TSDigs 2012 Kicks Off at the Nonprofit Commons: Get Your Digital Stories Ready!

glitter kristy michael and rik 0112c

On January 6, 2012, Kristy Graves, Susan Tenby, and Michael DeLong of TechSoup spoke to the Nonprofit Commons community about the launch of the 2012 TSDIGS initiative. TSDIGS stands for theTechSoup Digital Storytelling Challenge,a fun, friendly competition to encourage nonprofits to share their story using different digital media tools.  There are great prizes and its a great way to get your nonprofit’s message to a wider audience.

Several members of the Nonprofit Commons community were active participants last year. We’d love to see at least 10-15 submissions this year.  The challenge is in February, so start thinking of what story you want to tell, and what medium you want to use now!

The full transcript of their talk is below. Thanks for speaking at the NPC, Kristy Susan, and Michael!


[08:57]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ok lets move on to our featured speakers…

[08:57]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Kristy and Michael, come on down please

[08:57]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): or right click on one of the chairs beside me

[08:58]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): Yay Kristy welcome!

[08:58]  Sage Geddins: Hi everyone!

[08:58]  Sarvana Haalan: hello

[08:58]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Sage and Bulaklak are two of my colleagues at TechSoup

[08:58]  Sage Geddins: It’s been a while since I’ve been here, nice to see all you

[08:59]  Sarvana Haalan: wooot, TechSoup!!!!

[08:59]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Bulaklak, are you coming down?

[08:59]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): or just suppporting from the audience?

[08:59]  Glitteractica Cookie: I’ll sit here with my team!

[08:59]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): there you go

[08:59]  Sage Geddins: he was coming to help me out 🙂

[08:59]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): We are here to morally support Sage, who has never presented here before

[09:00]  Sage Geddins: Since it’s been a while since I’ve been here. Thanks for helping me out

[09:00]  Glitteractica Cookie: I think she has, year ago, actually

[09:00]  Jen (jenelle.levenque): Welcome Page

[09:00]  Sage Geddins: Yes, it’s been a year. Was here last year for TSDigs

[09:00]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): So they are going to tell us about TSDigs, the TechSoup digital storytelling challenge

[09:00]  Sage Geddins: Cool, yes, we’re excited for this year’s Challenge

[09:00]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Please give them your best attention, since it sa really cool project that can help you

[09:01]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): take it away Sage.

[09:01]  Sage Geddins: http://tiny.cc/tsdigs

[09:01]  Glitteractica Cookie: I can give a littel history, if you want, Sage

[09:01]  Sage Geddins: this year we’re partnering with a cool nonprofit in Austin, Lights. Camera. Help.

[09:01]  Sage Geddins: http://lightscamerahelp.org

[09:01]  Glitteractica Cookie: Let’s take a step back and give a little context/background

[09:02]  Glitteractica Cookie: Is that OK, Sage?

[09:02]  Sage Geddins: And the Challenge will be a month long event during February

[09:02]  Glitteractica Cookie: OK, So, For those of you asking, What is the Dis all about…?

[09:02]  Sage Geddins: During that we’ll be hosting a series of webinars, tweetchats, and resources that will help organiztions tell their story digitally, through video or digital pictures

[09:03]  Sage Geddins: Do we have anyone here who participated in last year?

[09:03]  Glitteractica Cookie: Sage– I’m going to do a little background context ok?

[09:03]  Glitteractica Cookie: Ahem…

[09:03]  Sage Geddins: Sure

[09:03]  Glitteractica Cookie: So, to give this a little context…

[09:04]  Glitteractica Cookie: A few years back we launched the TechSoup Digital Storytelling Campaign. It was a challenge to teach nonprofits how to better tell their story. I had been noticing that most orgs were not versed in telling their own stories well

[09:05]  Glitteractica Cookie: The only orgs who really thought about storytelling and the practice of creating stories to tell their org’s mission in a way that is more than just words on a page were Domestic Violence agencies

[09:05]  Glitteractica Cookie: The DV orgs had Digital Storytelling down, but most other orgs were falling behind. So, we launched an educational Campaign that culminated ina challenge for orgs to create digital stories

[09:06]  Glitteractica Cookie: This event will occur over a month and most importantly… it si a CROSS PLATFORM event.

[09:06]  Glitteractica Cookie: WWhat that means is that it is decentralized and the entire campaign is held together across social networks via a single hashtag, #TSDIGS

[09:07]  Glitteractica Cookie: so, with that minor background, i think you all have a little more background to learn about this year’s events

[09:07]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): thanks, glitter

[09:07]  Glitteractica Cookie: OK, we can answer questions after

[09:07]  Glitteractica Cookie: Back to Sage

[09:07]  Sage Geddins: Thanks, Glitter

[09:07]  Sarvana Haalan: nice

[09:07]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): perhaps update people on what is new this year, Sage?

[09:08]  Sage Geddins: Yes. One big new part is the partnership with Lights Camera Help, LCH – great nonprofit out of Austin that hosts a nonprofit film festival every year…

[09:08]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): Amazing educational resources coming together

[09:09]  Sage Geddins: They’ll be leading our three training webinars on production

[09:09]  Sage Geddins: The webinars will be on the first three Thursdays in Feb, at 11am Pacific

[09:10]  Sage Geddins: We’re working on updating the site now, but will be posted at http://tiny.cc/tsdigs or you can sign up to be notified at http://bit.ly/tsdigssubscribe

[09:10]  Sage Geddins: We’ll also be hosting a series of tweet chats for those you on Twitter, Tuesdays at 11am Pacific.

[09:10]  Sage Geddins: As Glitter mentioned, the tag is #TSDigs

[09:11]  Glitteractica Cookie: That tag is also finable on FLickr

[09:11]  Sage Geddins: Organizations have the month of Feb to create a 60 second video or 5 picture slideshow on Flickr

[09:11]  Sage Geddins: The cool thing is, you’re creating a story about your own organization, so you can keep it to use for your own marketing or recruiting

[09:11]  Sarvana Haalan: awesome

[09:12]  Sage Geddins: But we will have prizes!

[09:12]  Glitteractica Cookie: really GOOD prizes, courtesy of our TechSoup Donation partners!

[09:12]  Sage Geddins: We’ll be awarding prizes from our donor partners like Adobe and Flickr

[09:13]  Sage Geddins: Here’s a link to last year’s winners so you can see what the finished stories looked like TechSoup Winners http://bit.ly/xdNw20

[09:13]  Sage Geddins: Room to Read won 1st place from our expert judges, and it was their first video they created

[09:14]  Sage Geddins: We’ll also be having a Community Audience Choice Award again this year

[09:14]  Sage Geddins: So make sure to share stories with your communities!

[09:15]  Sage Geddins: Not sure if I saw BuffyB here? but here’s her video submission from last year http://bit.ly/woOlYw

[09:15]  Glitteractica Cookie: i don’t see buffy

[09:15]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): seh’s not here right now

[09:15]  Sage Geddins: Does anyone have any questions? Or any my team have anything to add?

[09:16]  Jen (jenelle.levenque): Will we be watching from the Drive-in again this year?

[09:16]  Sage Geddins: Yes! Definitely

[09:16]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Is the campaign clear to folks? Basically tell your stories, win great prizes

[09:16]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): We will stream the screening show as in previous years during our OCTribe meetup in March.

[09:16]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): people really liked that drive-in

[09:16]  Sage Geddins: We’ll be hosting an Red Carpet awards screening March 28th in SF and will be streaming into the Drivein

[09:17]  Jen (jenelle.levenque): When is the deadline for submission?

[09:17]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): Feb 29th – leap day!

[09:17]  Sage Geddins: February 29th

[09:17]  Sage Geddins: And opens Feb 1

[09:17]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): lucky this year we get one extra day to play

[09:17]  Sarvana Haalan: Can all NPCSL residents can submit their stories?

[09:18]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I’m counting on a big showing this year from the NPC community

[09:18]  Sarvana Haalan: *NPSL

[09:18]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): all nonprofits can enter a video

[09:18]  Jen (jenelle.levenque): Who/how, do we submit

[09:18]  Sarvana Haalan: sorry my fingers are not working right today

[09:18]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): lets show the world how awesome your work is

[09:18]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): global orgs are welcome and encouraged to join in!

[09:18]  Sarvana Haalan: indeed

[09:18]  Sage Geddins: You’ll be able to submit your stories directly on the TechSoup website

[09:18]  Glitteractica Cookie: by global, In Kenzo means Non-US

[09:18]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): The entry form will be up starting Feb 1

[09:19]  Glitteractica Cookie: via the link Sage sent around before, tiny.cc/tsdigs

[09:19]  Sage Geddins: http://tiny.cc/tsdigs will be able to take you there

[09:19]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): so who is thinking about submitting their story already?

[09:19]  Glitteractica Cookie: best best is to sign up for the google group

[09:19]  Sage Geddins: http://bit.ly/tsdigssubscribe

[09:19]  Sage Geddins: is the link to the Google Group

[09:19]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Sounds like Sarvana is considering it

[09:19]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): Who else?

[09:19]  Jen (jenelle.levenque): Raises hand

[09:20]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): yes!

[09:20]  Sage Geddins: awesome!

[09:20]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): Last year we had at least 5 NPSL entries – would love to see more in 2012

[09:20]  Jen (jenelle.levenque): I’m thinking of getting something together

[09:20]  HB Eternal: Our entry last year has had over 6,000 views on our TLF Channel (one of 175 videos we offer) so we will create a new one again

[09:20]  Glitteractica Cookie: the prizes are video cameras, an Ipad, great adobe software and more

[09:20]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): sweet HB!

[09:20]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): awesome HB

[09:20]  Glitteractica Cookie: That’s great HB!

[09:20]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): Now’s a great time to build organizational support to participate in February, gather your team

[09:20]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): I’d like at least 10 from the NPC community

[09:20]  Sarvana Haalan: wow!!!

[09:21]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): which is totally do-able

[09:21]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): we have 140 members

[09:21]  Sarvana Haalan: hoping to add to your numbers soon

[09:21]  Sage Geddins: There’s a great post InKenzo wrote last year on how much time it takes http://bit.ly/tsdigstime

[09:21]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): and many more groups taht are involved in our community

[09:22]  Sage Geddins: It can take less than you think!

[09:23]  Sarvana Haalan: Zinnia did an awesome job telling the participating orgs’s stories for the “Wishes Granted” Winter Festival

[09:23]  Zinnia Zauber: Thank you, Sar!

[09:23]  Zinnia Zauber: It was a super team effort!

[09:23]  Sage Geddins: Do you have a link to that video?

[09:24]  Sarvana Haalan: my rl colleagues were quite impressed with the information shared

[09:24]  Zinnia Zauber: Sage, it is an inworld project, not a video.

[09:24]  Sage Geddins: ah, sorry

[09:24]  Zinnia Zauber: You can still view them before we take them down for the next CommonGround.

[09:25]  Sarvana Haalan: couldn’yt it be made into a video adding a narrative voice over

[09:25]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): all of those could easily be translated to digital stories

[09:25]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): So there’s tons of opportunities coming up

[09:25]  Zinnia Zauber: Yes, you could totally do that!

[09:25]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): We’d love to have you join us for #NPlive on 1/25 on collaborative video production for orgs

[09:25]  InKenzo at Amoration (in.kenzo): to get the ball rolling

[09:25]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): and lots of people around to help

[09:26]  Sarvana Haalan: I trully hope the the Wishes Granted” presentation is included…

[09:26]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): ok I think we’ve cheerleaded enough for TSDigs

[09:26]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): thanks Sage and my team for all the great info

[09:26]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): We’ll also be posting this to our blog soon

[09:26]  Sage Geddins: Thanks Rik

[09:27]  Rik Panganiban (rik.riel): but seriously I want at least 10-15 stories from our community

Written by: rikomatic