the Communications Network blog

Can You Hear Me Now?

Hat tip to fellow Communications Network members Will Bohlen of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and communications consultant Denise Graveline. Through a link Bohlen put on the Network's Facebook page and one of Graveline's "don't get caught" blog posts, I heard about GMF's first-ever audio annual report, which is featured on the Network website. 

It's an interesting story on a couple of levels. One it's a move in the direction a lot of us are pushing to eliminate costly and not terribly useful print versions of foundation annual reports -- with the goal of getting rid them in any form eventually -- because they don't appear to be effective at increasing understanding or awareness of foundations and philanthropy.  Two, it's another example of thinking creatively about how to find people where they are and give them what they need.  As Bohlen explains, GMF has a large collection of podcasts and event recordings from the work they do all year round. So, why not recycle/repackage and produce an audio companion to the foundation's traditional annual report?

Have a listen...

--Bruce Trachtenberg

What's On Your Mind?

We started the Communications Network blog last Fall as a way to report on and give people a chance to comment on discussion topics and sessions at our 2008 Chicago conference.  We let anyone at the conference submit a post.  Based on the success we had last Fall, we decided to keep this blog going as a way to keep people talking about communications practices -- everything from "big ideas" about how  to excel at being a communicator to the routine things that are worth reminding ourselves about.  We want this to be a place where people can pose questions, seek answers, spark debate, and even have fun. This is an open blog -- which means if you have something to say that you think is of interest to others who are working to advance communications practices in philanthropy, we want to hear from you. During these uncertain (to put it mildly) and challenging times, this blog can become a very useful place to trade ideas, check in with each other, and float discussion topics

To submit posts, send an email .

Thanks, and look forward to hearing from you.

There's A First Time For Everything

I have been among those leading the tirade against continuing to produce foundation annual  reports. I believe, as do some others (and I hope a growing number), that the considerable investment in time and money yields a negligible return and is actually an enormous opportunity cost: How else could those precious resources have been spent to achieve greater purpose and have more impact?

Then, this week, Bill Gates issued his first annual letter. In the wake of the incredible attention it received – when's the last time a columnist for the New York Times wrote about a foundation president's annual letter? – I had to pause for a moment. Was I wrong?  Is there a future for the foundation annual report after all?

I quickly regained my senses and realized that the buzz about Bill Gate's letter changed nothing. The attention and commentary it received didn't herald a new future for annual reports.  Instead it showed that under the right circumstances, and with careful planning and excellent execution, foundations can capture public attention (even if it's just for 15 minutes) about themselves and their work.

The way I see it, the Gates Foundation and its communications team saw a moment and seized it. And in the process, they brought considerable attention, not just to the foundation, but to philanthropy in general – its role, purpose, and impact in our world. But to think they can score as effectively next year is highly unlikely.  You only get to do something for the first time once.

So if there's a lesson in this story, it's this: What you say and to whom always should come ahead of how and in what form – or medium – in which you plan to say it.  And just because you did it that way yesterday, doesn't mean it will work the same for you tomorrow.  Also, and unfortunately, in all too many instances, the decision to publish comes first, and what to say is secondary.

--Bruce Trachtenberg

So, How Do You Really Feel About Annual Reports?

While it was a bit more civil than we expected, the conversation at our Fall Conference in Chicago did raise some interesting -- and contrasting -- points of view about whether or not foundations should continue to publish annual reports. The question boiled down to: "do ARs help -- or even contribute to -- efforts to raise awareness of foundations among key audiences?" During the back and forth, David Powell, director of publications for the Lumina Foundation for Education, made some brief comments about a readership survey he conducted to help find out what readers thought about the annual report.  Click here for a story about some of the interesting findings from that study and how they are helping Lumina plan future annual reports.

So...that's one point of view and one foundation's experience in trying to untangle the annual report knot. What's yours? What do you think?  Let us know.

--Bruce Trachtenberg

You Don't Have to Wait Up All Night For These Results

Judging from the results of a survey conducted after the event, a good time was had by just about every one who attended our Chicago conference, Sept. 24-26 at the Hard Rock Hotel.   Some 112 people – or more than 50 percent of conference attendees -- responded to our online questionnaire, and they gave the conference a combined “excellent/good” rating of 94 percent.  

As for the conference sessions, Ira Glass’ opening night keynote was judged as the best of all and received the highest ratings.

Other plenary sessions, in order of popularity (based on combined “excellent/good” ratings), were:

1. Is the annual report nearing extinction
2. From here to the future--How Web 2.0 is changing foundation communications
3. Who We Are And What We Do--Survey Findings
4. What every good communicator needs: An Evaluation Toolkit
5. Paul Brest Presentation: If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there

Here’s how the individual breakouts rated (in order of popularity):

1. Engaging decision makers: Lessons from California and Michigan           
2. The heart of the story                   
3. How to survive a communications crisis               
4. Getting the job done: Building the capacity for effective dissemination       
5. Strategize outside the box...Come to think of it, throw the box away       
6. Which comes first: Building your website or understanding your audience?   
7. Techniques and lessons of successful public engagement           
8. The merging of communications and program activities online       
9. The role of communications staff in public policy grantmaking       
10. Big Lessons About Strategic Communications From a Small Foundation       
11. What You need to know about alternative media and how it can help you reach young people   
12. Words do Matter: Using the language of results to turn heads/change minds   

Other findings:
--More than half of survey respondents (52 percent) said this was their first Network conference.
--More than one third of respondents – 40 people – also said they had attended our 2007 conference in Miami, which they gave an “excellent/good” rating of 95 percent.
--As a meeting site, the Hard Rock Hotel received positive ratings from 64 percent of attendees.
--A majority of people (74 percent) felt the mix of plenary sessions and breakouts was “just right.”
--Some 83 percent of attendees enjoyed their time at the MacArthur Foundation reception.
--Nearly three-quarters of respondents (74 percent) said there was sufficient time to Network with colleagues.
 --Asked if they plan to attend next year’s conference in New York City, nearly 74 percent said yes and 27 percent of respondents weren’t sure.
--Nearly all (96 percent) of attendees who are current Network members say they will renew their membership in 2009, while the rest said they would decide later.
--Of the non-members at the conference, almost a third (31 percent) indicated they’ll join the Network based on their conference experiences, while the rest 65 percent weren’t sure.

The survey also provided lots of useful advice for ways to organize future conferences, and several people offered suggestions for keynote speakers and session topics. Possible speakers included Bill Clinton, Congressman John Lewis, and Bill Moyers.  A number of people even nominated Network member and story-telling maven Andy Goodman.  Suggested session topics included discussions about how communications differ among private, community and corporate foundations; workshops on topics such as how to write a communications plan; or introductory sessions about foundation communications for those new to the field.

When asked how for thoughts about the Network and its value to members and others in the field of philanthropy comments included:

“I believe the Network is a great resource for communications professionals.”

“The Network is a great place for people working in the same field to get together face to face, get to know each other, share ideas and potentially collaborate down the line.”

“The Network could better serve the field of philanthropy by moving beyond communications directors to include foundation CEOs. There was a lot going on at the last three conferences that the CEO's really needed to hear and internalize. Enlightening communications directors is the first step, helping them actually turn knowledge into action is the second step. That won't happen unless CEO's understand more about communications and move past the idea that it's all about PR and web sites.”

“The Network's most valuable function is serving as a clearinghouse of the latest thinking and resources on effective communications, keeping practitioners up to date on new technologies, and sharing what's working well and less well in the strategic communications efforts of our colleagues. Also promoting networking among members in between annual conference.”

What about you?  Do you agree with the overall assessment of the conference?  If you have other thoughts, observations, suggestions, don’t hold back.

--Bruce Trachtenberg

Photo from  Dean Terry on Flickr.com. Used with gratitude under a Creative Commons license. Click for terms.

May the Good Feelings Continue

Last August the Communications Network asked several hundred people who work in communications for private and community foundations to tell us how they feel about their jobs, the contributions they think they are making, whether senior management appreciated the work they do, along with other questions about what's likely to happen over the next few years.

The results are in…and after being analyzed, sifted, sorted and studied…the overarching finding is that most of the nearly 200 people who responded feel this is a good time to be in foundation communications.  We also learned that people think their work is making a contribution to their organizations. They also say their efforts are noticed and appreciated by management. And they feel there is an opportunity to do even more.

In fact, to make a bigger difference, foundation communicators say that over the next two years they hope to add staff, make more use of web technologies, invest more in branding efforts, and increase efforts to measure the impact of their work.

Click here to read more about the survey, which was made possible by the California HealthCare Foundation and conducted for the Network by DeSantis Breindel.

--Bruce Trachtenberg

What One Foundation Sees Down the Road for the Future of Annual Reports

At the Missouri Foundation for Health, they've started down a path that might be the end of business as usual for annual reports. 

Inspired by discussions at the 2007 Communications Network Fall conference about the need to rethink how foundations report on progress (a topic at the Chicago conference too), the foundation this year completely did away with its print annual report, says Bev Pfeifer-Harms, director of communications.  Its fully online version takes viewers on a virtual journey around the state (via a virtual car) so they can hear from foundation grantees about their efforts to improve the health of Missouri's citizens, especially those in vulnerable communities.  

Now that they've gone down this new road, Pfeifer-Harms says the foundation is questioning whether it makes sense to produce future annual reports or if it's better to just keep reporting on progress throughout the year.

For more on the story behind the foundation's annual report makeover, click here.  Also, leave a comment about what you think of this approach.

--Bruce Trachtenberg

Looking for Session Materials From the Chicago Fall Conference?

If you are looking for presentation materials from the Fall Conference, everything we're able to share has been posted to the blog (and to our website). See the links below:
--State of Foundation Communications Practice
--How Web 2.0 Is Changing Foundation Communications
--Which Comes First: Building Your Website or Understanding Your Audience?
--How to Avoid the Alignment Gap (from the Words Do Matter Session)
--Getting the Job Done: Building the Capacity for Effective Dissemination
--Engaging Decision Makers: Lessons from California and Michigan
--When the *%# Hits the Fan: How to Survive a Communications Crisis
--The Role of Communications Staff in Public Policy Grantmaking
--Is the Annual Report Nearing Extinction? Should It Be?
--What Every Good Communicator Needs: An Evaluation Toolkit
--The Heart of the Story
--The Merging of Communications and Program Activities Online
--Survey of Nonprofit Communications Effectiveness
--Techniques and Lessons of Successful Public Engagement

Session Materials: Techniques and Lessons of Successful Public Engagement

Leaders in all sectors today, from politics to urban planning to philanthropy face a cynical and “information-overloaded” public. Each regards the other with skepticism, with the public accusing leaders of being “out of touch” and leaders viewing the public as “unable or unwilling to understand the complexity” of the issue at hand. Yet at the same time, there is a growing realization among those same leaders that initiatives informed by a process of “real” citizen and stakeholder engagement are far more likely to meet with success and satisfaction for everyone involved. As this presentation describes, authentic public engagement is an inclusive problem-solving approach through which regular citizens deliberate and collaborate on complex public problems.

Session Materials: Survey of Noprofit Communications Effectiveness

How well do nonprofits communicate?  To find out, Cause Communications partnered with Princeton Survey Research Associates International on a study of 500 nonprofit organizations.

According to the survey findings presented at the conference, effective nonprofits share these characteristics:
--Their leaders play an active role in communications.
--They have donors that understand the importance of communications and provide the resources to back it up.
--Communications planning is done in concert with organization-wide planning.
--They have the right staff for the right jobs, and get help when needed.
--They master the basics and go beyond.
--They evaluate their work to better gauge successes and areas for improvement.

For those of you who want to see how you rate, Cause has created an online self-assessment tool to help communications and marketing professionals compare their practices with those that completed the survey.

Session Materials: The Merging of Communications and Program Activities Online

Just as new and emerging digital technologies are changing the nature of foundation communications, these new communications tools are also changing grantmaking at some foundations. In some respects, we may be seeing a merging of both grantmaking and communications.

This presentation discusses, how as part of the work of its Pioneer Portfolio, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is exploring growing connections between the worlds of video and computer games and health and health care and how RWJF reviewed and approached social media in order to integrate it into its Web site redesign, as well as to ensure its place in the day-to-day work of program staff participating in projects.

This presentation discussed some of the recent findings from MacArthur Foundation's new digital media and learning initiative, which is exploring how digital media are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize and participate in civic life.

Session Materials: The Heart of the Story

The Web offers new ways for foundations to tell the story of their work. Photo essays, videos, podcasts, blogs, and first-person analyses all offer a powerful opportunity to put a human face and heart on our initiatives. At this session presenters described efforts at some foundations to tell their story in new ways - focusing on what has worked, what hasn't and, most importantly, what lessons can be shared.

Session Materials: What Every Good Communicator Needs: An Evaluation Toolkit

Foundations invest in communications for a number of reasons: to bolster their image and reputation, to advance program goals, and to strengthen grantees' communications capacity, among others. But when asked which of these efforts are working, which ones aren't, and why...the answers aren't always readily available, if at all. Part of the reason: the lack of a tool to help foundations evaluate their communications. To fill this gap, the Communications Network last year commissioned the development of a tool that would enable foundation communicators to evaluate their communications. The tool, which was previewed for the first time the conference, is designed to help communication practitioners integrate evaluation into their strategic communication plans, as well as identify useful milestones of progress and concrete indicators of success.

Session Materials: Is the Annual Report Nearing Extinction? Should It Be?

Annual reports are like the weather. Everyone complains, but no one thinks they can do anything about it. Well, maybe it's time to do something—even if it means never producing another one again. Do annual reports still play an important role in foundation communications, or should be put on the endangered species list? Here are some reasons why we ask the question.

Session Materials: The Role of Communications Staff in Public Policy Grantmaking

Funding public policy work is becoming increasingly common at foundations of all sizes and whose areas of focus differ from one to the next. Does this kind of grantmaking affect the role of communications staff? Are communications at the core of this work? Should we be? Learn more.

Session Materials: When the *%# Hits the Fan: How to Survive a Communications Crisis

So you've done your planning and you've got your communications program or campaign underway. And then, *%# happens. Current events, changing conditions, opposition attacks and other variables that are beyond your control can throw even the best-laid plans off track. Would you know what to do when the crisis hits? What about preparing in advance? These handouts from the conference, offer some suggestions about how to prepre for the unexpected.

Session Materials: Engaging Decision Makers: Lessons from California and Michigan

Too few policymakers and other decision makers understand the unique work and contributions of foundations. Does this matter? Recent experiences in California and Michigan suggest it does--and the results can be dramatically different when foundations make the effort to be better known to key audiences, or otherwise leave their fate to chance.

This presentation reflects on lessons from the fight over A.B. 624 in California, a bill that would have required foundations to collect and report a range of diversity information. The legislation, which was opposed by many foundations and philanthropy associations, was withdrawn in June. Presenters also talked about promising efforts in Michigan to develop positive relations with lawmakers, demonstrate foundation impact, and create political and policy support.

Session Materials: Getting the Job Done: Building the Capacity for Effective Dissemination

Each year foundations fund nonprofits (large and small) to produce and disseminate research that support their programmatic and advocacy goals. Foundations, too, disseminate a lot of their own knowledge products. But even the most resource-rich and communications-savvy nonprofits and foundations still struggle to reach their intended audience, let alone a broader readership. How can we do a better job, and use the knowledge from our work to advance our organization's goals? This presentation discusses what foundations can do to make dissemination more than just an elusive goal associated with their grantmaking.

Session Materials: How to Avoid the Alignment Gap (from the Words Do Matter Session)

In this handout you’ll learn to uncover hidden opportunities in seven key areas (called Alignment Gaps) where most problems arise in foundation communications. For example, in “Step 1: Identify the Problem” you’ll see how you can achieve better outcomes for your foundation simply by identifying and isolating key problems that cause communications to go awry.

Session Materials: Which Comes First: Building Your Website or Understanding Your Audience?

The question for foundations is no longer whether to invest in a website but how to make sure your investment is paying off. That means having a well-designed website that creates meaningful connections between your organization and the people who are critical to helping your organization achieve its strategic goals. The following presentations describe offer some guidance on marketing your website and measuring results.

--Commonwealth Fund Presentation
--Mott Foundation Presentation

Session Materials: How Web 2.0 is Changing Foundation Communications

The Communications Network in late 2007 launched an extensive study of how Web 2.0 technologies are being employed at foundations across the country. At the Fall 2008 conference, David Brotherton and Cynthia Scheiderer of Brotherton Strategies, reported on the findings from their yearlong exploration (also contained in their report, which can be downloaded here). They were also followed by presenters who shared their foundations' experiences with Web 2.0 and related technologies.

--Brotherton Strategies presentation
--MacArthur Foundation's Use of Mashups
--Rasmuson Foundation in Second Life
--The Knight News Challenge Garage

So, How'd We Do?

Thanks to those of you who've completed our survey about the fall conference. (We've heard from about a third of you so far.)  Lots of great feedback, including some excellent suggestions for what can do differently, even better, next time.  We'll post a summary of the survey after it's closed. But in the meantime, feel free to keep posting here about the conference. Anything is fair game:  likes and dislikes or thoughts about the topics themselves.  Also, let's all start thinking about what we want to do at our O9 conference in NYC.

--Bruce Trachtenberg

P.S.  If you didn't get the email with the link to the survey, or you misplaced it, write me.

Write-ups on Web Sessions at the Conference

Thanks again to these steadfast bloggers for their articles about the opening plenary session on Web 2.0 and another session on websites.

From Nancy Schwartz:

Foundations Tiptoe into Web 2.0, But Not Looking to Nonprofits as Partners or Guides (Yet)

From Denise Graveline:

foundations: dive into the new-media pool

more adapters: garage and gallery

follow your audience: the chart cart

--Celeste Wroblewski

Telling Stories

Thanks to these two prolific -- and terrific -- bloggers for their posts on Ira Glass' plenary session on storytelling:

Denise Graveline: Ira Glass pitch advice: surprise me

Nancy Schwartz: Let's Start at the Very Beginning -- Storyteller Extraordinaire Ira Glass Leads the Way for Nonprofits

And a nod to the storytelling workshop that Conference sponsor Lipman Hearne offers online with the nonprofit storytelling master, Andy Goodman.  I attended an in-person workshop by Andy Goodman that Lipman Hearne sponsored last year in Chicago and thought it was excellent.

--Celeste Wroblewski

Who's in Front?

Just got out of the session The Heart of the Story with Larry Blumenthal, Marc Fest, and Victor d’Allant. What a perfect bookend to this conference. Ira Glass inspired and entertained us; these guys helped bring it home to the foundation world. 

One of the questions in the opening plenary on Web 2.0 was “what is the prerequisite for getting started?” Larry, Marc, and Victor had the answer: you need a story to tell. Once you have a story to tell, you’ll discover the opportunities these tools open up for telling it.

Another question that came up in the Web 2.0 plenary was about using Web 2.0 tools for legislative advocacy. And the answer is: yes! There is tremendous potential for influencing policy using these tools. But what I found interesting about that question are the implications for the roles between foundations and grantees.

Now that these tools are available and increasingly adopted, who should be out in front engaging and mobilizing people to influence policy?

Should nonprofits be using them to engage donors, volunteers and activists, with foundations in the background providing funding? After all, nonprofits can provide more action steps – including lobbying and accepting donations.

Or should foundations use their resources to build larger and larger networks of people engaged in their priorities? After all, foundations have the resources to innovate and invest in technology, and could function as a hub for people working on an issue.

Or….is “who’s in front” the wrong question in a decentralized, networked, Web 2.0 world? And if that’s the case….what could a network of people working on your foundation’s issues look like?

--Cynthia Scheiderer

Photos and Account of the Session: Is the Annual Report Nearing Extinction?

The presentation was given by Mark Sedway of the Philanthropy Awareness Initiative and Mary Greene of the Williams Group.

For highlights and thoughts about the session, don't miss this post titled "annual reports, overloaded, underused" from Denise Graveline on her blog called Don't Get Caught.  Denise has been a wonderful contributor to this blog.

The photos are by the multi-talented Kristin Taylor of the Knight Foundation, who has also contributed greatly to this blog.

--Celeste Wroblewski

Thoughts on Strategize Outside the Box

It was the description that got me to the session. This conference is great, and there's so much to learn, but there's also only so many PowerPoint presentations I can sit through. So when I read Scott Ward's session description, I had to go. I knew it was either going to be great or it was going to bomb. I wasn't sure if enough people  were ready to put themselves out there and participate.

It was great, and enough people took the risk and did improv. We laughed a lot, but we also learned. I thought the best lesson was the 1-word story. We went around the room and told a story, with each person contributing one word. The first time around, Scott started with the word "Once." So everyone expected the next person to say "upon" so the third person was ready to say "a" and the fourth was ready to say "time." But the second person didn't say "upon." He said something else, and it took the third person a minute to go in that new direction. Scott used that to make a great point: so many times, we start out thinking we know what the story will be when it gets to us, and we have our word or our response ready, and then the person next to us gives us a word we don't expect. And we freeze--we can't use our word and it takes a moment to think of something else.

Scott's lesson was to be flexible, to not hold onto that response we're sure we're going to give, and to be nimble and deal the hand we're dealt when we're dealt it. We have to be ready with a response, but we also have to be nimble enough to respond smoothly when the question or situation isn't the one we expect.

Kudos, Scott, for a great session, and for taking the risk on this experiment. It worked! Thanks to the conference committee for letting Scott do this session. And thanks also to all the people who volunteered and put themselves out there and took a chance.

--Christine Mulvin, The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati

Daniel Silverman on Knowledge Dissemination

Daniel Silverman, Communications Director of the James Irvine Foundation, talks about his job in the "Getting the job done: Building the capacity for effective dissemination" session.

--Kristin Taylor

Three Pros Talk Web Strategy for Foundations Big and Small

So Mitch Hurst and Barry Scholl and Lucas Held were, like, on the spot because their session on website audiences/web marketing didn’t get the prior review from the session cop. (That would be me.)

Good news: I had nothing to worry about. These three pros walked us through a hugely informative session on how a well-planned web strategy – one that’s thoughtful, developed based on research, built for the right audiences, clearly reflective of the foundation’s mission, marketed adequately, and measured (more easily than you might think) can win friends and influence people.

Mitch is a righteous dude who walked us through the cultural barriers we all face in developing websites that work -- silos, bureaucracy, etc. He offered rational arguments we can all use in making the case to the suits (God, I love writing that even though I am one) for strategic investment in a more robust web site: 1) It’s the future and 2) Hello! The conversations are taking place without us anyway.  So get it in the game before it’s too late.

He arced through a three-year saga, Ira-like, with conflict midstream, before getting it right at Mott’s wonderful conceived site.

Barry, clever man, walked us through four acts (more shades of Mr. Glass) of how he arrived at the Commonwealth Fund – right guy, right time – to help develop the kind of content rich, relevant and useful site you’ll see at commonwealthfund.org. All their great stuff – 100 new publications per year – goes out web only. Key lesson: He, and they, asked as they planned and designed the new site. They asked the audiences, they went TO the audiences by going to relevant conferences, they used simple techniques (Survey Monkey, duh). Look at the upward trajectory of their site’s visits on one of his slides (Act III or Act IV) for a great visual demonstration of what you get when you plan well.  (Editor's note: we hope to post the slides soon.)

And is there a more thoughtful person in our field than Lucas Held? He’s logical, like Spock. Uses “concomitant” in a sentence. He patiently walked us through the Wallace Foundation’s use of search engine optimization. The success speaks for itself: Wallace’s Knowledge Center site hews to the foundation’s brand, is a downright pleasant experience for the visitor, and brings ohmigod traffic to the site.

Key takeaway: You do it by being smart, planful, and by making sage and affordable investment in search term marketing. Don’t miss the PowerPoint slide that show the impressive growth of Wallace’s numbers. I am SO jealous.

Good Q and A, too. Three big foundation fellas offered good tips for anyone – megafoundation and small staffed – to go back and make immediate improvements.

--Bud Meyer

Something is About to Happen: Notes from the Ira Glass Plenary Address

My notes from the Ira Glass presentation, somewhat stream of consciousness:

• Stories have characters, situations
• Make people stick around
• Glass uses storytelling strategies
• Essay form vs. "something is about to happen"
• Suspense; it's about emotion; sequence of action; sense of forward motion; "it's headed somewhere" - suspense kicks in
• Holding people's attention
• "Simply start the action of the story to create your dream"
• What is the universal take-away? Name it! - Stories make a point.
• Most magnetic part is dialogue; it's the ground zero; play different characters
• Patterns: alternate between anecdote and moment of reflection
• Blame the "topic sentence"
• Have something surprising (media pitches need surprise)
• Surprising moment tells you more than anything else
• Lack of funniness is failure
• Discover things
• Have a narrative arc
• "Art is about getting across a feeling"
• Power of narrative pulls us along
• Music can have too much personality
• Important question: whom to cast to tell the story
• Issue of avoiding corniness

--Marc Fest

Are We All Waist-Deep in Corn?

I’m sure everyone’s buzzing (and blogging) about Ira.

Did anyone else find yourself listening with your eyes closed, then having the bizarre sense of shifting dimensions when you opened your eyes to see the voice become the man?

Thank you to the conference organizers for bringing this amazing storyteller in to break down his craft for us in such a visceral way.

Takeaways: Describe events, one to another to another, then step out and give the context. Find the things that are surprising in a story…like finding the news hook, a talent we all work on developing. Great narrative storytelling can save your life.

But then I realize, as I think about it, that everything I write about through my work is corny.

Is this such a bad thing? I’m certainly not going to dig for the dark underbelly of a story about the Muslim community creating a food bank for a neighborhood made up largely of immigrants from Mexico. And what takes things beyond corny? It’s definitely something more than a news hook.

I look forward to discussing this over the next few days with folks in the hallways and in this blog space.

--Rebecca Arno

Tweets About the Terrific Ira Glass Keynote

Thanks to Denise Graveline for "Tweeting" about Ira Glass' wonderful keynote talk on storytelling tonight. We hope to have some notes on his presentation later.

For Denise's notes on the talk, see the link to her Twitter profile above, or see the left sidebar, which features an RSS feed of Tweets that are tagged with the hashtag #comnet08.

--Celeste Wroblewski

Report Describes How Foundations are Using New Media and Urges Them to Use It More

After nearly a year of blogrolling, wikifying, podcasting, Facebooking, and good old fashioned talking with dozens of philanthropy communication pros, my colleague Cynthia Scheiderer and I have completed our report that takes a close look at how foundations are adapting to the Web 2.0 world. 

It’s called ”Come On In. The Water's Fine. An Exploration of Web 2.0 Technology and Its Emerging Impact on Foundation Communications.”  And it was underwritten with the generous support of The California Endowmentt, Edna McConnell Clark, and Robert Wood Johnson foundations. 

We’ll present our findings at the opening plenary session on Thursday morning, along with Jen Humke of the MacArthur Foundation, Kristin Taylor of the Knight Foundation, and Cassandra Stalzer of the Rasmuson Foundation. Our research turned up many more examples of foundations using new media than we could possibly share in a single conference session. But we’ll try to give you a good sense for what we uncovered. Jen, Kristin, and Cassandra will help out by giving you a taste of what the opportunities are.

Cynthia and I are going to focus our remarks on some of the thorny questions that the sector is still grappling with -- issues like message control, transparency, and the generational divide for starters. But no matter where you fall on these hot button questions, it’s clear a new set of online communication behaviors and expectations are here to stay. The question is: What will it take for foundations to stay relevant and preserve their influence on issues they care most about? 

So come join us bright and early Thursday morning at 8am. We’ll leave plenty of time for your questions and comments. And we hope to spark a conversation that lasts throughout the conference and beyond. Please feel free to leave questions or comments about the report here.

--David Brotherton

After the Conference, Come to the Vocalo Reception, Fri, 3-6pm (open to all members, even if not attending the conference)

If you're not rushing home on Friday, join us for a post-conference reception.  Those of you are staying in town after the Conference ends on Friday, and those of who live in Chicago, please join us at a reception that afternoon at Vocalo, a new Chicago Public Radio Station.

(Vocalo Producer Navraaz Basati is on a conference panel Friday morning, entitled "What You Need to Know About Alternative Media and How to Reach Young People.") 

The after-conference get-together will be held from 3-6 pm at the station's Navy Pier studio. Take a tour of our state-of-the-art production facility, watch a live broadcast of Vocalo.org, and unwind from your week with drinks and light appetizers on our terrace overlooking Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline. 

If you'd like to attend, please reply via email here. (conference08 AT comnetwork dot org) Directions about how to get to Vocalo studios are below.  You can take the trolley-- see below.  Or, for directions from the hotel, see here.

--Wendy Turner, Vice President and General Manager, Vocalo