I came to SXSW Interactive 2011 to gain perspectives, discover technology and learn practical steps that will help Resurrection Online fulfill our purpose of building a Christian community where non and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. I hope to share some highlights and next steps from the day for Resurrection Online and myself.
My Experience – Day 3
- It makes a difference if you choose a workshop that doesn’t interest you. I am thankful that it is okay to get up and leave as long as you do not disrupt other people. I took advantage of that to get out of a workshop and in to the TED presentation.
- Free food is good, but not always worth the wait.
- I have seen or received more randomly free things than I can remember.
- It was good to worship with Resurrection Online. I happened to find a place outside the Microsoft Interactive Lounge.
- Sleep is a very good thing.
Radical Openness: Growing TED by Giving it Away
- TED Talks principals: embrace open models, design for a small screen, start strong, evoke contagious emotions
Worship with Resurrection Online - Only half of what you get from a conference is on the stage – the other part is having the inspired conversations with people around you who have just experienced the same content.
- We don’t have a monopoly on good ideas.
- Openness works when you: Put forward a clear goal that inspires; draw a passionate user base; Provide clear guidelines (with rewards + consequences); Allow the community to police itself; Make your contributors rock stars.
- Openness isn’t easy: It is actually much easier to stay closed than to open up; Openness goes against most of our human tendencies; It can be quite challenging to fight against the fear of letting go; The rewards can truly be extraordinary
Better Crowdsourcing: Lessons Learned From the3six5 Project
- Setup: Tell the story of a simple idea to get people involved. It is important for something brand new to have an idea that people can wrap their heads around
- Managing People: Set up the rules and pay attention to the human interaction
- Rewards and Recognition: Have a clear hierarchy when it comes to user involvement, reward people who are active by allowing them to take the next step and become editors or moderators. People that may not have had a voice before, suddenly have a voice.
- Ending Gracefully: Set clear guidelines and pay attention to scaling from the beginning
- Engage with people who you may not recognize as influencers.
Keynote: Christopher Poole – Founder of 4chan/Canvas
- I did not hear any thing helpful at this presentation
Nonprofits and Free Agents in A Networked World
- Introduce people to others to create meaningful relationships
- A networked non-profit is a simple agile organization that is transparent enough to let insiders out and outsiders in
- Make connections with people who don’t care about the logo or branding document, but care about your cause.
- A network weaver introduces people to others to create meaningful relationships.
- Some non profits are a fortress that has trouble adopting and working with social media
27 (Fun!) Ways to Kill Your Online Community
- Have a clearly defined audience
- Have user guidelines
- Set a good example for everyone on the site
- Answer repetitive questions in a respectful manner
- Don’t do everything that you can do
Next Steps for Resurrection Online
- What if we allowed Resurrection Online to be embeddable on other sites?
- Explore the possibility of allowing users to tag, rate, connect and organize Resurrection’s sermon archive.
- Ask for ideas to improve Resurrection Online from regulars.
- Expand the Resurrection Stories shared via the GPS beyond Lent.
- Explore open projects for the people of Resurrection Online
- Engage with people who I may not recognize as being an influencer
- Set up a crowdsourced project for the people of Resurrection Online about how they became connected with Resurrection Online called Why Resurrection Online?
- Introduce members of the Resurrection Online community to one another.
- Pay attention to guidelines for building an online community as development continues with Resurrection Online
- Visit the communities where I hope to build Resurrection Online frequently
Next Steps for Me
- Be surprised by the communities of which I am a part
- Remember that losing control is the only way to do some things.
- Be a network weaver who introduces people to others to create meaningful relationships.
Rev. Andrew Conard 