Group items tagged

Guide for organizations to plan how to convene f2f diverse groups to top into groups' shared intelligence and problem solving skills. Based on the Foundation's extensive experience with convening, they created this guide to foster more collaboration outside of their funding. The link to the guide, entitled Gather, is contained in this web page.

rationale for WLStudio as learning network from Seth Godin "The connected person is no different from you, they've merely made a generous choice, confronting their innate fear instead of hiding from it. The reward for overcoming this inertia belongs to the connector and to everyone she connects. It's easier than ever to convene, to organize, to create spaces where strangers will cease to be strangers and turn into allies and friends. Those that convene overcome their resistance just one time, and then benefit from the generosity they've delivered to the group. The only difference between a group of strangers and a group of friends is that the friends benefitted from someone willing to go first. When we weave together strangers and turn them into a tribe, we create real value, value that lasts."

4 questions on convening with list of activities that might have value from U.S. DOE's Idea Partnership group

Interesting article published 1/6/2014 on Second Acts for baby boomers. Quotes Marc Freedman, Elizabeth Isele (who lived in ME for a long time), and mentions Bevan Rogel. The Boomerworks online service for matching BBs with work opportunities is very interesting--wonder how they are doing? And whether we should try to ally with them? "In 1998, living in Maine, Isele created CyberSeniors, a multilingual nonprofit computer training company that eventually trained more than 28,000 seniors in 24 states. She's led numerous nonprofits over the decades and is now pushing public policy changes and forging connections between organizations to create an "entrepreneur ecosystem." That ecosystem is flourishing in Sarasota. Sarasota's Institute for the Ages, established in 2009 to change the conversation about aging as one of deficit and decline to one about enhancing lives, is a lab for companies and services that want to tap into the needs of older adults. In late 2013, the Institute launched Boomerswork.com, a web-based network to connect freelancers with companies seeking seasoned professionals for project-based work. The program started in Canada and the Institute is the first organization to bring it to the U.S. When the Institute convenes a national convention here in February, entrepreneurship and encore careers will be a large part of the agenda. In addition to a keynote address by Freedman, Isele is leading a workshop on entrepreneurship with Bevon Rogel, who runs a Freedman-related Encore Academy in St. Petersburg to help seniors find meaningful work. For Southwest Florida, which has one of the highest concentrations of seniors in the nation, the idea of an "encore" seems natural. As the rest of the country and world grays, branding this life stage as one that brings years, or potentially decades, more productivity and meaning to life has become an imperative."

Great article by Joe Rominiecki, June 24, 2015 in AssociationsNow on the online community manager role; quotes the latest Community Roundtable report on how the online community management skillset is needed by many staff, not just one person. There is a big difference between lurking or contributing as an individual in Facebook or LinkedIn groups and mentoring/leading/supporting an online community. Supports our inclusion of "convening" as a vital digital literacy skill.

some good ideas for planning and convening effective meetings/conferences

Interesting article on how millennials are not buying cars or houses. This quote makes me think about how we market to middle-aged career professionals, i.e., "I've made it and I'm a tech person." (based on how I use IT technology to communicate, collaborate, and convene groups online) "Subaru's publicist Doug O'Reilly told us, "The Millennial wants to tell people not just 'I've made it,' but also 'I'm a tech person.' " Smartphones compete against cars for young people's big-ticket dollars, since the cost of a good phone and data plan can exceed $1,000 a year. But they also provide some of the same psychic benefits-opening new vistas and carrying us far from the physical space in which we reside. "You no longer need to feel connected to your friends with a car when you have this technology that's so ubiquitous, it transcends time and space," Connelly said."

Ron Ashkenas, April 20, 2015, HBR distinguishes between cooperation and collaboration, but not in the way we have come to understand it online. In this case, cooperation is what some managers do when a larger collaboration is underway, but they aren't really committing to true end-to-end product development.

article by Ron Ashkenas on difference between cooperation and collaboration and how to set up and negotiate successful collaborations, April 20, 2015