The Manhattan Borough President's Office sponsors my workshop HOW TO FAIL AT TWITTER #mbpo #nonprofit
FINDING ONE OF MY TRIBE
When I met @corvida aka Corvida Raven at the #140Conf (92nd St. Y) in April, I was not sure but I knew I wanted to connect and collaborate with her. On what I had no clue at the time. I just made the connection and we stayed in touch on Twitter.
Not long after we met, I met Linda Feldstein who works for Scott Stringer, the Manhattan Borough President. She invited me to do a workshop out of my affiliations with a great set of colleagues who work on nonprofits in the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College-CUNY. I shared ideas about restoring ourselves to the earliest principles of our human evolution -- generalized reciprocity or giving without concern. There was a time we lived "without chiefs" as anthropologist Marvin Harris wrote about. This is a standard idea from introductory anthropology but I was introduced to this concept 4 years ago when I started teaching anthro as an ethnomusicologist.
Yes I am a singer whose degree is in ethnomusicology -- the study of how human beings make meaning through musical sounds, behavior and symbols. I am currently finishing an article about singer jokes in jazz and how conversations shape collective group behaviors. A chick singer or dumb singer joke is not far if not further than a nigger joke since we would rarely tolerate the latter anymore. But back to my topic...Twitter workshops and talking to strangers.
Connecting with Corvida has been one of those great opportunities to align yourself with someone you might never have met before Twitter. She is one of the most amazing people I have come across. But I lie. There aren't too many people I can think of that I met on Twittter that I don't have a bond with that is nearly as great as some I have with family. They don't look like me. They are not my age. They in many cases are not from U.S., not into hip-hop but so into innovation and expanding their network (or net worth I like to think).
FINDING YOUR TRIBE NOT "YOUR" PEOPLE
What if the key to really engaging new adopters in joining Twitter is reminding them of the power of their own stories and of talking to strangers?
Today I did just that. The Manhattan Borough President's Office led by Linda Feldstein invited me and Ruthellen Rubin (NYU) to give a workshop on Twitter and Technology for nonprofits. My portion of the workshop was titled HOW TO FAIL AT TWITTER: DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS.
Although my intention was to get everyone on Twitter (check out the hashtags #mbpo and/or #nonprofit), where I got was perfect. We never touched the computers and yet people GOT Twitter. They got the power of it.
I asked Corvida to assist me at the event because her blog SheGeeks.net as well as most of our conversations made me ask without batting an eye. Glad she said yes because she ROCKED IT in a few key moments today.
The house was packed in our Newman Conference Center on 25th Street with over 100 participants from nonprofits. They came from Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Jersey not to mention two travelers who came all the way from Philadelphia and Silver Spring, Maryland (right next to my hometown of Rockville). From the immediate reactions (they do surveys later online--boo! wish they did them immediately), people really loved it. And like I said we never got to touch the hardware itself.
I began by facilitating every interaction immediately. I used anything they shared to emulate the kinds of conversations shared on Twitter, how retweeting happens in real-time without the platform, the power of engaging more than one listener's listening (listening to each other not just the speaker), contributing to each other without a desire for reward or geting donors, and letting answers come from the crowd of attendees instead of the "teacher." There were these awesome moments I cannot begin to capture here but one was acknowledging all the ways that telling stories THAT MATTER TO YOU will matter to others both interested and not interested in your nonprofit. In fact, getting interested in YOU might be the thing that matters to them, not your nonprofit.
SHARE ABOUT SOMETHING THAT MATTERS TO YOU OR YOUR NONPROFIT
To set the tone for sharing about ANYTHING I shared about meeting an elderly woman during a visit to the doctor's. I was having a grand day and cheerily greeted her on the elevator after marveling at how the elderly in NYC get around. Back home in Maryland, old folks tend to stay shut in. But not in Manhattan. I said "How are you to day?" Anyone knows me knows about my smile and my voice. Both are infectious. Her response. "I've had a headache since August 23rd."
It was November with thanksgiving come up around the corner. I was dumbfounded. She knocked the wind out of my sail. Then she added "I was runned over by an apple cart." And out of my mouth came "So you feeling FRUITY today?" and she got tickled. She laughed. It was a little chuckle in fact. And I thought maybe that took some of the pain away.
I ran into her when I was leaving and she went out of her way to stop and tell me to have a great holiday. She looked different. Happier. You never know who you are for people. Like our department secretary says: "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.' Later I shared that these kinds of stories should be captured in your blog. Use twitter to tweet the "lede" or "hook" to get them to your story. Like the Twitter lede I made up for my apple cart story. I also shared an excellent example of creating a lede from a 1978 Op-Ed by Gloria Steinem
TIP #1: Talk to Strangers
When we were kids our parents told us don't talk to strangers. But we are not kids anymore. That was useful then. Now speaking to people who are NOT in your immediate family, friends or colleagues is how you can EXPAND your net worth or the worth of your organizations.
One woman stood up and asked what if I want to ask George Soros for money. Corvida took this one on for the room. She said why would you ask that. That's what everyone is going to ask. Corvida quipped "What if I asked you for money?" like right now. LOL. It was hilarious but so poignant. Someone coming up to ask you for money is NOT Twitter. No hard sells or pitches, please. I always say and shared with the participants that "Twitter is a Sharer's Market not a Seller's Market."
Both Corvida and the woman participant had a mike as we videotaped the event. Baruch College Media did the taping so I have no clue when it will be available (slow turnover). So while Corvida interacted with her question, I hopped on Twitter and did a FIND PEOPLE search for George Soros and found a Twitter profile that was a match. I added after Corvida that scanning his Twitterstream, sharing a fact or stat from your nonprofit that meets HIS interests not yours and the possibility that you gain social capital out of simply HAVING a conversation in the public network or stream of Twitter might lead others to follow you.
My strategy in facilitating a Twitter workshop is to practice the kinds of contextual engagement and disagreement that matters rather than simply training people in the how-tos (how to tweet, how to retweet, how to raise money on twitter, etc.). This was my first opportunity to put this kind of facilitation in action and all in all it worked. At least 2 dozen people shared how great it was. One Jamaican woman said in her lovely accent, "I came here not sold at all on social media and now I am excited. I can't wait to get started."
A USEFUL FAILURE
Though I had intended to get to the computers, after 90 minutes it was the interactions that stuck and made a difference. Emulating sharing, having small groups share around a single story, having them create a collective tweet in 140 characters and helping them see 10-27 words a tweet is alot to say in tandem with links to your blog.
We wrapped up, over time. I apologized to my fellow presenter for gobbling up some of her time (I still wish I had been more attentive to this). As I stood out in the hallway thinking, DAMN! I FAILED. We never even got on the network or computer, I remembered what learning Indian or African drumming can be like.
In the traditional guru-student relationship, the student is NEVER allowed to touch the drum until they have mastered all the vocables or bols that correspond to the hand positions and articulations on the drum. When wrapping up the session after Ruthellen Rubin finished a thorough workshop on donor databases, I came back and shared about the drummers' initial training. I told them that what they got was what I call a return to our earliest formations as a human culture -- generalized reciprocity. Sharing without intent. Conversations on twitter matter and I think they have biological, psychological and social consequences those who don't get Twitter obviously take for granted. I think we early to not-so-early adopters do too.
I had a blast today. More when I get the surveys and tweets from participants. Check out #mbpo for Manhattan Borough President's Office. They are excited to consider more workshop. Next time, a day long affair!
Here's the earlier workshop I moderated at Baruch College-CUNY that gave me the idea that I could lead a workshop myself
Thanks for reading!
Best, Kyra
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Kyra D. Gaunt, Ph.D.
2009 TED Fellow
Associate Professor at Baruch College-CUNY
Voicing "the unspoken" through song, scholarship and social mediahttp://kyraocityworks.com
http://www.google.com/profiles/kyraocity An idea worth spreading: Agree to be Offended & Stay Connected. Reveal Your Connection to the Remarkable Oneness of Humanity."I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers" -- Kahlil Gibran
2009 TED Fellow
Associate Professor at Baruch College-CUNY
Voicing "the unspoken" through song, scholarship and social mediahttp://kyraocityworks.com
http://www.google.com/profiles/kyraocity An idea worth spreading: Agree to be Offended & Stay Connected. Reveal Your Connection to the Remarkable Oneness of Humanity."I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers" -- Kahlil Gibran
Posted by Kyra D. Gaunt, Ph.D.
