Archive for July, 2009

Tuesday Tally – How Many Conferences Do You Attend Per Year?

If you cannot view this poll click here.


And here are the results from the last poll.

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10 things you want your CSAO to know…

Some fellow campus activities types and I were chatting at a recent event about the similarities and differences in the “sub specialties” in our field.  We were discussing things that make campus activities work unique and the things that we believe we experience that most of our colleagues probably never see. We were laughing at the influx of catalogs we receive during the summer from companies like Oriental Trading (love to them!) and lamenting the life that comes from the large number of overnight student leadership retreats in the fall if you are someone with a family at home.

So, I wanted to bring all of you in on the conversation…. 

If you had the chance to tell your/any Chief Student Affairs Officer the ten things they need to know about what makes the campus activities profession unique, what would you say?

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Online Branding Quick Tip – Is Your School’s User Name Available?

Here’s a handy tool that can be useful for students, higher ed professionals and student affairs offices alike.  It’s namechk.com.  What this convenient little web tool does is allow you to check the availability of “vanity” profile names on more than 50 social media sites at once (not that you intrinsically would want to be involved in that many sites), including facebook, twitter, linkedin, and many others.

Is your office starting a facebook page or maybe you’ve been thinking about opening a twitter account?  Enter the profile name you hope to use into namechk.com and find out if it’s available across a variety of platforms before you begin setting up profiles.  Doing so will help you be consistent with your profile names, thus more effectively branding you or your office.

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Online branding quick tip

Here’s a handy tool that can be useful for students, higher ed professionals and student affairs offices alike.  It’s namechk.com.  What this convenient little web tool does is allow you to check the availability of “vanity” profile names on more than 50 social media sites at once (not that you intrinsically would want to be involved in that many sites), including facebook, twitter, linkedin, and many others.

Is your office starting a facebook page or maybe you’ve been thinking about opening a twitter account?  Enter the profile name you hope to use into namechk.com and find out if it’s available across a variety of platforms before you begin setting up profiles.  Doing so will help you be consistent with your profile names, thus more effectively branding you or your office.

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Over the Hedge?

Over-the-hedge-poster-1 As the father of a 3 ½ year old, I have found myself increasingly taking life lessons from children’s movies. The 300 or so times I have watched Cars have taught me that if you go fast and turn right hard enough, you’ll start going left, and that it’s better not to be a “one man show.” Up reminded me to value my family and to never give up on my dreams. Then there’s Over the Hedge…

“Spring has arrived and an array of creatures sleeping in a large tree trunk has awakened from their winter hibernation. This group of unusual creatures, porcupines, possums, a squirrel, a skunk, has formed a family with Verne, a tortoise (voice of Garry Shandling), as the head. They discover that a tall hedge has cut their forest in half and their nut and berry trees are gone. Where are they going to get their food for next winter?”-Plot synopsis by the Movie Guy on IMDB.com

This movie offers some simple lessons that can be enjoyed by viewers of any age. But, reading between the lines, it offers a hidden lesson. What can you learn about others, about yourselves, and about how the world works, by taking a peek over the proverbial hedge and seeing how others live, think and interact?

Student Affairs professionals are sometimes rightfully criticized for living inside their bubbles, and understanding a lot about campus life and not enough about “the real world.” We can easily fall into this, if we only seek wisdom from like-minded people who spend their time thinking about the same things we think about, and may approach them from similar perspectives. I try to expand my worldview as much as possible by learning what people in other fields are talking about. Here are a few articles and sites that have offered me new perspectives.

Unsung Innovative Leaders, by Rich Karlgaard on Forbes.com.

“That ability to spot insights and lessons from fields far outside your own is one hallmark of an innovative leader. Of course, leaders have to do more than see the parallels–they have to adapt them to fit their own needs and then convince their teams to put them into practice, time and time again.”

The POST Method: A systematic approach to social strategy, by Josh Bernoff at Forrester.com

“Is your company doing its social strategy backwards? If you started by saying “we should do a blog” or “we should create a page on a social network” or “we should create a community” the answer is probably yes….In any other business endeavor we start by figuring out what we want to accomplish. Social technologies are not magic. They accomplish things, too. It’s time to stop doing social because it’s cool. It’s time to start doing it because it’s effective.”

How to Decide in a Time of Confusion by  Kim Girard at BNet.com

 “Even in the most uncertain times, you don’t have to just wing it,” says Hugh Courtney, associate dean of executive programs at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. “There are systematic ways to deal with even the most uncertain environment.”

Leadership: The Bathtub Model, At the Whiteboard Video on Bnet.com

This video is part of the “At the Whiteboard” video series on Bnet. Direct link not available. Go to Bnet.com and then to the Videos section to find this video, as well as ones on “Dodging Landmines: and other workplace communication and team dynamics issues.

Lifehacker.com: Tips and Downloads for Getting Things Done

The best part of this site is the clever uses section, where you can get tips on using everyday objects for simplifying your life. Some xamples include unique uses for binder clips, how to save desk space using magnets, and amplifying your speakerphone with a cereal bowl.

Take a look at these sites and enjoy. If you have a favorite non-Student Affairs site you visit frequently for new perspectives, please consider sharing the URL by posting a comment.

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