Normally, I don’t like giving workshops focusing on specific tools. Often, it’s a case of recommending specific tactics before people have defined the larger goals of an organizations’ online efforts. Second Life, FourSquare or Twitter do not necessarily fit the particular needs of your organization.*
But Google is different. You have no choice but to make decisions more strategically when using these tools for measuring and improving your online work. I don’t feel reluctant to recommend these specific tools to anyone who is publishing anything online – a website, email newsletter, blog or social media campaign.
I am presenting at Social Tech Training 2009, the second year of this great event in Toronto. It’s an intensive training session for profit organizations who want to build a solid online program.
I love the approach. It’s not about ‘How to Twitter’ or ‘Create an awesome Facebook page for your organization’ (although you can probably learn some of that at the event). It is structured around an ongoing process of creativity, testing and exploration that will help you get results no matter what new technologies pop up (or ‘old’ ones die). Continue Reading »
Greenpeace Canada is in the process of hiring for two positions: a social media specialist and a webmaster. Both positions are located in Toronto.
Both jobs require a mix of communication and technical skills, with a healthy dose of passion. I worked for Greenpeace for many years, and I can say it’s a great place to work. Smart, dedicated and lively people – there’s rarely a dull moment. They need two people who fit that description to move their campaigns forward. Could one of these people be you? Continue Reading »
Rootscamp happened last weekend, and it was a really great experience. I visited New York before the conference, and drove down to Washington with a few friends. The event was full of energy, as the mainly Democratic crowd was pretty happy with how the election turned out.
A few of the sessions I attended were “Long lasting local groups”, “MoveOn’s top 5 lessons from the 2008 election”, “Using merchandise in your campaign”, “ The Obama campaign and social networks”, and “Irony we can believe in” (what’s the role of humor if our guy is in the White House?). Continue Reading »
There’s a post-election debrief in Washington DC this weekend called Rootscamp, put on by the New Organizing Institute. It brings together people who worked on the last election to discuss what worked, what didn’t and how to do better next time.
I went down in 2006 and learned a lot from this ‘unconference’ – sat in on sessions facilitated by some Really Smart People (it was during that trip I learned that DC is considered ‘Hollywood for Geeks’ – smart is sexy down there) And I am signed up to go again.
A friend sent along this campaign, run by some Stanford students. It is a simple site built around an amateur video. The video has shaky camera work, wooden acting and is a shade too long. I love it for a number of reasons.
It is far more effective than a wall of text explaining how you should upgrade your computer instead of getting a new one. Imagine for a moment how compelling this campaign would be without the disarming video? And the video tells a story and goes for a homemade, dorky vibe – it doesn’t even try to be ‘professional’.
I suspect this is the key to doing YouTube well on a budget: be homemade, look homemade and have fun with it. Celebrate your dorkiness. And to be honest, I think it’s harder than it looks! Continue Reading »
I went to the E-Campaigning Forum in Oxford, UK and, inspired by Jason Lefkowitz’s view of the basics of online advocacy, signed up to facilitate a session to tease out just what constitutes a good website and a good email program.
I introduced the idea of starting with the basics to the group of about a dozen super-smart and experienced online campaigners. Then they came up with a checklist of what elements needed to be covered to bring your site and your email list up to scratch. We had an hour and change to put our heads together and come up with a checklist.
Here’s the list, so you don’t have to squint at the flipcharts: Continue Reading »
What has been wonderful so far is how simple the whole process has been. Using the fantastic Gmap module, the Location module and our 5.7 Drupal install it took a few hours to create the Google map here.
Greenpeace Canada is in the process of hiring for two positions: a social media specialist and a webmaster. Both positions are located in Toronto.
There’s a post-election debrief in Washington DC this weekend called 
But seriously, this is a good introduction. From