Event: Speak to a Geek, 27 February 2009 at MDDA

North West technology experts to offer free consultancy for North West’s voluntary sector, – ‘Speak to a Geek’ panel, 27th February 2009.

If you’re making decisions about how the internet can enhance your non profit organisation’s capability, we’d like to invite you to a free panel session of North West IT professionals who will be running open ‘micro consultancy’ sessions with your peers from the North West’s voluntary sector.

The first prototype event, ‘Speak to a Geek’, will be held on the afternoon of Friday 27 February 2009 at Manchester Digital Development Agency (MDDA)’s meeting space in Portland Street, Manchester. Get directions to MDDA’s offices.

For two hours, the expert panel will host 20 minute ‘micro-consultancies’; candid insights and expertise in response to audience questions and challenges.

It’s your opportunity to get useful answers and insight to your questions and current internet/technology from a panel of professional tech industry experts.

The panel have years of commercial and voluntary sector experience in areas that are highly useful to a voluntary sector organisation:

Strategies for using Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media
How to build effective online communities
Using open source software for (non) profit
How to ‘do’ internet marketing properly

If you would like to attend this prototype session (and hopefully submit your own question/issue to our panel), please visit this page to send an email to the organiser.

More information

Check out the Speak to a Geek website.

3 comments on Event: Speak to a Geek, 27 February 2009 at MDDA

tony wright comments:
February 1st, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I am trying to develop an online community for improving connectivity within our community but it seems that unless you are in with the big boys you will struggle. All the resources is going in the wrong direction…..access denied. How can we move this forward
Alan Holding points out:
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:46 am
A good place to start is to talk to the Community Broadband Network (CBN) which supports, promotes and develops community-owned broadband schemes: http://www.broadband.coop/.

You may also want to talk talk Grove Village Limited, who carried out a Digital Inclusion project to set up a small broadband network for a local neighbourhood in Manchester: http://www.grovevillage.co.uk/.

The CBN are running a roadshow event at MDDA on 24 February, so you might want to come along and find contacts and people to talk. Details of the roadshows are here: http://www.broadband.coop/Next-Gen-Events/.
Richard Hudson says:
February 20th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Tony – you might also wish to speak to Manchester Digital (www.manchesterdigital.com) – not to be confused with MDDA – which is a not for profit trade association for the digital sector.

The organisation itself is all about connectivity in the digital sector and they would be able to advise you further on this.

All the resources in Manchester Digital are going to help develop, promote and grow the digital sector and help all it’s members to grow their skills and business.