ASAE10, ASAE's annual conference in Los Angeles this past month, was notable for a number of reasons and one of them is a learning experience in and of itself. This year’s meeting really highlighted the new conference attendee. Who is the new conference attendee? One who embraces new learning concepts, one who embraces technology, one who creates their own learning opportunities, one who votes on a session with their feet, one who creates an experience with the formal meeting at the backdrop.

Home again. Works awaits, but my mind is full of ideas, resources, tips and new friends’ names and faces. #ASAE10 hits a homerun.

Here are just five voices among the many from #ASAE10 ...

Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again .... oh baby

Well I do know when I'll be back again. It'll be after 5 days of non-stop fun and learning at #ASAE10 in Los Angeles. Here are the first 5 reasons I'm going (there are way more!):

Taggies is the nickname for the 2010 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards & Report created by Nancy Schwartz, who works with nonprofits and publishes Getting Attention blog and e-newsletter. This year the awards added a new category for programs – like your volunteer program.

Adhocracy is a term for volunteers coined by (some say by Nancy Macduff of Volunteer Today) about the late 80s for a trend towards episodic volunteering – that is volunteering in short, one-up stints.

When your association surprises you - in a good way - they've remixed their membership. When your association does something worth modeling in your own organizations - they've remixed their membership. When those two things happened to me, I just had to pick up the phone and find out more. Check out my SmartBlog Insights posting for the rest of the story on how an association shifted how they looked at the membership cycle and rethought engagement.  Love to hear your feedback!

As the snow melts (slowly!), you might expect the conference memories too as well. At least that's what usually happens about 2 weeks after you've returned from a conference. Not so with #UnTech10. We're still living the spirit. Afterall my CafePress tee just arrived!

You can read about the technology unconference from more than a dozen angles here (thanks to Maddie Grant's aggregating) which also includes my posts. And you can order your very own shirt at CafePress.

So why did this conference last longer in my mind? Was it because of the content? I mean lots of conferences have great content. Was it the speakers? Lots of conferences have top-notch speakers. Was it the handouts? Ditto above. Yes all play a factor, but here are the three reasons that really make the difference ...

I actually spent six hours hooked up to a livecast, headset and Twitter today so I could be "in the room" for #UnTech10, the unsession that kept the spirit and learning planned for ASAE's 2010 Technology Conference alive.The energy was high and the learning great. Was was even greater was being a part of a great social media experiment and in on the sidelines to witness a great volunteer effort.

Before the second snowstorm could hit, before ASAE had to cancel, a group of intrepid volunteers were working on Plan B for ASAE's 2010 Technology Conference. This morning #UnTech10 was officially opened to association peeps at a cost you can't beat (free). And it also proves a point  the  Decision to Volunteer study pointed out - if the goal is big, the purpose serves the larger group, and there's flexibility in the how, the volunteer will rise to the occasion!

I paid my dues on-line today to continue my membership in ASAE & The Center. No, it's not cause to alert the media or sound the trumpets. I've been doing this steadily since about 1981. Some years, it was paid by my association, a few out of my pocket and of course the last 8 through my association management company (read my own pocket). So what's the cause for the announcement? Well, I paid on-line as the result of an annual reminder set-up in the finance folder. The announcement is: I didn't need a 5-step dues billing invoice system to renew.