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I’m pulling together my best of 2008 blog awards, but as a distraction, I decided to head back to this post from January 1, 2008 to see how my ten association predictions for 2008 fared.

Prediction #1: There will be a really cool new association launched that will generate huge buzz in the association community.
Okay, I admit to having some inside knowledge last year about friends’ ideas to start new associations. This year we saw several new communities or “organizations” launched (or in various stages of launch), specifically ANPMP, SNAMA, YAP, and SNAP. If I had to choose one to be the “really cool new association” I think the honors would have to go to YAP.

Prediction #2: Six more blogs about associations will be hatched.
Yeah, yeah yeah, it’s a sandbag prediction. Although the number of new blogs about associations started in 2008 numbers at least 10, here are the first six that come to mind for me:

1. Guilt by Association
2. Caron Mason, CAE
3. Associations 2020
4. Future Association Executive
5. Renato Sogueco
6. Thx4Playing

Prediction #3: Everyone will complain about the new IRS form 990.
Hmm. Come to think of it, I’m not hearing much grumbling, but maybe I just don’t run in those circles. ASAE sure sent a lot of e-mails about its classes on the new 990 though. This is a pretty major deal, and once execs actually start filling out the forms, I think the groans will become much louder.

Prediction #4: ASAE & The Center will debut two new research projects. One will be great, the other… not so much.
I was wrong on this one. I thought Decision to Volunteer and Designing Your Future were both first-rate projects. If forced to choose which project was the greater of the two, I’d have to pick Designing Your Future.

Prediction #5: Acronym will get redesigned and the President & CEO of the Center, Susan Sarfati, will start blogging there.
LOL! Ah, so instead of Susan Sarfati starting to blog on Acronym, she instead *ahem* resigns as President & CEO of the Center for Association Leadership and Executive Vice President of ASAE (longest title in history???). I think Susan would have made a fine blogger, and who knows? Maybe she’ll start blogging in her new professional life. As for the Acronym redesign… I don’t mean to be overly critical, but I’d say a redesign is overdue. It’s virtually the same as it was when it debuted two and a half years ago. Fortunately Acronym added a comments feed this year.

Five predictions down, five to go. Stay tuned for another post this week recapping the remaining predictions.