To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

• Constant Contact Survey Reveals Social Media is a Critical Marketing Tool for Event Planners; Usage Expected to Increase | Business Wire – "A new survey from Constant Contact® finds that social media marketing has become a critical marketing tool for small businesses and nonprofits planning events, with 77% of event planners currently using social media to market their events, and another 14% planning to do so in the next year. The survey also reports that event planners still rely heavily on email marketing, online event marketing tools, websites, and print advertising to promote their events, indicating that traditional forms of event marketing still play an essential role in promoting an event." Get the free ebook "The State of Event Marketing" at: http://img.constantcontact.com/docs/pdf/EVM-EBOOK.pdf
• Upgrading Voter Registration – "Approximately 24 million active voter registrations in the United States are no longer valid or have significant inaccuracies, according to the Pew Center on the States. Research in Pew's report, Inaccurate, Costly, and Inefficient, underscores the need for registration systems that better maintain voter records, save money, and streamline processes. This is an effort that eight states are spearheading with Pew’s support." Registering people to vote, so long as you allow anyone to register for any party and do not advocate for specific voting actions, is not outside your 501c3 status. I really wish more organizations included voter registration efforts in their community work!
• What We Talk About When We Talk About Digital Activism | The Meta-Activism Project – "Usually when we talk about digital activism we talk about concrete anecdotes (the Arab Spring, the 2012 presidential race, the Koman/Planned Parenthood blow-up) or abstract trends (slacktivism, cyber-war, hacktivism).  What we rarely talk about is how we talk about digital activism: Is our focus in the right place? Do we know what we’re talking about? Are we being honest?"
• Jillian C. York » The Arab Digital Vanguard: How a Decade of Blogging Contributed to a Year of Revolution – This is a terrific piece from Jillian York – a must read on digital activism! "This article was first published in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs Vol. 13 Issue 1 (Winter/Spring 2012), “Language, Identity and Politics” and is re-published here with permission."
• The Age of Mobile Email Has Arrived. Are You Ready? | NTEN – "What if you found out that one-quarter of your subscribers were reading your emails on their mobile phones? There’s a good chance they already are. (And if they’re not, they will be soon!) As of November 2011, 89.6 million Americans are using their mobile phones to access their work or personal email. That's an increase of 28% in the last year alone."

• Date: October 28th (I’ll be presenting at the Blackbaud Conference on the 21st so will move it to the 4th Thursday of the month)
• Time: 4 pm EST (1 hour)
• Chat: Launch the chat here (not live until the chat starts)

About the Community Builder Chat

These monthly chats part of the #4Change network and are open to anyone interested in learning and sharing about building community, on and offline, with the use of social media or other technology tools. If you have a topic or question you’d like to explore in an upcoming chat, feel free to let me know anytime!  Hope to have you join us next time

(Photo credit: ToastyKen)

Get the full transcript here!

Question 1: asked about migrating a community from one tool to another, specifically from listservs to a website/forum.

Some of the responses highlighted the need to understand what was currently working for the listserv conversations and what would be a valuable hook to move people to the forums, and especially who within the community (not the org) may be the most influential in a successful migration.  There are a lot of best practices surrounding incentives (try giving promotion and value and not actual rewards) that were shared; but many people felt that the key would be in creating value on the new space that wasn’t possible or wasn’t the same in the listservs.

Question 2: asked how to build a loop between on and offline engagement.

Most agreed that it is harder to move from online to offline, where engagement may be strong because of the access or timing that can’t be accomplished with the physical world. There are also some great ways to help make offline action visible online like sharing actions or highlighting content like videos and photos from events online (try pulling content from across the web together on your website via Yahoo! Pipes).  When talking about moving people from online to offline, it’s important to think about what the purpose is – if it is just to meet and network, many may not see the value in that if the connections and value are already being met online.  Christina shared a great example about finding opportunities to support the community in coming together by listening to online conversations and helping members find events of interest to the organization’s mission and their location.

Matthew also shared an idea for an application creating print-on-demand materials for supporters – you can see his notes in the transcript, or you can catch him on Twitter @mw for more!

Get the full transcript here!

October Community Builder Chat

I’m already looking forward to the next opportunity to connect with others working to build community and explore ideas and examples.  The next monthly chat will be:

• Date: October 28th (I’ll be presenting at the Blackbaud Conference on the 21st so will move it to the 4th Thursday of the month)
• Time: 4 pm EST (1 hour)
• Chat: Launch the chat here (not live until the chat starts)

About the Community Builder Chat

These monthly chats part of the #4Change network and are open to anyone interested in learning and sharing about building community, on and offline, with the use of social media or other technology tools. If you have a topic or question you’d like to explore in an upcoming chat, feel free to let me know anytime!  Hope to have you join us next time

August 2010 – Community Builder Chat Wrap Up

Last night’s chat had a good turn out for being the very first one – thanks to everyone who lurked, joined in, and shared! The two main questions explored were:

• Why build online communities?
• How to increase engagement when dealing with limited functionality rights granted to members and members who are new to online media?

Get the full transcript from the chat here: Launch August Chat Transcript

September 2010 – Community Builder Chat Details

We already have two questions selected for the September chat generated in the August chat. (Thanks!) This time we’ll explore 1. migrating communities from one platform to another, and 2. tools and tactics that build a loop between offline and online activities.

• Date: September 16th
• Time: 4 pm Eastern, 9 pm UK (duration: 1 hour)
• Visit: Launch the Chat (not active until the 16th)

—–

If you couldn’t join the chat last night, you can still contribute! Share your ideas or responses in the comments here to keep the conversation going until the next chat. If you have any questions, feel free to post those as well. Looking forward to the 16th already!

Find us!

Here’s a listing of sessions and spaces hosted by NetSquared and TechSoup:

Community-Driven Social Impact Session

Amy Sample Ward from NetSquared
Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2010; 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM
Room: 1471
This session focuses on strategies and case studies for creating successful community-driven media, events and campaigns. Participants will learn about best practices and work in small groups to put learning into practice.

Technology Planning for Nonprofits Session

Catherine Hurd and Elliot Harmon
 from TechSoup Global
Date: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 2:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Room: 1374
This session will help participants to assess their organization’s technology needs and capacity; work with technical volunteers; and understand the role of technology planning as the foundation for an effective operating environment.

Mixed Reality Learning Lab

Susan Tenby from TechSoup Global along with Interactive Producers Evonne Heyning from and Josephine Dorado
Dates: All conference long!
Location: In the lounge near the ballroom entrance corridor between the conference host exhibit spaces
The team at TechSoup has brewed up a select menu of tools and strategies to provide a social media curriculum to conference attendees on how to explore Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and applications for engaging volunteers and supporters around the world.  Attendees can join a tour of the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life or learn how to use digital storytelling and Facebook for quick and easy updates to keep connected to supporters. Quick tips and tools will be provided on how to get started as well as support for more advanced users.  Also, engage in a mixed reality event as avatars and representatives from nonprofits around the world discuss their work both virtually and in their communities.

Get in Touch Via Twitter

Will you be at the NCVS? We’d love to hear from you: @NetSquared or @TechSoup.  Or connect with us directly:

• Amy Sample Ward: @AmyRSWard
• Elliot Harmon: @ElliotHarmon
• Susan Tenby: @Suzboop

This coming Thursday is the next NFPTweetup, taking place at JustGiving‘s new offices.  As part of a blog series leading up to the event, I was asked to share some thoughts on the event, especially for those coming along for the first time that may not know what to expect.  As I started to collect my thoughts, though, I realized that my impressions and recommendations were really applicable to any tweetup or offline gathering of online networks.

I’m sure that you’ll have more to add—and I hope you will—but, here’s my list of key tips for making the most of tweetups!

Tip #1: Share Great Stories

You aren’t bound to 140 character updates any more, so let your storytelling flow! NFPTweetups and other events where online networks come together offline are unique opportunities and hear from practioners and colleagues and get the “real story.” There’s time and space to sit down and learn more about how others are doing what they do: the success stories and the not-so-successful stories. Lesson: Listen!

Tip #2: Ask Hard Questions

Whether it’s Twitter or email or a social network, people often find it difficult to ask hard questions online because it could be seen as overly negative or critical, maybe the shared glossary of terms don’t match up and the question is misunderstood, or there’s details that one side or the other don’t have access to.  That’s not the case when you get to meet up face to face.  This is a great chance to ask hard questions (when someone’s telling a success or not-so-successful story, ask for more details, ask why/how/what/when) and know that you will be able to be understood as will the answer.  Especially with the NFPTweetup, these events are intended to be educational and valuable.  Lesson: Ask!

Tip #3: Meet Real People

We all work hard to present ourselves online the way we want to be seen, either for our job/professional careers or to keep a line between personal life and work.  Only knowing someone by their avatar or their username may make it difficult to share stories and ask hard questions, online. But, now you’re offline and can enjoy the presence of lots of other real people (note: we assume you’re a real person, too!).  So, make friends! Find out what you have common (hobbies, music, travel) and what drives people to do the work they do (personal stories, passions, skills).  It’s okay to be human, and it will actually strengthen the network when the offline event is over and people move back to the online connections. Lesson: Socialize!

Tip #4: Stay Present

I know it can be tempting to tweet, blog, and video every moment of the event. But, remember why you’ve come together. You are here to tell stories, ask questions and meet/make friends. Most events, like NFPTweetup, will have set up a live stream and nominated people to tweet and share in real time for those who couldn’t attend in person. The reason that those roles are selected and covered ahead of time is to free up all the other participants to stay present. Say thank you and enjoy the freedom!  Lesson: Participate!

What are your tips for making the most of a tweetup? Have you attended the NFPTweetup before – will you be there this time? Look forward to connecting with you!

Here are the slides (Hint: visit the slideshare site by clicking on the link below to see the speaking notes as well!)

Discussion

You can find notes from a couple participants here and here; and use #cgen10 to find tweets and other content tagged from the event.

One thing that struck me from doing an introduction to social media webinar the night before, and the next morning presenting the keynote here, was the difference in content strategy between the two communities and the way that our goals around content and conversations effect so much of how we operate.  There’s a real difference between creating content that you then urge people to share in any online spaces they prefer vs creating safe online spaces for conversations (often in private).  Perhaps it is the nuance between social change movements that manifest in outward or crowd-driven change vs those that focus on social work or individual-based change.

I also wrote down a few great conversation starters from other presenters, including:

• Digital inclusion is all about relevancy – what are you doing to make digital media relevant for your community?
• Digital storytelling means everyone has the power to capture and share stories – how are you empowering your community to write their own history?
• Our “soundbite society” may mean that we don’t provide enough time for real storytelling or real listening – how are you helping your community share and listen in meaningful ways?

Join In!

If you’re interested in connecting with, or following up on this topic and with those who attended, check out the Youth Work Online network.

OxfordJam starts today and runs through Friday. There’s some programming already in place but it’s an event designed to move and mold with those in the room.  And they’re hoping to have some great minds there as the fringe event to Skoll.  I’ll be there all day Friday helping with the social media sessions. Really hope to see you there!

Follow along!

• Here’s the OxfordJam wiki
• Follow @OxfordJam on Twitter
• Or follow #oxfordjam

Nathanniel Whittemore discusses the OxfordJam approach to sessions in OxfordJam and the Birth of Event Ecosystems on Change.org.

To follow more of the things I find online, you can follow @amysampleward on Twitter (which is just a blog and resource feed), or find me on Delicious (for all kinds of bookmarks).

• NTEN's Remake of "Bohemian Rhapsody" | NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network – "Because of the generous matching funds from Convio, large donations from thePort and Firefly Partners, and the support of nearly 200 nptechies, we were able to surpass our scholarship campaign goal and bring nearly 70 staffers from small nonprofits to the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference. That was the meat, now here's the pudding: the NTEN community's remake of "Bohemian Rhapsody", Muppets style!" Be sure to watch close for cameos of myself and many others
• Nonprofits Take Note: Donors are what they tweet | Social Citizens Blog – "As with many new technologies and developments, social media is being used in surprising and unintended ways to analyze and reveal unexpected data and trends. Twitter, Facebook and Google tools have already been used for market research, sales predictions and targeted advertising. Twitter, for example, has shown remarkable accuracy at forecasting box office success, even more accuracy than the currently used (and comparably complex) Hollywood Stock Exchange method. Now credit card companies are reportedly using foursquare and other location sharing platforms to predict divorce, and therefore financial troubles, by analyzing the places people are checking in frequently – the logic being that Home Depot and Bed, Bath & Beyond check-ins demonstrate stability in a way that frequent late night bar check-ins do not."
• 'Online fundraising will change everything' – Third Sector – "Azadi Sheridan, the chair of the Institute of Fundraising's Technology Special Interest Group, tells David Ainsworth why donor 'churn and burn' won't work in the future. The big changes to fundraising in the coming years will spring from the power of the web, according to Azadi Sheridan, chair of the Institute of Fundraising’s Technology Special Interest Group. He says charities have been relatively slow to start using the internet to communicate with their supporters, but he believes they will catch up quickly."
• Wild Apricot Blog : 5 Tech Tools for More Engaging Events – "Real-world events are the ultimate in social networking, and nothing beats face-to-face communication. But it can be challenging to connect with everyone you want to meet at a large event and even more difficult to follow up with the attendees afterwards. And what about those in your community who can’t travel to your meeting or conference, for financial or other practical reasons? How can you bring those people into the fold of your event, too?"
• What can Google Buzz do for you? A study for non-profits | Think Social – "Two weeks ago, Mashable posted a how-to for non-profit organizations trying to use Google Buzz. We wanted more than four ways to use the new tool. Think Social writer and resident digital anthropologist Krystal D’Costa interviewed folks on the Google side and non-profit side for a closer look. (You can also read what Krystal’s previously written about Google Buzz.)"