I’ve been watching with great interest the live tweets that are streaming out of Holland the 29th International Fundraising Congress.
I love it for at least three reasons.
1) There is a live updated billboard that anyone who is there can see who is talking about IFC using the #29thIFC hashtag – I’ve been trying to think of how i can use this to my advantage for promotional means – haha…
Sorry but that is just cool.
2) I can learn (sadly in small sound bites) what some of the speakers are talking about. Things I learned today: “Most people do not want a one to one in person ask for a bequest. Less than 5% It’s too personal!” “There are nine millionaire cats in the UK! Gifts were also left 2 dogs, turtles ponies. Known as ‘Last friend syndrome‘ “Best way to fundraise online: Stop fundraising, start inspiring action” “R.Radcliffe says that Legacy Club members think of it as a free meal but many many don’t leave a gift in will.”
3) I can follow live who is tweeting the most content from the conference:
You can check this out right here.
No it’s not the same as being there by any means (maybe next year?) but it does create a buzz for the event, it allows fundraisers to stay up to date with their colleagues and ’share’ in the event. Heck, I can even ask a question or two and expect someone there will seek the answer for me. Maybe I’m a tweetgeek but here is another fine example of how you can use twitter as a powerful communications and marketing tool. I look forward to seeing more photos and tweets in the next few days.
Hmmm – kind of interesting that at least 3 of the top ten contributors (you, me and Howard) aren’t even at the ifc!
Yes, good point Damian. While it might say that we three are keener than most on using Twitter, it does demonstrate that you can still engage from afar with a conference (or a conference of fundraisers at any rate) to a considerable degree, should you choose to.
As with most things related to Twitter though, you get out of it what you put into it.
I agree fellas. And really this IS the beauty of twitter – the ability to participate and interact when not even at the event. I am certainly enjoying the tweets that are streaming out from the conference. I hope to see some more interaction between those of us who are not there and those who are…
[...] To top if off, Congress will be using a twitter board (sort of like they did in Holland at IFC) so we can not only feel like we are part of the action, but keep our colleagues who couldn’t [...]