Sharing the Wealth (of Knowledge)
Meetings. Conferences. Dinners. Gatherings. Scheduling. Airlines. Hotels. Expenses. Such is life on the road.
Why do we do this? What draws us to go far out of our way to convene face to face? Is it the thrill of travel? The exotic locations? Meeting friends and colleagues in person? The ease of brainstorming in real time? Probably all of the above. They are key elements of convening great minds to address a challenge and at least in part, why we continue to do it.
But what about the information to come out of these events however? Where does it all go? Given the vast number of meetings/conferences/dinners/gatherings that take place globally each year, why do we not have an equally tempting way to share all of the knowledge and insight derived from these discussions? In our case, monitoring and evaluation is top of mind for many organizations. Some great advances in thinking and process have been made, and there is a great deal of new information generated every day about what works. Why, then, does the community not know about these advances. Why, then, does the community not know about them and therefore continue to trudge down the same road as always?
Read more at SVT on Impact, part of the Skoll Foundation's Blog on ...
We welcome your insightful thoughts and comments.
SVT on Impact. Sara Olsen and Brett Galimidi, partners at Social Venture Technology Group, bring you the latest trends, approaches, examples and general musings on how to manage resources to generate the greatest positive impact possible.
Why do we do this? What draws us to go far out of our way to convene face to face? Is it the thrill of travel? The exotic locations? Meeting friends and colleagues in person? The ease of brainstorming in real time? Probably all of the above. They are key elements of convening great minds to address a challenge and at least in part, why we continue to do it.
But what about the information to come out of these events however? Where does it all go? Given the vast number of meetings/conferences/dinners/gatherings that take place globally each year, why do we not have an equally tempting way to share all of the knowledge and insight derived from these discussions? In our case, monitoring and evaluation is top of mind for many organizations. Some great advances in thinking and process have been made, and there is a great deal of new information generated every day about what works. Why, then, does the community not know about these advances. Why, then, does the community not know about them and therefore continue to trudge down the same road as always?
Read more at SVT on Impact, part of the Skoll Foundation's Blog on ...
We welcome your insightful thoughts and comments.
SVT on Impact. Sara Olsen and Brett Galimidi, partners at Social Venture Technology Group, bring you the latest trends, approaches, examples and general musings on how to manage resources to generate the greatest positive impact possible.
Tags: capital, csr, development, economic, human, impact, knowledge, social
Comment
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Comment by Michelle Dinger on May 10, 2009 at 10:25pm - I totally agree. set up meeting on-site of projects, much more effective.
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Comment by VENKATARAMAN MACHIRAJU on May 9, 2009 at 1:54am -
Dear Ms Johanna Hoopes,
I agree with your points on why do we need conferences and High meetings or workshops and I too wonder whats happening to all participants who listen such great ideas and workable solutions across the world , but fail to replicate or introduce any innovative scheme to other areas. I wonder sometimes CEO or Practioneers of various development initiatives do not want copy any things ,they would prefer to start afresh everytime.
Even when I attended microfinance conferences here in India, I found same old faces repeatedly coming on to the stage and talking with all the sincerity and the participants meeting their friends etc.
Instead of these large conferences or workshops, I think we should conduct smaller meetings along with the people at the sites of the projects, where by people also will listen and learn on why we are working on these development programmes,in turn we would also generate involvement from the beneficiaries also. secondly we may provide an opportunity to organise such get togethers by the communities themselves .
Just an idea. we can explore.
With Best regards,
Raman
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