NATLE FYI

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

I’m so excited to see everyone during the 2022 Winter Meeting’s virtual program.  I have uploaded the materials as they have been submitted and my finger is hovering over the enter key, ready for when the last two come in!   Highlighting another panel, communicating with members in an age when there’s minimal, if any, face-to-face is timely and sensitive.  Learn about the metrics of engagement and clicks, as well as how to take advantage of available tools at low or no cost.  (Click here to register!)  Bring your questions and experience to the discussion on Tuesday, Feb 8 and Wednesday, Feb 9.

As I mentioned last week, this is another short edition of the Weekly Wrap as we put the finishing touches on the Winter Meeting.  Committees are hard at work on the upcoming Strategic Planning session, Annual Meeting in Seattle, a virtual Leadership Symposium and next November’s GAC in New Orleans.  After a pause for the holidays and the time sink of the website upgrade, I have rejuvenated my outreach and started scheduling 5-10 minutes to “sit down” over the phone or zoom with each TLA director.  By all means, though, there’s no need to wait for my call!  Please reach out to me if there’s anything you want to talk about.  I want to hear from you about any gaps you see in NATLE’s programs, the direction you feel NATLE should be going in the immediate and long-term future, and opportunities you’d like to see NATLE pursue.  Basically, anything that’s on your mind.  The best time to think about implementing change is when there’s been a shift in the ED position!

Now that NATLE has invested in a website upgrade, we’ll finally be able to take advantage of the many efficiencies your TLA already enjoys, like consolidated billing and registrant access to event-specific materials.  I’ve had my training sessions on the upgrade and heard from a few of you MemberCentral gurus with tips for yet more work-arounds.  I’d like to think I’m a quick learner, but I’m always open to hearing about new mousetrap designs.  If you notice anything that could be fixed on the site or in our MC processes, please let me know!

Good Practice:  In a world where our eyeballs are focused on a 2.75”x5” screen (yes, I just measured my phone), getting your emails or social media posts noticed can be a challenge.  Start with the KISS principle.  Keeping it simple means it’s short.  Wrapping the subject text to the next line risks losing your audience’s attention.  It also means they won’t have to work too hard to understand the jist of the piece; it’s to the point and not too clever.  If you want them to engage further or follow-through on a survey or deeper article, include a link rather than the whole piece.  We’ll learn more about KPIs next week at the Winter Meeting!

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…Good grief!  Did anyone else see that the $200 in-car karaoke system (comes with 2 mics each) sold out in a day?  I may not be thinking about this right, but do you really need a mic at all?  I mean, you’re alone in your car – or with a no more than 3-4 people – can’t you just sing?  I’m an NPR junkie, but that doesn’t mean I don’t hum along to the bumper music.  I’m just doing it with $200 still in my wallet!

Good Afternoon and Happy Friday!

I hope you’ve had a chance to check out the newly upgraded NATLE website.  We have corrected a handful of faulty links and made additional improvements throughout the week based on member input, so please let us know if you spot any other areas that need work.  Highlighting the Member Resources tab, it is the gateway to documents that had been part of the Justice Resource Center and the Library.  You must be logged in to access these documents.  The existing material is fairly dated and needs a fresh infusion of new material.  To add a document, simply click on the Upload Document link.  PDFs allow a user to view the document without needing to download, whereas Word docs don’t, so please upload pdfs whenever possible.

The 2022 Winter Meeting has almost 45 registrants at this point for the virtual program.  The brochure gets frequent updates as new information comes in on AAJ’s programming as well as links for accommodations for those attending the in-person sessions.  Highlighting one panel, membership models is a topic as part of the Winter Meeting, what works and what doesn’t.  (Click here to register!)  Is an organizational membership the right move for your association?  It may double the membership coming from one small firm, but how do you structure the pricing to be fair?  A larger membership is attractive to sponsors, so there’s an additional economic consideration.  Bring your questions and experience to the discussion on Tuesday, Feb 8 and Wednesday, Feb 9.

This is a short edition of the Weekly Wrap as the website occupied most of my time, but know that planning is happening for the upcoming Strategic Planning session, Annual Meeting, Leadership Symposium and even the GAC!  Planning Committees are forming and getting to work on timely topics and fabulous events.

Good Practice:  Covering some of the expenses incurred by employees in this WFH era can help you stand out as an employer where the job-seeker is in the driver’s seat.  I look back at emails with colleagues and friends from April and May of 2020, and think to myself, “Who would have guessed that we’d still be here two years later?”  In many cases, any get-back-into-the-office date has been pushed off several times by now, and even a hybrid model can seem like shark-infested territory when employees resistant to the idea have ample opportunities to jump ship.  (Sorry, enough with the nautical theme and back to the expenses...)  If cell phones are the only mode of making calls, consider a stipend to help bridge the added cost to the employee.  Same with internet connectivity.  Talk with your association’s tax professional before jumping on board (sorry) since stipends paid in advance are taxable, whereas reimbursements are not.

That’s the NATLE Weekly Wrap.  Have a great weekend!

P.S. in case you’re still here…my free COVID tests that I ordered early last week still aren’t here and my KN95 masks – in pink – will take a month to arrive.  Maybe they’re actually coming from Korea.

We are gathering proposals from facilitators for the Strategic Planning session to be held just prior to the Annual Meeting in Seattle.  If you’ve had a great experience with a facilitator in your TLA, please share contact info, as well as any other information you’re willing to pass along, ie. fee (range is fine), timeline, components (survey, final report) provided by the facilitator, etc.

This new NATLE website contains several new and resurrected features, such as the speaker database that had been part of the old site, but will include several more relevant fields, like fee and contact info (for speaker and submitter), and be fully searchable.  The new member-specific myNATLE page brings you to a personal dashboard to easily see your recent searches, uploaded documents, outstanding invoices, and committee materials.

The 2022 NATLE Winter Meeting is planned for February and will be split between a virtual and an in-person option.  We will hold sessions virtually Tuesday, February 8th and Wednesday, February 9th.  For those attending the AAJ convention in Palm Springs, NATLE will be holding sessions both Sunday, February 13th and Monday, February 14th.  You can learn more about the programs here.