In reality we’ve relocated them ‘offsite’. Over time we realised that many of our members just want to attend meetings and training, receive information via email and newsletter, and keep up to date with news on our blog. There were very few members actually getting involved in online discussions and groups.

So rather than keep this website cluttered, we’ve simplified it. For most members of the Network this is likely to be what they want.

But the collaboration and online networking still has its place. So we’ve moved to a new tool to do this – Huddle (read lots more about this tool here).

Huddle is designed very specifically for this online collaboration, so we’ll see if it helps our members learn well from each other.

It’s invitation only. If you’re a member of our Network but wish to get involved in the collaboration online then let me know and I’ll create you an invitation – simple as that. If you want to discuss further what you’ll get out of it, just give me a call. I’ll be posting lots more information here soon about what the Huddle workspace will be used for, so watch this space.

Note: VANEL signed up to the corporate/charity version of Huddle for about £8 via the CTX programme. If you’re a charity and still not registered with CTX then perhaps you need to find out more. (Read this older article to find out more).

The meeting will take place at Grimsby Neighbourhood Centre between 9am and 1pm.

The meeting is free to attend for any existing members of our network or those potentially interested in joining.  So anyone who is responsible in any way for developing or maintaining IT or websites for voluntary or community organisations in the borough is more than welcome to attend.

Our session next week is sub-titled “Social Media for Social Change” and will focus for the morning on Social Media tools, how they work and how to use them within your organisations and communities.

Social Media is a new way of working with your communities, beneficiaries and partners.  Social Media can mean blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and more.  Social Media is about communicating, collaborating, interacting, campaigning, marketing and promoting in different ways.  Social Media can be cost effective and quick, but also involves knowledge and commitment.  You can use Social Media for your communications, to create a community, to fundraise effectively or to campaign quickly.

Our session will help you to understand Social Media concepts, understand the specific tools – such as Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, Flickr, YouTube etc, and you will be able to ‘get your hands dirty’ and try tools out in the workshop session.

Our agenda for the morning:

9am : refreshments, registration and informal networking
9.30am – start of session : Update from the IT Supporters Network – and update on our training programme, our new web initiatives and our “Making IT Happen” IT support project
10am : “Social Media for Social Change” – presentation, workshop & open discussion around all aspects of Social Media, looking at the tools available, ways to use them, learning from each other, Q&A etc
11am : refreshments break & networking
11.15am : Social Media Surgery workshop.  A chance to try out any Social Media tools for real with assistance from others.  Learn & try.
12.30pm : Light buffet snacks available to end the session – continue your networking or Social Media experimentation
1pm : session closes

If you would like to attend please can you let me (karl@vanel.org.uk) or Vicky (vicky@vanel.org.uk) know as soon as possible so we get the catering right.  Phone us at VANEL on 01472 231123.

If you can’t attend but would be interested in the Social Media theme then please still drop VANEL a line so we can see how we can help.

Find out more about these quarterly events by reading information or the flyer for our last meeting back in January.

Any questions or to register your interest to attend, please call Karl on 01472 231123 or email karl@vanel.org.uk.

Find out much more about the session on this dedicated webpage.

We’re now taking bookings for this session online using Eventbrite – book here (or call Vicky on 01472 231123 to book the traditional way).

You can read about the previous sessions here and if you can’t make the 8 April, watch out for the next session – we’re starting to run these monthly now.

“SURVIVE & THRIVE – A casebook of charity sustainability through technology”

Download the .pdf document here.

We’ll be looking through this and trying to apply lessons locally, but I’d be interested to hear your own feedback…

Our WordPress training session is back.  The next session is 9 March 2011 and will be held at West Marsh Community Centre.

The session runs from 9.30am – 12.30pm (registration from 9am).  The session will cost just £20 per organisation attending (max 2 attendees per org).

Places are very limited so please book soon.

The session is a full morning learning WordPress in depth – enough for you to get started on building a first WordPress website for your organisation.

To book call Karl Elliott or Vicky Hardy at VANEL on 01472 231123 or email karl@vanel.org.uk.

Not come across WordPress before?

Wordpress is a blogging tool (quick guide to blogs here).  It’s free.  It can do a lot more than just blogging – whole sites can be built around it.

You can get a free blog/site in seconds hosted by WordPress, or you can download the tool (for free) and host it yourself for complete control.

Most of the VANEL Third Sector Hub websites are built in WordPress – have a look:

www.thirdsectorhub.org.uk
www.thirdsectorhub.org.uk/itnet
www.vanel.org.uk/compact
www.thrivetrustees.org.uk
www.thriveleaders.org.uk
www.neltsp.org.uk/regen

Or take a look at some other cool examples of WordPress sites…

here, here, here, and here !

Not got a website?  Website tired & in need of work?  Do you have little money but some time and willingness to get going yourself? Give me a call to discuss or get yourself booked onto this course.

there’s a Websites group here for further discussion
or a Social Media group here to discuss blogging

lots more articles on websites, blogging, wordpress etc coming soon.

Thanks.  Karl

What is it?

what ingredients does a website need?
how much does a website cost?
how long will it take to build a website?
who needs to be involved?
how long is a piece of string?
can I get a volunteer to build it?
who should I approach?
what are html, css, php?  should I care?
will someone do it all for me?
why should we bother?

If your organisation has no website at all or has a website that needs work, how are you going about getting a useful website built or rebuilt?

Do you have the money, skills or resources to get a website sorted out?

Do you need to know what you don’t know?

This 2 hour briefing/training session/workshop is designed to talk you through all you need to know about getting your organisation online.
We’ll look at the key ingredients and the different recipies you can use to build a website.
We’ll look at who you might need to get the job done – DIY, keen amateurs or professionals?
We’ll dispel some myths, give some tips, answer your questions and worries and point you in the right direction.

The session will hopefully help educate you further and leave you understanding what to do next.

Session delivered by Karl Elliott, Hub Manager and IT Network Manager at VANEL.

Limited space – places still available – book now.

Book now by calling Karl Elliott or Vicky Hardy at VANEL on 01472 231123 or email karl@vanel.org.uk

It’s here : www.thirdsectorhub.org.uk/makingithappen

Why?

It’s about practical IT.  Where we (you?) try out new IT or put ideas into practice we want to blog about it and share how we did it (or how it failed!).

So rather than just point you in the direction of resources, we’ll tell you how we did it.

It’s a series of documented experiments – mostly from VANEL, but also from a couple of other partner organisations.  You might want to get involved too?

Visit the site.

Lots of useful resources and links were shared throughout the morning and I’m going to be making sure that details are posted here so that attendees (and non-attendees) can follow up on the points discussed.

Just a few first comments from this morning….

Thanks again to Chris and Glen from Virtual Riders for supporting the event today (by both attending and funding the venue & food!).

For those who didn’t make it, our agenda covered…

IT Trends to watch in 2011 for organisations in the VolCom sector.  In particular we discussed

Databases / capturing and using data
Cloud technologies
Collaborative tools
Social Media tools

We also learned more about Virtual Riders and spent a while too “cooking up a website” – discussing the practicalities of getting a website/online presence working for your organisation.

A lot was shared and needs following up from this morning.  I’ll be posting it all here over the next few days so keep an eye out for it!

Next quarterly networking meeting will be 12 April 2011.

The event – “IT Matters” is now being finalised.  An agenda/details flyer can now be downloaded from here.

We’d appreciate knowing if you’re coming or not.  Please call Karl or Vicky at VANEL on 01472 231123 or email karl@vanel.org.uk.

Free to attend.

Thanks to Virtual Riders for sponsoring this event.

This bulletin is short and sweet but gives an update on the various support activities we’ve got scheduled for January 2011.

Download it as a pdf here.  See you at an event soon.