The Great Snowpocalypse

It's been nearly a month since I've posted a blog entry- that's an unfortunate trend that I hope will not continue. The month of February so far has been very busy for me.

My work leading myImpact.org has gotten more intense and as the result of some successes that have accumulated in the past few weeks I now find myself with more responsibility and, with them, new challenges. By far our biggest project this month is a national online contest, Pepsi Refresh, where we are competing for a $25,000 grant. After 3 weeks of planning before the contest opened, the first two weeks of the four-month contest have been very successful, and we have held the Third Place position for the last nine days. I fully expect that the contest will become increasingly more intense in the second half and am gearing up for a large final push.

This funding will go along way towards moving myImpact from an idea into an organization and behind the scenes we are working through the hairy details of forming a Board, creating bylaws and transitioning from two friends working on something cool to the responsibilities that come with a public charity. This is a difficult process, but a necessary one in the life cycle of an organization, and I continue to learn so much as we go through it. On February 1st, I officially assumed the position of Executive Director- and will be formally "hired" by our newly formed Board in the weeks to come.

Then, with a busy February schedule filled with conferences, speeches, meetings and events, DC gets hit with a series of historic snow events that was popularly called "Snowpocalypse." In the course of one week, we were hit with three storms that dumped 6 inches, 27.5 inches and 12 inches respectfully. I was literally snowed-in for a week- and the crippled capital city is just now beginning to get back to normal.

Although it might have seemed fun (and potentially productive) to be snowed in for a week- it was surprisingly very stressful. City transportation services ground to a halt. Bus service was suspended for nearly a week. Above-ground Metrorail stations were closed, opened in shifts, and then closed again for the second snowstorm. Below ground, trains were only running at 30 minute intervals- and that was before a derailment during Friday morning's back to work commute. The residential street where I live was only plowed sporadically through the week- until Thursday night when a bulldozer came to plow (an unbelievable sight that I have never experienced before!). Then, events and meetings that were scheduled were canceled- some at the last minute- and still have yet to be rescheduled. Even an online meeting that I had scheduled for Wednesday night was postponed because one of the participants did not have power. And I haven't even mentioned the grocery stores- I went on Thursday and Wednesday before the respective storms and stood in line for over a half hour both times to check out- had to fight for a basket- and had to dig through a small selection of available food items. I felt that we were living in a city under siege, and in many ways, we were. Although I survived (and so did the city), it was not as cool as a week of snow may seem- and we all will be working through the effects of the storm at least for the rest of this month.

Not a lot has happened in the news- because Washington ground to a halt last week and the President's schedule was suspended. Congress didn't even bother to come in for work. There's going to be a big health care summit at the end of the month- although whether or not this is an opportunity to move forward is a subject for debate. The President signed PAYGO legislation that also includes an increase in the public debt limit. This morning, a current and former Vice President went at each other during different Sunday Morning talk shows. And the Olympic Winter Games have begun in Vancouver- where ironically they are in need of the snow that we have too much of back East.

As we move into this next week, the third of Pepsi Refresh and a return to normality, I'll attempt to update the blog more regularly (as well as the website..Google Reader...Digg...Google Buzz...).

Social Justice Camp DC- #SoJuCa

It's been a long time since I've considered Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to be part of a holiday weekend- and this year is no exception. Yesterday, I spent the day on the campus of George Washington University downtown for Social Justice Camp DC, an un-conference which brought together advocates, activists, non-profit leaders, and students around a single topic: social justice. 

The un-conference format maximizes attendee participation. In fact, the topics for the conference sessions are determined that morning, and are run entirely by the participants. Collaboration is key. Conversation is crucial. Networking comes naturally. All of this is done in the hopes that the take-away will be more meaningful than a traditional conference setting. 

The organizers of Social Justice Camp DC did a fantastic job setting the stage of the event for months. I first found out about the Camp at a networking reception in October at the home of Georgetown University social entrepreneurship professor Dr. Sarah Stiles (one of the great and most innovative minds in DC). I've been looking forward to the format, and to meeting fellow participants, since then. 

Leaving the un-conference, however, I had a similar feeling of malaise as I usually do when leaving a traditional conference -- unsure of what I actually learned that was new, innovative, different or (my favorite phrase) game-changing. Although I've come to believe that repetition is crucial, (i.e. asking the same question at different events in different ways by different people) I was looking for the un-conference to be a little different. I'll go as far as saying there was too much collaboration. Too much patting on the back. Not enough dissent. Not enough disagreement. I would have liked to defend why I feel so passionately about my work, and our approach of using social media & new technology to achieve our goals. 

Therefore, my only suggestion to future un-conference organizers of similar issues is that they make a conscious effort to reach out to "the other side" and get a wide range of opinions in the room. Make those of us who came together wanting to be together sit next to and discuss with someone who really doesn't. In the end, that's where the strongest results will come from. 

Here's a list of the conference sessions that we came up with yesterday. I led a discussion in the morning on how Social Media is Changing Engagement. 

For more information on Social Justice Camp DC, visit www.socialjusticecamp.org/dc and follow @SocJustCampDC on Twitter.