I wanted to produce a blog post after this event because I don’t normally manage it and because this event was really special – in that it marked two years to the day that the very first NFPtweetup was held.
It was also special because there was such a positive buzz about the evening – more than ever before, people seemed to really be enjoying themselves; having fun, even. And it wasn’t just because of the booze.
I was absolutely delighted when I read this blog post from Paul de Gregorio on Thursday, partly because it is it so lovely, but mostly because it articulates so clearly what I set out to achieve with NFPtweetup and, in doing so, proves that actually comes across in the experience:
The deal is that if you go with a friendly, co-operative and sharing attitude you can leave with lots of new ideas, a lot of inspiration and some new friends … It has to be the most important get together of non-profit sector people in the UK… The star of the show is the work, the ideas and the community. So it’s a format and ethos that really challenges the traditional fundraising conferences and seminars that we go to. This is an exciting step forward and for me mirrors the impact of social media in society by giving everyone in the room a voice, no sit down, turn off your mobile and listen to the person on stage go through 60 slides in 90 minutes at NFPtweetup!
Thanks again for the lovely post, Paul – it hits the nail on the head, I think.
NFPtweetups are fun because of the people that come to them – people that opt to come after their working day has finished. They do it, not because their line manager has sent them, or to get out of the office for the day, but because they are passionate about their work and always striving to be better. They’re the ones that aren’t watching the clock, waiting to leave the office at 5pm so they can go and do something more interesting. They are the people that want to drive forward the new ideas that make the world a better place and will do whatever it takes to make them happen. They are excited – not scared – about the possibilities emerging media have to further the missions of the organisations they work for. And they come together at this event to discover how other people like them have managed to push this agenda in their roles; to find out what worked, what didn’t, what persuaded the board, what produced the best ROI, and what’s next?
It’s peer-to-peer support at its very best. No one is showing off here – just offering mutual support and encouragement. In fact, one of the things that’s so rare about NFPtweetup is that the charities that present are happy to say, ‘we tried this and it didn’t work’, in the hope that others can learn from their experiments and avoid the same pitfalls. It’s a bit different from most other conferences, where you only hear about the successful campaigns – which is a total misrepresentation of reality, really, isn’t it?
Of course, best practice case studies and success stories are really useful, and NFPtweetup has a more than equal share of those, but they are interrogated both by the people presenting them, and the people listening to them, who are all asking questions like, ‘how could this be made better?’, ‘why did it work?’, ‘would it work for all charities or does it rely on a high brand awareness?’, ‘how sustainable is this approach?’… and so on.
NFPtweetup has always been about so much more than a meet up about social media. It set out to make it easier for charities to share with each other, to learn about new trends and developments in media – even to create new trends in the way they are used by charities. But, most of all, it set out to encourage new ways of thinking and working that are apace with incredible rate of change in technology ‘these days’, to give people the confidence to challenge convention and innovate from an informed perspective, and to feel how much of a powerful role they can all have in this amazing sector, if they choose to.
I want to thank all of the people who have come along to the events and helped to make NFPtweetup what it is today. Particular thanks goes to those who have presented, sponsored, provided a venue, blogged, tweeted, reported, volunteered, acted as a sounding board, facilitated workshops and discussion groups, many of them having been supportive from the beginning:
JustGiving, Jonathan Waddingham, Steve Bridger, Paul Henderson, Howard Lake, Amy Sample Ward, Jacqui O’Beirne, Alex Goldstein, Leah Williams, Paul Webster, Bertie Bosredon, Christina McGill, Steven Buckley.
