Ed Mitchell: Platform neutral

The London Voluntary Service Council (LVSC) are hosting a day’s conference about networks and networking skills, which I am doing some workshops at. The organisers have been thinking about this seriously and have come up with an interesting mix of information provision, workshops, and networking tasks for the attendees, which promise to make it an interesting day (I love it when people come up with new and stimulating facilitation techniques).

These are themes which will be big in 2008 – we’ve got a plethora of social networking opportunities, but what does that mean to us as individuals and how do organisations fit into the mix? Especially when you consider volunteers and volunteering… As usual, new technologies are dragging up big issues for us to consider, and I am looking forward to working over this for 2008.

My workshop outline:

Meaningful online connections between people, organisations and networks are an increasingly important part of our lives and professional activities. We have been networking in the physical world for many years but the online environment is new; we have a lot of technology but a relatively small amount of knowledge about how to use it to augment our practices most effectively.

These workshops will consider how engagement is supported by virtual activities from a high level point of view. Thinking through the lens of three online group models, we will consider how we relate to eachother and organisations and what questions that throws up. There will be a blend of activity, presentation and as much related discussion as we can fit into the time allotted. Please have a think in advance and bring some questions.

Conference details:

Networks and Networking: Skills and tools for effective involvement
Cascade/STAN Joint Conference
14th February 2008 10am – 4.30pm
Conference information page

The number of networks and tools for networking are increasing. Yet in an age where information overload is a real issue, how can we ensure that our involvement is meaningful to ourselves and beneficial to others?

The conference will feature:

* Skills for networking and communication
* Networks: real engagement and new media – workshop
* How to make networks work for you and others – workshop
* Practical knowledge and information sharing exercise