Here we are in the midst of NTC 2010. Our booth is now located next to Microsoft, and we just had a wonderful breakfast of muffins, fruit, yogurt, coffee, tea, and more. For those unable to attend, I hope you have the opportunity to follow-up on the proceedings. I have been extremely impressed with the conference. It has exceeded my expectations in quality, information, and opportunities to get to know the broader nonprofit community.
I would sum up our experience here so far in two words: resources and flexibility.
Let me speak to resources first. While many novel resources of technology have been introduced here (from video conferencing to mobile applications to donor management to various CRM's and more), what I am most impressed with are the resources of people. I've talked with a few people who have expanded my vision of what is out there. It is great to put a face to a name. I've developed a few relationships in online communities, and now it is fun to meet those individuals in person. They seem like "old friends." As I've stated elsewhere, our biggest resource is people. It's not products.
The second part of our experience entails flexibility. This is one of those consistent rules in life. Flexibility is required when plans go awry. What you had planned is no longer relevant. Regardless of the frustration, there are really only two options: get upset and angry, or move on. Our outreach plans were changed. We had planned on having lots of keys available that would unlock some prizes. Our keys showed up (later than planned), and when they did, all we could do was laugh. We waited in anticipation for the keys, and finally, Anna (from NTEN) gave us the good news that a package had arrived. When she showed up to the Grand Ballroom, she said it well: "I have good news, and bad news." The good news: the package had arrived and she had the box. The bad news: somewhere between here (Atlanta) and Salt Lake City, the box had split open and ALL of the keys fell out. The package was empty. So, as life requires, we needed to be flexible and make other plans. This will certainly be one of the memories from this conference.
So, checking out live from Atlanta (I feel like a CNN anchor...reasonably so, given that we are in the shadows of the CNN center), this is Scott Anderson.