Pimp My Nonprofit Panel at SXSW

Photo from Ed Schipul, taken by Eloy Zuniga

Yesterday's panel Pimp Non Profits  at SXSW was brilliantly moderated by Ed Schipul.  Ed is also a very good session designer too.  He got us together on the phone to discuss and design the panel in a month in advance, reviewed slides, help get us organized on-site and gave us some great last minute tips in the green room. 

The rest of the panelists included Rachel Weidinger, Erin Denny, and Michaela Hackner.   Rachel and Erin spoke about advocacy applications.  Rachel shared some great examples of social media advocacy campaigns. (Long Station blog has great notes here) Erin talked about the NetSquared Mashup (deadline on March 14th).  Michaela Hackner shared some insights on what it is like to be the sole techie in an organization and encouraging adoption of social media tools. (Her slides are gorgeous and you find the talking points on her blog.)  You can find a copy of my slides, notes, and resources on this wikitation)

A few bloggers blogged great notes and some other commentary below -- thanks so much.

Long Station
Patty in the Burbs
07G
Community Mobilization
David Lee King

Comments

[Nancy White]

Thanks for the report out. Now following all your juicy links.

I was looking for Michaela's slides and they are apparently not public on Slideshare and there are no notes on her blog. Any ideas?

[eschipul]

Thanks for all of your hard work preparing for the SXSW Non Profit panel Beth! Greatly appreciated by all!

[happykatie]

Thanks lady!! You did a super job and it was AWESOME having you as a fellow NPO pimp :)

[Jordan Viator]

Thanks for working so hard to create an awareness of nonprofits at SXSW this year, Beth. (Twitter is the new email marketing at events!) Your panel was great- lots of great information, advice and energy- and I hope to see an even greater NP presence in 2009!

[Allan Benamer]

Ok, that picture is kinda offensive and yes, I'm going there. For more information about pimp imagery, see:

http://www.blacknla.com/news/Articles/AASAntiPimp.asp

This was just a bad idea.

[happykatie]

For the record, the 'pimp my nonprofit' angle was a tongue in cheek pop reference to the MTV 'Pimp My Ride' series -- where people bring in their old beat-up cars to get spiffed up and blinged out.

The parallel being, of course, that NPOs can move from their older traditional marketing and fund raising techniques to incorporate new online tools and be even more bad ass (hence the sub-title of the panel: How Real Non Profits are using online technology to kick ass).

More info on the show: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pimp_My_Ride

Considering the SXSWi demographic (primarily young and cheeky geeks who would be familiar with the show's concept) the pop culture reference worked. We got our panel accepted, voted in and well attended.

Obviously if the pimping angle is taken literally it's amazingly offensive. And yes, I realize that taking cues from rap star Xzibit and hip hop culture isn't exactly PC. We were going for over the top and it worked. Will we do it again? Nope.

I'm very interested in hearing ideas that offended parties and NPO advocates have on submitting successful panels for next year. We went all out on this one and I'd love to throw in that same creative energy for themes that everyone feels more comfortable with.

In the end, it's all about growing nonprofit awareness - I'm sorry that our methodology didn't sit well with everyone. But what are your suggestions so we can make this conversation actionable?

[Aaron Long]

Beth, your presentation at SXSW was fantastic.

One of the first presentations that showed how much hard work is involved in building the relationships and how interlinked offline and online communications can be. The bonus included showing some behind the scenes philosophy in motivating other people too.

I loved it.

[Aaron Long]

Also,

On Allan's comments regarding the inappropriateness of "pimps". I believe that something as horrible as a "pimp" has taken on new meaning in our culture.

The new meaning can be illustrated the same way "pirates or ninjas" have turned from "robbers and murderers" to "fun-rebellious" and "skilled".

Pimp is very commonly used to indicate that something has been improved. Don't take it for more than it is.

[Allan Benamer]

Thank you Aaron for endeavoring to put your own condescending spin on the word "pimp". As soon as we can stop speaking Aaronish, can we go back to speaking English now?

Pimp imagery is still not acceptable to many (if not most) people in the African American community. Knowing what I know about how racism plays out in America, I have to agree on this issue.

I've been confronted with stereotypes all my life and when having raised those issues, been confronted with "don't worry about it" comments like Aaron's. It's dismissive and condescending and I do not accept it.

For the record, it seems some people have already started to apologize for this picture via Twitter but I guess I will have to wait until a more public apology is in order.

[Armando Rayo]

Hi Beth. I loved your story! And actually, I was only waiting for you to go on. Tip for next time: all panelists should be as engaging and exciting as you!

Also, have you heard about Robert Egger's V3 Campaign? Check it out....
www.v3campaign.org.

Mando
www.handsoncentraltexas.org

[Aaron Long]

I like Aaronish (thanks) and so does Wikipedia:

In the first years of the 21st century, however, a new meaning of the word has emerged in the form of a transitive verb which means "to decorate" or "to gussy ." The instigation for this new definition stems from Pimp My Ride, an MTV television show. Although this new definition paid homage to hip-hop culture and its connection to street culture, it has now entered common, even mainstream commercial, use.

[Allan Benamer]

Ain't nothing like a Wikipedia defense to cover up the fact you're a tool.

Pimp that.