Where I'll be at #17NTC!

Each year I follow in the inspiring example of Peter S. Campbell by sharing where I'll be at the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference and typically I link to his awesome post, but sadly Peter hasn't posted yet this year or I missed it. Peter posted his post, WOOHO, go read it now!

The annual NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference is something I look forward to all year long! This event has helped shape my career and the orgs I have worked for, plus it has impacted a number of orgs and staff I have collaborated or shared with. I love it. Anyway, here is where I will be at #17NTC.

HELP! Previous years I made awesome plans to connect with people at Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, but I don't have any of those plans yet, hit me on Twitter at @steveheye if you want to connect or leave a comment.

Or you can read what I learned at #15NTC to see if it helps you want to go! - seems like I never posted a what I learned at #16NTC, weird.

Weds, March 22

#NTCBeer!
A mix of nerds and brew, need we say more? Celebrate the 9th annual #ntcbeer, the pre-conference party known for good refreshments and better conversation. Catch up with nptech friends old and new over a few brews or whatever. This year will be a bit different, our Facebook page will list a few options for you to pick from to meet up for #17NTC #NTCBEER. There are just too many of us to easily organize one place. Check it out on Facebook and meet some new people!

Thurs, March 23

Ignite Plenary!
Lucky for all of you, I am not singing this year.  But the brilliant Amy Sample Ward will be reading some of her poetry! (not sure which day ASW will read it, but in response to my challenge post she agreed to it.) It's a can't miss!


Communicating Data for Action and Impact
With my new role so focused on data and nonprofits, time to sharpen these skills. Good session description: Many nonprofits struggle with communicating data. Some jump to visualizations without considering their goals or audience needs. Some have a clear idea of whom they are trying to reach, but don’t know how to best tell their data stories. This interactive session will provide real world examples and actionable advice on applying “The Five A’s of Data Communication” to help you achieve your desired outcomes:

Technology Wellness in the Nonprofit Workplace
You can't go wrong with Beth Kanter and I haven't been to one of her sessions in a while. I am sure she will have us doing some walking or maybe even mediation.... But hey she is wicked smart and always pleases the crowd. Plus we could all stand to put our phones down and learn to deal with the overwhelming amount of tech in our life.

The Role of Technology in Managing the Operations of a Nonprofit
I will be co-presenting this session with Peggy Duvette, plus a surprise nonprofit guest!  This should be a bit of fun mixed with some learning about tech and operations.  Come on we could all use some help with managing and running our orgs a little better.

Fri, March 24

The Fully-Informed Approach to Calculating Return on Investment
How can one determine whether an investment is worthwhile? How can we align our spending more tightly with our objectives? What tools and strategies support the formation of reasonable assumptions on the likely return on investment? (Mostly going to this because Peter Campbell is presenting and I always make sure to make time in my schedule to heckle him, but he is super smart!)

Audience Research on a Dime
We're helping people solve for situations when they don't have resources for audience research, have buy-in for audience research, and understand the importance of audience research.

FUN After Hours!
Need to pick a progressive party!

Sat, March 25

Nonprofit Execs Talk about Strategic Assessment
This interactive panel discussion will feature nonprofit execs sharing how strategic assessments changed their organizations.

How to Automate Workflows to Become a Truly Data-Driven Organization
We'll review the steps involved in moving an organization to full workflow automation, including technical steps and organizational buy-in. We'll also cover ways to ensure that automated workflows are accessible to individuals with different technical skills.

FUN!
Geek Games! Bring it!

SO much Stuff! If you haven't registered, DO IT NOW! If you have registered, change your travel to be there early for the Pre-Conference (Smaller crowds and more info!)

#17NTCIgnite - Take a Chance!

First, I want to issue a challenge to the gloriously awesome Amy Sample Ward (ASW), CEO of NTEN. At the 2016 NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference Amy Sample Ward shared a secret. I am not sure she meant to, but it happened.  She shared how she wrote poetry in her early years! Yep, we have a poet in our midst.

Make #ASWPoems happen!
So I am calling for Amy Sample Ward to share some of her poems on the main stage at #17NTC! So show your support and get busy on social media with  #ASWPoems at #17NC (feel free to tag Amy on Twitter - @amyrsward)  

UPDATE ON #ASWPoems! Ok so Amy Sample Ward has already agreed to read some poems at #17NTC, WOOHOO! Can't wait to hear them! Here is her tweet.

@SteveHeye oh gosh, when you issue a challenge you go all the way, Steve! How can I say no to this?! Will have to dust off the old notebooks

— Amy Sample Ward (@amyrsward) November 30, 2016

But back to the Ignite sessions. 
For me I find Ignite presentations a way to push the boundaries and get out of my comfort zone. Facing fears like public speaking and trying things you have never done will help you grow as a person! Taking a risk, doing something new and pushing yourself can help in countless ways, especially if you fail along the way. Allowing the possibility of fear or even better, trying new things where failure is just part of the process of learning, can change you in many ways.

I can't sing. But taking the risk of trying it out, practicing and then singing as part of my ignite in front of 2,000 people. And hey guess what, I still can't sing.  But hey, I had fun with it and it went pretty well. But more importantly it helped me embrace some big changes, roll with the unexpected, be OK with failure and most importantly never forget to have fun.

So my second challenge to all of you, take a risk and try something new, maybe like doing an ignite at #17NTC learn more on the NTEN website!

Visit the NTEN NTC website to sign up for an Ignite!

Side Note: what is #17NTC and what is an ignite?
Definition of Ignite from NTEN's site: Ignite is a roller coaster version of a keynote speech that combines education, entertainment, and a bit of sheer terror. Ignite talks give you the opportunity to share your knowledge with the nonprofit tech community from the largest stage at the 17NTC. There is a catch: presenters are strictly limited to five minutes and 20 slides, which automatically advance every 15 seconds. This isn’t a product demo—this is a chance to share your message.

What is NTC? I look forward to the NTC every year. It is the Nonprofit Technology Conference hosted by NTEN. All types of nonprofit staff converge together around the topic of technology and nonprofits. And while the conference and agenda is great, it is really the people and community that make it great! You can read about what I learned on this post.

Hope to see you at #17NTC on the Ignite stage!  Or at least tweet out the #AWSPoems #17NTC hashtag!

What I learned at #15NTC!

The annual NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference is something I look forward to all year long! And #15NTC did not disappoint! I saw old friends, made new ones and learned tons!

NPTechies rule! This year had a good mix of sessions for the Techie!  We had security, contract negotiations, help desk, IT alignment, analytic, data, CRM, disaster planning and so many more. Loved seeing a theme of "People, Process and Tools" come from numerous sessions and different speakers! I was worried sessions on Ello and Crowdsourcing would crowd out the IT staff. oy. Big kudos to peeps like Peter S. Campbell for laying the groundwork to keep tech tracks alive (be sure to read his recap of #15NTC).

Weds, March 4

Ignite Plenaries!
The first round of ignites were great with quotes like:

Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes. from @jiandamonique

Be a mindful techie! #15NTC ignite. Savor the moments. Put your phone to bed and rest. Take time to focus.

"ie8 is a dumpster fire dressed as a web browser." from @dotcarly: Ha!

But the group on Friday really inspired me! Debra Askanase showed true bravery and shared a personal story about overcoming challenges with math. My favorite paraphrased quote was:

"I decided failure was not my story. Fear can not box me in. You can change your story." 

Then I enjoyed the play on semantics with Liza talking about how we should not "use" our volunteers. We use toilets, not volunteers. They are partners.

(And of course to the right is a video version of my ignite from last year, since Scope Creep did not get to perform this year)


Help Desk or Service Desk: Either Way, How Does IT Become a Partner?
It was amazing how much attention this session got since it was about Help Desks. I presented with Dar Veverka and John Cronin and it went super well! The key learning on this one was that most of the audience was already doing parts of service desk and didn't even know it.  But everyone appreciated the structure and more defined approach we offered.

Some key points:

• A help desk is about responding to users needs, while service desk is more proactive and changes the way the organization works
• A service desk is focused on providing expertise, structure & tools to improve processes across the organization
• The process of implementing a service desk takes time and includes a plan for service strategy (policies, standards), design (plans), transition (change mgmt) and operation (daily support). 
• The book ITIL V3 Small-Scale Implementation, is a complex but great resource to learn more about Service Desk

Avoiding Disaster - A Practical Guide to Backup Systems and Disaster Recovery Planning
This session was well run and the speakers (Dar Veverka and Andrew Rugninis) rocked, even lightened things up by sharing some stories about disasters they had faced (mostly water & monkey guts following Andrew around). Some key points:

• Disaster plans should be iterative. Start with basics, then build over time. 
• Disaster planning can be lead by IT, but should be an organization effort.
• BIA - Business Impact Analysis combined with level of risk is a big part of how to prioritize in your Disaster Plan.
• Knowing which key team members & vendors you will go to when a specific event occurs is critical.
• There are a large number of backup options these days; cloud, drives, NAS, tapes, etc. Balance cost, ease & speed. 
• Even if you are on all Cloud services, you need a backup. Crazy things happen when nature or humans are involved.
• When fighting a disaster. Stop. Communicate first. Then start fixing. Admit problems, don't hide it. Establish trust.

Thurs, March 5

Strategy, IT\Mission Alignment and Outcomes -- How Do Yours Fit Together?
This session was even better than I thought! I can't wait to find a funder or partner to turn this into a book, workbook and full training for nonprofits! (contact us if you are interested!) This session built off of the IT Alignment model plus the Tactical vs. Strategic vs. Missional concept! The idea is:

1. Spend time understanding how well your technology is aligned to your mission using these tools on my blog
2. Build a set of plans and strategies which correspond to your IT Alignment Maturity
3. Implement the changes using the seven IT Alignment Super Powers from the SIMO model
4. And voila! You have the concepts, strategies and tools to align your technology!

What to do When Technology Isn't Your Problem?
Just like the family dog, technology is often blamed for things that are not its fault. Many of us rush to replace the technology we have. If it isn’t doing what we want, it must be broken. The greatest database in the world can’t save an organization that isn’t functioning well. And expecting it to will only lead to project failure along with a lot of frustration and missed opportunity. Some key points from this session:

• Triangle of success: corners=tech, people, process with mission at the center. If you focus on a corner, you will topple the table.
• A good role for leadership is to clear time for all staff for big projects  
• Something will go wrong with projects, chunk the project to minimize & brainstorm risks ahead of time.
• Can't convince the CEO, see if you can build other management support on a smaller scale to build off of.
• Features don't sell technology, it should be the value it delivers.
• Never underestimate the power of demonstrating opportunity costs. Sometimes NO is the best answer.
• Projects need a definition of success, but they also need a definition of failure. Create go-no checkpoints.
• When you are overloaded & a new project is added, always ask: "what should I stop doing?"

Igniting a Culture of Tech Innovation
If nonprofits don’t innovate, they are going to lose talent, support, and funding to other faster, sexier tech startups. Let’s talk about how to create a culture of tech innovation in nonprofits, because we have people’s interests, not just the bottom line, at heart. Some key points were:

• Good, documented process= you don't have to think about how to do your work as much, more time to innovate
• process maps are great for innovation because they provide a visual representation to react to. 
• attributes, attitudes & behaviors = Org Culture. understanding these can help you influence innovation.
• a good innovation driver facilitates the change, rather than doing it
• innovation success factors after starting, follow up, integration, top level buy in, inclusion
• Often a good idea, is just that, a good idea. Ideas get implemented when there is a real need, urgency, owner or ???
• Resources: Innovation Network, DesignKit.org, deckaholic.com, impactdesignhub.org, Standford Social Innovation Review, 

Fri, March 6

To be honest Friday's sessions were good, but the only session I attended worth mentioning here was:
Adoption Shouldn't be an Afterthought: Making Sure your Organization Actually Uses the Technology You Implement
Evidence shows that IT project failure happens more often than we’d like to admit in all types of organizations. The reasons for failure can be diverse, but at the root of many failures is lack of adoption. We’ll investigate the reasons that new IT systems don’t take hold in organizations, and how you can avoid these problems, starting from the very beginning of your project.  Some highlights included:

• People may like a change, but may hate the disruption it causes & be snarky in the background
• Include your skeptics in the project as project champions or planning. Don't avoid the conflict
• documentation is key to adoption!- prelaunch feedback, living documents & human vs tech process
• During adoption, watch for people returning to old habits or tools. Don't scold tho, find out why they went back
• Talking about risks pre launch is good, but FIXATING on them causes them to come true. acknowledge, plan, move on. 
• exec sponsor, org alignment, adopt plan, monitor success, tools - key steps to adoption
• If a problem or conflict comes up in a project (or adoption), take the time to address it directly.
• Silence is not a sign of support or all is well with adoption. Questions & complaints are better, at least they care

Sat, March 7 

Fishing with Friends at Lake Travis, best way to end a tech conference ever! Thanks to Scott Rockenstein for making it happen!

Recap:

All in all it was one of my favorite NTCs! I met some awesome new people and learned a ton. But lets see if we can get a social media campaign started to bring back #ScopeCreepTheBand at #16NTC!

Where I'll be at #15NTC!

Each year I follow in the inspiring example of Peter S. Campbell by sharing where I'll be at the You should read Peter's post to see where he will be!

Nonprofit Tech Conference.

The annual NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference is something I look forward to all year long! This event has helped shape my career and the orgs I have worked for, plus it has impacted a number of orgs and staff I have collaborated or shared with. I love it. Anyway, here is where I will be at #15NTC.

HELP! Last year I made awesome plans to connect with people at Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, but I don't have any of those plans yet, hit me on Twitter at @steveheye if you want to connect or leave a comment.

Or you can read what I learned at #14NTC to see if it helps you want to go!

Tues, March 3

Volunteering! I will be helping NTEN stuff bags and such all day if you want to come find us to help!

#NTCBeer!
A mix of nerds and brew, need we say more? Celebrate the 7th annual #ntcbeer, the pre-conference party known for good refreshments and better conversation. Catch up with nptech friends old and new over a few brews or whatever. Visit us on Facebook!

Weds, March 4

NTENer Center!
If you want to meet me, hang out with me or just point and laugh, I will be at the NTENer center from 7am-8:30am and 3-3:30pm! The NTENer center will be in the middle of the science fair. Take a minute to grab a lounge chair and chill with me.

Ignite Plenary!
Excited about this even if I a will not be presenting this year. Ignites rock the house with 20 slides, 15 seconds each and in 5 minutes you have a lasting memory! I embedded a video here if you want to relive the song part of my ignite from #14TNC.




Help Desk or Service Desk: Either Way, How Does IT Become a Partner?
I am presenting this with Dar Veverka and John Cronin. Help Desk sessions may sound boring, but this will not be! We all know the traditional meaning behind an IT Help Desk: something breaks, you call, we fix. Moving to an IT Service Desk can add further meaning: we also work with you on the goal. And in case you need another reason to come, check out DJ Help Desk!



Avoiding Disaster - A Practical Guide to Backup Systems and Disaster Recovery Planning
Pretty much every nonprofit has an IT disaster recovery plan in place these days– it’s a standard auditing requirement. But often those plans are just a modified boiler plate that someone snagged off the Internet to satisfy that auditing requirement. No one has ever tested the plan or thought about whether all parts of it are practical, much less kept it up to date.

Thurs, March 5

Strategy, IT\Mission Alignment and Outcomes -- How Do Yours Fit Together?
This stands to be the highlight of #15NTC for me! I have been waiting for years to present this session and excited to have Kelly Trusty bring it! Does an organization’s overall strategy type have anything to do with the extent to which it aligns technology with its mission? We say yes, and a study of 244 organizations agrees. Does that connection have anything to do with how well an organization performs and achieves outcomes? Again, we think so. We would like to share those connections with you and help you see how the relationship between strategy, IT/mission alignment and performance in your organization can be strengthened to help you achieve outcomes.

How to and Where to Get Started with Business Intelligence
This session will provide you with a practical approach for getting started with business intelligence (BI). Using BI will help you understand what drives the success of your organization.

Igniting a Culture of Tech Innovation
If nonprofits don’t innovate, they are going to lose talent, support, and funding to other faster, sexier tech startups. Let’s talk about how to create a culture of tech innovation in nonprofits, because we have people’s interests, not just the bottom line, at heart.

FUN After Hours!
Salesforce Foundation Party
NTC Howdy Hour with TechSoup!

Fri, March 6

How to Perform a Strategic Technology Assessment for Your Nonprofit
Based on over 100 projects performed over the last dozen years for nonprofits big and small, this informative presentation will step participants through the most commonly adopted and time-tested process for performing strategic technology assessments for nonprofits.

FUN!
Geek Games! Bring it!

Sat, March 7 

Fishing with Friends at Lake Travis, I can hardly wait to combine a nonprofit tech conference trip with fishing! Booyah!

SO much Stuff! If you haven't registered, DO IT NOW! If you have registered, change your travel to be there early for the Pre-Conference (Smaller crowds and more info!)

What I learned at #14NTC (NTEN Nonprofit Tech Conference)

People were the best part of #14NTC, which always seems to be true. I met so many new people and got to see so many I have known for years!

Kudos to the NTEN staff for a great event and for keeping a smile on their faces the whole time! (or close to the whole time)

Weds, March 12

Pre-Conference: How to Succeed in Technology Failure without Really Leading (check out the slides)
I was on the panel for this session, but learned a bunch of things before and during the session from the other amazing members of the panel.

• Awesome report from Standish group on project success\failure
• Creating a shared vision of success: • Everyone must have a shared understanding of what success looks like • Without it, you cannot get to a successful outcome • Senior leadership with tech fluency and IT leadership with mission fluency • The entire organization must be involved 
• If leadership manages technology like Captain Picard where there is no discussion, it is just "Make it so," your tech staff will stop being creative and innovative.
• If tech staff doesn't take the time to learn the business, programs, mission, etc., they won't be able to help the org's goals.
• Investing in your tech staff is key. Don't spend all of your budget on an outside consultant and leave your staff without any training. I added a quote I heard about investing in staff: "What if I invest in staff and they leave? The real question is: What if you don't invest in staff and they stay?"
• Rose shared how she used the IT Alignment Model I had a role in creating, plus talked about the value of doing an alignment assessment.
• Great conversation between the leadership staff in the room and the IT staff in the room on how to improve communications-collaboration. Leadership should give IT seat at the table, give authority, share mission information, involve tech early, learn to involve tech in problem solving instead of order taking, etc. Techs should stop using geek speak, learn about the business, stop over-complicating policies, involve users in decisions, 
• Talked about how to fail without collapsing the whole org. Learn to identify level of acceptable risk, do pilots, control the scope, build in go/no go checkpoints, set realistic expectations, etc.
• Accountability and Authority are key elements to a successful project, consider using a decision making model like RACI.
• Good quotes:
• “Unfettered Quasi-Illuminati Fueled Social Engineering Conducted by Out-of-Touch Foundations Seeking Self-Aggrandizing Strategies.”
• "Obfuscate stuff with Gobbldy Gook"
• "Reviewing old tweets is not the best way to figure what staff knew after they leave"
• "Funders need to leave room for failure to allow for success"
• "IT Alignment doesn't happen because it is too easy for nonprofits to say "We Don't Have the Resources" or "I Don't Understand the Tech""

#NTCBeer!
I learned about the value of taking time to be social, this may seem easy for me, but it often isn't. I find ways to stay busy and avoid social events. It was proven worth while when a couple people from #13ntc approached me and we both immediately remembered a personal connection we had shared the year before.

Thurs, March 13

IGNITE! Plenary
I heard so many people just loved the Ignite Sessions! It was a fantastic way to kick off the conference:

My heart went out to Sue Anne Reed in the Ignite session! She showed amazing bravery sharing her personal stories of hard challenges, life lessons and outlook on life. She really stole the stage and engaged the audience, plus provided great thoughts for everyone to consider in their own life.

Huge THANKS TO Peter S. Campbell and Dahna Goldstein for being brave enough to bring part of Scope
Creep The Band into reality!

Here is a portion of my ignite session in a pre-recorded format:




Head in the Clouds: Real world experiences and recommendations for moving technology infrastructure to the cloud. 
Whether you’re working with a provider or building your own, moving to the cloud is an important step that takes planning, staff and dollars. This panel discussion looks at the whys and hows of moving to the cloud, as well as how two organizations approached their moves to the cloud.  Session specifics will include strategic planning, cost-benefit analysis, infrastructure planning, migration paths, best practices and more.

• The cloud is not just one thing, need to understand some of the different models out there -- public, private, hybrid. Public are outside your network, often big services such as Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure. Private cloud is a function provided within your own firewall. Something you manage and control. Hybrid - moving to the cloud isn’t a binary choice. Can combine some services in cloud and others on-site, and integrate them.
• Meeting user expectations are good reasons to consider cloud services: availability / access / mobile
• Cloud combined with virtual desktop can create equal access to all tools across staff & org.
• Cloud contracts are CRITICAL to read! When you migrate off, how do you get your data, in what format and when?
• A few things for smooth cloud move: do homework, build a team, communicate vision, plan, test, distinguish need v want,

Marriage Counseling for IT and Communications: Get Better Results Together
From strategy planning to case studies following implementation, gain insight into how a strong partnership between IT and Communications can create a smarter, more sophisticated approach to your communications. (The Amazing Peter Campbell playing the role of IT)

• Leadership must take a role in breaking down silos between IT & Marketing. Too often org chart & leadership builds tension.
• Create a regular format for Communications and IT staff to meet on an ongoing basis
• focusing on business goals gets everyone pulling in one direction. Take out the personal and advance the mission.
• Make help desk process as easy & fast as possible to make tech friendly to mktg & more
• View tech support as relationship not as service to users
• Tip to have better relationship with IT  -  don't wait for computer problem to be in touch

Fri, March 14

Disrupting the Nonprofit Sector
 If we are going to truly solve the world's toughest social problems and obtain the necessary resources to do it right, we need to examine how the nonprofit sector can evolve to create more innovative and efficient organizations. This involves disrupting the nonprofit sector as we know it today.  Drawing from Allyson Kapin and Amy Sample Ward's book Social Change Anytime, Everywhere, topics will range from 'Thinking Like A Start-Up' to exploring 'Reducing Competition and Consolidating Resources.'

• Interesting idea: charge for a service, but refund the money if they show up. 
• Striking that most orgs invest less than 3% in #nptech
• Disappointment=reality minus expectations. A key to innovation is realistic expectations & know when to quit
• Grow a culture of "we all succeed together" & "we all fail together." Don't allow all compliments to go to any one staff person, nor all of the blame (including leadership).
• Need to delineate between Fail & Screwing Up. Accountability still needs to exist. 
• Be purposeful on how much you experiment. Create innovation budget (not just dollars, but risk tolerance too)
• Using run, grow, transform is a good budgeting framework to distinguish operations from innovation http://shar.es/RZndS 
• Saying no to an opportunity, even when money is tied to it, let's you say yes to a better opportunity
• If you want to spur change in your org, but you have no authority, figure out who influences the influencers in your org
• Leadership should be cheerleader of staff ideas, not be the creator of all ideas.

Network Security for the Non-Profit: Beyond PCI Compliance
This session is for nonprofit tech professionals who have an interest in network security. Learn about various security options that scale keeping in mind limited time, expertise and budget.

• Security matters b/c "damaged reputation/donor lack of confidence in organization could be catastrophic"
• “you can transfer risk to a vendor…but you can’t transfer responsibility for your data”
• Look for ways to tie your security plans to ongoing strategic & capacity needs.
• Patching is 95% of the battle
• definition based security is on its way out b/c threats are so dynamic, that means heuristics are the new it.
• Ken shared a ton of tools and ideas on setup as well, but it is impossible to show without his presentation. (Here is a link, but not sure it will work)

Requests for Proposals: Making RFPs work for Nonprofits and Vendors
This session is for people who either purchases software and services as well as people who provide such things. RFPs are controversial, with good reason: a poorly written RFP does little to help the buyer or seller forge a successful transaction or engagement. (The Amazing Peter Campbell Presiding). Read the great session notes to see more, bunch of my notes in there.

Sat, March 15 (how did both of my sessions end up on Saturday?)

Balancing Project Management and Business Process for Long Term Success - I Presented
Business Process has invaded my career, my life and now my dreams. I will be sharing my experiences plus a lot of thoughts on Methodology, plus Betsy will bring her PMO skills to the table. I don't think I have ever seen a session like this one at NTC, it will rock.

Read the good session notes for this one too! To get an example of part of my session, you can take 10 minutes and watch the video below or check out the slides. NOTE though, the video misses our main point of the session, which was how to make Project Management and Business Process a part of your everyday work, not just during projects.

View the slides!



Tech Planning Smack Down! Tactical Vs. Strategic Vs. Missional - I Presented
THIS WAS FUN! I haven't presented with Lindsay in YEARS, but we make an awesome and fun team, this will not be boring or a slideshow! This will get you thinking and involved. Seriously though, you will learn all new ways to approach your boring, old tech plan.

View the slides.

Read the session notes, but they can not accurately describe the amount of fun we had in this session. Nor can they accurately describe the type of thinking we encouraged in the audience.

SUMMARY

All in all, it was a great conference! I was so excited to hear so many people talking about how to match technology to the mission throughout the conference, it's like music to my tone deaf ears. I think the key point I learned this year, was to keep pushing to learn more, each time I feel like I get comfortable with a topic I find out there is so much more to know. NTC serves to solidify my love of the #NPTech community, so many knowledgeable, generous and passionate people! Let's get out there and use the tech to meet the MISSION!

How to Succeed in Technology Failure without Really Leading #14ntc

All of us look back and can quickly think of times when a technology project went astray. Whether it was a minor misstep or a major fallout. So it isn't a matter of if you have failed, it is a matter of when you have failed.

This is the topic of our pre-conference session this year at the Nonprofit Technology Conference by NTEN.

Technology implementation is becoming more critical to nonprofit mission success every year. It's not just the nuts and bolts that keep your staff online, its the expansion of technology into mission, program, communications, development, and ultimately organizing that nonprofits seek to achieve. Using this broadened definition of 'technology,' we know that the failure rates of these implementations are extremely high - but why? These sessions will explore at both the strategic and tactical levels the constraints under which nonprofits must implement technology, the role strong internal leadership and understanding plays in their success, and ultimately, how to both succeed and to learn from inevitable failure to position your organization to fail in small, non-disruptive ways, learn from mistakes, and iterate for long term tech - and tech leadership - success. 

But this is more than a panel talking about why it is OK to fail. This will not be a discussion of theory, this will not be a presentation. You will come out with a set of tools to help ensure project success, but also be able to react and correct the course if things start to go wrong.

We plan to use some hilarious skits to illustrate points, dissect real examples for application, integrate methods you can use in your job and provide expert insight in topics like:

• Setting expectations-defining the project goals
• Managing the people
• Communications
• Process to manage decision making

Even as we have planned this session, I have learned a few new things. I am eager to attend and hear my co-panelists present. The team is an amazing one! Rose de Fremery, Dahna Goldstein, Tracy Kronzak, Robert Weiner and myself. It would be hard to build a more balanced team, ranging in expertise in technology strategy, change management, building staff skills, project management, business process and so much more.

I have presented many times at the NTC, but I can honestly say I have never seen a more prepared, well constructed agenda and great team.

It may seem like this is an attempt to just promote a session I am presenting in, but I really have a minor part. I just felt driven to share this session because I see the value and I know you will too.  I hope you will join us!

Read more about the session! And register for the NTC and our pre-conference session (a separate, free registration is required and has LIMITED SPACE).

Sessions like this and awesome people like my co-presenters gets me excited about the NTC! If you aren't registered yet, you should do it now!

Register for NTC before Feb 15 to save!

Where I will be at the NTEN #13NTC

Taking the lead from the Famous Peter Campbell (if you want to connect with a great tech strategist, read his post) I thought I would share where I will be at the #13NTC.

Before I go over my schedule, I thought I would share a couple thoughts about NTC. My first NTEN NTC was in 2004 in Philly. Back then I was with the YMCA National Office. I went to the conference to learn about tech trends and find resources to share with the Y's that I worked with. I also dragged about 10-25 YMCA staff from across the country with me. During that time I presented every year about Tech Alignment or some other Tech Strategy session. 

Then came the dark years where I was focused on Social Media and Web. That's right, I strayed away from the core tech strategy to the shiny objects. I do still dabble in the dark arts, but I have a new job and a new outlook. I even had to miss one year of NTC... booo.

Now I am with The Cara Program as the Manager of Technology and I get to plan and strategize tech all day, plus I get to do it! So #13NTC is a very special one for me because I can officially call myself an IT Director of sorts and hang out with the cool kids that focus on the Tech.

As you can see though, NTEN NTC can be many different things for many different people. I am also bring my wife, Becca Heye, she is the co-founder of www.leapoffaithartsministries.org. She is looking for info on running her org and fundraising.  Sarah Mansberger, the Director of Development from The Cara Program will be there as well! Rock ON!

Here is my schedule:

April 10: #NTCbeer! Here is an awesome write up from Peter Campbell!

April 10th, 7:00 pm, Brit’s Pub a few doors from the hotel for the 5th Annual #ntcbeer event.  As of this writing, we have a dead heat for signups on the official Facebook page (90) and the MyNTC event page (89) for a grand total of, well, somewhere between 160 and 170, I think.  There are duplicate signups and there’s no easy way to do the math.  This is definitely shaping up to be the largest one yet, as many more people will sign up in the days just before NTC and quite a few won’t bother signing up at all.  Join me there with the understanding that it’s about the company first, beer second; we have a history of being a welcoming, casual crowd.  And we have some surprises in store.If you aren’t going to NTC, but you can get to Austin, Texas, be sure to attend our sister #ntcbeer event! Rumor has it that they know how to have a good time in Austin.

April 11 - Thursday

NTEN Welcome Session 9am
Fun way to see everyone before the conference starts and NTEN has promised something with some real pizzazz.

IT Director Meetup
Meetup with IT Directors at 10:30am - Lets keep the Tech part of NTEN alive.

Drupal Day!
I will be at the Drupal Day event in the afternoon. Wish I could go the full day, but overlap in schedules...

Science Fair 3pm
Don't fear the vendors! This is a great time, not a pushy sales pitch. There are numerous great nonprofit partners that will have booths. I have a few vendors I need to find = Business Intelligence, Client\student management CRM, Salesforce, Office365, etc. I am looking to get some advice, ideas and make connections.

IGNITE! 7pm
I will be giving an IGNITE session about how the Cloud is trying to KILL tech strategy. And for the first time ever... I will be singing it! It is worth your time to go to IGNITE if you want some entertainment mixed with education. These are 5 minute presos with with 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds. NOT AN EASY TASK TO PRESENT, but so fun to watch.

NPTech Staff with New Jobs Meetup!
Judi Sohn, Peter S. Campbell, Thomas Taylor, Brett Meyer, Elliot Harmon, Lindsay Bealko and myself have all changed NPTech jobs in the last year. Some of us will be meeting up around 8:30pm at http://8thstreetgrill.com. (discalimer: not everyone listed above has confirmed, I cannot control nor guarantee who shows up). But everyone is welcome.

April 12 - Friday

Breakfast -8am- would love to find someone to have breakfast with

Opening Plenary
8:30am - These are always critical to attend to get your brain kick-started.

IT Governance session!
10:30am IT Governance: Boring Name. Big Impact I have a number of large projects and technology changes planned within my org and we will need the policies and practices to go with it. I really think this is a critical element that is not given enough attention.

Lunch - would love to find someone to have Lunch with

Project Management session (see Peter's write up below)

At 3:30, I’m presenting on Project Management: Choosing the Right Tools and Approaches for Disparate Projects.  I’m only somewhat ambitious here, but my goal is that everyone attending will walk away with a solid understanding about traditional (“Waterfall”) and modern “Agile” project management; how and when to apply one, the other, or some combination of the two; and what awesome tools and applications are available to support them.  As always, I’ll keep the PowerPointing to a reasonable time limit and mine the wisdom of the crowd attending.  I think there will be a healthy showing  and there are already some gurus signed up.

Friday night isn't planned yet.

April 13 - Saturday

Breakfast -8am- Having Breakfast with John Haydon and Peter S. Campbell, WOW!

Opening Plenary
8:30am - These are always critical to attend to get your brain kick-started.

"Where Is This All Going? The Future of IT #13NTCwhere" session
10:30 am - What are the tech trends to watch?

Lunch - planned with Michael Nealis, Laura Norvig, Robert Rosenthal, Debra Askanase

Brand Voices - the internal conversation session! - presenting
1:30 pm- Dan Michel from Feeding America and myself will be talking about how a brand voice depends on internal communication. How can your org spread the same message and use the same voice without having it with staff first?

GEEK GAMES! Hosting the NTC has Talent stage!
5pm - I will be doing my best Simon Cowell meets Ryan Seacrest as I give NPTech staff a chance to spotlight their amazing talents!

Holly Ross - Disruptor

At my new job they seem to love the word disruptor. (or disrupter, didn't ask them the spelling...?)

Dictionary.com defines disrupt as:
1. to cause disorder or turmoil in
2. to destroy, usually temporarily, the normal continuance or unityof; interrupt
3. to break apart

Ok, Holly Ross doesn't really meet those definitions.
1. Her efforts helped bring order and collaboration to the NPTech community
2. She acted as a leader to build a strong, sustainable and respected organization focused on the NPTech community
3. Holly knew she couldn't do this alone, she encouraged, connected and empowered each person she met to support the movement

Is Holly Ross a disruptor? Yes.


(Side note: if you don't know who Holly Ross is, she was the Exec Dir of NTEN, see her recent article about her change in career.)

Holly is a disruptor because she was not willing to accept the status quo, she:
1. Caused turmoil by defying myths like all nonprofits lack in technology knowledge and technology is overhead to be managed
2. Destroyed the curtain nonprofit technology staff were hiding behind by collaborating to build a way to spotlight our NPTech community and unify us
3. Stepped up as Executive Director to break apart the barriers that prevented nonprofits from getting and learning how to use technology to achieve their mission

The real gift of Holly's work though was she did not do it alone. She always relied on the strength, support and resources of the full community.  She was selfless and didn't seek attention to herself. NTEN works to lean on corporate, nonprofit and foundation partners to make it happen.

I can remember conversations with Holly around 2004 before she was the Exec. Director at NTEN. She repeatedly said she didn't need to be in charge or be on stage. She loved her work and wanted to spend all of her time getting things done, not basking in the glory. At that point I didn't believe that I was important enough to the community to have her spend time with me. I questioned my value in presenting, sharing and connecting. Holly saw it very different. She believes and helps people find the value and to have the courage to share it.

Did Holly do this work alone? No. That is how she is a disruptor. She disrupted our silos, our preconceptions and what was considered normal in nonprofit technology.

She didn't get on the list of 50 most influential people in nonprofit technology by running a campaign, building a personal brand or grabbing attention. Holly is a rockstar because she genuinely cares, is remarkably smart and puts the mission first.  Holly didn't want to be an Exec, she stepped up because others encouraged her.

Anyway, why am I blogging about this? Well first to say Thanks to Holly for taking time with me all of those years ago and ever since.

But also to challenge you! What are you doing to disrupt the status quo to make a real difference?

Take Holly's example. Every person has the ability to have an impact.

Smarter Than You

We're Smarter Than You

 Can you mitigate your remotely exploitable nodes? Of course you can't. Do you know how to configure your VPN server racks with AJAX overlays? Don't even pretend you do. What happens if an unauthorized user interface tries to query your Oracle® detection points? Do you know what to do then? Duh. Of course you don't. You're not smart.

This is a quote from http://www.duhcorp.com/. As I looked over that website I was laughing and chuckling because it seemed like I had worked with this company before....

Concern eventually set in though and then I started thinking. What if this is how nonprofits really feel when our "experts" talk to them?

When talking about technology planning I have often mentioned how some nonprofits lack enough knowledge to know where to start. Are they hesitant to ask for help because they have gotten this speech from a vendor before, maybe not directly, but it was implied? Yes, I think so. 

Technology responsible person in your org. My suggested approach to avoiding the "we're smarter than you", is first to avoid vendors like that if possible. Second, appoint someone to be the technology responsible person in your org if you dont have full-time IT staff. Then get them some training so they can understand enough technology to make strategic decisions!

NOTE! I did not say get them "Technology Training", I said get them training to "understand enough technology to make strategic decisions!"

I did not intend to turn this post into a rant or a pitch for orgs I love, but that is where my typing has led me....

A great example of the type of training needed is the Technology Leadership Academy from NTEN. This Free, Intense 9 week training gets your org prepared to make better decisions in technology. http://www.nten.org/techacademy
(in disclosure, I do present one of the sessions for this training, but I do not receive anything for promoting it, I just love what NTEN is doing!)

Then look at the webinars that NTEN.org, TechSoup.org and Idealware.org offer. When a new project or planning phase starts allow a little time to research what should be considered, collect sample documents from other nonprofits and be more deliberate in your technology planning.

And one final thought about www.duhcorp.com, I was a little disappointed that there wasnt more content and pages to read, but the site was fun! The part I found best is that they are making some money off of it to with the ads.... why didn't I think of that? And a huge tip to John Merritt (@johnmerritt) from the San Diego Y for tweeting about the site.

Tech is not just for techies - a great training opportunity

Is your org struggling with technology? Don't wait for that techie in a shining code of armor. 

Here is a great opportunity from NTEN. I am excited to share it because I will be presenting one of the sessions. This is more than a training it is a chance to change your organization.

Now more than ever, nonprofit leaders must understand the potential technology has to help them meet their missions. They require effective ways to manage technology and lead others to use tools to their best organizational advantage.


The Technology Leadership Academy is a training program designed to help nonprofit leaders do just that.


Thanks to the generous support of Google and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, NTEN is able to offer the Technology Leadership Academy at no charge to qualifying organizations. You must apply for acceptance to the Academy. Participants will be selected based on the guidelines below and their commitment to full participation.

NTEN's Technology Leadership Academy Returns for 2012

Enabling Program Staff to Become Digital Content Editors

So I have been busy writing a long blog post for NTEN and have neglected my own blog. So rather than write another post, I will just share a link to the blog post on NTEN.

A BIG THANKS to Debra Askanase (http://www.communityorganizer20.com), Jason Dobrolecki and John Oliver people for their help with this article! They read it for me and made it so much better. Thanks!

Here is what it covers:

Elements to enable digital editors:

• Publish metrics (recognition, competition, feedback)
• Establish structure and accountability
• Remove barriers
• Regular training and resources
• Enable individuals while managing the brand

It’s important to note that the type of content an organization wants to publish should be identified by its communications department, and the process for gathering that content (which is what I write about below) should be developed in collaboration between the communications and technology departments.

http://www.nten.org/blog/2011/10/14/enabling-program-staff-become-digital-content-editors

Become a Change Leader - Life gets in the Way part 7

So for the last 6 (or so) posts I have been talking about how life gets in the way and have been living it, which is why my posts are so sporadic. I hope I have shared some ideas about how you can reflect on the past, learn from mistakes, plan for the future, blah, blah, blah.

All of this is useless if you can't make the change happen. So what happens when you aren't the boss? when you dont have the authority to "make it so"?

You need to Become a Change Leader! No, don't worry you wont need spandex, tights or a cape, but that would be awesome!

This will not be an overnight change, but it will pay off. 

Rather than reinvent the steps to your superhero transformation, you should learn from a true Change Leader, Dahna Goldstein. 

Dahna recommends these steps:

1. Become an expert
2. Build relationships
3. Understand your organization’s context
4. Plan and communicate

Yep, just like that and presto! Ok, no not really presto. But the regular tactics wont work, you will need a real plan to become the Change Leader your organization needs.

Read the full article from the Awesome Change Leader, Dahna.

And that will conclude this series that seemed like it would never end because life was getting in the way.

What I learned at 11ntc

General learning

Integrated communications – many are still struggling with how to many the multiple channels we communicate in. The key is to start with a focus and goals, get the content, then work on distribution.

Sessions

Keynote – Dan Heath author of Switch

·      To make change happen you have to direct the rider, motivate the elephant and shape the path:

o   Direct the Rider – understanding strategy doesn’t mean you know what to do to make it happen. Look for the successes and build off of those. We spend too much time thinking about our failures. In life there will always be a number of need

o   Motivate the Elephant – change is sparked by feeling, not information. We think it goes analyze, think, change but it might be see, feel, change. You need to have the desire to change, not just the idea.

o   Shape the path – Make it easy for change to happen. Remove the barriers and create an environment where failure is part of the process.

Small org doesn’t equal small tech – presented this session, but as always learned things.

• Importance of getting focus of technology conversation away from technology: tips-get outside views, form advisory board
• Relying on tech vendors is challenging when you don’t know the technical questions to ask
• Build vs buy conversation is really less pertinent when there are so many buy options with flexibility to build
• Not only are we moving from capital tech purchases to operations expense, we have stopped buying only tech (tools) and started buying ways to run our work (solutions).

Segmenting communications – all about how to do predictive versus regression segmenting

• Sending email to everyone tells an audience that you don’t know anything about them and they stop listening. Messages focused on my interests keep me engaged.
• Just because an email is free doesn’t mean everyone has to get every email, make it matter to that person.
• Segment on RFN – Recent time, frequency and amount of donation.
• Focus on medians when analyzing, not averages. Averages get skewed too easily.
• Content should be dynamic for everyone.

Network Neutrality Keynote – Not too much to say about this one… Fascinating topic with potential for deep impact.

Storyteller kit – ideas and structure to build storytelling.

• Create a safe place before starting an interview (put the camera down, ease into it, prepare the person)
• In a story don’t forget to provide an action
• Content strategy – purposeful, measurable, sustainable. Steps= prioritize audience, what do THEY want, leverage themes, concise message
• Get it all out at once. Even if a story is too long to publish, write it all down. Then you can go back and break it up.
• In stories, write how you would speak
• Write the stories that you cant wait to tell people
• Use pen & paper to transcribe, writing gives physical form to thoughts and is easier to transcribe. (and might be less of a distraction than tech)
• Don’t approach a story as a job, approach it as a chance to really learn about a person through conversation (genuine interest breaks barriers)
• Attention to detail makes a great story. What captures your attention? Not just another formula story
• Storytelling is personal. Make it personal. The reason why you write, connection to yourself and audience.

Hyperlocal session:

• Preventobesity.net has health issue searches at a hyper local level, cool stuff
• o   Also allows parents to find each to work on an issue, like school lunches
• Inform people about what you are doing at the zip code level, makes for a real connection to individuals
• @myimpact is a pretty cool tool, you can track your own impact and share it

Location Based Systems (LBS)

• Most are still new, not widely used beyond techies and aren’t ready\well suited for nonprofits.
• Creative ideas are starting though, like:  Creating scavenger hunts in scvngr, Leaving tips in Foursquare at locations related to your cause, Getting business to donate per checkin, Replacing rewards cards with LBS
• Facebook places is not well adopted yet, even though it is part of Facebook. Although the panel did recommend looking at combining places with your page if you have a physical location, many of the initial concerns have been addressed, but there are still some sacrifices.
• It may take two more years before LBS is really mainstream and ready for cause marketing, but it will be better to experiment before then.
• Mentioned possibility of LBS building ability for a business to add a button to their location checkin page to suggest donating to a related cause.

Failure – session about learning from failure

• ·      Lots of sharing of failures, which in itself is a learning. Sharing our challenges shows our openness and honesty, and how we recovered shows our strength.
• ·      Planning for failure means thinking through when failure is ok. Network crashing or database loss are not acceptable failures. But pilots in social media, processes, new web tools, etc should allow for failure at an acceptable checkpoint.
• ·      A culture has to be built that expects some failure in order to allow experimentation and growth.

Tidbits:

-use a separate app to manage personal & professional networks

The NTC, Accidental Techies and Me

"Oh, you work in IT, you must know everything about IT."

Wrong, my degree is in Finance. I got involved in IT because as the Finance Director at a small YMCA, I was in charge of IT by default. I am an Accidental Techie.

"Steve, you are an NPTech RockStar."

Wrong, by circumstance, determination and some luck I have been able to meet many great NPTech staff (including numerous awesome YMCA tech people) and have learned vast amounts from them. Therefore I am an Accidental NPTech RockStar of sorts.

Recently I have heard so many debates about whether it is time to retire the term "Accidental Techie" or if the NTEN NTC is worth attending and each time it is like someone is stealing part of who I am.

Accidental techie is just a great way to describe how some of us got our start in tech. It shouldn't be used as an excuse or something to hide behind. It should just be an easy way to say that I have learned from experience and trial by fire, so if I sometimes say something wrong it isn't because I am dumb, it is just what I know. And the fear of people finding out that you don't know everything keeps you quiet, you don't ask questions, you don't always exude confidence. But knowing that others are accidental techies creates a more open environment and breaks down the barriers to asking the "dumb" questions.

This is what I love about the NTC by NTEN.  They have built a community around Nonprofit Technology that allows you to ask the "dumb" questions and find the people similar to you. That is a big reason why I have gone every year to the NTC for the last six (or seven, bad memory) years.  I was that Accidental Techie. I was that person in the back row scared to ask my "dumb" question and hesitant to meet the "rockstars."

Beyond that there are even more reasons:

1. Awesome NPTech people
2. Great breakout sessions
3. Focused on Nonprofits
4. NTEN STAFF! If you talk to them, they listen, they change, they react. Provide Feedback, get involved in the planning process.
5. Awesome NPTech people
6. Flexibility to make the conference your own unique experience. NTC is what you make it. Between numerous sessions, affinity groups and private meetings through myntc you can get what you want.

The NTEN NTC has been and will be an event I look forward to.  My first years, I saw a few things that I wanted to see change or grow. So instead of not coming back, I talked to NTEN and shared constructive feedback. Then I pushed for what I believed in and provided a plan of how it could work and volunteered to be a part of it.

I apologize in advance for the following rant.

So there is talk and chatter about NPTech Rockstars sticking together and the community is forming cliques. This just grinds my gears. These rockstars are people too, they have the right to spend time with their friends, catch up with their regular crowd. But at the same time, I GUARANTEE that if you were to walk up to any of them and ask a question, they would help. 

The NPTech RockStars are RockStars because they care! They are not in it for fame and fortune. They want to help. Yes, they may need to rush to the next session or have lots to do, but I am sure they will make every effort to get back to you.  Or better yet, these RockStars are great Network builders.  They can always recommend that perfect person you should talk to that has done it already in a similar org.

I say, stop focusing on whether the ROCKSTARS are paying attention to you and make your own connections, become your own ROCKSTAR. Spend time before the NTEN conference figuring out what key topics you want to have an in depth conversation about, what key question about a big pain point you want answered and who you want to meet. Then make it happen BEFORE the conference. Connect on Twitter, NTEN Affinity Groups, MYNTC or MySpace (oh wait, noone uses that).  If you don't know who you should meet, then contact the RockStars before the conference and ask who would be good to talk to.

So to end my rant. I say that NTEN is FULL of AWESOME people and I am humbled by the dedication, expertise and willingness to give back.

2011 NTC Preview: 6 Steps to Refocus Your Small Org Tech Strategy

OK, so far this year it has been tough to find time to blog. Sorry to both of my readers. But I did find some spare time to write an article that may be my best ever.

6 Steps to Refocus Your Small Org Tech Strategy

For years my friend, John Merritt from the San Diego YMCA, have been talking about IT Alignment. And for the same number of years we have worked at our YMCAs to try to make it a reality. But we both come from Large organizations. So whenever we present the audience always jumps in and says things like, "yeah that is easy for the big guys," "must be nice to have an IT team," "I'd like to have their problems..." and it goes on and on.

And the whole time the small orgs are saying those things, I am thinking that I wish I had their problems. So anyway that is what sorta drove me to really think about small orgs. So instead of a new blog post, please go read this one on the NTEN blog. And it would be great to argue this point in person at the 2011 NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference, I will be there presenting a session on this topic. But the exciting part of the session is that a small org is on the panel. That org is knee deep in making the very IT alignment changes that I love. It will be awesome to have a real example there.

Anyways, I welcome your comments on the NTEN blog.

Scope Creep the band - an interview

A quick side diversion from the usual blog post to talk about a small project that we are working on to help support the NTEN scholarship fund for the 2011 Nonprofit Technology Conference. Please sit back and enjoy this interview.

Scope Creep the Band

Slight diversion from the #netnon series.  I would try to give this video an introduction, but it really doesn't deserve one.

NTEN Tech Leadership Academy and what I learned already.

While I have been working on my transition from Steve Heye to just "the Steve," I have been too busy to post to my blog.  So instead I am just going to share some of the things I have learned while preparing for the upcoming Tech Leadership Academy from NTEN. I'm presenting with John Merritt, but I have already learned a few things without the event even happening yet, just imagine once it does happen.



Incredible training op from NTEN - Technology Leadership Academy! This is a free training for smaller orgs, but it is so much more than just a training.  They have assembled some of the best trainers, well plus me, to cover the spectrum of technology topics.

Apply before July 30 right here! http://www.nten.org/techacademy

Part of what they will be covering in the Academy above is a great diagram that is in a slideshow from the awesome Holly Ross . The slide shows an adapted, simplified version of the IT Alignment stages that I refer to a lot. But they have added some arrows indicating that as alignment increases the technology brings additional service to the mission.  I like the simplicity of it.

But then she also a second diagram (but it looks like she is borrowing it from Save the Children) of a IT Strategy pyramid that talks about how to progress forward in these IT Alignment stages. This diagram helps illustrate that only one of the levels is solely focused on tech tools, the foundation.

The second level requires examining your operations and tech. The third level is not just business steps, it is how you deliver your programs, serve your constituents, meet your mission with tech.

The top of the triangle is all about what you do differently, this requires not just thinking about how you deliver services, but how you can leverage technology to completely change your whole organization, add a new service or completely redefine the way you meet your mission leveraging technology.

To see the full presentation that Holly created you can visit SlideShare at: http://www.slideshare.net/nten_hross/let-a-thousand-tech-flowers-bloom

Thanks for inviting me to participate Holly, looking forward to it!

You dont need a website, You need a web strategy! #10ntc

I was spending time cleaning my garage this weekend and I found a whole bunch of tools that I have never used. All of these tools serve a purpose and are still very useful, but at this point in my life I dont have a big plan to build anything.Without a big plan to build, the tools just sit there.

Websites can turn into those tools rusting in the garage very easily. A website, regardless of the coolest widgets, will only be as useful longterm as the strategy behind it.

Keeping this post nice and simple to hopefully make a point, so I will let the ignite video below do the talking.  I must give credit to Gregory Hellor for this post and title! Thanks for the inspiration.



Ignite NTC: Gregory Heller "You Don't Need A Website..." from GregoryH on Vimeo.

My more formal notes from #10ntc

#10ntc is the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference hosted by NTEN. These are my short, more formal notes.  This in no way covers the new people that I met, old friends I connected with, vendors I discovered, laughs I had and doesnt do justice to the Awesome-Sauce that the NTEN community is.  Maybe that will be my next post.


Summary of YMCA Day - April 8

Group of about 10 YMCA staff gathered and did a round robin of sharing projects they are working on.  The range of projects was from Sharepoint and websites to underwater pool safety cameras and video conferencing.  The group was excited to share and connect with other YMCA staff responsible for technology.

My biggest learning from the YMCA day was that we need to find a better way to stay connected with what other YMCAs are working on in order to not duplicate efforts and share learnings. Also that there is some sense of wanting to share tools and resources across tech staff but they meet resistance from leadership back at their centers.

There was a lot of mentions of YMCAs growing their use of Sharepoint as an intranet, document management and communication tool. However one of the more interesting side notes about intranets and websites was a debate/conversation about who owns it (Marketing, IT, Finance, Operations or ?).  YMCAs also seem to still be facing some of the struggles of centralizing IT and mixing it with operations as they grow and add centers.

Overall NTEN conference summary - April 9-10

The conference did not have a central theme, but if I had to pick one for what I learned it would be "rethink what drives your strategy."  

Your online engagement strategy should be 90% story, 10% technology. Find your audiences and adapt to where they are. GEORGE WEINER, Do Something <@georgecaweiner>

Our social media policy in 140 characters: Be transparent. Be responsible. Be Non-Partisan. Be Trained. Be Responsive. TAMMY GORDON, AARP <@AARP>

People don’t hate change. They hate disruption. PETER CAMPBELL, Techcafeteria <@peterscampbell>

For example one of the keynotes, Andrew Sullivan, suggested that people connect with another person online, not an organization or company. So your communications and web approach should walk the line of official org messages versus messages from individuals from within the org.  So this would make you question what drives your communication strategy to leverage those personalities within your org.

Another example is more specifically in the website strategy.  In order to have a full online presence strategy you need to include a large group of people.  Like Marketing for messages, IT for tools, program staff for content, operations for process, fundraising for philanthropy, and so on. But the key here is to change what drives the meetings, spend time talking about what we want to accomplish, what we want our audiences to do and what our audiences are interested in at the big group meetings.  Then let the decision makers that have been given the authority make it happen (IT, Marketing, etc). But those roles and that web strategy planning process has the be clearly defined so that while big and inclusive it still allows room for things to move fast and well.

Another example is around how we tell our stories of impact.  Right now we simply state that an event happened, maybe tell an anecdote and some stats, but it isnt a story.  If we want to change our stories to get people to act, then we need to rethink how and why we write stories. A story needs background, a conflict with resolution, a heartfelt connection and an easy to grasp message that ends with a call to action. We dont have a culture that creates and shares full stories, we focus on the outcome and miss the struggle and end with call to action. We need to change why we write stories and provide a better structure to those who are expected to write them.

General Conference thoughts

Combined Communications strategy - Lots of talk about social media, social networking, web 2.0 and sooo many tools, but the theme this year was to have a strategy that drives it all. Stop picking a tool then a strategy for that tool, rather have a central plan for what you want to say, who you want to converse with, what you want to hear and what you want people to do.  The tools like Facebook, MySpace, etc will keep changing, so set the strategy not the tool.

More interaction with audience - stop talking to people and have conversations with them. Heard this in social media sessions, website strategy and communications areas. People dont want to be talked to from an org. They want to have a conversation with a person.

New ways to educate audience - games, mobile devices, e-learning and more ideas are coming up that arent broadcast methods, rather they are ways to interact with a purpose.

---

Session notes:

Create a Culture of Storytelling 

(1 set of slides at http://www.slideshare.net/Loudmind/creating-a-culture-of-storytelling)

Stories have to come from your heart before they will go to people's heads. Dont tell stories that you arent so excited about that you run home to tell friends & family about it. Storytelling is weaved throughout ALL messages, pages and sites. Stories don’t belong solely on about us area. We need a writer on staff to drive this process and culture! It is good, actually encouraged to repeat a point across stories, can take 7 plus times before somebody remembers something. Seize opportunities–when feedback is asked for on another site about your cause, push your supporters to go and give it! Social media for non profits is just as much about listening as it is about sharing your mission.  Pick the words you want to use or not use! Are they victims or survivors (as an example). 

Making it Real: Getting Project Management Right for Content Management Web Projects

A central website strategy tied to a communications plan is needed for a successful website implementation and CMS project. A clear owner of the website strategy is needed, but has to be supported by a full representation of the organization. Stressed importance of content gathering to start early in the process to enable a better site map and navigation. Group debated whether to start or end with web design. On one hand people love to see the graphics and the visuals but on the other we loose sight of the message when focusing on details of design.  The purpose of the website should drive design in the end, but people clamour to see the structure. So providing early and frequent glimpses through sitemaps and wireframes are critical so people can see what you are talking about. They walked through steps of I was hoping to get more project management tips from this session, but it went offtrack and got too simple.

Secrets of Landing Page Testing: How to Optimize PPC to Convert More Donors, Activists, and Email Subscribers 

(slides at http://www.slideshare.net/robinpsteffek/secrets-of-landing-page-testing-132-steffek)

Really focused on use of combination Google Optimizer and Analytics to test the effectiveness of your website efforts and conversions. Landing pages are becoming even more important because search results and web campaigns aren't taking you to home pages any longer. Discussed how to do some A-B testing and how to evaluate the results.

Forget the Tech, Lets Talk Mission (IT Alignment materials Click HERE)
I presented this session with John Merritt from the San Diego YMCA.  Two organizations provided us sample strategic plans and supporting information.  We did several group exercises to try to demonstrate some tactical and strategic ways to move IT from being reactive to working toward the mission. It was great to be able to talk through some of challenges and objections people face, then work through ideas to make a difference.

Social Media's Potential for Faith Based Communities

I also presented at this session. It was interesting to debate through how allowing people to connect personally to church leaders may cause challenges of separation between leaders and members. The debate really brought to light the need for a purposeful discussion around the organizations versus individual voices. We also really highlighted the opportunities in social media for education around delicate or private topics. E-learning and resources are more readily shared in today's social media structure.