EchoDitto

I feel as if I am in a secret club.

Backstory: One of my best friends, Sarie, works at MoMA, and pretty much anything I know about contemporary art is due to our friendship. Things like: the new Olafur Eliasson microsite that user Flickr to sort user-generated photos, or the fact that you can get AudioGuides on your iPhone or on iTunesU, or PopRally. Aka the secret club.

PopRally describes itself as

a program of events at The Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center that features collaborations with artists and musical acts, performances, film screenings, receptions, and special viewings of exhibitions at moderate prices.

MoMA hosts amazing events featuring art, film, performance and music, with free booze for $8, aimed at a younger, hipper audience.

In honor of Earth Day today, we at EchoDitto are joining with individuals around the world who are committing to do something to combat climate change. Most of us already walk, bike, or take public transportation to work; we're adamant recyclers; and we use environmentally-friendly cleaning products from Seventh Generation. But today we're especially proud to contribute to the fight against global warming with the relaunch of 1Sky.org.

1Sky was created in 2007 with one primary objective: to harness the power of the millions of Americans who are concerned about climate change in order to pass federal legislation by 2010 that can reverse global warming. Since its founding, 1Sky has built a platform of specific solutions, partnered with organizations and allies around the country, and activated a network of over 50,000 citizens who are actively lobbying for policy change and garnering support for the 1Sky solutions in meetings with their members of Congress.

The new New York office is a dream. An Ikea-furnished dream. Gisele mentioned that we went to Ikea, but I have to elaborate.

We drove to Ikea on Friday morning at 11 am. Traffic was light, Gisele was an excellent driver, I navigated as only a girl from New Jersey can, and Harish made back-to-back calls from the back seat. I did a little pre-gaming with the team regarding decisions that needed to be made, an overview of the trip, and areas of the store we would avoid.

Despite my schedule and lists, Gisele and Harish got overwhelmed at the top of the first escalator. “We should have hired a consultant to help us furnish the office at Ikea...” Harish said mournfully. “Wait” I replied. “I am a consultant helping you to furnish your office at Ikea. In fact, I’m your consultant. You pay me to consult.” Thus was born EchoOffice.

EchoOffice will be available for all of your office furnishing services, including online and offline strategy, on-the-ground engagements, and strategic communication. Whether you need a cute couch, or have to furnish an entire office, we will serve as your guide and coach. Until we get staffed up and off the ground, let me be your virtual consultant for making your next Ikea shopping trip the best it can be:

1. Do preliminary research. Although I find the Ikea site to be incredibly hard to navigate and not intuitive, spend a little time researching the items you are interested in. You might want to also check some similarly-priced competitors: cb2, west elm, and maybe pottery barn. Make a spreadsheet that includes photos, prices, and colors. Pages has an excellent template for just this sort of thing. Note: if you are really set on an item, save yourself some heartache--search to see if it’s available in your local store.

1. Plan your space. Draw out a sketch of the room (bonus points if it’s to scale) and approximately where you want everything to go. Before you leave the house measure anything that looks handy and mark it on your map: windows, walls, doors, closets. I promise this will come in handy when you are staring at 6 different lengths and widths of curtains.
2. Make a plan of attack and a list. Ikea is overwhelming, and people who don’t have a clear plan or goals tend to start snapping at each other around the paper-napkin area (overheard in Ikea: “fine, I don’t really care. Pick whatever you want. You never listen to my opinions anyway.”) Don’t let this happen to you. Decide what you want to focus on, which decisions you need to make during this trip, and which items you really need. Sure, you’re going to leave with some random wrapping paper, and a sheepskin rug that you couldn’t resist, but at least make sure you get what you came for.
3. Bring provisions. About half to two-thirds of the way through Ikea, just as you are starting to hit your stride, you will become famished and parched. Sneak a little snack into your bag and you will be much happier.
4. Ask for help. Don’t throw your back out trying to lift that giant BIlly bookshelf alone, ask an employee. Don’t wander back through 17 living rooms looking for the desks, ask someone for a shortcut. The Ikea workers are generally helpful and kind, so don’t hesitate.
5. Enjoy yourself. If you get tired, kick back in the living room, or try to sneak a nap on one of the beds. Harish took a conference call from the puffy, floral couch. I pretended the 612-square-foot apartment was my apartment. I think I saw Gisele squeezing a plush cat toy. Ikea is fun.

I'm thrilled to report that EchoDitto New York has officially moved to our new Canal Street office! We're so excited to have our very own space, with a real conference room, two private offices, plenty of open space, a lovely kitchen sink and our own bathroom. The furniture is being assembled as we speak, and Anne and I are finally not sitting on the floor anymore. Some highlights of the past few days include:

• A fascinating trip to Ikea last Friday (my first time ever!) with Anne and Harish. I loved the almond torte in the cafeteria, but next time, I say we order it all online. Also, we're convinced they do something to the air to dehydrate customers so they buy more Lingenberry Juice.

Just in case you aren’t subscribed to my Twitter feed, my big news of the past two weeks is that someone broke into my house and stole a few things. Long story short, I came home from a trip to DC for work, surprised to find my apartment door unlocked (hmm, I thought, I always lock my door), and even more surprised to notice a few changes (hmm, I swear I had a TV hanging on that wall... weird!). They took several things of moderate to high importance:

• My television
• A stack of sweaters (the red/pink pile), a stack of long-sleeved t-shirts, and my friend’s down jacket

There's been a lot of talk lately about the demise of the traditional print newspaper, sparked by Eric Alterman's article in the New Yorker called "Out of Print". It's an interesting discussion that made me examine my own news-procuring habits.

Sorry, print newspapers, but for me you're already dead. I most recently touched newsprint this weekend while I was balling up pages of the Washington Post to help get my campfire started. Before that, I can't even remember. I know that there are many of you out there who can't live without your morning paper (or papers), but that ain't me.

It is with a heavy but excited heart that I tell you all: as of today, EchoDitto is ceasing to operate as an online consultancy and instead will refocus our efforts on the ancient art of pantomime.

For over four years now, we have worked to empower organizations through the innovative use of technology, but it’s time for us to move to a more creative arena. Along the way, we have become leaders in our field promoting the philosophy of open source collaborative solutions to real world organizing problems. Our influence has cut a wide swath, with former Dittos moving on to fulfill leading roles at media outlets, advocacy organizations, and political campaigns. Our team members have had speaking events from California to Austria, teaching industry leaders to embrace collaborative ideology. Our know-how has known few boundaries.

As such, we feel our work here is complete. The logical next step is changing the world through the healing power of silent movement.

First, we need to prepare. The entire team will be moving to West Bengal, India to attend the prestigious Jogesh Mime Academy. You can read all about it here. Needless to say, we are all extremely excited.

So, we bid you farewell. To all of our clients and partners: thank you for four years of phenomenal envelope-pushing work. You will be in our hearts always.

Now that spring is here (well, maybe not so much in NYC, but it's coming!), thoughts turn to chocolate bunnies, March Madness and of course, spring cleaning. It's a good thing that EchoDitto recently launched the new Seventh Generation website to help smart, environmentally conscious consumers not only find the right cleaning products, but also connect with like minded individuals. Some highlights of the new site include:

• consumer-generated product reviews
• forums for discussing the environment, new product ideas, healthy living
• a new corporate blog called 7Gen, in addition to the Inspired Protagonist, SVG President Jeffrey Hollender's well-respected blog

One of my favorite clients through the years here at EchoDitto has been the Clinton Foundation. We've worked with them at their annual conference, helped them launch a book and inspired thousands of people make a commitment to change the world.

This week we helped them with the inaugural meeting of CGI University. CGI U is a project of the Clinton Global Initiative that challenges college students and universities to take on global problems with real, concrete solutions. For us, that meant helping them get those commitments on the web, as well as updating the site to emphasize some of those new commitments.

In about 3 hours, I'll be boarding a plane to head back to the Big Easy - New Orleans, that is. Unlike last month, Brian Reich and I are headed that direction to attend this year's Nonprofit Technology Conference held by the Nonprofit Technology Network, better known as NTEN.

If you're heading that way or know someone who is, please don't hesitate to flag us down - or you can follow us on twitter to find out where we'll be.