Philanthropy411 is currently covering the Communications Network Fall 2013 Annual Conference conference with the help of a blog team. This is a guest post by Liz Banse, Vice President at Resource Media. Follow Liz on Twitter – @LizBanse. In a conversation with fellow conference attendee Kathleen Hennessy in the cab on the way to the airport on Friday, we had a good laugh over the similarities between her job as a professional photographer and my temporary gig as a blogger for the Communications Network conference. Quite simple, it is this: when Kathleen is on assignment, she is always alert, aware of her surroundings, looking for the “perfect moment.” So, too, for me, as I went into every session of the conference … Continue reading The Luxury of Time→
Philanthropy411 is currently covering the Communications Network Fall 2013 Annual Conference conference with the help of a blog team. This is a guest post by Nicole Lampe, Head of Digital Team at Resource Media. Follow Nicole on Twitter – @nicole_amber. Logging into the Dallas airport WiFi on the way home from New Orleans, I was forced to watch a 16 second cereal commercial that ended with an invitation to share my story on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. The commercial’s message was, “Some things, like how the baby got into your belly, are hard for kids to digest. But Rice Krispies is #easytodigest.” From what I can tell, the idea here is to get moms to bond with the brand by talking about … Continue reading Storytelling with a purpose→
Philanthropy411 is currently covering the Communications Network Fall 2013 Annual Conference conference with the help of a blog team. This is a guest post by Liz Wainger, President of The Wainger Group. Follow Liz on Twitter – @lizwainger. In the days leading up to the Fall Communications Conference, I was looking forward to reconnecting with friends, checking the pulse of what my colleagues are wrestling with in their work, and learning a few new tricks. And the conference did not disappoint. But what I was struck by most was the consistent theme in the plenaries and break outs that I attended: story matters. Despite all of the new and exciting, wiz bang platforms that allow us to communicate with more people, … Continue reading It’s the story, stupid!→
Philanthropy411 is currently covering the Communications Network Fall 2013 Annual Conference conference with the help of a blog team. This is a guest post by Avalee Weir, Communications Manager at The Ian Potter Foundation. Follow along on Twitter – @AvWeir and @IanPotterFdn. As an Aussie attending her first international philanthropy communications conference, I arrived in New Orleans with a few extra baggage items: – a truckload of baseball caps, Gap kids gear, Nike shoes and other assorted ‘cheaper in America’ items picked up during my stopover in LA – jet lag (and the need to keep on top of my job back home at night while you were all asleep) – high expectations and hopes that the long journey to get … Continue reading Perspective from DownUnder→
Philanthropy411 is currently covering the Communications Network Fall 2013 Annual Conference conference with the help of a blog team. This is a guest post by Norris West, Director of Strategic Communications at The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Follow Norris on Twitter – @NorrisWest. This is my second Communications Network conference, and there is little doubt that I will return for a third. The plenary sessions, workshops and networking are feeding my appetite for the interactions that will send me back to Baltimore full of ideas. My conference experience started with a pre-conference workshop, Data-Driven Communications: Analytics/Tools for Strategic Planning, Message Development and Evaluation. To be honest, the session wasn’t exactly what I had expected. As communications professionals, we face the constant … Continue reading Tips on Framing Your Messages to Change the World→
Philanthropy411 is currently covering the Communications Network Fall 2013 Annual Conference conference with the help of a blog team. This is a guest post by Elizabeth R. Miller, Communications Associate at the Knight Foundation. Follow Elizabeth on Twitter – @elzbthmllr. What keeps foundations and nonprofits from hitting their stride on social media? It’s actually a variety of factors, according to a session at this week’s Communications Network conference in New Orleans. For example, it might be an organization’s cultural aversion to experimentation. Or it might be a lack of staff expertise to carry out a successful social media strategy. A lack of buy-in from senior staff and leadership was a much-cited problem. In some cases, it could be an outdated social … Continue reading 5 Ways to Hit Your Social Media Stride→
Philanthropy411 is currently covering the Communications Network Fall 2013 Annual Conference conference with the help of a blog team. This is a guest post by Chris Wolz, President/CEO at Forum One Communications. Follow Chris on Twitter – @cwolz. Helping nurses better serve teenage first-time mothers; providing veterans with access to better supportive services; and improving the quality of grant applications. These were some of the “use cases” or situations that attendees brought to the workshop Nam-ho Park and I ran Wednesday on “Getting Going with Mobile!” Mobile is an increasingly important way to reach and engage audiences in the US and abroad, given the fast growth in mobile adoption. The statistics are impressive: The number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the … Continue reading “Getting Going With Mobile!” Workshop→
Philanthropy411 is currently covering the Communications Network Fall 2013 Annual Conference conference with the help of a blog team. This is a guest post by Erin M. Kelly, MA, Social Media Manager at The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Follow Erin on Twitter – @erinmkelly. I may be the only Communications Network member in New Orleans who has not seen an episode of “Treme” or “The Wire.” Sorry about that. You probably don’t want to learn what original HBO series I do watch, but what stood out about the first plenary speaker at the 2013 Communications Network Conference was how similar his family night dinners seemed to my own growing up. This family dynamic was something I didn’t quite acknowledge for a … Continue reading The Spaces We Pine for Honest Perspectives→
Philanthropy411 is currently covering the Communications Network Fall 2013 Annual Conference conference with the help of a blog team. This is a guest post by Rick Landesberg, Principal at Landesberg Design. Follow Rick on twitter – @LandesbergDesig. An unexpected takeaway of David Simon’s plenary remarks is how in his world and ours are sets of forces that urge us towards the banal, the everyday, the commonplace response. Whether a storyline for Treme or for a foundation website, there are structures in place that invite tried-and-true, yet tired expression. We have to be vigilant to go beyond the expected. One way that David does this is his fealty to authenticity. Real life offers fertile possibilities if our ears are attuned to it. … Continue reading The Ever Present Pull of Banality→
Philanthropy411 is currently covering the Communications Network Fall 2013 Annual Conference conference with the help of a blog team. This is a guest post by Kate Emanuel, Senior Vice President of Nonprofit and Government Relations at Ad Council. Follow along on Twitter – @adcouncil. What are some lessons learned from branding social movements or advocacy campaigns? Here are three great takeaways that Vikki Spruill, CEO of Council on Foundations, shared, drawing on her 16 year-plus career working on ocean conservation issues. Lesson #1: Know what you bring to the party and be honest about it. When SeaWeb and NRDC launched their “Give Swordfish a Break” campaign, they clearly defined their respective roles and stuck to it. SeaWeb provided the grassroots expertise, NRDC … Continue reading Three Takeways on Building Social Movements→
