Full Circle Associates

I'm working with Gabriel Shirley and others on the design team for Nexus for Change.

Gabriel just put up a great post that is a great example of technology stewardship in action. This reminded me I want to start highlighting examples of community technology stewardship in action. I'm planning to interview Amy Lenzo, one of the tech stewards for the World Cafe community next week. Some great stuff to share!

Attendr and the UnConference:

"In preparing for Nexus for Change, Peggy Holman reminded me of a new social networking tool that is designed to help stimulate interest and connections among participants before, during and after an event. It's called Attendr, and it's currently available for free to anyone who wants to try it out.

It's a kind of registration system where you fill out a profile, upload a picture, and add tags that represent your affiliations and areas of interest. Then you can identify other attendees you already know and read profiles of others to create a list of people you would like to meet. All of this plus a mashup that includes a GoogleMap of where attendees are from, flickr photos related to the event title, and recent blogs posts about your event. To see all of this in action, take a look at the Nexus for Change Attendr.

Overall, I think this is a great tool that provides a valuable service to those willing to take a few minutes to fill out a profile. I can identify not only who is coming to the event, but also whose interests overlap with mine so I have a sense of people I'd like to meet once the conference begins. And the map shows me if someone I already know is a friend of the people I'd like to meet.

Nexus for Change is not a population of techno-geeks, however, and it's clear from feedback I've received that some of Attendr's design is challenging for non-techies to understand on the first try. The biggest challenge for most people is figuring out how to identify people you know and those you want to meet. There are also some inconsistencies with site navigation that will hopefully be ironed out in a future release.

To improve the experience for Nexus users, I've created an Attendr instruction sheet that you are welcome to re-use for your own event. Contact me and I'll send you a Word version for easy editing. Early results indicate that the instructions provide most users easy access to Attendr's powerful and simple features."

I particularly appreciate not only Gabriel's stewardship for the Nexus for Change community, but his willingness to share out his learning. Thanks, Gabriel!