# Meeting face to face is still powerful – the next NFP tweetup is coming soon

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/08/11/meeting-face-face-still-powerful-next-nfp-tweetup-coming-soon/
- Published: 2010-08-11T08:03:00+01:00
- Author: Kevin Baughen

**Just to get it out of the way, tweetups started out as a meeting of people who
would normally connect via twitter. **

In less than two years, whilst that core principle has remained the same, their 
usage has become more widespread and the impacts far more powerful. If you want 
to hold a conversation with lots of people, in real-time, sharing experiences and
learning and involving those in the room with you as well as others online a tweetup
is a powerful tool.

I have two favourite examples to share which I’m actively trying to emulate for 
various organisations right now. The first is [NASA’s live tweetup](http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/sets/72157622635092926)
from the International Space Station held in October 2009. Members of the public
were invited to the session live with the team IN SPACE to ask questions, learn 
and share experiences. The twitter community followed online and got involved in
the conversation. When I was a child, [Skylab](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab)
was the space station reported on almost daily by John Craven’s Newsround but it
was so far away and I never got the chance to even think about having a chat with
the astronauts and other like-minded fans. Its incredible to think that children
in school today will have the opportunity to ‘meet’ and converse with people in 
space! For an interested audience, it doesn’t get much more engaging than that.

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My second example is the title event, the [NFP tweetup held in London](https://nfptweetup.pbworks.com).
Event number 8 will be held on [15 September](https://nfptweetup.pbworks.com/15+September+2010+-+8th+event)
and promises to be filled with ideas and stories of how charities around the UK 
are using twitter and other social media to help achieve their goals. And this is
my main point. As well as a great reason for like-minded people to get together,
the NFPtweetup is a real-world learning experience. I’ve attended several events
up to now and have been hugely impressed by the amount I’ve learned from the efforts
of others. I’ve also been able to join in brainstorming sessions on where the tools
can help charities in the future and share the experiences of my organisation and
those I work with to add to the collective learning.

Here are just five of the things I’ve learned from previous tweetups which have 
been useful:

 1. Continually updating or creating content for social media sites isn’t in reality
    a problem. Every time we receive a complaint or compliment letter, update or create
    a new campaign, publish a new case study, win an award, write a newsletter, create
    a fundraising campaign, policy drive or commission research we have something to
    talk about. Share what you already have.
 2. Stories from service beneficiaries or other impacted groups always work better 
    than our opinions in getting key messages across. This is true of all successful
    marketing but using twitter enables us to engage with and empower followers to 
    tell their own stories which, over time, reinforce the reasons why others should
    join, support, donate etc. Especially as twitter allows us to integrate videos 
    and pictures very easily to enrich the stories.
 3. Twitter, like all good marketing and communications tools, is far more powerful
    when integrated with other activity. Including twitter widgets within websites,
    emails, e-newsletters etc. gives users more opportunity to engage with you and 
    learn about your campaign or message beyond seeing an advert or campaign pack.
 4. Tracking and measuring success is key to understanding what is working and helping
    others within your organisation understand the benefits more clearly. The benefits
    are tangible and [Whizz Kidz](http://www.whizz-kidz.org.uk) shared the [best example I’ve seen](http://robdysonpr.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/nfptweetup-7-my-slides)
    to date of how integrating twitter effectively has a positive effect across a range
    of campaign metrics. There are many free and cheap tools available and most are
    also easy to use so we have no excuses really…
 5. You get out what you put in. Like all communications activity, a one-shot message
    is unlikely to have any lasting impact on your audiences. When charities invest
    time in building relationships with the social media community, integrate twitter
    into other activities and ensure content is relevant, fresh and engaging, the benefits
    multiply exponentially.

These gems were all based on real-world evidence and freely shared. That’s why I
shall be attending the next NFPtweetup and hoping to learn even more.  I will also
post any new ideas I pick up after the event here so watch this space…

 * **[Our soldiers need The Soldiers’ Charity](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/09/15/our-soldiers-need-soldiers039-charity/)**(
   15 September 2010)
 * **[Oxford University's campaign reaches one billion pounds](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/11/02/oxford-university039s-campaign-reaches-one-billion-pounds/)**(
   2 November 2010)
 * **[Email for fundraising and campaigning not dead yet…](https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/12/10/email-fundraising-and-campaigning-not-dead-yet/)**(
   10 December 2010)