Leveraging Collaboration and Conferencing Technology to Advance the Organic Transformation
Search:

Home | Technologies

 
 

Leveraging Collaboration and Conferencing Technology to Advance the Organic Transformation

By: Scot Baily

Despite the tidal wave of recent publicity, the organic movement is not a new phenomenon. In 1940, Rodale, a Pennsylvania agriculturalist used the word to describe a healthier method of farming free of pesticides. And throughout, the organic community has occupied somewhat conflicting terrain. The field is beset by sometimes conflicting regulatory authorities including the USDA, states and private bodies.

There are at least tens of thousands of certified organic growers in the United States. Last year alone, North American consumer spent billions of dollars on organic fruit, vegetables and meat. And against this backdrop, there exists an entire industry of professional lobbyists, consumer advocates, trade associations and farmers.

What do all of these seemingly divergent communities have in common? Apart from their shared goal in furthering the organic movement, all will benefit from the use of new communication technologies.

Indeed, many organic groups could benefit from the use of new technologies that enable teleconferencing and collaboration. Ranging from free conference systems including Rondee.com that allow ubiquitous conferencing to new generation email newsletter applications, there has not been a better time to use new technologies to further the organic movement. The following ideas are just a handful of tips.

Use an automated electronic newsletter system

It wasn't that long ago that sending out an electronic newsletter was time consuming and tiresome. This has now changed. On-line systems such as Mynewsletterbuilding, Jangomail, and Enewsletterpro are making it feasible to use scalable newsletters. These solutions slash the work load by as much as seventy percent and in so doing enable organic groups to concentrate on content development rather than content delivery.

Augment your online professional networking

The most advanced organic advocacy groups create networks of supporters who buttress their values and mission. While the word networking sometimes gets an undesirable connotation, the simple reality is these networks can provide significant aid to organic advocacy communities. Today in the Bay Area, the expectation is that professional people will have at least a basic profile on LinkedIn.

At the same time, other networking systems such as Facebook are starting to experience usage by more professional users. These applications also provide a relatively easy way of augmenting your network.

Use a free conference call system

In the last five years, there has been escalating collaboration between geographically diverse organic advocacy groups. One cause of this trend has been reduced air travel costs – a trend that may now be sliding back with skyrocketing oil prices.

A separate cause is the accessibility of free teleconference companies. A lot of these sorts of free conference call services, including the product offered by Rondee.com work on a similar underlying principle. They give you a PIN and a toll number to dial. If all teleconference participants dial the same number and enter the same code, they are placed into the conference.

Use data based decision-making

One of the key trends in the last several years affecting not for profits in the organic community has been the increasing reliance on evidence based decision-making. Leaders can apply the same practices with simple to use Excel or Lotus spreadsheeting applications to determine what works and what does not work. Increasingly, the hurdle for excellence in decision-making is rising and therefore reliance on conjecture is being systematically replaced by empirical evidence to justify processes.

Desktop sharing

Some organic advocacy groups have distributed leadership teams, and it is impractical to have in person meetings. Technology is solving this problem by way of desktop sharing. Whether it's showing a PowerPoint document illustrating the group's development plan or a spreadsheet showing the tracking of volunteer participation desktop sharing can be extremely useful for many organic groups.

Article Source: http://articlenexus.com

Scott Baily consults to the free conference call solution which was first launched by Rondee.com. Scott is a leader when it comes to conference calling and related areas of interest to organic groups.

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Technologies Articles Via RSS!

отдых в Севастополеplugin wordpressрыбалкатанцевальный лагерь

Powered by Article Dashboard