This diagram is licensed by Deborah Elizabeth Finn under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
The main reason for attending NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference can be illustrated with the Venn diagram shown above. As you can see, the overlap between passionate computer geeks and passionate nonprofit/philanthropic professionals is very small. But the folks in that green zone, it’s somewhat of a tribe, an ethnic group. If you fall into that zone, then you simply need to be at the conference. You need to be with your people.
I will of course be there, although my primary purpose will not be to attend the sessions. My goal is to have as many conversations as possible with people who share my interests. Historically, it happens at NTC in hallways, in lounges, over dinner, and at gatherings that are not listed on the official schedule. In the early years, the most exciting place for conversation was breakfast and lunch – however, to my ongoing sorrow, the conference organizers shifted to the principle that if you gather everyone in the tribe for a meal, the best thing that you can do for them is preclude conversation by bringing in a plenary speaker. I love the NTEN staff very much, but on this point, I think that they are as wrong as they can be. We just have to agree to disagree.
Therefore, I will be at NTC, available for conversations in hallways, in lounges, over dinner, and at unofficial events. If you want to talk, let’s talk. Send me an email, and let me know where and when.
Tagged: #13ntc, agree to disagree, charity, communication technology, computer geeks, conversation, ethnic group, ict, information technology, mission-based, ngo, nongovernmental organization, nonprofit, nonprofit technology, nonprofit technology conference, nonprofit technology network, nptech, ntc, nten, overlap, philanthropic, professional association, professional development, professional networking, technology, trade association, tribe, venn diagram
Deborah Elizabeth Finn 
I agree that having meal speakers hinders networking opportunities. At one user’s conference I was at, the hosting organization conducted a networking lunch at the surprise of its attendees. As I was coming into the dining area I was greeted by one of the hosting staff with a card that told me what number table to sit at for salad, entree, and dessert. This forced us attendees to move every 20 minutes and introduce ourselves to others. For one of the dinners we sat with attendees from organizations similar in characteristics as ours.
Jason
I find there’s normally enough time to meet new people at meals and benefit from the speaker but then again I’m not big on small talk.
I’d say the Venn diagram needs a 3rd oval for “those willing/able to work for a non-profit salary”. You will find many people who want to creative positive change and who have high end technical skills, but it is very hard to find a sharepoint developer/DBA/coder who will, or worse, can afford, to work for 80K Bay Area or 48K Chicago/Philly.
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