Author: Eli

Net Tuesday September notes

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Net Tuesday September event focusing on email marketing and fundraising. Your insightful questions were what made it all possible. Well, the awesome audience AND the panelists (Duncan Owen, Shannon Daud, and Ben Johnson.) Thanks all for making me look good!

There won’t be a Net Tuesday in October, but we’ll be back in November. In the meantime, you can relive the summer’s NetSquared Camp unconference with Russell Bennett’s great video.

What I learned this month:

  • Panels are a great format for Net Tuesday events. They have lots of energy and help bring the audience into the discussion because they support Q&As really well.
  • I need to bring in a mic and speakers for all future events. Struggling to hear the presenters sucks.
  • Name tags aren’t solving the “no mingling” problem. I need to bring in food AND assign people to start up discussions before the events.

Email campaigning service providers:

The panel didn’t have time to go deeply into their favorite tools for setting up and distributing email campaigns, but here’s the URLs for the tools mentioned.

For more see Seattle nonprofit consultants Groundwire’s great overview of email service providers with a focus on integration with Salesforce.com.

September’s Net Tuesday Vancouver has panelists

September’s Net Tuesday is next week, and I finally have all the panelists confirmed. Better late than never, I say. 🙂

TOPIC: Email communications – still alive and kicking

It’s easy to get distracted by that new-fangled social media stuff (so shiny!), but the folks on the ground in non-profits know that the real action’s in email. That’s where you raise the funds to advance your mission. That’s how you get people to show up to events. That’s how you get petitions signed.

There’s plenty of life left in email communications, and learning how to test, optimize, and integrate email campaigns is (I reckon) the best investment you can make in the online space.

Join a panel of  experts from Vancouver’s nonprofit community as they discuss the value of email to their organizations, how they manage and grow their lists, and how they test and measure their campaigns so that they’re constantly improving.

DATE: Tuesday, September 14
TIME: 5:30 (doors) 6:00pm (event starts)
LOCATION: W2 Storyeum, 151 W Cordova, Vancouver, BC

RSVP:

Meet your panelists:

BEN JOHNSON, Union Gospel Mission

Ben is an online marketing and research specialist. He’s raised over $1MM in donations online, currently works in the development department at Union Gospel Mission, and thinks email is the next big fundraising tool.

blog: http://979s.com.
email: mrbenjohnson@gmail.com
linkedin: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/mrbenjohnson/

SHANNON DAUD, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Shannon Daub is the CCPA-BC’s communications director and co-lead for the organization’s national online communications team.
email: shannon@policyalternatives.ca

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is a research institute focused on social, economic and environmental justice. The CCPA works closely with social movement groups to support education and mobilization efforts by bringing providing information, analysis and solutions in areas like climate justice, economic policy, health care, education, human rights and more. www.policyalternatives.ca •  www.policynote.ca

DUNCAN OWEN, David Suzuki Foundation
Duncan has been with the David Suzuki Foundation for 1 ½ years focusing on fundraising campaigns (direct mail, telemarketing, email), supervising day to day operations of the donor relations team and looking to find innovation and efficiencies.

He’s got book learning too, including a Bachelor of Multimedia (Business Marketing) and a Graduate certificate of digital and direct marketing.
Born and raised in Melbourne, Duncan has been in Vancouver for 3 years.

Net Tuesday September 2010 – email communication isn’t dead yet

TOPIC: Email communications – not dead yet!

Join a panel of  experts from Vancouver’s nonprofit community as they discuss the value of email to their organizations, how they manage and grow their lists, and how they test and measure their campaigns so that they’re constantly improving.

DATE: Tuesday, September 14
TIME: 5:30 – 8:00pm
LOCATION: W2 Storyeum, 151 W Cordova, Vancouver, BC

RSVP for the next Vancouver event:

Make NetSquared Camp Better – Fill Out Our 10 Question Survey

Did you go to NetSquared Camp Vancouver on August 14? Thank you!
I thought it was a roaring success. Do you agree?

Agree or disagree, I’d REALLY appreciate it if you could fill out our quick 10 question survey about the event.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/n2camp
  • Would you go again?
  • Were we in the right venue?
  • Did you learn something new?
We want to know, so please help us out by completing the survey.  Did I mention that it’s only 10 questions long? 🙂
Click here to complete the survey.

And while I have your attention, let me take this moment to thank the volunteers and sponsors who helped make the event possible.

KEYSTONE SPONSORS
Raised Eyebrow web studio
The Big Wild
NetSquared
Kiwano Marketing
SFPIRG
GLOBAL PARTNERS
Blackbaud
SAP
MEDIA PARTNERS
Advice Tap
The Change
Forum for Women Entrepreneurs
Fresh Media
The Vancouver Observer

For more information go to http://www.nettuesday.ca/netsquared/sponsors/

Just 50 tickets left for NetSquared Camp – RSVP now

NetSquared Camp is less than 2 weeks away – and there’s just 50 free tickets left. We begin a media push next week, so we expect to be sold out well before NetSquared Camp begins on August 14.

Find out more and RSVP at http://netsquaredvancouver.eventbrite.com/

NetSquared Camp Vancouver is an unconference bringing together nonprofits, activists and social entrepreneurs with their friends and allies in the world of technology and communications (social media folk, developers, designers, writers, marketers….)

It’s like one of the monthly Net Tuesday meetups – but all day and with up to 24 sessions!

Check out our session proposals or the Internet Help Desk.

Tickets are going quickly, so RSVP: http://netsquaredvancouver.eventbrite.com/

P.S. Gonna Twitter about the event? Use the hashtag #n2camp

NetSquared Camp volunteer meeting – Tuesday, August 3

Date: Tuesday, August 3
Time: 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Location: 302 Water Street, 4th Floor: Water Street Arts Society.

RSVP: http://n2campvolunteers.eventbrite.com/

We’re entering the end-game of NetSquared Camp. So it’s time to have one last face-to-face organizers meeting. Can you come?

We’ll have lots of logistical details to sort out, from lunch session leaders to where to do the session pitching to who’ll be doing the morning intro.

PLUS, we’ll be assigning volunteers! You get to pick the best positions if you attend the meeting!

Volunteer assignments:

  • front desk registration
  • session reporters
  • setup and teardown crew
  • lunch discussion leaders
  • internet help desk
  • gophers

Hope to see you there!

Want to have your mind blown? Check out these NetSquared Camp session proposals

Unconference schedules are determined on the day of the event by participants. But we’re collecting session proposals ahead of time. Add your idea to the NetSquared Camp wiki.

Here’s Some Proposed Sessions As Of July 28, 2010

How to get real hits
Kyle Berger – Jewish Community Centre
You’ve got a good website and products/services to sell/promote. What techniques can be used to get the right people to visit your site?

How to Choose a CMS (Content Management System) for your Organization
Lauren Bacon, Raised Eyebrow Web Studio
When you’re developing a new website, the selection of a Content Management System (CMS) is one of the most critical decisions you’ll make — and the list of options can be overwhelming. Let’s talk about how to create a framework for choosing the right CMS platform for your organization, based on factors like how technically-savvy your staff are, the features you need, what kinds of resources you have for managing updates, and your organizational culture (for example, does everything need to go through an approval process? Do you want your members/constituents to be able to contribute content to your site? etc.).

Making the Most out of WordPress
Christopher Mallon, University of British Columbia
Lots of organizations are using WordPress these days, not just for blogging but for creating fully functional websites. Outside of WordPress.com, you can use any programming language you want (for example, javascript) in combination with the wordpress interface, which makes a powerhouse combination. But as a new user, I’d like to talk about how we can truly make the most out of this platform – how to go beyond the blogs and do things that really amaze people.

Gaining Supporters: Building Tribes vs Finding Tribes
Chris Mathieson, Vancouver Police Museum
Non-profits need supporters–people that align with our causes and provide us with their energy, enthusiasm, audiences and, of course, money. I’d like to talk about practical strategies that involve social media to seek out and recruit new supporters for our organizations, spending a significant amount of time debating the merits of building vs finding aligned groups of people.

The Data Deluge: You’ve got donors, dollars, and a database, now what?
Benjamin Johnson, Union Gospel Mission
Non-profits of all shapes and sizes are in a remarkably advanced position compared to even the largest companies who rarely get to know the age, gender, home address, etc. of the casual consumer. Donors are different. You have a database full of giving patterns, people, and financial data, but are you doing anything with it? How about an open, non-technical, discussion about the very new topic of data and analysis.

Ninja School: Kicking Ass at Social Networking
Cecilia Lu, Kiwano Marketing
What are the top do’s and don’ts for using social media networks as a networking tool? How do you portray your non-profit’s personality online and engage your volunteers, stakeholders, and sponsors? When’s the right time for moving the conversation offline? Join the Ninja for a casual, down-to-earth discussion on practical tips about how to get personable online.

So, you’re convinced it’ll be an awesome event? RSVP!

Social sharing copy for NetSquared Camp Vancouver

NetSquared logoAlready RSVPed for NetSquared Camp Vancouver? Hooray!

As of this evening 71 people have registered, but we’re got room for more! Please invite your friends to join us at NetSquared Camp. Feel free to use the copy below (or draft your own message.)

Social sharing copy

EMAIL

I’m going to a cool summer camp and I think you should too. NetSquared Camp is a free, one-day event where nonprofits meet geeks to develop practical skills in social media, marketing, communications, design and technology. You bring your questions and professional challenges. We’ll table them with your peers and some of Vancouver’s brightest to workshop actionable applications for social change. NetSquared Vancouver: by sharing knowledge, experience and best practices, we can all make exponential gains for social good. RSVP for your ticket to practical, positive change:http://netsquaredvancouver.eventbrite.com

FACEBOOK

I’m going to a cool summer camp and I think you should too. NetSquared Camp is a free, one-day event where nonprofits meet geeks to develop practical skills in social media, marketing, communications, design and technology.

http://netsquaredvancouver.eventbrite.com/

TWITTER (Our hashtag is #n2camp )

#Nonprofits meet geeks to make gains for social good. #NetSquared Camp #Vancouver is free and fabulous: http://bit.ly/a3YrBH

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