Have you seen Frank Romano's videos? Dating myself, as Tony the Tiger would say: "They're Grrrrreat!"
His last one is on webinars and other topics. A much earlier one was on Association relevance. It wasn't but soon after I started back at NAPL in December 2007 that people started sending me Frank's video in which he rants about Associations. As the Association's marketing person, it falls to me to respond to such challenges, but being newly back I didn't want to be rash and needed to re-learn the lay of the land. Basically, in that earlier video, he purported that Associations had "perhaps" seen their day. Here, now is my response rolled up in one to both his older and most current rant.
First, if you're a Lost fan, don't you think Frank looks a little like John Locke? This is said with love because Locke is somewhat the hero of the show and I am both an avid Lost and Romano fan. Both are addicting to watch. Frank's music is more entertaining.
Losties (stealing their name from Trekkies) know that the series is about alternate time lines and realities. Some of the characters have chosen to stay on The Island for all time; some have been lured back. Some have been forced to live in the past and like it there. Some are committed to a future, if not for themselves than their children. Locke, by the way, is the only one on The Island who seems to know what's going on. There are tons of analogies I could make to printing -- embracing change, succession planning, and not staying on offset island while the world passes by -- but that's way too deep and Lost is mind-numbing enough as it is.
In this recent video, Romano muses that webinars are nice, trade shows are nicer and wouldn't it be great if over the long haul we got back to "human beings talking to other human beings." Hmmm. Isn't it associations that largely put on many of the trade shows and annual conferences where industry leaders interact with each other? Isn't it associations who believe firmly in creating communities/networks of people commited to progress and change?
Romano might say "no", but he also says (in the video) that he's up for debating so I figured I'd go for it. And, isn't marketing about starting a conversation and getting people to talk (hopefully in a positive way about your company, product or service)? This blog has a comments section, so feel free to provide input.
~ Rhona Bronson
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