Okay, I'm back.

Thanks to you who are emailing me privately and commenting here on the blog.   Let's jump right in.   I got this message anonymously (this is part of a longer email)...

"I have a somewhat specific interest that I thought I'd pass along in the spirit of two-way media.   I am a young professional working at a membership-based environmental nonprofit.   My background is nontechnical...   I am trying to transition some...academic knowledge into job skills.

I am fortunate because my department at work is looking to devise and implement a social networking strategy for the organization and it is likely that I will be involved.   I am looking for advice on how to develop the skills necessary to be successful in this role.   Is there space at nonprofits for nontechnical social media strategists, for moderators of communities or curators of content?   Are there certain basic technical skills (like some sort of basic web design) that are indispensable for these roles?"

So, what I'm hearing in this email (and others) is a definite thread of TRAINING.   As in - what do I need to know and how do I use it to be successful in leveraging social media at my job.   Of course training is ABSOLUTELY possible (it was the focus of the TOOLSHED posts I was posting) and N2 can assist with this.  

Now here is the more-focused conversation we need to engage upon:

1) Is this universally agreed that you would get a whole lot more value out of N2 if we provided more training-centric content that WAS DEVELOPED IN TANDEM WITH YOUR GUIDANCE (we could provide training all day and night, but the big question is what do see your organization using and what type of training do you need?)

2) If the answer to #1 is a resounding yes from the community, then how do we begin?   Do we have barcamps where 5 to 10 folks coordinate and collaborate to define needs and deliverables?   How do we provide the training (written, video, Camtasia style trainings, et cetera)?  

Please, lets engage upon this topic and get this off the ground.   Again, you can contact me anonymously at jamesvito@gmail.com or right here on the site by commenting to the posts.

Peace...James