Lauren-Glenn Davitian, Executive Director of CCTV Center for Media & Democracy began the NTC session, "Nonprofit Communications 2.0 – Seven Steps to Transform Your Organization" with a story from the Tipping Point. Paul Revere was one of two people who went out the night that the British were going to invade Boston. We remember Paul Revere, and he was more successful in mobilizing people because he was a "connector", a human hub.

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press determined that we all have a close network of 25 people that we turn to for big decisions, and then we have a larger network around that. The number hasn't really changed with the Internet. Some of us are hubs who have 200 close relationships. These people are extremely important in the work of community change.

Peter Drucker said, "Community building talent is the single most precious resource in the modern world."

We are in a time when the value of an organization is to be a resource hub that helps people make decisions--where to volunteer, donate, work and advocate. Communications is about being that hub. You could put the word "hub" in any mission statement (i.e. We are the hub of resource distribution for women who are the survivors of violence).

She recommends the book, Linked: The New Science of Networks, where the author discusses Network Theory. Many of the mathematicians who have been studying this theory are now sociologists.

The Internet allows us to amplify our relationships to achieve our goals.

She frames communications strategies with the questions:

How do we Welcome people to our org.
How do we Educate people about what we do.
How do we Ask people for support.
How do we Thank our people

Her 7 Steps

1. Assessment

Resources:
SPIN Project's strategic Communications Plan Generator
NPower Seattle's Tech Savvy Communications. It connects communication objectives with tech objectives.
A Goodman Online. Recommends keeping a storybank, a place we keep stories.

Ask yourself:
-What is your goal? What behavior are you trying to change?
-Who is the audience? Get very specific.
-What are the values of that audience? Micro-target.
-What is the message?
-What tactics are we currently using and how do we know they are working? How do you know behavior is changing?
-Do you have the infrastructure (i.e. people, tech, leadership) to support a communications strategy?

2. Awareness
What is happening out in the world that I can bring to my communications work?

Find out what other people are doing.

Resources she uses:
NTEN
TechSoup
The Gilbert Email Manifesto
Seth Godin

Examples of effective web sites where it is really clear what to do:
Obama '08
MediaRights
NTEN

Audience recommended:
Center for Digital Storytelling
Idealware

3. Training
Learn about strategic communications frameworks.
Learn about storytelling.
Learn how to discern the audience
Learn about tech infrastructure
Learn about how to manage the new work flow where everyone on staff is a content provider

4. Content production

5. Tech
What tech support do we need?
What is your hub going to be?
What databases are you going to use?

6. Partnerships
Who do we bring in to do this work?
Who will stand up for you?
You can't do this work alone so who do you turn to to help you get the message out.
Who is doing similar, overlapping work who you can work with?

7. Planning
Create a plan that revolves around a goal and people whose behavior you are trying to change. Use tools that are the most appropriate given the goal and audience. Measure how it works so you know what to do next.

What do you do when people say we don't have time to create a communications plan? She suggests going through a process with your staff that asks:

1. What are the trends that affect our business as nonprofits?
i.e cell phones are lifestyle devices, people no longer work 9-5.

2. What are the unmet customer needs?
What is it that they want, that they aren't getting, that we could give them?

3. What are the orthodoxies we hold on to that prevent us from seeing alternatives?

4. What are our core competencies?
What are we really good at?

When everyone has been a part of this process, it will be clear to them what needs to be done to get where you need to go.

Davitian closed by saying that the work we are doing is social change. We can do that with electronic tools, but first and foremost we are building networks of human beings. We have to remember that what will engage people to help us with social change is to treat them with respect and provide them with opportunities to participate.

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