Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with associations

With a Little Help from My Friends

rmm — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:22:50 -0800

Woman in business looking to find a good professional association or networks to join. So I'm a woman in business (specifically, design and tech consulting) who needs to network and join a few professional associations in order to find work and build up a network. I'll network with anyone, but was thinking maybe women in business networks might be a good place to start, as I'm looking for a professional mentor as well as networking

The problem is that in researching these associations, I'm overwhelmed by the sheer number of them - 85 Broads, eWomanNetwork, Future Women Leaders, MentorNet, American Biz Women Association, Women in Consulting, Women in Tech, Women in Technology - I think you get the drift.

Which are the best associations/networks that you've found valuable? They're all about $100 for an annual fee, and most have events in my area (California). The Professional Business Women of California seems to be the largest, with over 25,000 members (!) but I'm not sure if that's an indication of quality or just that they've been good marketers. In fact, I can't tell much about these associations other than there are a bunch of them all saying the same spiel (events, network, discounts) and nothing that sets them apart from one another. I can only really afford to join one at this point, or at least make sure the one I'm joining is worth the payment. I've looked at AIGA as well but $300 is a lot for a membership fee.

I'm primarily looking for mentors and the ability to network offline and online - I don't care about discounts on software, getting a free Web site on the association Web site, free lunches at the meetings, discounts on shopping etc. If there are good associations in general to join not limited to being a woman in business, please let me know those as well, and why you've found them beneficial.

Thanks! MeFi mail me if for some reason you don't want to share your answers in this thread.

Is good group health insurance available through unions, clubs, associations, etc?

weston — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 11:34:23 -0800

Are there real, decent options for getting group insurance other than from an employer? I'm mostly thinking about unions, associations, professional organizations, etc. I've had good insurance through my employer for two years, but I'm uncomfortable with this state of affairs. I don't plan to stay forever, and in any case, having ones insurance connected to ones employment seems like poor personal risk management.

It would seem there's only two alternatives:

(1) Buying an individual policy.

(2) Find some other group under which one could have a policy written.

I've done #1, and will do it again if I must, but my experience has been that premiums increase at a drastic rate, coverage tends to be inferior, and the law seems to allow continuity between policies to be spottier than with group coverage.

So I'd like to look into #2. Some people have suggested to me that it's possible to find good coverage through guilds, unions, associations, etc. Does anyone have experience with this, or know people who do?

If it's a valid path, any ideas of organizations to look at? Potential niches for me include computing, math, songwriting/performing, and audio related organizations. The ACM and AES are two I'm eyeing.

Thunderbird Defaults

salmacis — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 16:22:49 -0800

Using Firefox with Linux. When I click a "mailto:" link, it automatically opens Evolution. How do I tell it to use Thunderbird instead? I didn't find any obvious settings in either the preferences or about:config.

Extensions

Grod — Thu, 07 Oct 2004 19:32:30 -0800

Rencently I installed something that decided to associate a bunch of common file extensions with it. This re-brought to my attention a problem that has plagued me for quite some time:every time I try to modify what programs are associated with a given extension the I am unable to. Example: say I'm browsing a directory using Explorer. I notice that .tif files are no longer associated with photoshop. I right-click and select Open With>Chose Program. The task hangs. The same thing happens when I view file properties:
Type of file: $filetype
Opens with: $someapp ........ CHANGE...
If I click CHANGE, the properties dialog "is no longer responding". Lastly, trying to change the default file associations by going to: Settings>Control Panal>Folder Options>File Types>
results in that applet freezing. HELP yeah, I know I can't spell