What I Learned at the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference – Day 2

No preamble, right to the list on this one . . . 

• This really is the best conference out there.  Other conferences look at it and go, “Dang, that’s the conference I want to go to;
• A human brain can only handle so much Tom Ahern in one day because it just cannot process that much information
• To wit:  “It is criminally inefficient to suck at Thank You because it’s all you have to offer”  damn
• What is your SMIT – Single Most Important Thing (to say, tell a donor, etc.).  From Tom Ahern quoting Sean Triner
• I had a whole mini coaching session with Sean Triner before I knew Who He Is and when I found out it left me a little gobsmacked.  He told me I bored him to tears. It’s true, I did.
• Sean Triner should absolutely be on your ‘Run, Do Not Walk’ list 
• The nonprofit space is full of brilliant, caring, compassionate, kind people who are doing great work and are an inspiration. I spent two days with 600 of them
• We all have very similar challeng . . . er, opportunities . . . And if we tackled them, really tackled them, we could elevate the NPO/fundraising space to incredible levels
• We all struggle with a lack of respect and understanding of what fundraising is – by our communities, our colleagues, our leadership.  And we have a responsibility to own that fundraising is a specific skill that is learned, trained and honed.  And we have to get much, much better at speaking truth to power on that and claiming our space.  #hallwayconversations
• FUNDRAISING IS NOT MARKETING AND MARKETING IS NOT FUNDRAISING.  Didn’t actually learn this, just reinforced it
• I probably “ConferenceTweet” too much, but I get excited.
• “If you’re not making friends, you’re doing it wrong.” – Andy Crestodina.   Made some friends this week.
• Andy Crestodina – online strategy.  Seriously incredible.
• Marc Pitman says, to extroverts, that people won’t think you’re mad if you close s sentence with a period and not an exclamation point.  I do not believe this.
• I miss my dogs, now, so that’s the sign of a good trip and it’s time to go home.  
• Oh, and #FundraisingDogs needs to be a thing – the dogs of fundraisers and a virtual conference for them when all their moms and dads are at conferences.  Who’s in?