Action is at the heart of what our organizations do. But how do you convince that anonymous person behind a computer screen to make a commitment? You make them think, feel and care. And the best way to do that is to connect them your organization by telling them a story. Roger Burks, Senior Writer, Mercy Corps. will explore how to write compelling, memorable stories that get people to take action and keep them engaged.

Roger, originally, presented this material at the 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference (http://nten.org/ntc) in April. We extend a special invite to other folks who attended the NTC to share their stories from the conference. We invite all to join us for this important discussion on a crucial part of nonprofits' online strategies.

Roger Burks is senior writer for Mercy Corps, a global relief and development agency. Over the course of a 15-year career - which includes stints with CARE USA and the U.S. Peace Corps - Burks has traveled to more than 25 countries to research vulnerable populations, conduct field interviews and write stories for a variety of audiences. He is committed to helping foster a new movement in journalism that focuses on human dignity and solutions to global challenges.

We will be following up this strategy meeting, with a hands-on meeting on online tools to use to get your story out. Date TBD.

Connect Online:

Portland 501 Tech Club Online at http://groups.nten.org/group.htm?mode=home&igid=5273 (Start at http://groups.nten.org/login.htm?mode=register if you're new to the NTEN online community).

Portland Net Tuesday at http://netsquared.meetup.com/13/

Please email Anna at [email protected] or Donna Arriaga at [email protected] with any questions.

Vision planning for people who want to do something for a community.

Do you not yet have a vision statement written out, or would you like to tweak or revise? And do you say things like, "I'm hoping someone will want to contribute to my project: it is for the public good"? Then this workshop is for you.

Saturday, September 20th, 10am-12pm. Alex Linsker, Catherine Poole, and Russ Finkelstein will be the main facilitators and coaches of the workshop.

The main questions about your vision: Where are you coming from? What phrasing describes the reason why you’re doing this?

If related questions come up organically, we’ll explore. These questions are where groups like “Collective Agency” started.

Whether a website, open source project, discussion group, nonprofit startup, or something else, the main focus of the people who show up will be for the benefit of a group or groups of people (the "community"). We’ll have fun and develop a vision planning community of our own.

In 2 hours we will meet-and-greet (go around and say what we’re working on and what we’d like to happen with it), have a brief overview, then invest most of the time in one-on-one coaching in 15 minute sessions.

Coaches will each bring a vision plan for something they’ve done.

This event is free of charge. Coaching/mentoring/skill-sharing will be available here in the future with both free and paid options.

Please RSVP. Plancast is best, so people can see you're coming. Email [email protected] or tweet @alexlinsker with any questions.

ChickTech invites you to our second annual ChickTech: High School Tech Show! Our 100 high school participants will have worked hard all weekend to create an awesome project in one of our seven workshops. Stop by and see what they've created! We think you'll be amazed by their creativity and progress, especially since most of our participants have never been exposed to programming or hardware before.

Cheer them on and encourage them to keep making progress! The event is free, but please feel free to donate* so we can keep doing what we're doing! We look forward to seeing you there.

Parking info from PSU: "Parking Structure 1 is the best place to park for the event. There are two entrances into the garage but event guests, volunteers, students, staff should enter off of 6th ave. between Hall and Harrison. This garage is 2 short blocks away from event location. Parking on Sunday in this structure is free." See map here.

Learn more about ChickTech: High School on our website: http://www.chicktech.org/events/chicktech-high-school-2014-portland/.

*All donations are tax-deductible. Our tax ID, through our fiscal sponsor (TAO Foundation), is: 20-0072527.

RSVP on Eventbrite: https://chicktech-hs-tech-show2014.eventbrite.com. This event is open to the public, so please spread the word!