Crowdfunding may work, or could be like finding a pig in a poke.
Money? On social media? Where?
Tomorrow morning about this time, I’ll face a roomful of association leaders, each eager to hear how their organizations can finally—finally!—make some revenue off this social media thing we’ll all convinced them is worthwhile.
What can go wrong?
The annual meeting of the National Association of Bar Executives (“NABE,” an ABA affiliate) meets in San Francisco this week. I plan to have an Irish coffee at the famed Buena Vista Cafe, sit down with two other talented presenters, and face the challenging questions.
Among us, we have more decades of communications experience than I’d like to admit, and we’re all social media advocates. But when it comes to increasing revenue via social media, we’ll be discussing a topic that is still in serious flux.
For instance, how much do you want your bar association to be increasing non-dues revenue via online channels? Maybe you have no opinion. But maybe the last thing you want is to be “sold” via yet another medium.
Below you’ll see an image of our panel description in the program brochure. And you can click here to read our handout of other resources.
On Thursday morning, after a Kickstarter expert explains that tool, I will discuss challenges bar associations face in monetizing. My three-part presentation is divided into:
- Why many people like the idea of monetizing (even when they don’t quite understand it);
- What are the many possible missteps inherent in trying to make money online; and
- Why, despite my negativity, there may be hope after all to increase revenue.
Word on the street: “Monetize”
In my talk, I get to touch upon:
- Spiderman
- Veronica Mars
- Law students
- Herd mentality
- The A-Team
- Venice Beach
- CLE
- Spilled watermelons
- The Bill of Rights Monument
- Al Pacino
- Subway trains
- The Bar Foundation
Curious, right? Kind of feel bad you can’t be there, eh?
I may report back about what we covered, and how it was received. If you see big honking pop-up ads cluttering my blog in the coming month, you’ll know our message did not get through.
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AZ Attorney 
August 7, 2013 at 11:40 am
Sounds sick and geeky, but I wasn’t really missing going to San Francisco until I saw your post. You really know how to sell your wares. Eager to hear how the program goes – remember, this is “big” NABE – ‘Do no harm’!!!
Dan Wise dwise@nhbar.org Communications Director & Bar News Editor New Hampshire Bar Association 2 Pillsbury Street, Suite 300 Concord, NH 03301 603 715-3264 direct 603 224-6942 office 603 224 2910 fax Supporting members of the legal profession & their service to the public and the justice system.
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August 9, 2013 at 9:35 am
It was a blast, Dan. And I think I was sufficiently cautious in my prognostications about “monetizing.” In fact, I’ll send a you a wet blanket award I gave myself and included in my powerpoint.