NTEN Conference, Part 2

At the remote conference at Convio, we were able to choose some of our sessions. There were a couple that I desperately wanted to go to, and luckily they were one of the ones chosen for Convio to stream. I geeked out a little bit over the fact that I was able to attend "The Networked Nonprofit," which was led by Allison Fine and Beth Kanter. I had read Allison's book "Momentum" and LOVED it, and pretty much every informational interview that I have ever gone on has recommended to follow Beth's blog, since she is THE expert on social media.

One of the biggest brain grapes that I got from this session was that "Listening is the gateway drug for social media." Whoa--this ties in to what Andrew Sullivan was saying about how blogging is a one-on-one conversation, that social media is really SOCIAL, it's not all a one way street. Listening does so many things for the social organization--it allows the organization to not only find where its constituents are, but also to figure out HOW to interact with them. The session talked about how there is a "great learning in reflection"--how organizations need to assess ideas, look and see what works and if they don't give them a "joyful funeral" to say goodbye.

But doing this means that there must be a culture of innovation, of not just forging ahead blindly, but figuring out what to do and giving it up if it's not working. That's a lot of pride to swallow. If this isn't part of the nonprofit's culture, taking small steps in that direction will definitely help--but big steps would probably be better. :)