That’s why PhilanthroMedia has spent the past year pioneering what we call Conference Engagement 2.0. Our best test case occurred over the summer and fall of 2009, when the Communications Network engaged us to implement an effort that would increase engagement among attendees at its annual conference, held October 14-16 at the Ford Foundation in NYC.

The goals were to provide: a.) Hands-on experience with Conference 2.0 technologies/approaches that would enable members to better understand how to promote interactivity at their own gatherings. b.) Opportunities for Squad members to interact with their fellow conference attendees, and to network in a productive way. c.) Content that could be used to continue dialogue after the conference was concluded, as well as to involve those who were unable to attend this sold-out gathering.

The experiment was widely lauded as a success and we have since launched components of this approach with OSI-Baltimore and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Want to know how we did it and what we learned? Check out the resources and evaluation materials which the Communications Network has made available here.

Over the past six months, Bruce has given me the honor of interviewing some of his best and brightest on the intersection between communications and foundation impact. The format we implemented – known as a “diavlog” – was pioneered by bloggingheads.tv, and it’s version is featured each week on the New York Time’s video home page.  (Our home-brewed version couples Skype with split-screen recording to create a talk show format for the web.)

At a half-hour each, the conversations are way too long for this sound-bite world, right?  That’s true unless you accept, as we do, that the best stuff emerges only in the context of exploration and dialogue. (Don’t worry, we will be distilling nuggets and themes from across the conversations in the coming months.)

Here are a few of the a-ha moments I have gained through these conversations:

• Teresa Detrich, electronic media specialist for the Lumina Foundation, tells me in an upcoming episode that one of the reasons Lumina has moved so aggressively to implement social media is because “if you want to work with innovators, you have to live where they do.”
• Mark Sedway and Cheryl Heller both told me, when pressed to describe explaining what foundations have to gain from effective use of social media, “It’s about relationships, stupid!”  The days when foundations could give away money and call it a day are long gone.  Now we actually have to listen to one another, find common ground, and move together.
• Phil Buchanan spoke convincingly about the need for the charitable sector to simultaneously communicate two messages: 1.) What we do is good, and 2.) We must always work to make it better.
• Albert Ruesga, president of the New Orleans Foundation (GNOF), tells me in an upcoming episode why GNOF named its blog “Second Line Blog.”   In New Orleans, it is the Second Line which follows behind a traditional funeral march, celebrating life rather than mourning death.  From my perspective, foundation communications have been all too often deadly dull, institutional, funereal.  I want PhilanthroMedia to be part of that Second Line which sings and celebrates in truly human voices.

More than 450 posts later, we’ve learned a number of valuable lessons about the value of blogging that make us uniquely qualified to guide our clients in answering the questions “to blog or not to blog?  At a high level:

1.  -The Blog Monster is Voracious! In order to keep your content fresh, and to keep readers returning, you have to post regularly.  If you are going to host a blog as part of your communications strategy, be sure you understand clearly why you are making this move.

2.  -Blog Posts are (Relatively) Easy to Write.  One of the best things about blogging is that brevity is expected.  When you come up with a great insight, you knock out three paragraphs about it and see if anyone gives a flying flip.  If they do, you might want to spend more time fleshing it out.

3.  -Blogs Increase Your Visibility on Google.  Try to understand how Google archives your web and blog content and your head may fall off.  Those guys aren’t bazillionaires because what they do is intellectually accessible by the likes of mere mortals.  But two years of posting has shown us the results — more posts pop up when you use both blogs to advance ideas and make them easy for others to pick up on.

At Pm, we haven’t gone deep into the science of blogs — but we have learned the pros and cons of how they can be used as part of a broader strategy — info we would love to share if with organizations aggressively advancing ideas that matter.

Professional Equipment – It isn’t just a “nice to have.” Web video doesn’t require $50,000 HD cameras used for broadcast TV, but the standard camera starts at $3,000 and the editing, sound and lighting requirements add up from there. With a lot of time-intensive, resource-heavy maneuvering, hand-held cams, internal mics and iMovie might add up to an acceptable  product, but producing such a product without great equipment requires the guide of a talented hand (who likely already has access to the professional equipment that can bring your product from acceptable to astonishing).

Tapping New Talent –  Day rates are pricey for cameras, sound equipment, editing machines, and graphic artists. Managing emerging talent requires an investment of time and energy, and it helps to be in a market rife with such creativity like NYC or LA. If, however, you produce a large quantity of content like we do, talent “eager to prove” can keep costs down. (But it also requires that you get into the nitty gritty, understanding every step of the process to effectively manage the product).

Crew of One –- Video production, in particular, is a field in which specialization has been the norm. Traditional film crews are made up of the best sound recordists, lighting designers, shooters, directors, etcetera, you can get. So it was pretty heretical (but oh so cost effective) to send PhilanthroMedia’s Susan Herr to ten cities in ten days to film, interview, edit and schlep her equipment as a film crew of one. Especially with travel costs rising, video crews of one or two “jacks of all trades” will definitely emerge as an alternative, cost-effective trend.

Video Conferencing – We are also exploring even more cost-effective approaches to high-quality media through the use of video conferencing software. In one scenario, the crew of one is less expensive because he or she doesn’t also have to conduct the interview. The client, who knows the issues best, conducts the interview over iChat while the professional camera person captures it in high-quality. Enter MayorTV. This fall, we will begin producing “diavlogs” that capture audio from two folks talking to one another via iChat technology, and spliced together in one interview.

If you have other ideas for achieving the sweet spot between quality, cost-effectiveness and innovation, we welcome your comments.