Inquiring minds want to know. I want to know.

I'm at the session done by Joseph A. Michelli, author of "The Starbucks Experience". He's talking about how associations can leverage experiences to better position themselves. He cites research saying 8 out of 10 leaders are saying that differentiating products and services alone are not cutting it and experience is the next battleground. As a speaker, he's quite down-to-earth and self-effacing, which seems to make the audience trust him.

Customer experience under a production-based manager: customer often feels like an afterthought, or, as if the company feels they are stupid.  Read more »

I forgot to link to my new feature in Associations Now. It's called "Chapter Psychology 101," and the point is that if you try to exert control over your chapters you'll fail but if you have good relationships with them you'll be able to influence them quite effectively. Here's the link.