Rebecca, we’d love to know what advice would you give to someone to get the best out of a virtual conference?
We have a habit of treating virtual events very differently to in-person activity – how many webinars have we signed up for and not attended? Some key tips for getting the best out of an online event are:

• Be prepared and make time to participate fully 

I know that this is easier said than done! Set up your workspace to allow this – have your digital notepad (or traditional paper and pen!) on hand to capture notes, set up a shared document or Mural board for you and colleagues to add notes to, close down Slack, other apps and windows, and let colleagues know you’re attending an event, putting an out of office on to reduce distractions. 

2) Make sure you’re comfortable – In-person/physical events can be exhausting and being at a screen all day can be even more so. So be sure to create the best learning environment for you to participate in the conference and factor in breaks where possible. 

3) Take time to reflect on what you’ve seen and heard – Key learnings, interesting speakers, people to reach out to, follow-up actions that you can implement in your work. Don’t forget to compare and share these with your colleagues and networks or even write a blog to share more widely. 

Shifting the way you look at technology from a functional cost to that of a strategic investment aligned with your charity’s mission doesn’t happen overnight. It relies on an outcome-focused approach and champions within the organisation to help make the business case and contribute to its success. Exploring the Art of the Possible arms you with the roadmap of information and understanding that you need to invest in the right technology for your organisation. It helps to unlock the value and ability to achieve what you may have never believed possible.

The Salesforce Non-Profit Summit has so many amazing sessions, how would you go about picking the best sessions to go to?

“Don’t try to do everything! I’ve always aimed for a combination of high-profile and renowned names, those you have enjoyed hearing from before, and the sessions that challenge you to think differently or explore new areas. Take the time to plan in advance, looking at the biogs of the speakers to get a sense of who might have a relevant or inspiring story to share and ask other people if they have recommendations. Events like the Non-Profit Summit offer different tracks which allow you to focus on your particular areas of interest – liaise with your colleagues and others who are attending to make sure you cover all of the key sessions. And of course don’t miss Jane Goodall, Leslie Odon Jnr. or any of the keynotes! “

Rebecca, you’ve curated some of the biggest nonprofit events, what advice would you give to teams to share ideas post-event, so they can create more impact from what they’ve learned? 

“In an ideal world, we’d all have loads of time to meet and share our learnings but in reality, time is limited and it can be super hard to do this. If time allows, use your team meeting to feedback your learnings/takeaways, sharing the links to any on-demand content worth watching and any notes you’ve taken. Add a note in your calendar to regroup in a month’s time to see whether you have successfully managed to explore or implement any of the ideas gathered and what the impact of this has been. “

As leaders In supporting non-profits to accelerate their impact we’re super excited for Non-Profit Summit, and we hope to see you there! Register now, April 21st 2021 – it’s a free event to attend. 

About Rebecca Elcome

Rebecca is driven by bringing people together to bring about social change. She has delivered events and engagement strategies for charities, foundations and non-profits in the UK and internationally for 15 years. Alongside delivering events portfolios for Ark and BAFTA, clients have included English National Ballet, Garfield Weston Foundation, Global Schools Forum, Grassroot Soccer UK, The Royal Foundation and Unicef UK.

Working with grant-making organisations led Rebecca to set up the if25 forum for philanthropists and foundation leaders who fund climate, education, health and humanitarian work around the world. Her voluntary roles include Vice Chair of Ignite Hubs education charity and Marketing Consultant for Peace Partners.

 Rebecca is currently Director of Strategy at the Resource Alliance – a Salesforce.org charity partner. She recently co-founded FemMentored, a mentoring community for womxn in the social impact space.