| Capturing Memories: Creating Dynamic Slideshows |
Several months ago I rambled on and on about my obsession with digital media and the tools I use to track and store my wealth of digital assets. This month is the perfect time to share another obsession of mine - slideshows. I'm not talking about simply grabbing a bunch of images and letting some software package randomly display them with lovely elevator music playing in the background. This is a combination of pictures, videos, and music to share a story.
This year my youngest and only daughter graduated from High School...yes that officially makes me old (although I established that several newsletters ago). Long ago I started the tradition of creating a slideshow/video for vacations, big milestones, and my kids' graduations.
Since this is supposed to be a technology article let's start with the software. My slideshow creator of choice is now Pictures-to-Exe (PTE AV Studio 10.5) (there have been several others over the years). I love the rich features combined with the ease of use. Just like many software packages, I only use a handful of the features. Some of my favorites:
- Slide/Timeline view - I toggle between these views depending on what I need to accomplish.
- Styles and Themes - This is an easy way to add pre-defined styles to the images. The "Experimental" category may be my favorite.
- Transitions - Just like a good old PowerPoint presentation you can add numerous transitions between images (just don't get carried away)
- Objects and Animation - This is an incredibly powerful tool to enhance your show but it is complicated
My process is pretty simple:
- Search google photos using facial recognition to find the images I want
- Embed random video clips into the show - I used a free Microsoft tool this time called ClipChamp to cut out clips from other videos
- Find music and purchase the songs I want to add to the show (note - I use Apple and I have to convert the music to MP3 format which is pretty easy to do)
- Drag and drop everything until I have the layout I want
- Finally, publish the entire show as a video file
- Grab a box of tissues for the final version
I still have a bit more editing to do before it is unveiled at her grad/birthday party this weekend. Here is one of my favorite pics from the show.
|
| |
|
| |
|
| Wrapping Up MMC and Moving Onto Annual |
ASAE’s MM&C Conference (Marketing, Membership & Communications) concluded Thursday, June 22 with a first-time, sold-out attendance! Rohit Bhargava, founder of the Non-Obvious Company, took the stage as keynote and shared insights on human behavior and trends that matter for associations today.
Two packed days of sessions with a great range of topics from Marketing Automation and AI, Major Brand Change, Small Staff, Just Six Months-Nailed It!, How Our Association Communicates With Zero Internal Emails, to How to Sell Bigger Marketing Budgets to Your Leadership, there were abundant choices to make on which to attend!
Sponsors/exhibitors were visible everywhere and brought their expertise to all attendees to see and get to know better. Closing keynotes speakers, Ryan Kuntz, Caroline Tortrella, and Giselle Huasipoma from Edelman shared with us their experience with the Gen Z population and how to effectively communicate with this group that is transforming the workplace.
|
| |
|
| |
Now, on to Atlanta for the ASAE Annual Conference at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, August 5-8.
Come see these three ‘players’ at booth number 741 in the Success Crew booth block. |
| |
| |
The booth block will feature a football tailgate theme with not only great exhibitors and partners, but also a lot of fun activities so put us on the schedule! Still need another reason to come see us? How about a chance of winning one of the several prizes (worth up to $10,000!) we’ll be giving away.
And, we will be co-hosting the Success Crew party on Sunday, August 6, from 5:30-8:00 with drinks, appetizers, and music – so be SURE to come see us for your ticket to get into this party!
Looking forward to seeing you there. |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
For the Love of Data
Association Analytics (A2) is the leading provider of business intelligence and data analytics for association professionals. Our love of data and the powerful insights it unleashes drove us to create Acumen, our data analytics platform built exclusively for associations. Hundreds of pre-built integrations into the most used association tech systems make it the industry’s go-to analytics choice. With Acumen, associations get a single source of truth for your data with a full 360-degree view of your members’ activity. You also get a dedicated team of data-loving experts focused solely on analytics for associations.
CASE Leverages Acumen to Identify Opportunities to Improve Retention and Recruitment
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) is the global non-profit association dedicated to educational advancement—alumni relations, communications, development, marketing, and advancement services—who share the goal of championing education to transform lives and society. As a membership organization, CASE's goals are to grow their membership and provide value to members with their content, programs, and services. They ultimately need to know what causes members to renew, how they can improve recruitment of new members, and ways to tap into what is driving value for members. To accomplish their goals, CASE partnered with Association Analytics to implement their data analytics platform, Acumen, to gain more insight into their members' behaviors and needs. By looking at the data, CASE is now able to understand what’s effective and identify opportunities to improve how they interact with their members.
The Benefits of a Data-Driven Culture
For many businesses today, the goal with analytics is to create consistent and trusted data, that can be accessed by anyone who needs the information. For CASE, the challenge, historically, was that they were operating in silos, with four different regional offices and staff reporting on the same data, but with different results. Once data is pulled together in Acumen, associations can ask questions of the data on an on-going basis and have it become self-service. For CASE, their goal was to make data accessible to everyone, and now more than 50% of CASE’s 100+ staff have access to dashboards for decision making.
Team of Data Experts and Industry Best Practices
For many organizations, it doesn’t make sense to hire an entire in-house team that can be entirely devoted to analytics. A more cost-effective solution is to outsource the work, which is where Association Analytics can help to provide resources and best practices expertise gained from working with others in the industry, that can be utilized as needed. With A2, associations get a team of data experts at their fingertips including data and analytics engineers, analysts, platform architects, product developers and technical project managers.
Monitoring Business Results with Acumen
CASE, like so many organizations, was exploring opportunities for more digital engagement with members. By having all their data in one place in Acumen, they were able to view in-person and virtual event results over time to determine which programs worked well in which format so they could offer members what they prefer. This analytical mindset allows associations to remain agile and adjust their plans based on the results they are seeing in the data. |
| |
|
| Alex Ramos |
| Please join us in welcoming Alex Ramos, the newest member of the network team. Prior to jumping into the fun and exciting world of AT, Alex worked as a mail carrier while getting his Information Technology certificate. Alex is working on learning all there is to know and has quickly learned how to set up new laptops. Alex is married with three sons, Ayden (6), Elias (2) and Dakota who was born in May (and featured in the newsletter). In his free time, Alex enjoys playing with the boys, gaming, and playing baseball. |
|
|
| |
|
| Arts Groups Launch Coalition to Address Impacts of AI |
The Human Artistry Campaign aims to establish guidelines around tools like ChatGPT and their impact on music, writing, and more.
Read More |
|
|
| |
| Experts: To Reduce Employee Turnover, Start a Wellness Conversation |
A recent ASAE/Avenue M Group text poll found that organizations with lower turnover rates are looking beyond compensation and discussing professional development and health benefits with workers.
Read More |
|
|
| |
|
We have an archive of our newsletters and industry related
articles available on our website, click HERE to access them.
|
| |
|
| JULY |
| 18 |
| 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CDT |
|
|
|
| Association Forum: Improving Associations' Ability to Lead with Agility |
Location: Webinar
As associations, our focus is on member and stakeholder growth through delivery of valuable products, services, and community connections. Being agile empowers an association to adeptly connect the association strategy, structure, process, and people. In today’s uncertain and complex times, leaders must communicate clearly and with transparency across the entire organizational structure to ensure the culture embraces a shared purpose and vision. Learn how to drive your organization’s responsiveness by leveraging data to make informed decisions, technology to support strategy and building a culture that embraces change.
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
| JULY |
| 19 |
| 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM EST |
|
|
|
| Mobile Platforms Demo Day |
Location: Online
Join us for the just-in-time virtual Mobile Platform demo day! The event is July 19th and will feature presentations from a limited number of industry partners that offer Mobile Platforms. Mobile experts will be showcasing apps and sharing their knowledge with the association market. |
|
|
|
|
| |
| HighRoads Solutions Webinar: Are you in touch with your data? |
| We've hit the halfway mark of the year, so measuring KPIs is key, but what is your data really saying - should you continue as planned or course correct? Are you seeing any performance gains or does it all just look the same? Your data is always telling you something, but you might need to read between the lines to act on it. We'll discuss how your data sets should be organized to support your goals, as well as how best to cross connect different sources to build a narrative that you can rely upon. |
|
|
|
|
| |
| JULY |
| 20 |
| 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CST |
|
|
|
| Webinar: Path to Renewal: A Guide to Member Retention |
Location: Online
For associations, member retention is key - you can’t just convince new members to join, you also need to convince them to stay. If you’re only reminding your members of your association's value when you send them a renewal notice at the end of their membership period, it’s already too late. The path to renewal should start on day one.
During this webinar, we'll walk you through:
- How to orient members to their benefits and foster a strong pattern of engagement with member onboarding
- How to encourage members to move up the member engagement ladder
- How to facilitate connections and reiterate membership value with events
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| ASAE Annual Meeting & Exposition |
Location: Atlanta, GA, US
Recognize the unique approach that association professionals take when defining and expressing their personal and organizational purpose. You’ll partake in authentic, engaging, thought-provoking, and positive community-building experiences that support the power of the association community shape a better future for the industries we serve and for the world we share. |
|
|
|
|
| |
| NiUG International iMIS User Conference |
Location: Rosemont, IL
The 2023 Annual iMIS Users Conference is your chance to jump start your career with the tools, strategies, training, and connections you need to advance both your career and your organization. |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
