Wednesday 26 September 2012

Workshop - Question: Why do we want to use technology - what do you want to achieve?

What we want from tech
Get broad message across, what is your organisation about out there and sell the benefits to volunteers. Other target audience to show what services the organisations offers.

Using Facebook to help people to recruit volunteers with the opportunities on board, retaining volunteers and communicating with them

Capturing and communicating things in real time. Get people talking, sharing ideas and thoughts. Community engagement and ownership. Create a hub of communication between many groups, internal and external.

Engaging with stakeholders and learn from others, get feedback from others and access people you may not be able to in other ways.

Promoting funding opportunity and looking towards sustainability. Promoting and encouraging sponsorship and crowd funding.

Using tech to open things up against controlling, culture change, the "british way", do we need it to be perfect or not. Should we learn how we go and not be afraid to say sorry.

Considerations
Important to think about the audience and who you are communicating with. Twitter for stakeholders and funders. Facebook more for direct customers.

Consider the difference between Facebook pages and profiles.

Workshop - Question: Why do we want to use technology and what for?

Why do we want to use technology and what for?

Don't use social media at the moment, would like to gain ideas based on what everyone else is doing and how we can use it, and how organisations similar to us.

Promote the project, uploading stories of what's going on.

Use to get videos of peoples stories out, show people what's been done, and that it can be done

sharing and showcasing the work our service users have done, and through that encourage involvement

use technology to engage with under represented groups on our volunteer programme

recruit volunteers

new form of consultation


Workshop - Question: Why do we want to use technology - what do you want to achieve?

Why use social media

Summary - promote identity of organisation
2-way communication in and out
Raise profile and funds
Target key groups (eg 18-30)

Points raised

Corporate identity. Personal face. New contacts

Raise profile, funds. Comment. Wider use in org. Liaise with vols both ways. Promote to clients - attitudes as well as skills

Online project - draw contributions. Raise volunteers

New volunteers. Promote opportunities

Physical disabilities & carers - target key groups 18-30



Workshop - Question: Why do we want to use technology - what do you want to achieve?


What do we want to gain from social networking?

1. recruit volunteers and promote volunteering opportunities.

2. Promote digital inclusion

3. Communication with members

4. Campaigning

5. Raise awareness of organisation and services

4. Engage with membership, 2 way communication

5. Online presence

6. Engage with a different demographic of the population

7. Opportunity to communicate different mediums

8. Exposure and publicity of organisations

9. Simplicity of use

10. Marketing,generating business and making money

11. Collaborative working opportunities between organisations with similar aims
There is agreement within the group that utilising new technologies and social media in particular can enhance most organisations.

Workshop - Question: Why do we want to use technology - what do you want to achieve?

Scouts Wales

"From admin point of view We hope to reduce the number of calls coming in."

Children's commissioner for wales

"Keeping in touch with volunteers"

Women's workshop

"placements for our women to practise skills they have learnt. Facebook could help track the activity of the learned. We want to be known as the only place for fit women to start training"

National Trust

"on a journey with digital communication- need to work out how to separate and communicate with different audiences. Don't have enough recourses for digital output. Clear Communication between volunteers and using volunteers."

Skillset Media Academy Wales

"to engage with both media and non media industry, charity and smaller organisations to see how they can collaborate with our pool of talented students to create media and promotional content."

GENERAL COMMENTS FROM THE GROUP

"Changing the perception of the brand especially for those organisations that have been around for decades....are you aware that girls have been able to join the scouts for the last 15 years...there are a big population of 'lurkers' who are hovering around the edge of social media tentatively dipping a toe in... "






Workshop - Question: Why do we want to use technology - what do you want to achieve?

  • To recruit volunteers and get the message out about communities first and its opportunities
  • To create online peer to peer support for over 50s with hydrocephalus
  • To enable volunteers to work with elderly clients, demonstrating use of internet. A problem is patchy signal. Would like volunteer forum to develop and discuss ideas around digital issues
  • Want to provide our volunteers with digital technology to work with clients
  • Coverage is poor
  • Housing assoc aims to get residents digitally included
  • Corporate presence through digital tech. Would like better team presence also (welsh government)
  • We will learn more from our clients and customers by being socially engaged
  • Resource issue is key
  • Online vol management database launched for volunteers. Now training and support is key. Expectations eg re response to Q s is sometimes unrealistic. A longterm process and investment
  • C 2.0 project tackling digital inclusion. Maximisingbuse of social media platforms
  • Adult education and social enterprise _ some resistance to social media esp amongst older clients. Suggested approach to introduce technology almost unawares ie for some other, relevant purpose.

Workshop - Question: Why do we want to use technology and what for?


In our group:
  • British Red Cross
  • Meningitis Trust
  • Lightspirit UK 
  • GAVO
  • Communities First
  • Christian Aid
  • Sazani Associates
  • Communities 1.0 

  • Use of technology for recruitment of volunteers and promotion of volunteering roles. 
  • Website, facebook, etc. 
  • Promotion of the organisation and projects. Effective way of keeping supporters of the organisation engaged and informed - advertising events and fundraising. 
  • Want to increase profiles so that more people know about the organisation. 
  • Issue - supporter's ability to use and be familiar with the technology.
  • Sharing materials and education training internationally. 
  • Keeping members updated and staying in contact with other directors.