Yesterday I attended an event hosted by Women in Development of Greater Boston (WIDGB) on how to get value out of your organization's data.  Here is what I wanted to share with you: 1) James Cheng from Memorial Sloan Kettering says that he thinks about data in four ways: Hindsight - When reviewing the results of a project, what have I learned from it?  What could I have done differently to possibly...

A while back I attended a presentation by Google's Anthony Phalen on video content strategy.  He noted that ideally you want to create video content that entertains, educates and inspires.  A video doesn't necessarily have to do all three of these things, but if you can pull that off, then you've scored a home run. He shared a variety of useful tips, but the main ones that resonated with me and also...

Here's the fourth in our Did You Know series, on the subject of caffeine's absorption into the body. Coincidentally, a Harvard study was just release on the benefits of coffee.

Recently, I was introduced to a video called “Where Art Changes Lives,” which gave a glimpse into a visual arts non-profit center in San Francisco, Creativity Explored. This organization “is a place where developmental disabled artists come to strengthen their sense of self, explore their potential in the world and get the tools to establish themselves as working artists.” In this video we are introduced...

This week I watched a wonderfully powerful documentary film entitled, “Alive Inside.” It focuses on the work of Dan Cohen and his organization, Music & Memory. Their mission is to reconnect nursing home residents with a sense of their identity through music. By creating personal music playlists on iPods and distributing them to the nursing home residents, Dan and his team work to reestablish...

Okay, so this isn't really business-related, but the United Nations General Assembly has declared September 21st as International Day of Peace, a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. Back in 2010, our little guy, Sam, was in pre-school. Apparently, a few of his classmates were not getting along so well, and he decided to try his hand...

Not long ago, we were asked to produce a series of TED-like talks for an information services company, recording presentations delivered by several of their employees. Since then, we received another inquiry from a company that was interested in something similar. I thought I would share a few thoughts based on the work we did with our client. TED Talks come in different flavors, ranging from...

A couple weeks back, I posted on video strategy for nonprofits, reflecting on the first three fundamentals, out of ten, shared by YouTube's Jason Djang. Last week, I reviewed another four of his suggestions, #4-7.  And here I look #8-10.  Jason emphasized that not all of the ten fundamentals must be followed. They are simply strategies to keep in mind. 8) Accessibility - Is each video a stand-alone...

In a recent post on video strategy for nonprofits, I reflected on the first three of ten video fundamentals that YouTube's Jason Djang recommends to nonprofits. I now share with you another four of his suggestions, #4-7.  Jason emphasized that not all of the ten fundamentals must be followed. They are simply strategies to keep in mind. 4) Consistency - Are there strong, recurring elements to your...

Labor Day weekend is upon us, which means barbecues galore! And with barbecues means leftovers– yum! You would never let Grandma's baked beans go to waste, would you? Of course not! If you have leftover footage from your last video, would you let that go to waste? Many people do not realize the potential their existing content has to offer. Today Rachel discusses how to effectively use recycled...