Hi! It’s Eli. I’m a Community Manager for TechSoup. I’m based in Vancouver, Canada. More about me.
This is mostly a link blog, where I keep ideas and articles worth re-reading.
Author: Elijah van der Giessen
Host of Vancouver's #Tech4Good meetup TechSoup Connect Canada.
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Indigenous Protocols For Nonprofits
What is a territorial acknowledgement? How does it differ from a traditional welcome? If you are asking yourself these types of questions, we are here to help.
This online workshop from TechSoup Connect Western Canada will discuss the importance of understanding Indigenous protocols in Canada and how this relates to the non-profit industry.
This event is held with the support of the New School of Fundraising.
My response to a discussion on the NetSquared Local mailing list asking “Why did you become a NetSquared organizer?”
When I was in my 20s I had two groups of friends: nerds and activist hippies. There was no crossover between the groups and I kept these two communities and parts of me separate like matter and antimatter (that’s the nerd talking!)
When I moved to Vancouver in 2007 my workplace sent me to the Web of Change conference (they noticed that their volunteer manager kept asking why the database was broken) where I first encountered the progressive nonprofit tech community. IT BLEW MY MIND!
It may not seem strange you, being worldly and reading this in 2013, but for me the idea that nerds and activists could co-exist or even be the same person had never crossed my mind. These communities had always been oil and water in my mind. Activists are anti-technology: that’s what I had learned (growing up on a commune.) :-)
I discovered an entire new universe that week at Web of Change and it changed the course of my life irrevocably.
The friendly conference attendees scoffed at my naiveté and recommended that I start attending Vancouver’s Net Tuesday, which had recently been formed. I did. And I learned, while sitting quietly in the back.
But after a few months the organizer (Joe Solomon, who went on to 350.org and #GreenMemes) left town. The idea of the group folding was too tragic, so I volunteered to take it over. And four years later here I am!
But WHY did I decide to take on Net Tuesday Vancouver?
I wanted to find my tribe
I was in a new city and I didn’t know anybody. I discovered that being a NetSquared organizer turned me into a community hub – I quickly met all the key players in the sector, many of whom have become friends. It can be hard to find local nptech-ies without a Net2 group!
I’m shy(ish)
I can get really quiet in a group of people, unless I have a clearly defined role. Being the “host” of a meetup gives me an “in” to talk with people.
I like organizing events
I spent my 20s doing production on large outdoor festivals. I didn’t want my event skills to atrophy.
I wanted to learn more
I had learned at lot at the local meetup. The best way to learn more was to schedule more events! And this time I could guarantee that I’d be interested in the topic, because I was planning it. “Scratch your own itch” they always say. :-)
I wanted to build a reputation
As I developed my career in nonprofit tech I quickly realized that being a Net2 organizer was doing wonders for my reputation. People (irrationally!) assumed that I was an expert on every topic I had a speaker present on! I started to receive job offers…
Net Tuesday fit with my values
Somewhere along the way life taught me that the more I gave the more I received. I enjoy serving others, and being a NetSquared organizer has been the most rewarding volunteer gig I’d ever taken on.
And that, in a giant nutshell, is why I become a Net2 organizer. :-)
I’m gonna host a #commbuild chat on May 7. You should join us!
TOPIC: Growing your community: hacks for finding your tribe
DATE: Tuesday, May 7, 2013
TIME: 1–2 PM ET/ 10–11 AM PT
Starting a community can be daunting, and growing it can be even harder. How do you grow your group so that it isn’t just you talking to an empty room? Because THAT is demoralizing! :-p
There are tricks and hacks (AKA “best practices”) that you can use to accelerate your community growth. Join the #CommBuild-ers to learn from grizzled experts and share your secrets to community growth and success.
Join the tweet chat and follow the hashtag #commbuild.
YOUR FACILITATOR
Elijah van der Giessen must be 100 years old, because he started doing Community Building back when “online social networks” consisted of email. Eli is the NetSquared Local Community Curator supporting a global volunteer network of 50 groups that each year hold over 450 events for the nonprofit technology sector. He’s also been the volunteer coordinator for outdoor festivals, environmental NGOs and Canadian Idol.
ABOUT #COMMBUILD
These conversations are focused on issues and topics relevant to those working on community building or in community management roles. They are open to anyone interested in learning and sharing about building community, on and offline, with the use of social media or other technology tools.
On March 12 I had the pleasure of joining Kristina Lemieux and Trevor Loke to talk about all things citizen engagement. FUN!
Check out Sankaset for more.
I’ve been the organizer of Vancouver’s Net Tuesday for over three years, but last week (for the first time ever!) I had the chance to visit another city’s NetSquared event. It was awesome! I’ve been privileged to host two other NetSquared organizers in Vancouver (Tierney and Mel) but this was the first time I got to experience another city’s NetSquared magic in person.
The newly re-energized Seattle organizing team put together a kick-ass review of their big digital wins of 2012.
Ephemera
- Check our the #Net2Seattle hashtag for event tweets
- I took some photos from the event
- Seattle Works blogged the event
- Follow them on twitter: @Net2Seattle
A HUGE thanks to the Seattle team for being so welcoming. Chris, Cornelia, Elena, Joel, Maureen, Michael and Sean – you can created a powerful, sustainable group.
It was totally worth the three hour drive from Vancouver, BC to Seattle to attend the relaunch of #Net2Seattle. Check out those handsome kids!
NetSquared’s local organizers hold over 450 nonprofit technology events annually. The best way to participate is to attend in person but our organizers also create event reports so that they can share the lessons learned with a global audience. You can find many of those event summaries here on the NetSquared blog, but some organizers just don’t like blogging! I’m one of them. For those more visually-oriented organizers the NetSquared community and I have been experimenting with some non-blog ways to document NetSquared local events.
Here are a few tools and techniques that will help you easily create event reports:
Storify
NetSquared events create a huge amount of digital ephemera: tweets, slides, videos, links mentioned, photos… Storify.com offers an online tool that helps you collect your event’s online clutter and shape it into a coherent story using a drag and drop interface. Here’s an example from Vancouver’s January event with Cambridge organizer Mel Findlater.
Google+ Hangouts
Several NetSquared groups have been streaming their events using Google+ Hangouts and then automatically uploading the event to youtube. Amanda in Burlington has been doing this regularly as has Judy Hallman in North Carolina. For an example of a more complex, multi-city event streamed via Google+ Hangouts check out the four city NetSquared Downunder camp organized by our team in Australia and New Zealand.
Live screencast recordings
The newest and laziest form of event reporting I’ve recently discovered is to create a screencast from your event. This is a perfect solution for demos and other presentations that feature slides or a lot of on-screen activity. You use screencasting software (here’s 12 options from free to expensive – I used Screenflow) to record a video of all on-screen activity and record audio using the computer’s built-in microphone. Now you have a file with presentation audio and video that you can upload to youtube or video. It’s SUPER easy as long as you set-up your presenter’s computer ahead of time! Check out this example from Vancouver’s data visualization event.
Visualizing data using maps and other tools – NetTuesday Vancouver from Mack Hardy on Vimeo.
How do you document your events? Please share your favorite tricks and tools in the comments.
Here’s what happened in my NetSquared gig in December/ 2012.
Happy New Year!
I’m looking forward to supporting your local community activism in 2013 and I’m delighted to welcome new members to the NetSquared local organizer team. In fact, I received more than five new organizer applications over the holidays and several inactive groups including Seattle and Montreal are also planning to relaunch.
Let’s use the new year to commit to holding frequent NetSquared local events and if you know anyone who might be a good prospect for launching a new group please refer them to me!
Here’s an update on our latest activity:
Highlights from the NetSquared community blog
The NetSquared community blog is alive again! We welcome your contributions. Use the blog to promote your upcoming events, share your nonprofit tech thoughts, or show off (don’t be shy!) with highlights from your meetups. We welcome your blog posts, photos, storifys, videos and more!
Top posts from December:
- NetSquared organizer Tierney Smith shares lessons learned from NetSquared Camp Toronto.
- TechSoup’s Jim Lynch reports on last year’s NetSquared Camps on the community blog.
- NetSquared Camp Downunder unleashed the power of a four-city event.
- Keep abreast of social change and philanthropy in Asia and Africa with Tiffany Pintor’s weekly recaps of the top stories.
- We offer tips on what makes an ideal submission for the Windows 8 Apps for Social Good Contest
Platform
The eleventh of the NetSquared platform is now live. Highlights include the ability to add non-meetup events to your user profile and projects. We have improved the local organizer map to make the pins bigger and easier to navigate. The local organizer profile pages have been fixed and now show your city and link to your group pages.
Windows 8 Apps for Social Good Contest
The Windows 8 Apps for Social Good Contest invites both new and seasoned developers to create an app for “social good” – and you could win cash prizes to help fuel your dream and keep it going!
The contest is open to pre-existing applications, so if you know of a Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 app that meets our definition of social good please encourage the developer to register.
Note: the contest is only open to residents of the USA. But anyone can vote and share!
January events
So far 14 events have been scheduled in January, with several still in gestation. Are you planning an event that didn’t make it onto this list? Let me know!
- Denver, CO: Engaging Stakeholders with Interactive Annual Reports
- New York: Make Your Nonprofit More Efficient with the Best Cloud-Based Tools
- Vancouver, BC: Tablets, Smartphones, iPads, iPhones: Gadgets for Good?
- New Orleans, LA: Resolution Solutions PLUS the First Crowdfunding Festival for Creators
- Philadelphia, PA: Making Your Website Mobile-Friendly: What, How and Why
- Boston, MA: Mass Innovation Nights
- Guatemala: #CampusTec: Informe de visita a Silicon Valley
- Honolulu, HI: Hacking for good nights
- Toronto, ON: Tech trends of 2013 and what your nonprofit needs to know
- Washington, DC: What’s on the Horizon for 2013 – Panel Discussion
- Morrisville, NC: Data Mapping with Google and WordPress
- Melbourne, Australia: Growing netsquared in 2013
- Paris, France: Comment sortir des énergies carbonées et fissiles?
- Auckland, New Zealand: TBA
Image: JUAN RAMON RODRIGUEZ SOSA on Flickr.
Here’s what I’ve been up to over the last month in my gig as NetSquared Local Community Curator.
It’s December, which means we’re on the last page of our calendar. Team NetSquared is working hard to wrap-up some this year’s projects. We’ve now completed all seven of our NetSquared Camps and have just one more Global Leadership Council meeting left. But just because some things are coming to an end there’s no reason for tears – rather let’s reflect back on what we’ve learned over the year and share the gift of knowledge on the Washington DC group’s quora page.
The future of NetSquared
The recent reorganization of NetSquared sees the emergence of a unified content and community team for both the NetSquared and TechSoup brands. Sheetal Singh is our new TechSoup champion, taking over from Billy Bicket who is going to take on platform work.
What does that all mean to NetSquared organizers? I’ll be able to share more by mid-December when Sheetal sends her community update, but in the short-term you’ll start to see a regular stream of new content on the NetSquared community blog.
NetSquared Camps
This fall’s major initiative was the NetSquared Camps, which were seven regional unconferences and workshops produced by our local organizer network. The camps were an amazing opportunity to expand the NetSquared local experience from a brief daytime or evening event into an all-day extravaganza. It was also a great excuse for us to get local organizers together for face-to-face meetings, since the big lesson from the Global Leadership Council experiment this year was that we can kickstart inter-organizer relationships by getting people together in the same room. Which, honestly, shouldn’t have been too much of a shock since that’s the key insight that keeps all of us local organizers doing our meetups from month to month.
Each of the camp organizers has written a blog post sharing their insights, photos and video. There are lots of great ideas to steal for your own events!
Platform
The tenth release of the NetSquared platform is now live. Many of the changes were beneath the hood, but you’ll definitely notice the improvements to the community blog. We’re now randomly featuring bloggers from the local network. You may see your face next time you go to http://www.NetSquared.org/blog!
Windows 8 Apps for Social Good Contest
The Windows 8 Apps for Social Good Contest invites both new and seasoned developers to create an app for “social good” – and you could win cash prizes to help fuel your dream and keep it going!
There are already five entries in the contest. Check out their project pages and use the social share buttons on the one you think is coolest.
Note: the contest is only open to residents of the USA. But anyone can vote and share!
December events
A quick scan shows ten events happening across the NetSquared local network. That’s a big drop from the 21 in November… Curse those holidays! :-)
- Houston, TX: December Holiday Social
- Vancouver, BC: Prove it! A/B testing for Nonprofits
- San Francisco, CA: Holiday Party
- Washington, DC: Dec. 18: NetSquared DC Happy Hour – Tech: The Gift that keeps on Giving
- Honolulu, HI: We’re all heading to Hon*celerator!
- Boston, MA: Be the Media! Mini-Conference
- Philadelphia, PA: Tools and Analytics for Understanding Usage of Your Website
- Toronto, ON: Donate & Learn – Social Media Workshop
- Morrisville, NC: NCTech4Good December Social
- Baltimore, MD: December Tech & Social Change Baltimore Meetup
Elijah van der Giessen 
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