I am new at EchoDitto and I have already stumbled upon a beautiful thing, one-day local conferences! They are usually obscure, out of office, and hard for other people back at the office to visualize. Here are a few tips on how to make the most of your day out.
Take a Flipcam. Since the explosion of online video sharing, organizations have reached out to their lists for user-generated video content. It doesn't take a production company to create web-ready videos. National student organizers for Campus Progress and Energy Action Coalition sent out flipcams to campus leaders asking for a few minutes of video footage. After the event deadline they collected the cameras and uploaded the footage to YouTube; nonprofits should start here for a complimentary YouTube white-label channel. You might even land a gig like Robert Scoble and Fast Company to take on full-time video engagements.
Ask for cards. With all the Bluetooth and RFID technology in the world most attendees still pack a good 'ole fashion business card. Be sure to swap cards with anyone you meet. Futurists would have using beam me up card swapping technology. Fax lines are so passe.
Pick up a new habit. Have you ever heard that it takes 21 days to form a new habit? Well, this doesn't have to be during the standard workweek. On May 10th, Washington D.C. held a citywide event where you could try out yoga, an art studio, or a kayak excursion. It was all FREE. Holly Ross from nten.org mentioned picking up new habits with online outreach. Don't let your blog go by the wayside; keep it up for 3 weeks with current commentary and you'll never look back.
Get on the agenda. If you know the conference organizer, call them up; or, submit a paper when the call goes out. When you make the cut your bio and organization info will be headlined in the agenda. It's easier than you think. Exposure from speaking at conferences will garner lots of attention from organizational partners and stakeholders.
Twitter or blog the conference. The Mars Phoenix Lander has a twitter account for a lonely conference far, far away. For the local conference, pick up a twitter or blog account and see how you like it. Keep in mind you can always deep six it later. Use your cell phone to text in and chat chat, or go to the website to log your activity in 140 character bits. You'll be amazed at the number of people who want to follow what you're up to. And it's a great way to log notes for colleagues back in the office.
Drop a line to the people you met. Sit down for 20 minutes or so and drop a 2-liner to everyone you might want to touch base with in the future. Send them your twitter links, your Flipcam footage, or something else they might want to hang onto. Chances are they've already thrown out all official conference goodies.
These are just a handful of the take home points from my experience at "The 2.0 Nonprofit" conference. The kind folks at Google hosted us for the afternoon to talk about how nonprofits are using Google Grants for complimentary Adwords (up to $10,000/month), branded channels on YouTube, and Docs/Spreadsheets to get their day-to-day work done. Google Presentations just added a WebEx-type component where you can share live presentations with an audio bridge.
Our second day was spent at the new Newseum in downtown DC where we heard from expert panelists. Ben Branzell from MoveOn.org spoke briefly about creating email marketing magic. I'll post his insights soon. For now, check out the EchoDitto insight paper on Email Marketing.
