and your branding choices.

What’s the process for adding new content to the site? What do you do when you have another part of the page that you need to add, and how much will it cost you?

Will the site be hard-coded? What you’re asking here, basically, is whether the site will be done in old-school HTML format. Be warned: If the answer is yes, you will have to depend on the designer to make site updates for you!

How can I update the site? Make sure the designer shows you around the CMS dashboard, allowing you to easily make small tweaks or additions to the site as needed.

Will the website be responsive? A responsive website is vital for mobile friendliness. Make sure you confirm this with your designer.

What are all of the costs associated with this site? You’ll want to know up-front the costs associated with the domain, hosting, etc., all of which may be in addition to the fee charged by the designer.

How will we discuss revisions? You may have some tweaks you want to make to the designer’s initial mock-up, so clarify how that will go down—how you’ll communicate, how promptly you can expect those changes to be implemented, etc.

What are the content needs? Your designer will probably need you to provide written content for each page—but how much? And are there any SEO requirements for your content to meet?

This article was originally sourced from Business 2 Community and written by Amanda Clark. 

If you’re feeling the year-end holiday stress, just remember that your members feel the same way. So respond accordingly. Also: Don’t cut corners, but don’t give away too much, either. This time of year—the days immediately before the holidays hit—might feel like your busiest. Do you remember when associations used to reliably enjoy a “slow time of year”?

National Fluid Power Association CEO Eric Lanke does. “One of the painful realities of losing the slow time of year for associations is the negative impact it has on [an organization’s] ability to engage productively with its members,” he writes in a blog post this week. “Because we association staff are not the only ones who have lost our slow time. Our members have lost it, too, and they likely lost it long before we did.”

And that means your members have less time to volunteer. The lesson for execs: Your staff needs to keep a sharp member focus and make time to ensure members have meaningful volunteer experiences. Check out Lanke’s post for more thoughts. It’s a bad idea to keep cutting corners. It’s an equally bad idea to set expectations so high for your organization that there’s no turning back when you reach the summit.

Both are bad places to be, marketing guru Seth Godin explains, and can lead to a death spiral of sorts if you’re not careful. “The productive professional realizes that keeping promises is often enough,” Godin writes. “Randomly exceeding those promises is magical. But the key is ‘randomly.’ Unexpected delight is priceless, and something you can deliver on.”

This article was originally sourced from Associations Now and written by Ernie Smith.

Coinciding with last month’s White Ribbon Day (held on Friday 25 November), the Australian Dental Association Foundation (ADAF) launched the Rebuilding Smiles pilot project to help women and children who are victims of domestic violence rebuild their lives. Under Rebuilding Smiles, ADAF volunteers will provide much needed dental care to women and children who have suffered domestic violence.

The ADAF has already begun working with its volunteers to implement the pilot for Rebuilding Smiles in Victoria and South Australia. ADAF chair David Owen said, “There is increasing awareness about the scourge of domestic violence in Australian society. The injuries that domestic violence survivors experience are wide ranging; and typically include injury to their oral health. In addition to the immediate dental trauma that survivors experience, there could be ongoing oral health problems related to lack of dental treatment.

“Rebuilding Smiles provides an opportunity for volunteer dental professionals to provide essential dental treatment to women and children who are survivors of domestic violence and make a positive difference.” Following a review of the pilot in VIC and SA, the ADAF hopes to expand Rebuilding Smiles into other states, and is calling for individuals and organisations to be Rebuilding Smiles Partners by providing a financial contribution to help this effort. “The ADAF is seeking funding to assist volunteer dental professionals so that Rebuilding Smiles can grow and provide more help to more domestic violence survivors,” Owen said. “If you would like more information on how you can be a Rebuilding Smiles Partner by donating to this project, please get in touch.”

This article was originally sourced from Bite Magazine. 

InternetNZ welcomes the announcement of Kate McKenzie as the next Chief Executive of Chorus - to start in the job from February 2017. InternetNZ Chief Executive Jordan Carter says Chorus is playing a vital part in building New Zealand’s Internet-enabled future.

"The new Chief Executive will have big shoes to fill and we see some big challenges in this role.” Those challenges are: Truly transition Chorus from legacy copper technology to fibre “The New Zealand telecommunications market is changing fast,” says Carter.

It is becoming increasingly evident that copper cannot support adequate performance for an ever-growing proportion of New Zealanders - particularly in rural areas. InternetNZ believes that copper is not capable of contributing to the Government’s target of 50mbps for 99% of New Zealanders by 2025.

Copper is increasingly inefficient - more expensive than fibre, and more expensive than other emerging forms of connectivity. “The challenge for Chorus’ new Chief Executive is how to manage that transition off copper in a way that supports better connectivity for all New Zealanders.”

Drive utilisation, productivity and benefit from better connectivity

Unlocking the creative, productive and social potential of better connectivity is another big challenge for the new Chief Executive. InternetNZ and Chorus work together in the Innovation Partnership, which has previously identified that better connectivity could enable $34 billion in productivity gains. “As a country, we have invested in fibre and better connectivity not just for the sake of better infrastructure, but because it lays a foundation for better economic and social outcomes for all New Zealanders. “We want to continue to work with Chorus to realise this potential,” says Carter.

Help Internet Service Providers and New Zealanders get and use fibre

Chorus has faced challenges this year in meeting demand for fibre, and InternetNZ hopes that era is over. “Chorus has a responsibility to get New Zealanders connected as quickly and as seamlessly as possible - and we hope that the new Chief Executive is keen to meet that challenge.” That means providing products that meet customer demand as it changes over time. For example, moving the base product from 30mbps to 50mbps. Providing excellent service to Internet users and the Internet Service Providers that support them is core business for Chorus.

“InternetNZ values our constructive working relationship with Chorus, and looks forward to working with their new Chief Executive to meet these challenges for the betterment of New Zealand.” “Mark Ratcliffe has been a source of stability in changing times for telecommunications. We have disagreed with him from time to time, but we celebrate his achievement in leading the creation of Chorus from the ground up. We wish him the best of luck in his next adventure,” says Carter.

This press release was originally sourced from Scoop. 

UNIFYING producers, facilitating greater supply chain integration and reinforcing a positive image of beef production - these are the big ticket items on the agenda for new Cattle Council of Australia chief executive officer Duncan Bremner. Mr Bremner will take up the reigns mid-January, following the announcement in October that Jed Matz will step down after ten years with the peak producer representative organisation. Having served as CEO of Animal Medicines Australia and the Australian Road Train Association, and held a range of senior roles in government advocacy and public relations internationally, Mr Bremner said the CCA role was “a return to his roots”.

His upbringing and early working life was based around the cattle industry, from his family’s grassfed, feedlot and cross-breeding interests in Central West NSW to working on stockcamps in the north. Mr Bremner wants the focus to be firmly on securing the avenues that makes cattle producers, and indeed the entire beef supply chain, profitable and lays the foundations for a long-term sustainable and resilient market place.

“With the majority of our beef exported, we need to continually be looking to maintain and build on our valuable markets,” he said. “Australia enjoys a well-earned reputation for producing the best beef in the world and we have to maintain that edge as competitors like Brazil make themselves known.”

Key to that would be “greater clarity for the consumer because at the end of the day that is where the buck comes from,” he said. To that end, increasing awareness of the product, the animal and the production process should be a priority, he believes. “Reinforcing a positive image of this industry is something we all need to take on board,” Mr Bremner said. “Mainstream news about our industry is often focused around negatives and often based on misinformation - it’s up to us to change that.”

Stemming the “running down of the industry” from within would be the first place to start, he said. Acknowledging the relative high number of breakaway producer representative groups within cattle production, he said unity was always a big hurdle for advocacy groups.

Developing harmony, through working where there was common ground and under a policy of consultation and collaboration, would be the way. “We want to really find the direction this industry wants to go and run that through the filter of public policy and political and trade agendas,” he said. That same collaborative approach should be taken to supply chain integration in order to identify where relationships can be improved to the advantage of the producer, according to Mr Bremner.

On the subject of CCA’s financial viability, he acknowledged the need for a long-term funding stream and said structures were being put into play that would be the beginning of that. “I am very confident there has been a lot of work done in the last few years in establishing this organisation to be at the forefront of peak beef industry representation,” he said. “It is important Cattle Council continues to be recognised as a robust, influential, effective voice for the industry - through influential policy development, effective advocacy of those policies and positive promotion across the domestic and global supply chain of the Australian beef product.”

Mr Bremner also plans to turn a keen eye toward growing southern membership. “In 12 months time I would like the entire industry, from the most southern to the most northern producer, to see a deep value in being involved with CCA,” he said. “There is superb work being done and producers can be passionate about their representative body.” CCA president Howard Smith said the appointment of Mr Bremner signified a new era for the organisation. “Mr Matz has contributed significantly to the organisation over the last ten years and thanks to his leadership Cattle Council is in strong position to tackle future challenges and rise to the opportunities presented along the way,” Mr Smith said. “As we welcome Duncan Bremner as CEO, I have every confidence that he will do an exceptional job at leading the organisation into the future and continuing to represent the needs of beef producers across the country.”

This article was originally sourced from Queensland Country Life and written by Shan Goodwin.

Dr Robin Youngson, a New Zealand anaesthetist internationally renowned for his leadership in compassionate healthcare, was last night awarded the New Zealand Medical Association’s Chair’s Award.  Dr Youngson is the co-founder of Hearts in Healthcare, which is inspiring change in countries around the world. Appointments include the Editorial Board of the Journal of Compassionate Healthcare and the Global Compassion Council of the international Charter for Compassion. He’s also the author of the acclaimed book Time to Care – How to love your patients and your job.

Presenting the award, NZMA Chair Dr Stephen Child described Dr Youngson’s work over the past 12 years to advance caring and compassion in the medical profession. Receiving the award, Dr Youngson said he felt completely overwhelmed by the NZMA’s recognition of the importance of his work on compassion in caring. “It’s extremely gratifying to have your work and your cause acknowledged by your own peers, particularly in your own country,” he said. “Compassion really is the foundation of good medical practice.”

The Chair’s Award is the NZMA’s recognition of individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the health of New Zealand. Past recipients include Dr Paul Hutchison, Dr Russell Wills, Dr Sharad Paul, Professor Swee Tan and Dr Tony Fernando. At the same ceremony, NZMA Fellowships were awarded to consultant clinical microbiologist Dr Josh Freeman, a member of the NZMA’s Specialist Council; GP and former PHARMAC medical director Dr Peter Moodie; and former NZMA Chair Dr Mark Peterson.

This media release was originally sourced from NZMA.

The New Zealand Chiropractors’ Association (NZCA) has welcomed calls by the Health Quality & Safety Commission, published in the latest issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal[1], for an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to the prevention of falls, one patient at a time.

Chiropractor and NZCA spokesperson Dr Cassandra Fairest explains: `We fully support the need for individualised responses to prevent falls one patient at a time, and for leadership responses that promote an integrated approach to reducing the risk of falls in older people. Chiropractors are uniquely placed within the healthcare spectrum as they support better spine and nervous system health which has demonstrated positive effects on balance in the older population, and therefore this would help reduce the future need for a massive increase in healthcare costs. `A growing body of research suggests that chiropractic care may slow the rate of functional decline as you age, preserve your autonomy, improve your well-being and reduce accidents. It could also save New Zealand millions of dollars in the longer term[2].’

Falls are the leading cause of injury related hospital admissions and death in the over fifties. In 2014, 205,000 New Zealanders aged 50 or over had an ACC claim accepted for a fall-related injury, representing a 20% increase since 2011[3]. Dr Kelly Holt, Dean of Research at the New Zealand College of Chiropractic and his team recently published the results of a research study in New Zealand which has shown chiropractic care in a group aged 65 to 89 can significantly impact several factors that influence the prevention of falls2.’

Dr Fairest explains: ‘After twelve weeks the group who received chiropractic care had increased ability in identifying where their ankle joint was when they closed their eyes. This is likely to prevent falls, as your brain will be more accurately aware of where your foot is without you having to look at your foot while walking.’ Dr Holt and his fellow researchers in the New Zealand study also found that older adults who received 12 weeks of chiropractic care were able to take a step much faster than the control group not receiving chiropractic care. This is an important finding, because being able to take a fast step to correct balance can assist in fall prevention. Additionally, this study showed that the older adults who received chiropractic care were able to simultaneously process visual and auditory information more accurately in their brain.

Dr Fairest adds: `This is known to be important and relevant when it comes to preventing falls. Science has shown that as we age we appear to lose our ability to process multiple lots of sensory information accurately and that this leads to distractions that may cause falls’. `We want to encourage New Zealanders to visit their chiropractor to ensure that their spines and nervous systems are functioning well. A local NZCA chiropractor will be able to provide advice on ways to improve posture, enhance coordination and support a healthy spine. A healthy spine and well-functioning nervous system is important for overall health and wellbeing.’

[1] NZMJ 2 December 2016, Vol 129 No 1446 ISSN 1175-8716

[2] Holt, Kelly R et al, “Effectiveness of Chiropractic Care to Improve Sensorimotor Function Associated With Falls Risk in Older People: A Randomized Controlled Trial,”Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics.

[3] Health Quality & Safety Commission. New Zealand Atlas of Healthcare Variation. Falls. http://www.hqsc.govt. nz/our-programmes/ health-quality-evaluation/ projects/atlas-of-healthcare-variation/ falls/.

This press release was originally sourced from Scoop.

New Zealand is finding favour with Australian conference organisers, posting a 33% increase in business events visitors from across the Tasman in September 2016 compared to the same month in 2015. The latest International Visitor Arrivals statistics from New Zealand’s Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment also show Australian business events visitors up from 32,368 for the year-end September 2012, to 39,312 year-end September 2016.

Traditionally the months of September, October, and November are high-movement months for business events, and when New Zealand experiences the highest delegate arrivals for the year. Lisa Gardiner, Manager Business Events and Premium, Tourism New Zealand, says: "The Australian market is increasingly considering New Zealand amongst their domestic destinations for business events. This has been brought on by favourable exchange rates and increased flight capacity.

“New Zealand is unique in being able to offer conference programmes where delegates attend business sessions in the morning, jet boat or enjoy a game of golf in the afternoon and top it all off by dining at a vineyard." Major new projects set to expand New Zealand's conference capacity are also attracting high levels of interest. The New Zealand International Convention Centre in Auckland and new convention centres in Christchurch and Wellington are set to open in 2019, adding further options for large-scale events.

Increased flight capacity on key routes between New Zealand and Australia, and a new direct flight linking the two capital cities, Canberra and Wellington, have also increased New Zealand's appeal.

To meet the increased interest, Tourism New Zealand has appointed Samantha Kent in the role of Business Events bid manager, working alongside Helen Bambry in the Sydney office. Kent was most recently Business Development Manager at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Gardiner says: "We have identified Australia as a growth market for business events and the creation of this new role reflects this. We now have two full-time bid managers who will be identifying and driving opportunities from Australia. Samantha brings with her a wealth of experience attracting high value business opportunities and we are delighted to have her in the team.”

Kent adds: "I am looking forward to promoting New Zealand as an attractive business events destination. New Zealand has a range of great existing facilities and ones being constructed that are sparking the interest of those looking to hold an event."

If you would like to find out more about Tourism New Zealand, please visit www.businessevents.newzealand.com