This week I participated in the National Conference on Volunteering and Service for the first time. The annual conference, held in New Orleans this year, brought together about 4,500 thought leaders in the community and volunteer sectors across America.

It kicked off Sunday with a Social Media for Social Good bootcamp that I put on with George Weiner of DoSomething.org, which drew more than 60 participants. (See our presentation here.)

But I’d rather talk about some of the other highlights I came across, and share this 100-photo Flickr gallery of the event.

Brian Reich and Scott Henderson put on a fascinating Idea Throwdown that I took part in, along with representatives from AARP, CauseCast, VolunteerMatch, MyImpact, TechSoup Global and a couple of dozen other organizations. Some outputs from that 2-hour gathering included the following:

• Participants ought to think about partnering with like-minded movements instead of launching duplicative efforts. We should be paying close attention to working together as a front, and participating in cross-sector collaboration, rather than claiming credit as trend-setters. Talk to three competitors and figure out how you can work together.

• Chris Noble: “Kill a feature a week and a program a month and your organization will get better.”

• In his “Information to Impact” session, George Weiner said, “If you’re never surprised by what you find in the data, you’re not asking the right questions.” And this priceless gem: “Data is better than gut.”

• Neil Bush, chairman of the Points of Light Institute: “Twenty years ago over 30 million people were volunteering. Today over 60 million people are.”

• I also was a panelist in Chris Noble’s session on “Brands and Causes” and argued that we need new language in the cause marketing space, especially around the nexus between nonprofit causes and corporate behavior.

• In my discussions with social entrepreneurs, we’re pretty much in agreement: Companies are too often looked at as sources of funding rather than as sources of solutions.

• Wonderful to be a few feet away from such celebrities as Soledad O’Brien of CNN (pictured above), James Carville, Mary Matalin, Neil Bush, Wynton Marsalis and many more.

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It only works when it’s connected to the real world

At the National Conference on Volunteering and Service — which some folks call “the Super Bowl of nonprofit conferences” — George Weiner and I teamed up on one of the most successful Social Media for Social Good Bootcamps that Socialbrite has put on to date. (Socialbrite has put on camps in New York, San Francisco, Miami, London and elsewhere.)

For those of us who live and breathe tech and social media — me in Silicon Valley and George, CTO of DoSomething.org, in New York and Washington, DC — it’s always a good reality check to come to gatherings like this and see how the non-early adopters are faring.

The three-hour session we led yesterday offered a range of tips on how to use social media strategically for campaigns, for collaboration, for building community, and I invite you to browse through the presentation above, since the attendees found it useful: “AMAZING session” (thanks, Volunteer Centre) … “awesome, fantastic session” (thanks, NCVS) … “Great session!” (thanks, Groupon).

But there were more beginners in the crowd than I expected. For instance, only about five out of 50 particpants were using Google Analytics (the free tool every website and blog ought to have). None had heard of the Grassrootsmapping.org effort to document the Gulf oil spill, even though we’re right here in New Orleans. And only one out of 80 people (not counting me) at today’s session on data had ever used Tumblr, an easy way to post blog entries and photos.

These are good, smart, motivated people — we need to break through the barriers and connect the tools and strategies with the organizations and causes that need them, starting with the basics.

So let’s take a deep breath and remember: We still have a lot of work before us, and there’s a lot of education yet to be done.

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Whether you want to grow your membership, raise funds or loans, recruit more followers, gather petition signatures, find volunteers for your cause or connect with your community, Social Media for Social Good: How to Mobilize Your Supporters to Take Action will offer guidance that will help your organization create impact for years to come.

It’s the pre-conference bootcamp that I’m putting on with George Weiner, chief technology officer of DoSomething.org, at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in New Orleans on Sunday, June 5. If you’re going to NCVS, we hope you’ll join us!

This special 3-hour workshop will dive deeply into strategy, tactics and tools available to volunteer organizations and nonprofit managers. NCVS has no tech track this year, so get up to speed on the mission-critical social tools in your sector.

When & where

When: Sunday, June 5, from 2 to 5 p.m.

Where: New Orleans Convention Center

How much: $99 (If you’ve already registered, we’ll accept payments at the door)

Register: Enter the session identification code 5638 during the registration process. Register now

Speakers

J.D. Lasica is a social media strategist, nonprofit consultant and author who is considered one of the world’s leading experts on the social Web. He is founder of Socialbrite.org, a learning hub & global consultancy that works with nonprofits and NGOs, and Socialmedia.biz, which works with major brands. He has spoken at or given workshops at Harvard’s Berkman Center, Stanford, MIT, NYU, SXSW, the Cannes Film Festival and at events in Paris, Milan and Seoul. J.D. was named one of the Top 40 Silicon Valley Influencers and one of CNET’s Top 100 Media Bloggers. Follow him on Twitter at @jdlasica.

George Weiner is chief technology officer of DoSomething.org. a not-for-profit that uses communication technologies to empower young people to take action. Under his leadership, the organization has become an innovator in social media, mobile technologies and causes. He oversaw the complete overhaul of the site, landing a People’s Choice Webby Award in the Youth category. George is a self-taught techie and graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a frequent speaker on nonprofit tech issues at forums including the Google Grants Conference, U.N. Youth Summit, National Conference on Volunteering and Service, NTEN and BlogWorld Expo and has guest lectured at NYU and NYIT. Follow him on Twitter at @georgecaweiner.

Agenda

Social Media for Social Good Camp will focus on practical, down-to-earth tactics and strategies that busy professionals can immediately take to engage supporters. The emphasis is on actionable takeaways. You’ll be introduced to several examples of nonprofits and volunteer organizations that are creating impact – with real-world examples you can learn from.

We encourage interaction and questions during our sessions! Let us know what you’d like to see covered, and tell us if you have any lessons learned that you’d like to share.

Some of the questions we’ll cover:

• What strategies & tactics will motivate supporters and newcomers to take specific actions on behalf of my organization or cause?
• What are the essential elements of a successful advocacy campaign?
• How can I successfully use social tools to mobilize volunteers, spread awareness, enlist supporters, raise funds and drive action?
• What metrics are critical to measure? (To drive social media decisions, ask, “What does the data say?” instead of “What does my gut say?”)
• How can storytelling and video advance the mission of my organization?
• Which organizations are creating impact, and what are they doing right?
• What are some of the cutting-edge tools and resources available for change agents looking to make a difference?
• What do you want to know? Email us in advance.

The camp’s format

Where possible, we’ll use a roundtable approach and a short small-group breakout session that encourages dialogue and interaction.

Snacks and water will be provided.

Series testimonial

This is part of Socialbrite’s nationwide series of social media bootcamps. We presented our camp to positive reviews at Personal Democracy Forum in New York and at Sustainatopia in Miami.

Hear what Jeff Pfaff, founder & CEO of mtbMobile, said about taking the bootcamp in this 60-second audio:

Jeff-Pfaff.mp3

Bonus materials

In addition to this 3-hour live training, during the bootcamp you’ll also be able to access eight full-color handouts and guides at no additional cost — and share them with your team.

If you’re attending NCVS, please register now and choose the session ID code 5638 during the registration process (the Sunday afternoon bootcamp). Questions? Let me know.

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