An amazing few days in Arnhem with Greenpeace

I’ve just got back from the Greenpeace Digital Mobilisation Skillshare in Arnehm. It’s an event like nothing else I’ve ever attended.

For a flavour of the pace and energy of the event you should watch this short video.

I was lucky enough to be invited along to talk about fundraising from a mobile slant. This isn’t your standard stand up and present type of event – it’s much more interesting than that! Sessions are workshop based and based on actionable outcomes. In preparation for the event I had to prepare a session outline, define what people would get out of it, and then the hard bit, deliver it!

The format of the event is brilliant, there are core sessions (like mine) defined in advance and then sessions are created as the event unfolds and participants decide that they want to know more about a particular subject or they think there is a gap in the session topics that needs filling. I loved that, I got involved in several sessions organised as the event unfolded – some were added to the timetable others were just created in the time between sessions and before dinner.

What really made it, were the other participants. I know that Greenpeace people are a passionate bunch, but my experience was previously limited to the UK staff. In the last few days I’ve met people from the Greenpeace network from all over the world and their passion and enthusiasm for what they do is genuinely inspiring.  

It’s been an incredible few days. And I can’t wait to do it again sometime soon.

Thank you Greenpeace and all my new found friends from the Digital Mobilisation Skillshare!

Oh and search the #GPDMS hashtag on twitter and connect with some of those people, they are awesome.

Anyone who was there who wants to connect and carry on the many conversations we started can find me on Linkedin.

Best mobile ad ever?

I am very lucky to be at Greenpeace's Digital Mobilisation skillshare in Arnhem, Holland.

I'm representing Open Fundraising and facilitating the session 'the power and potential of mobile as a fundraising tool'.

As I prepare (worry) about my session tomorrow, my eye is constantly drawn back to this amazing ad from Save the Children. I've blogged about it before, it gets talked up at most conferences I go to, and yes I will talk it up in my session. The reason for all this attention is simple. For my money it's one of the best mobile campaigns I've ever seen.

It puts mobile or SMS right at the heart of the proposition. There is no other way to respond. I like to think this was a deliberate decision by Save the Children, who knows, maybe it was the only response mechanism that could be included at short notice. But it makes the ad the classic that it is.

So forget the hype about mobile, it's more than a buzz word.

Why?

Well, you carry your mobile everywhere, you never turn it off, it's never more than a metre away from you and you are likely have it in your hand at the point you feel moved or motivated to act.

I don't love this because it's a QR code...

Source: twitter.com via Osocio on Pinterest

I love this because it's a clever use of a QR code. Etched onto the melting ice on a canal in Amsterdam. It links to the climate change page on the Dutch WWF site.