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Making Use of Conferencing and Collaboration Technology to Further the Organic Transformation (Track This Article)

Notwithstanding the wave of modern publicity, the organic movement is by no means a new movement. In 1940, Rodale, a Pennsylvania agriculturalist used the term to describe a healthier practice of farming which was free of pesticides. And throughout, the organic community has occupied somewhat conflicting ground. The field is certainly beset by sometimes conflicting regulatory authorities including the Department of Agriculture, states and private organizations.

There are at least tens of thousands of certified organic growers in the US. Last year alone, North American consumer expended billions of dollars on organic fruit, vegetables and meat. And with this backdrop, there exists an entire industry of lobbyists, advocates, trade associations and ranchers.

So what do all of these diverse communities have in common? Apart from their shared goal in furthering the organic movement, all would benefit from the use of new communication technologies.

Indeed, most if not all organic organizations could benefit from the use of new technologies that enable teleconferencing and collaboration. extending from free conference solutions including Rondee that allow web arranged conferencing to new generation email newsletter services, there has not been a better time to adopt new technologies to further the organic mission. The following ideas are just a handful of tips.

Deploy an automated electronic newsletter platform

It wasn't too long in the past that sending out an email newsletter was time consuming and tricky. This has now changed. On-line services such as Mynewsletterbuilding, Sevista, and Campaign Monitor are making it possible to create scalable newsletters. These services reduce the work load by as much as seventy percent and in so doing enable organic organizations to concentrate on content creation as opposed to content delivery.

Develop your online networking

The most advanced organic lobbying organizations create strong networks of supporters who buttress their philosophy and mission. While the term networking often gets a less than ideal connotation, the simple reality is these networks can provide substantial aid to organic advocacy communities. Today in the San Francisco Bay Area, the expectation is that professional folks will have at least a rudimentary profile page 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 developing your network.

Leverage a free conference calling system

In the last five years, there has been growing collaboration between geographically diverse organic lobbying groups. One cause of this trend has been lower air travel costs – a trend that may now be sliding back with leaping oil costs.

Another cause is the ubiquity of free conferencing start-ups. A lot of these sorts of free conference call services, including the service offered by Rondee work on the same basic idea. They give you a PIN and a toll number to call. If all conference call users dial the same number and enter the same PIN code, they are placed into the conference.

Use data based decision-making

One of the most important trends recently affecting nonprofit organizations in the organic community has been the escalating reliance on evidence based decision-making. Practitioners can apply the same techniques with simple to use Excel or Lotus spreadsheeting applications to ascertain what works and what does not work. Increasingly, the hurdle for quality decision-making is rising and therefore reliance on conjecture is being replaced by empirical evidence to justify processes.

Desktop sharing

Some organic advocacy groups have far flung leadership teams, and it is impractical to expect face-to-face meetings. Technology is solving this problem by way of desktop sharing. Whether it's viewing a PowerPoint presentation displaying the group's development plan or a spreadsheet showing the performance desktop sharing can be very useful for not a few organic groups.

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Mindy Carpenter speaks frequently in terms of teleconferencing and similar topics of concern to organic advocates. Carpenter a player in the conference call service initially conceptualized by Rondee.

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