Face-to-face connection time with other members is likely one of your association’s top conference value propositions. So, what do you do to spice up the traditional icebreaker session without breaking the bank? Earlier this year AMR held its inaugural event: IdeaCON. At this event AMR staff showcased several lively and economical ideas to bring a fresh face to icebreakers.

A designer, psychologist and a behavioral economist walk into a university…

Also potentially the start of a terrible joke, it happens to be the beginning of the story of Sans Forgetica, a new typeface created to help increase retention and learning from written material.  As noted in the previous blog post about Elaboration, learning is much more complex than simply consuming information.

What do you think the biggest misconception of branding is?
Designing and branding is not just making something pretty. It’s choosing elements wisely based on what the brand should look and feel like, and who is going to be seeing/using your product. What vibe are you shooting for? What font, color, and language you choose – it collectively makes you feel a certain way, and that, is your brand.

I love that AMR strives to make high quality-training and ongoing professional development available to all members of the team. But when planning the inaugural IdeaCON internal association management training conference, we knew that just providing education wouldn’t help us achieve our goals of becoming a stronger, more collaborative team… 

Volunteers are the lifeblood of our association’s efforts.  Their performance affects our association’s outcomes and reputation.  Despite this, associations tend to avoid giving volunteers formal feedback like the plague. 

Image credit: Forbes.com