Every month, the NetSquared Community comes together offline at Net Tuesday events around the world to mix, swap stories and ideas, build new relationships, and collaborate to help the local community. Our local organizers are volunteers dedicated to helping create local opportunities for learning, sharing and using technology to make a difference.   In this Organizer Spotlight series we bring you interviews with organizers from around the world.

We're happy to introduce: Jean Russell!

Jean is a co-organizer of the Net Tuesday group in Chicago, IL.   You can check out her profile and ways to connect on the Net Tuesday Organizer Team page.   Are you in Chicago?   Connect to the Net Tuesday group here!

Tell us who you are in 140 characters or less:

Creates & nurtures conversations+broad knowledge of social change work=weaves together networks of purpose for enabling a thrivable world.

 How do you spend your time when you're not organizing Net Tuesdays?

• Guildsmiths.com - co-founder
• Catcomm.org - Board Chair
• Inspired Legacies - Co-Founder, National Communications Director
• Wagn.org - Advisor
• Recreating Nurture.biz and building her project: Thrivable.org

What inspired you to organize local Net Tuesday events in your community?

Attending NetSquared's Conference in 2007 and wanting to connect into Chicago nonprofit tech community when I moved here.

How do you measure the success of your events?

By the feedback we get and a (rough estimate) percentage of people who keep coming.

Tell us about the best Net Tuesday event.   What did you learn from that experience?

Celebrated a year of events in March and asked our attendees this question. Favorites included our sessions on mapping social media, doing the social media game together, and the speedgeeking we have done a couple times. Learned that people enjoy the hands-on events and to schedule more of those.

What is the local social-web-tech scene like in Chicago?

Social Media Club events are so packed they have overfill event spaces. I don't go, as I want real conversation, not bar noise and speed-networking.

How do you envision Net Tuesday events evolving over time?

Ever evolving leadership of local spaces with several planners - saving people from burnout and bringing up new leaders.   More cross-pollination of local meet-ups. We have talked about video-conferencing other locations, etc.

What's your change-the-world philosophy?

Working on languaging it better via  nurture.biz  site. But I believe you put the power and knowledge close to the edges by giving people the tools and know-how they need. Then they can transform their local community and extend that into transforming our shared world.

What music are you listening to now-a-days?

Music? What is that? Who has time to look for that? I listen, sometimes, to what I see fly by on the twitter stream... Choose your friends wisely, and music you enjoy flows your way.

What's your favorite quote?

"Act always as if the future of the universe depended on what you did, while laughing at yourself for thinking that whatever you do makes any difference." -- Buddha

Learn more:

• Find Net Tuesday in your city
• Learn more about the Net Tuesday Organizers
• Start a group in your city