p.s. thanks Mom for sharing 
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October 2008.
As I near the 1.5 year point of being out of college and in the working world I have discovered that even in this economy it is easier than ever to get ahead. Case in point: I apparently am now recognized as a company. That’s right – you can even get calendars printed with my company name (aka Messick) on it. Or at least Helene Karlsson can.
A couple of days ago my coworker Helene got a planner in the mail that said “Compliments of Messick” on the front with this letter enclosed:
Apparently nonprofits are not the only ones sending out free personalized crap that no one wants anymore. Now office supply companies are doing it too. Thankfully if this wasn’t personalized for the “Messick” Company I could take one of my many many many return address labels from numerous health and animal nonprofits and make sure I could never lose my planner.
It brings up the thought that I keep hearing and reading in blogs online directed at nonprofits that “direct mail still works”. Every time I hear that I think to myself “does it really? with who?” Not that email campaigns really work anymore either. To be honest I think nonprofits really need to challenge themselves to be a little more innovative. If the Marine Mammal Center would have scrapped the money they spent on printing and sending me labels and instead sent me a Facebook invite seeing if I wouldn’t just pay $25 to come to a “Happy Hour with the Seals” – I would be in. As it is I put their labels in my “these make me feel guilty” pile that I sift through ever so often when I’m feeling strong enough to throw things away.
I hate to be critical because I know that most likely the address labels work with a lot of people. But I think in part that is just my guilt talking because I am honestly wondering if they really do. Hats off to the ASPCA for sending me wrapping paper. You will definitely be getting a Christmas donation from me. Everyone else … thanks for the return address label guilt.
Anyone need a Messick planner?
Hey there fall. Guess this rain and cold weather means winter is here. Good news is that apparently a couple of leaves are changing colors so it is kinda like having seasons.
I’m revising my Halloween costume to whatever it is that means I can wear a jacket, gloves, and comfortable shoes.
The one problem with a blog that has a fine line between personal and professional is that I sometimes feel the need to double post in one evening. Thankfully I am me and I always have a lot to say. Oh ya and plenty of pictures of my dog.
One thing I have discovered as I move further into the working world is that coffee rules the world. Although often compelling to both parties, it is not entirely appropriate to say to someone “let’s grab a margarita and talk about your take on the company’s strategy”. Or “how about the discuss finances over ice cream”. The only entirely acceptable offer is coffee and thankfully I am embracing it. And thank you Jon for introducing me to the Americano.
It’s often hard to appear in control and professional when ordering a grande soy no whip 180 degrees pumpkin spice latte with two pumps. Ok let’s face it – I have difficulty appearing professional at all since I find myself often confused with a high schooler. In steps the Americano. Nothing commands respect quite like it. More refined than drip coffee. Less snobby than a latte. More mature than a caramel frappachino. Pure class and professionalism. I almost feel like in ordering it I am just saying “yes I do need the smoothness and subtle boost of espresso”.
Either that or “I am too cheap to continue to pay for your expensive soy flavored creations that are only available at the holidays so please hand over the bitter water I will contaminate with Splenda”.
In other news, the poor moose has lost weight (aka been destuffed). I changed it Kat to one a little less zombie-ish. Hey it’s close to Halloween, what can you do?
I consider myself a huge proponent of free webinars. The opportunity cost is minimal. The only risk is that it will be uninteresting or inapplicable, in which case you can just close the website and hang up the phone. Thankfully in today’s case with the webinar put on by Idealware called Online Communications on a Shoestring that was thankfully not the case.
If you are interested in the slides for the presentation you can find them here. Usually Idealware has the audio available for regular paid webinars but not sure if it will be available for this free webinar. You can check out there website here for more information and to see if they make the audio available.
In general the webinar was directed at staff for small to mid-sized nonprofits that in general do not already have a complete online strategy or most likely a full time IT department (much less even one IT staffer in many cases). It covered websites, email, and online outreach, which included search optimization, blogging, social networks, and other social media tools.
The main overall takeaway that I gained from the webinar was a clearer understanding on how to cohesively present an online communication plan. I think that sometimes the more deeply embedded you get within any one topic the more difficult it can be to present it clearly to those who are not as involved. It is easy to think that everyone knows what Twitter is all about or what a Facebook page looks like. Yet very often some of the upper management or board members at nonprofits don’t have the time or sometimes interest to be as connected with some of these tools; a lot of times these are the people though that need to have buy in to online strategy.
To be perfectly honest it is even more than that – you need buy in from everyone at the organization in order to make the straegy most effection. I’m finding this at Blood Centers of the Pacific. It is vital to help people learn how to use these tools in the way that will be most beneficial in their work and in turn to be able to help me fit the strategy around their opinions of its usefullness, because they are the ones with the person-to-person experience. We all know that online relationships are much stronger with that connection to offline relationships.
Some of my quick takeaways from the webinar other than this general theme were:
- Your website = your organization. The statistics are out there. People do not take many actions anymore without going online. Spend some time doing research on examples of other good nonprofit websites. Spend some time looking at your own website objectively.
- In all communication, be it your website, email, blog, etc. make sure that you are speaking to your constituency. This seems simple enough but it is surprising how often nonprofits do not step back and honestly consider how their audience will receive their content.
- Be honest with what you can handle. This applies to both technical skill and available time. This great post by Beth Kanter details how much time it can truly take for social media (and that is just one piece of online communication).
- Be honest with what will actually be helpful. All of these fun exciting tools can make us think “oh my gosh if I just get on Twitter I will have 2,000 people who follow me and then come volunteer and donate and want to tell all of their friends”. Online communications is about meeting your audience where they are already not drawing them somewhere they have never gone. Start small and use metrics to measure impact.
These are some more general ideas I wanted to put down but there were some really great products too that are documented in the slides and some things to check out – I definitely have added a few things to my list for review!
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
Berthold Auerbach
This is a somewhat lighthearted post about something rather serious. Or at least something with me that I often find myself struggling with. I have a poorly tuned emotional response system. I’m aware of this but due to my poorly tuned emotional response system I am pushing that awareness back into the corners of my mind to collect dust.
I mention this now only because I have found lately that something feels a little “off” in my life. I’ve felt it really hard to decompress. I feel angry when I wake up in the morning. I have trouble quieting down. And just today after listening to some Ennio Morricone (thanks Austin M.) I realized what it was: I have had a serious lack of music in my life.
See in the mornings I try to drive to work in the quiet so that I can best prepare for the day. And on the drive home I usually listen to the radio. Not that I don’t enjoy You Can Do Whatever You Like by TI but it isn’t quite the calming experience that I need. I also need headphones. See I listen to my music really loud but even at its loudest in the car I still feel too far away from the sound. I need to feel as if it is inside of my head.
I guess for me it is hard to know how to feel sad but when I listen to sad music I can feel sad without trying to hold myself back. Or when I listen to George Winston on the piano I get chills because it is just so beautiful and I can hear the crispness of cold. I can listen to Freefalling and Pat Green and I feel like there is not a care in the world and as if everything is going to be ok. And when I hear Miserere mei I feel as if I am standing inside of a church in the presence of God.
I think often it is easy to take the little things in life, like fifteen minutes of music, and think that they can easily be skipped over in the busy times. I guess I am just realizing that it is the simple things that are so absolutely essential.
p.s. another one of the simple things in life? taking pictures of my dog
It is the province of knowledge to speak and it is the privilege of wisdom to listen.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Oliver Wendell Holmes
I’m not sure if it is ironic to be talking (read: blogging) about listening. It does seem as if it is a topic that should be discussed more often since it seems to be pretty universally accepted that no one considers themselves rather good at it. Either that or the people I am talking to in general are in their twenties and it is also pretty universally accepted that people in their twenties can be often self-centered.
I’ve realized that listening can look many different ways to many different people and often times the misunderstanding comes from disagreements about what it means to listen. For example, in my family listening means that you can go on tangents, interrupt to help clarify, and talk over one another when appropriate. Apparently this is not the way everyone else does it (who knew).
Sometimes I think that listening can often times be so different from hearing based upon one of the points made and that was “listening with sensitivity”. I think Sarah hit it right on the head that we have to listen with the person speaking in mind rather than as if the words were coming out of our own mouths. This is so incredibly difficult and not something I think of often. I listen and react based on who I am not based upon who the other person is. Point number one where I need improvement.
Honestly though I think that I am very aware of trying to be a better listener but sometimes that actually winds up standing in my way. Sometimes when I am listening to someone I’m thinking in my own head “how can I be better at this? should I ask a question? should I say something or just nod?” and then before I know it they are staring at me and have finished talking and I have no clue where the conversation has gone. Humm oops. Guess maybe I need to slow my conversations down which may make for some awkward pausing. Sometimes wouldn’t it be nice if life could move in slow motion (and have a rewind?)
In other news it is 9:17 and I am going to bed in the next ten minutes for sure. Computer is being shut down in one minute. I am so proud of myself.
Wow seriously no blog post since Wednesday. How embarrassing.
Let me see if I can recape quickly the past three days.
Thursday: work, drive 2 hours to Stockton, CASA stuff, SONIC, drive 2 hours home
Friday: work, work, killer onion rings, ghetto mini golf, Latarion Milton
Saturday: Starbucks, Berkeley, fratty Cal/UCLA bar, bar with no Texas game, bar with no Texas game, BART back to SF, cab to Blue Light, TEXAS GAME, bought a pumpkin
Hum yes my life is truly exciting.
In other news this is the first time I have gotten on my computer all day. Granted I did quickly skim my emails on my phone but this is the first time I have gotten it big screen. And haven’t returned a single email yet. This is big. And I am planning on shutting the computer in 2 minutes and going to sit on my bed and watch tv for the FIRST TIME THIS WEEK. I am really hoping for a Law and Order.
Hum so maybe it is good I haven’t blogged much this week because to be honest my mind is mush and this is a really boring post. In my mind I have a lot that I could say/write but I think I am computered out. Oh my gosh I can’t believe I just said that.
And just for kicks here’s a picture of my pretty shoes I bought last weekend that gave me blisters as I walked miles around Berkeley today getting harassed for wearing a Texas shirt and missing the first half of the game.
My most outstanding moment as dog parent came this afternoon so I just had to document it within my blog and post more than enough pictures.
Nose trick
Hook’em!
Seriously can I eat it already?
Finally!Thanks Mom for the Longhorn dog biscuit!