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2008 Conference: Social Impact: How to Measure, Manage, and Communicate Its Efficacy

 

Once again, Great Bay returned to the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel, New Castle, NH for our annual conference, because it continues to receive rave reviews from all attendees.

 

 

This year's topic was: “Social Impact: How to Measure, Manage, and Communicate Its Efficacy”

 

Our two outstanding guest speakers were Catherine Clark, Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, and Adjunct Professor at Columbia University Business School where she created Columbia’s graduate MBA course on social entrepreneurship, and is Founder and Director of Columbia’s Research Initiative on Social Entrepreneurship (RISE); and Victor d'Allant, Executive Director of Social Edge, the Skoll Foundation’s premier online community.

Catherine's presentation focused on Social Impact Assessment: language, process, output/impact indicators, monetization, best practices.

 

 

 

Victor's presentation focused on Web-based Technology Vehicles: the rapid evolution of technology, social networks, and mobile platforms is transforming classical notions of community and cross-cultural communication, offering new ways to disseminate innovative ideas, drive engagement, and attract new resources.

In a third program component, "Mining the Network," small groups addressed a series of compelling questions created by participants the evening before. Great Bay staffers collected questions about burning issues that could be addressed by fellow grantees who had faced similar challenges and/or had fresh insights regarding the issues. As the Great Network continues to grow it has increasingly valuable resources inherent in it.

 

The following comments were gleaned from remarks attendees posted about the "Burning Questions" session in Great Bay's online conference evaluation survey:

• "It was great to hear how other non-profit leaders were answering the question and to have some formal time for brainstorming and troubleshooting together. This was, for me, one of the most valuable pieces of the conference. There is so much knowledge and experience that exists in the Great Bay network and it was awesome to have the opportunity to tap into it in this way."
• "I was interested in sitting in on seven of the eight topic areas. I found the reports to provide information that in some cases answered some questions I had and others made me look at the topic from a different point of view."
• "I think the small group topic groups where you can choose your group lends itself more to networking with people in a similar place allowing for more valuable connection and ideas."

Another brand new component this year was Great Bay's "Open Mike" night. Great Bay’s ever expanding network has outgrown its traditional reception in the hotel lounge. This year the reception was held in a room of its own for cocktails, epicurean delights – and an Open Mike. Great Bay was responding to attendees' requests for more networking time. The open mike provided an opportunity for attendees to create quick snapshots, introducing themselves and their organizations, so that other attendees could readily identify like-minded entrepreneurs and/or initiatives. The exercise made pro-active networking much more effective throughout the conference.

 

 

Following are two of the comments attendees posted about the "Open Mike" session in Great Bay's online evaluation survey:

• "It was a great opportunity to be able to hear what everyone does. It was great to be able to take note of the people I wanted to connect with while I was there.    It saved  valuable time of not having to introduce yourself to everyone and find out what they did to see if a connection could be made."
•  "Loved the chance to hear who was in the room and get a brief synopsis of all the projects Great Bay has funded. The 3-mins was a bit long for each person but valuable and inspiring nonetheless."

The Open Mike session was capped off with an "Open Jam Session" in which atttendees formed an ad hoc music ensemble to rock the rafters with some Cajun Country music!

 

These comments are a selection from the many remarks posted about what attendess liked best about the "Conference" in general:

• "I liked that the two conference topics were focused on telling the organization's story in a compelling way using two very different tools."
• "This is an extraordinary opportunity for those of us in the field -- to step back from our work, to be inspired and supported by colleagues in the region, to hear talent in the field offer advice on issues that define our work."
• "Learning in more detail of new projects, what others are doing, and how they're doing them - creating new networking potentials and opportunities. Getting re-charged and re-inspired by the energy and dynamism of the others."
• "The conference is the one event we ensure our participation in every year. As we become more seasoned "conferencee's" we get better at taking advantage of the opportunities to network, visit peers and the many participants we can now call friends. More than 6 potential significant relationships surfaced for us this year and we are recharged and excited to experience thier results over the next year - hopefully to provide an empowering report to the group during the open mike portion next year!"
• "The addition of the G.B. music group [Open Mike Night]  was the best!"