We have been working with Plone (as our main content management system) for close to four years now.  In that time, we have come to love  Plone and the overall open source movement. 

The only problem we had with Plone is the fact that not enough people knew how great it was.  Despite some of the biggest companies, associations and government agencies using Plone, its popularity has always been overshadowed by other platforms that were not as good technically, but had very good marketing and branding efforts.

But I am pleased to share that our partners at Contextual Corp, along with Netsight Internet Solutions (UK) have writen and produced an excellent overview of Plone.  If you ever had doubts about Plone's heritage and its standing in the CMS market, this is a good reminder of how strong this platform is.

PLONE CMS OVERVIEW

Let me tell a little story...

I was recently purchasing some new business cards (featuring our new logo).  I use www.vistaprint.com (which I highly recommend).  While purchasing these business cards, I was continually prompted by the site to consider purchasing other related items (mugs, tshirts, envelopes, stamps, etc...).  Now while this is kinda annoying, since I just wanted to complete my transaction and get on with my life, I can't fault a site for trying to get as much of my potential business as possible while I'm shopping. 

So, back to my story... as I was purchasing my business cards, I saw an ad for Car Magnets.  A large magnet that you can put your advertising message on and then slap onto the side of your car.  Now, I know as you're reading this, you are saying to yourself... "No you didn't.  Wow that's cheesy."  But for some reason, I couldn't help resist the logic of this purchase.  First of all, this Magnet only cost $15.  I figured it wouldn't bankrupt me even if  I hated it when it arrived.  Furthermore, I have a 45-minute drive everyday between our home in the city (Chicago) and our office in the suburbs (Glenview).  During this drive, I literally pass (or get passed) by hundreds if not thousands of cars.  And with Chicago having the second largest concentration of associations and association executives (my prospects) in the country, the math started getting interesting. Especially the potential ROI from a one time purchase of $15. So I went ahead and purchased the Magnet.

Then the real debate began...  Who is allowed to advertise their business on the side of their car, and actually improve their chances of finding a new client or two?  We know that this sort of thing is fine for real estate brokers and house painters.  But would you ever go to a brain surgeon who advertised on the side of their Bentley?  Probably not. 

So the question remains unanswered for the moment.  Where does an AMC fit in this perception continuum?  If you were looking for help with your association, would you consider calling TCAG if you saw my ad while stopped at an intersection, chatting on your cell phone?

Stay tuned.... (and if you live in Chicago, give me a honk if you see me!)

Brett

We are pleased to announce that Kunal and Vrishti Thapar, both valued TCAG professionals, were blessed with the arrival of two beautiful new babies yesterday (October 7th).

So welcome Rajveer and Rimjhim.  You don't know it yet, but you are very lucky kids.

Hopefully photos will follow.

Brett

Had the great pleasure of meeting with many AMC owners and we engaged in a variety of discussions about the best practices we all use to help drive growth within our clients and our companies.

Here were a few that stood out:

• Lock in domain names for your clients on Facebook, LinkedIN and Twitter even if your client is not currently on these platforms.
• Sometimes, as AMCs, we need to fire a client.  Not profitable. Lost of harmony between us and the client.  Many reasons.  But the big idea is that we need to be in control of our company's future.

Staff Development

• Encourage employees to take leadership positions in volunteer orgs
• Support the CAE process
• Create a reading group that educates eomployees on a specific association related topic
• Participate in ASAE's Circle Club
• Develop cross functional teams to create greater efficiencies
• Have team members understand how actions of one staff member affects other team members

Client Management

• Give as much personal attention as possible
• Use a Report Card process to report all activities and outcomes you've produced for your association client.  Tie all strategic initiatives to this Report Card
  

Operations

• Renegotiate contracts with suppliers (like leases/rent) and show savings to client

This is an extremely popular follow-up presentation on Slideshare.net that explains the impact of social media.  Lots of interesting facts and really nice use of high quality photography and good type treatments.  Take a look.

Matt's article today is a nice twist.  Turning the thoughts and advice of someone who is trying to help proprietary software companies compete with open source developers and using them as food for thought for businesses selling open source based solutions.

Definitely worth the read: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10307348-16.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

As an owner of a company, it is ultimately my responsibility to develop our company's elevator pitch -- Those quick couple of sentences that positions our organization in the marketplace.

I recently wrote the following for our Solution Partner listing at Higher Logic, one of our business partners.  After looking at a day later, I like it... Now as a former advertising copywriter, I am sure that I will continue to read and tweak it.  But for a couple hours, at least, I am just going to leave it alone.  Take a read and let me know what you think.

Elevator Pitch for TCAG:

The Center for Association Growth (TCAG) is a uniquely positioned solution provider to associations and non-profits.  As an association management company (AMC) with deep technology expertise and collaboration management experience, we understand what it takes to grow associations in a Web 2.0 world.  Our OPENAssociations platform combines the best open source and Software-as-a-Service applications into one integrated solution, backed by proven management services.