I had planned to attend, and to tweet from, this year’s Institute of Fundraising National Convention. How brilliant it would have been to be the first to do it...
However, as things turned out, I was needed at my desk more and I was pipped to the post by Jon Waddingham from Just Giving. The considerable upside of this was that I was able to keep track of some of the buzz from this year’s Convention by following Jon's tweets, even though I wasn’t able to be there. It was the next best thing – thanks again, Jon.
What I was really interested in – if you hadn’t guessed – was whether the speakers this year would be tuned into social media, whether the charities and agencies would be presenting any useful insights into how they are using them, what they have learned and what’s been working for them.
I gathered from Jon’s tweets that quite a few people were waxing lyrical about social media over the three-day event – and rightly so – including:
Joe Saxton, presenting a session entitled, 'Will online fundraising ever be better than paper-based DM?'
- Sue Fidler, of Sue Fidler Ltd, and Richard Brooks, Director of Marketing from Compassion in World Farming, presenting 'Online fundraising - How to make it work'
- Tom Mansel-Pleydell, head of client services at Just Giving, whose session was entitled, 'Social Media: Join in or miss out'.
Here’s a couple of Jon Waddingham’s tweets sent during that session:
You can visit Jon's profile for more. And you can compare and contrast with this piece published shortly afterwards on the Guardian website. Both provide some very useful insights.
I’m only hoping that enough charities will have attended at least one seminar where social media was on the agenda during the Convention, and that this will have opened the UK sector’s eyes up to the potential of these platforms and removed some of the barriers in people’s minds about giving them a try. In the words of Tom Mansel-Pleydell, tweeted by Jon Waddingham (!):
1. Assign resource 2. Get out there 3. Observe 4. Take part 5. Review and measure.
And I hope it’s not lost on those who are still reluctant, that this post would not exist without social media, and people using them to connect around a common interest.
