February 10th, 2006
UBC Robson Square, HSBC Hall

Does your nonprofit want to reach more members or a broader public — and could use the Internet to help? Are you an activist looking to get your message out to a larger audience — and could use online tools to do it cheaply? Do you work with technology yourself, and want to share your skills or knowledge with organizations in your community?

NetSquared North is your chance to find the knowledge, skills and people to strengthen our community’s use of online technology. This one-day tech bootcamp will gather local nonprofit leaders, activists and community organizers alongside local and visiting bloggers and tech experts. Hands-on, user-driven sessions will help you:

• expand your strategic thinking about how to use the web as a communications and organizing tool
• extend your tech skills with tips and techniques for blogging, online collaboration, and online outreach
• enrich your strategic and tech support network by making new connections with other local and visiting community organizers and tech experts

NetSquared North will be part of the second annual Northern Voice conference, Canada’s leading blogger gathering. Last year’s Northern Voice offered a great introduction to blogging for beginners, and lots of opportunities for experienced bloggers to expand their knowledge and networks. This year, Northern Voice has launched Moose Camp as an open space event so that people will have even more opportunities to learn from one another. We’re taking this opportunity to have our own Canadian version of the NetSquared nonprofit tech conference that will happen in San Francisco this May.

As an open space, NetSquared North will be driven by you: your challenges, questions and goals will set our agenda and inform how we use our day and our sessions. All of the sessions will be interactive and practical — no panels of talking heads! Some of the sessions that have been proposed so far include:

• Nonprofit blogging crash course with Marnie Webb of CompuMentor
• Online community building 101 with Nancy White of Full Circle Associates
• Online organizing from the roots up with Leda Dederich of dotOrganize
• Nonprofit tech clinic with Alexandra Samuel and Aaron Pettigrew of Social Signal

Please e-mail mail@socialsignal.com if you have ideas for other session topics, questions or skills you want the bootcamp to cover, or could volunteer as a facilitator or expert resource. Or add your suggestions to the NetSquared North wiki.

And please register to be part of this community event! Northern Voice is filling up fast, so if you want to participate in Friday’s NetSquared North bootcamp, or attend other Moose Camp sessions on Friday, please sign up soon.

We hope NetSquared North will be a great opportunity for community organizations in the Lower Mainland to expand their strategic, communications and tech capacity. Please forward this e-mail to local colleagues and friends, or to people who will be in town for Northern Voice – and thank you for your part in making NetSquared North a great event for our community.

1. There will be no day-of registrations. Saturday is essentially sold out, and Moose Camp is headed in that direction. As such, we won’t be accepting any day-of registrations.
2. Unless you’ve already registered for Moose Camp, you’ll have to register to attend NetSquared North, whether you’re a speaker, panelist or attendee.
3. Online registration closes February 6th at noon. We need a few days to print badges and the like.