Tag: Volunteers

Ignite Your Conference!

Last night I attended Ignite Raleigh. It’s been described as a technology variety show but that description doesn’t do it justice. Here’s how it works.

Lisa Creech Bledsoe aka twitter/glowbirdThere were 19 speakers. Each one gets five minutes and 20 slides. The slides automatically change every 15 seconds. They can speak about anything they want. They are chosen by the community. We voted for the speakers and topics we wanted to hear. Once we registered on the show’s web site, we received ten votes. We could give all ten votes to one speaker, or spread them out any way we chose. And if we changed our mind, we could take our vote back. The community chose 15 of the speakers and the organizers invited four speakers.

It’s a fast-moving show hosted by an emcee who kept it lively. At the end of five minutes, you are rickrolled off the stage. Some of last night’s topics:

  • A Day in the Life of a Meteorologist
  • NerdGirls Unite! Fact: Women Don’t Have to Be Lame
  • How to Save $100 with a DIY Home Energy Audit
  • 20 Little Know Facts About Sex & Pleasure
  • What Happens to Your Digital Identity After You Die
  • 13 Reasons Women Should Take Up Boxing
  • Everyone Needs a Dumb Guy
  • Mayberry Modernism: Why the Triangle is America’s Hotspot for Way Cool Houses
  • Ignite Night of the Living Dead
  • Why My Cat Can Get a Job Before You

Ryan Boyle aka twitter/therabAs you can see, it’s not a tech geek night, unless you call PowerPoint techy. It was fun and educational. It brought together about 500-600 people for a free night of entertainment.

Why would an association want to do this at a conference?

  • It’s a low cost (or free) night of entertainment for attendees where they can hang out and have fun with others.
  • We get to see another side of fellow members.
  • We also get to see members in the spotlight that might not normally get that exposure, a new set of faces.
  • It will be talked about. Believe me, this type of event gets lots of buzz – tweets, Facebook posts and lots of blog posts, lots.
  • It’s a great way to experiment with crowd-sourcing.
  • You can offer something to those members (perhaps younger, perhaps easily bored) who aren’t interested in your usual evening fare.

emcee Zach Ward aka twitter/zachwardWhat does it take?

  • Organizers – Ignite Raleigh was organized by the three man team of OurHashtag with the help of a volunteer coordinator.
  • A large room with a stage, screen and two mics (one for the emcee, one handheld mic for the speaker). The venue last night had some bridge chair seating in the front and in the balcony, but most of it was standing room only.
  • Voting tool – Ignite uses Uservoice on their web site.
  • Registration tool like Eventbrite – Ignite Raleigh was free and they closed registration when they reached the room’s capacity plus an additional no-show allowance.
  • Technical help to run the automated Powerpoint, sound, lights, video camera, livestream (optional) and photography.
  • Volunteers to check folks in, do crowd control and assistance, act as runners and shuffle speakers on and off stage.
  • An entertaining emcee – red tutu not required.
  • Sponsors to cover expenses – Ignite Raleigh ran short videos at the beginning of the night and at intermission and gave them lots of stage/on site love but not the microphone.
  • Brave speakers.
  • Cash bar for the audience.
  • Marketing in conference materials and through social media.

Instead of going to an association awards dinner, I would much rather attend an Ignite-like evening, and I’m a Boomer/Gen Xer (Generation Jones), imagine what your young members would prefer. This is a great alternative to your regular evening programming for those who frankly aren’t interested in what you’re offering, or can’t afford it.

UPDATE: After posting this I learned from Shelly Alcorn that the California Society of Association Executives will be doing an Ignite night at their annual conference. Can’t wait to hear how it goes!

A Community Model

My friend Mary Nations shared a video recently that really captured me. She included it in a post about an innovative program at the Southside Regional Jail in Emporia, VA. When you watch the video, you’ll see a program that deserves to be in all correctional institutions. You’ll also see an example of the benefits that a community can bring to its members and to its host institution. There are two versions of the Community Model video created by the Center for Therapeutic Justice – 5 minutes and 20 minutes.

What’s going on in the Community Model? Do you see similarities to association membership, maybe not membership as you know it now, but membership as it could be?

  • These prisoners volunteered to join this community. They’re ready for change.
  • They’re bettering themselves – growing and evolving. These are life-changing experiences.
  • They support each other while learning together.
  • They listen to each other.
  • They come from diverse backgrounds and often have differing viewpoints, but they deal with it. Everyone has a voice.
  • They relish being part of something positive. They’re watching their community get stronger because of their own efforts.
  • They sometimes fail, but they accept that. They learn from their failures and figure out their own solutions.
  • The senior members mentor the newer members. They help each other work out issues.
  • Members, not staff, are the leaders and group facilitators.
  • They’re a “self-regulating community that supports the growth of its members and makes a positive impact on the institution.”

This is a community of growth that provides a meaningful experience and value to its members — a model not only for jails and prisons, but also for associations.

Our associations provide a platform for the growth of meaningful communities. Some of our members already work together to further the mission of our organizations – to help make changes in society or in the legislature, to provide educational opportunities or to help each others’ businesses thrive.

Think about the benefits of being part of a vibrant community:

  • Satisfaction from helping others or serving an industry
  • Stretching one’s skills – managing projects, public speaking, recruiting, mentoring, building teams, delegating, writing, teaching, running meetings
  • Widening one’s networks and developing new relationships, both personal and professional
  • Belonging to something good

How many of our members truly feel they’re part of a meaningful community and derive value from the community that they can’t find elsewhere? Is it only those who serve on committees or the board? Those who are in the leadership clique? Those who can meet face-to-face? How can we help all our members grow and participate in their own communities – online, face-to-face or both?

Think about communities in your life that you cherish, perhaps it’s a mastermind group, church community, social media club, coffee group or book club. What makes it so meaningful to you? Let’s become community gardeners – providing the rich soil and nourishment that will help our member communities take root and grow.

The long version of the video ends with this quote from Sir Francis Bacon: “If we are to achieve results never before accomplished, we must expect to employ methods never before attempted.” We all know this. It’s time to experiment with new ways of associating, building community, working together, leading together. New ways of associating have the potential to not only benefit our members but also to give meaning and value to association membership.

Agenda Abuse

Reading the paper this past week has reminded me of why it’s so important to train board directors and committee members on good meeting practices.

In Wake County (NC) a new majority was recently elected to the Board of Education. These new members were elected by a tiny percentage of county voters with a mandate to make some serious changes to existing policy – ending the mandatory year-round school calendar and eliminating busing kids to schools (originally instituted to achieve economic diversity). Emotions ran high during the election and especially after when these new faces won the seats of long-sitting board members.

My beef here isn’t with this new majority’s policy positions but rather how they have handled their board meetings, and I’m not alone. The News & Observer editors expressed exactly how many feel.

Taking advantage of their voting power, at the start of the first two meetings they added items and resolutions to the agendas without advance notice to their fellow board members or the public. These manipulative actions didn’t allow any time for public consideration or discussion of their proposed policy changes. They had the votes to ram their policies through but weren’t honest or courageous enough to allow discussion of the issues.

As I read the editorial and expressed out loud my disgust at how poorly the meetings were run, I was reminded about a recent County Commissioners meeting where a contentious issue was resolved by waiting until one of the more elderly commissioners had to use the restroom. Without her vote, the chair could get the motion passed while she was out of the room, so he did.

Is there no training for incoming board members on proper governance and meeting practices? On ethics befitting public servants? Where is staff when this is going on? I can’t imagine any chief staff executive of an association allowing such manipulation of an agenda. Any executive with a spine is going to make it very clear how horribly wrong and ill-advised that is for the long-term. Those items can be put on a subsequent meeting agenda, giving interested parties notice and opportunity to weigh in.

These antics have resulted in policy changes that affect every school-age child and their parents in Wake County – some will agree, some won’t. However, many on all sides are aghast at how these policies were changed. Another result is already clear – a loss of trust and confidence in these new members and their judgment and ethics. It will also be much more difficult for these two sides to come to consensus on future challenging issues. Alas, I guess that’s politics.

This disturbing story reminds me of how critical it is to train our board and committee members on governance and meeting practices that encourage transparency and thoughtful deliberation. Ideally all our leaders would come to the table with good ethics and judgment, and we wouldn’t have to worry about such things. But we can’t take that chance. We need to train our leaders in governing well. They are stewards of the organization and our job is to help them fulfill that role in the best manner possible.

My Five Favorite Volunteering Experiences

I’m late to the blogging scene, but now that I have some extra time on my hands (more about that later!), I wanted to add to the volunteering discussion that Peggy Hoffman started. However, instead of writing about my ideal volunteering jobs, I’m going to first write about my favorite volunteer experiences. I haven’t thought much about why these five experiences left such an impression on me, but by writing about it, I’m hoping to figure that out and use that insight in managing volunteers in the future.

Teaching English as a Second Language

When I lived in Arlington, Virginia I volunteered two nights a week for an adult education program that taught basic English to recent immigrants, most of whom were from El Salvador, but also included refugees from other countries. I spent much of my adult life up to then working as a restaurant manager so I felt particularly close to the Salvadoran community since many of my employees grew up there. Most of these students were holding down two minimum wage full-time jobs but still found time to show up several nights a week for English classes. My job was to assist the teacher with these large classes of 30-40 students of varying levels of literacy. It was perhaps the most rewarding work I have ever done.

My satisfaction came from the fact that I was truly helping these folks learn their new language as well as other life skills — we used everyday scenarios as teaching tools, such as opening and maintaining a checking account, going to the doctor or calling 911, filling out job applications, etc. I used my talents to help them succeed — I’m in tune with how people learn another language because I’ve done it myself many times. I knew enough Spanish to get them through some tough spots. So I was a great fit for the job. Plus I felt tremendously appreciated by the teachers I worked with — they fought over my services! And I saw the appreciation in the faces of the students. I was also stimulated by the work, not only emotionally, but intellectually since I had to figure out ways to help them learn (or even read!).

Distributing food at the Sacramento Food Bank

I’ve only done this one time, yesterday, so my memory is fresh. I give high marks to the food bank — they do a good job with their volunteers. Their response to my email was immediate. I attended a volunteer orientation last Friday run by an energetic and friendly staffer who took us on a tour of their facility explaining what they did and how we could help in each area. She went over policies and procedures so we knew what we were getting into. It was a thorough introduction to the food bank. I signed up on the spot with the manger of their food distribution services and showed up for my first shift yesterday morning. He gave me a nice welcome when I arrived and put me in the hands of two experienced volunteers who showed me the ropes. Another newbie and I shadowed them for a bit and then we were on our own, but everyone was helpful with our questions.

I appreciated the orientation, the friendly crew of helpful volunteers, the lunch they fed us, and the feeling I got from helping those in need. As I put together the grocery bags for the clients, I knew that the food selections I made for each of them had a big effect on how well they would eat that week — there was an immediate connection between my work and the effect it had on others. Another aspect I liked is that I was part of a team. Although we worked individually putting together bags for clients, we were all doing the same type of work, and then after distribution was over, we worked in groups bagging up bread and other food items. So there was a social element to it as well. Which leads me to my most social volunteering experience…

Pouring beer at countless beer festivals

Yes, countless. I was part of the homebrewing community in Washington DC so my friends and I were asked by the local breweries and brewpubs to help pour their beer at beer festivals or charity events. We were “beer geeks” so we could talk about the different beer styles — how they’re made, how they differ — and recommend beers for people to try. It really doesn’t get much better than talking about something you love and sharing it with people. The brewers appreciated us because if we weren’t there, they’d have to pay people to pour. Festival managers (usually our friends) knew they could trust us to not give away free beer. So I always felt appreciated and I had a blast. But the important thing to take away from my example is — when volunteering at a beer festival, always volunteer for the first shift of the day when people aren’t so drunk, then you can enjoy the festival yourself during the second shift!

Preparing and serving Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless

One year my friends got mad at me because I had the nerve to skip our regular Thanksgiving. Instead I went to DC’s largest shelter and helped prep Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless. I only planned to work during the morning and get to my own Thanksgiving later that day, but I ended up staying until the end, serving dinner in front of the Capitol and returning to clean up the kitchen at the end of the night. Why did that experience make such an impression? Lots of people come to the shelter on Thanksgiving to help, almost too many, and most of them don’t really know how to help effectively, but the staff is used to that and find jobs for everyone. Because I was a restaurant manager at the time and knew my way around a kitchen, I was put in charge of teams and that felt good — to be recognized for what I brought to them and given responsibility that I could handle. I felt appreciated. And look what happened, I never left. I stayed and kept helping.

Later that day as it got dark and cold in front of the lit-up Capitol (yes, the contrast was purposefully made by Mitch Snyder, the shelter’s founder, always on the look-out for good messaging opportunities), we served dinner to hundreds and hundreds of homeless folks. Everyone was incredibly polite and kind and I got many looks in the eyes with heartfelt thanks from some really down and out souls — it’s something you don’t forget. My friends forgave me immediately when I told them about my day.

Moderating a panel at NAHB’s Conference on Membership

Perhaps the most boring for many of you who do this type of thing all the time, but I really enjoyed moderating a panel discussion last fall at the National Association of Home Builder’s Conference on Membership. I put myself in the audience’s shoes and played Oprah, even walked around the room while doing it (so was I Phil Donahue?). The audience was made up of association CEOs and membership directors as well as volunteer leaders from home building associations from across the US, so it was easy for me to imagine what they would want the panel to talk about and to elicit questions from the audience. Why did this experience stand out for me? Recognition — who doesn’t like that? I felt honored by being asked. It was also intellectually challenging. I had to listen while thinking ahead to possible questions and conversation starters. Of course, I had a lot of questions written in the notes I prepared but I wanted to keep it fresh and go where the conversation led. And it was a one-off deal. There was prep involved but after the “performance” that was it.

Ok, I’ve rambled on enough. So my first blog post is written. That wasn’t so hard. Now I have to figure out what I’ve learned about these five experiences. Some things are obvious. Make it fun. Teams are good. Make it intellectually or emotionally rewarding — match work with skills. Recognize the skills your volunteers bring you and don’t be afraid to let them shine. Provide training — let them know what to expect. Show your appreciation. Have lots of one-time only volunteer opportunities. What did I miss?

Your turn, what have been some of your most rewarding volunteer experiences?