Today was the April 501 Tech Club brown bag lunch event and we focused on some of the best parts of NTEN’s NTC which took place last month.
It was a great chance to talk between conference goers about highlights and questions and even more exciting to have folks who hadn’t been to the conference ask questions to start conversations. Some of the areas that we touched on include:
- Leadership: Technology staff have a great opportunity for developing leadership skills and helping navigate the organization, with technology-related issues as well as non-technology-related issues. It strengthens the organization to have technology staff a part of the leadership team. Likewise, it is incredibly important for execitve directors to gain technology knowledge so that when new, shiny, tools/toys come out (which seems to happen every day!), there is an understanding of what the organization can and can’t adopt and how.
- ROI (Return on Investment): Specifically that of Social ROI, for social media, is a growing body of thought and practice with lots of conversations about different ways to measure social media work that doesn’t relate specifically to fundraising dollars. The most prominent component of social media is the community building and conversational nature of the tools, so the development of ways to measure and evaluate your organization’s use of these tools is integral.
- Social Media Adoption: I was part of or overheard many conversations reinforcing the idea that organization’s can’t, and don’t have the staff/time/support/money, to adopt every tool that comes out. Instead, campaigns and projects need to be designed around the organization’s missions and then appropriate technology can be used when it is appropriate.
- Communities of Practice: It was interesting to see puddles of people form because of common job functions and experiences that transcended session tracks or table topics. Groups like IT directors, peer-to-peer fundraisers, and non-technical staff that manage or work with online tools in their campaigns. It was great seeing the offline communities form with people who only knew each other online or through other friends. It is very important for people to build their support community because so many of us work in situations where we are the only IT staff person and it can be a lonely position.
- Vendors: Many people enjoyed the opportunity to meet with and talk to vendor company representatives IN PERSON. Shaking the hand of someone from PayPal or Salesforce really changed the faceless, distant organization to companies with human employees that nonprofits can connect with.
- Mobiles: A constantly growing field in the nonprofit technology world is that of mobile technology and the changing opportunities for nonprofits leveraging the power mobiles hold for reaching out to communities in need and in crisis. It is a great field to watch, and if you are interested in learning more about mobile technology, Mobile Active is an awesome organization to check out.
If you are interested in attending the next 501 Tech Club meeting in Portland, it is May 28th from 1-2:30 at the NW Health Foundation. We will focus on ‘Storytelling in Crises’ with a presentation from Roger Burks of Mercy Corps. You can find out more and join the community online at http://groups.nten.org.
I have a new post up on the Stanford Social Innovation Review opinion blog! I have been thinking a lot about the NTC session I blogged about before, regarding techies moving up into leadership roles in their organizations. Here is an excerpt:
The discussion made me think about user-generated content and the two-way flow of information that comes with adopting new social media components. This is usually one of the biggest sources of fear for organizations just beginning on the road to web 2.0. But isn’t the openness to letting go of control of the message and specific content similar to the opening of leadership opportunities for staff? (And shouldn’t it be that neither creates fear in the organization and its leadership team?)
You can read the rest on the SSIR blog here!
Something that should be obvious about a conference for nonprofit technologists is that there was no lack of geeky conversation, ever, anywhere. It was wonderful! But, one thing that I thought was important to bring up and great that it was brought up in some of the sessions, was that we have to remember these few days of utopia are numbered, and normally we aren’t able to have the same kinds of conversations with the same kinds of vocabulary and assumed knowledge.
When we are working in offices at nonprofits or other philanthropic organizations, or consulting with these groups, we need to approach conversations in a different way, to avoiding losing people in our techie conversation. How do you do that?
- Don’t worry about avoiding conversations! Instead of agonizing over a conversation to leadership about needing $10k, find a way to start a conversation about how that investment can make the staff’s work more effective or efficient, or save money elsewhere.
- Recognize the differences! Talking to a fellow techie about new software, platforms, products, etc. can be great but so can conversations about those things with staff so long as you recognize the difference between features and benefits—tech people care about features, no one else does. This goes for conversations with leadership, buy-in, training, etc.
- Express what you want clearly! It is fine to ask for or recommend new budget items, upgrades, uses, or strategies; it’s more than fine, it’s your job! But know your strengths and how to work within them so that what you are asking for and why is clear.
- Don’t be a cheerleader for the accomplishment! You should, of course, always recognize accomplishments throughout your organization, including the technology department. But, as a leader (and not just a techie) you should work to cheer on the people, the work and the tools instead of just the end accomplishments. After all, it was the people, their hard work, and the tools chosen that got to that goal!
What kinds of conversations have you had as the “techie” (accidental or not!) and what results did you have? How were you able to have the most “successful” conversations with your leadership or staff when dealing with technical matters?
One last live blog from the NTC here in New Orleans. Click on the link below if you want to follow along with (or read the archive of) E-Advocacy: Mission over Membership with Charles Lenchner, Colin Delany, Jonan Compitello, Farra Trompeter:
Click here to follow the live blog!
I am going to live blog another session from today’s NTC here in New Orleans. Click below to follow along live (or read back from the archive) of Targeting Your Message: Values-Based Segmentation and Communication Strategies for Nonprofits with representatives from McQueen Morrow Associates:
Click to follow the live blog!
I am going to try out the newly released tool CoverItLive to cover what should probably be a terrific panel here at NTEN’s NTC. If you would like to follow along live with me or read back over the live transcript of the Building, Growing, and Sustaining a Vibrant Online Community - How to Reach Beyond Traditional Tools into the Web 2.0 Sphere with Beth Kanter, Susan Tenby, Keith Morris and Abby Sandlin, click here:
Watch the live blogging now!
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