Year: 2013

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Come Brainstorm Ways to Use the City of Houston’s Big Data for Good with Netsquared this May!

houston netsquared logo 2012 twitter

 

#NET2Houston will host the City of Houston and Houston’s Civic Hackers on May 14th for our monthly meetup at Stag’s Head Pub. RSVP on the Netsquared Houston meetup group.

 

Houston’s City Data Goes Open Source

I’m really excited about our upcoming event, where we’ll learn about the City of Houston Hackathon to kick-off the City of Houston’s Open Data Initiative.

City of Houston Open Innovation HackathonBruce Haupt, from the City of Houston’s Finance Department, will share the vision of Mayor Annise Parker and Council Member Ed Gonzalez for utilizing Houston’s Open Data Initiative to improve our city.

Bruce will show you some examples of how initiatives like this have benefitted other cites, and tell you about some of his favorite projects. You can view a few ideas the Mayor’s office has developed on the HoustonHackathon.com Projects page.

We’re going to also be brainstorming our own ideas about how open City data sets can help advance civic-minded causes in Houston!

Learn More about Open Data and Your City

Open source data sets are rapidly being released by local, state and Federal governments regularly now, and thanks to newer technology frameworks, like Django and Rails, it’s easier than ever to connect to different databases and sync or share data sets.

Here’s 3 awesome links to get quick facts and juicy details about the City of Houston and Code for America’s Open Data and Innovation projects:

1) The Code for America App database aims to be the “most complete and up-to-date database of government and civic software”, according to their website: (http://commons.codeforamerica.org/apps/), and some of the apps they have listed are really incredible and they’re open source.

ckan_logo_box2) The open data portal software that Houston’s data portal will utilize is called CKAN. CKAN provides the tools needed to enable and manage file and data sharing between two databases. Learn more about Code for America’s open source data portal platform: http://commons.codeforamerica.org/apps/ckan.

3) Read the Mayor’s Press Release announcing the Hackathon and Open Initiative Program launch: http://www.houstongovnewsroom.org/go/doc/2155/1762955/.

How Will You Use the Data for Good?

Tuesday May 14th – Join us for Netsquared at Stag’s Head Pub

Come share your ideas for using the city’s data with Bruce and other civic-minded hackers and techies. Your ideas on how to use these data sets can dramatically improve our community by providing us with more accurate, real time data about our city’s resources and how they’re utilized.

May 17th-May 19th – Join us at the Houston Hackathon

The City of Houston will Kick-Off the Open Data Initiative with a weekend long Houston Hackathon.

Ed and I will be sharing Tendenci t-shirts and stickers at the Hackathon, and we’re available to help with your project if you need an extra geek. If you’re interested in using Tendenci’s open source platform for building a city data app, come find me because I have a few ideas about how nonprofits and associations might want to use public city data with their websites and membership databases.

Join Us Tuesday, and Bring a Friend!

Leave your comments below if you have ideas to share, and follow the conversations on Facebook, too!

“Like” Net2Houston on Facebook

“Like” Tendenci on Facebook

RSVP for the Houston Hackathon Pre-Launch Happy Hour on Facebook

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10 Things Nonprofit Marketers can Learn from Packaged Goods Marketers – AMA Houston Panel Recap

AMA Houston NPO Marketing Event

Our team spent yesterday morning with the American Marketing Association of Houston (AMA Houston) as part of their Nonprofit Special Interest Group on the topic 10 Things Nonprofit Marketers Can Learn from Packaged Goods Marketers.

The panel was comprised of Suzy LaForge (Principal, La Forge Consulting), Michael Hagan (Consultant & Coach, Marketing and More), and Lynda Sanders (Marketing/Communications Director, Boy Scouts of America Sam Houston Area Council) sharing lessons and case studies of nonprofit marketing inspired by the for profit packaged goods industry.

Why Packaged Goods as an Example?

As Suzy put it – “Packaged goods is the grand daddy of marketing.” Many case studies in business schools and MBA programs revolve around these highly targeted, high budget, high volume campaigns.

Crowd - Houston AMA NPO Nonprofit Marketing Panel

Ten Things Nonprofit Marketers can Learn from Packaged Goods Marketers

1. Have a Plan

Suzy recommended NPOs use the same framework that for profit companies use when running a campaign. Know your:

  • Objectives
  • Target Audiences
  • Strategies (product, price, place, promotion)
  • Tactics – message, media, promotion

Be sure to think both external and internal (don’t forget internal!).

2. Know Your Audiences

In packaged goods, your audience is made up of buyers, your salesforce, and the store. For nonprofits, your audience may be your board, donors, community, etc.

Focus not only on the question “Who are they?” – but also “What’s important to them?” Dig into their motivations of  why they donate, volunteer, purchase, join, etc.

Spend time to determine how they perceive you – this may be something you think you know, but you really can’t without an objective survey or focus group.

3. Know Your Competition

For non-profits, your competition may not just be other non-profits. Your competition includes other people competing for your audience’s attention and time.

4. Identify Your Brand

Who are you? What makes you distinctive?

5. Develop Your Message – the “Elevator Pitch”

Your elevator pitch should be:

  • Short, scripted
  • Put the “Why” before the “What”
  • Tell a story
  • Include an ask

6. Build Relationships

In packaged goods marketing, loyalty programs make people feel valued and invested in your product. Think of how you can build relationships with your audience by providing more value for them.

7. Recognize the Value of Word of Mouth

Create content that people will want to share. The example Suzy used here is a video Dove made as part of their “Real Beauty” campaign called Dove Real Beauty Sketches.

The video shows a woman behind a curtain describing herself to a forensic scientist who draws a picture of her based on her description, and then cuts to him drawing her based on a stranger’s description. In every case, the image the stranger described was more beautiful. The video and drawings got buzz in the media and has been viewed over 35 million times!

8. Use “Free” Samples and Promotions

Free samples in packaged goods marketing serve to engage people with your product with almost no effort from them. Think of ways you can engage people with your organization to “get them hooked” – for example, Houston’s Neighborhood Centers allows anyone on their board to invite friends or new supporters for tours of the facility to engage them with the organization.

9. Learn from Traditional Advertising

Things Traditional Advertising does that can inspire NPOs:

  • Use Testimonials
  • Show, don’t tell
  • Offer a benefit
  • Grab attention quickly
  • Use emotion
  • Consider non-conventional media

10. Never Underestimate the Power of PR

Find the story people can relate to and tell it!

11. (Bonus!) Keep Track of How You’re Doing

Be sure you are measuring your success!

Case Study :  Lynda Sanders of the Boy Scouts of America

Three Channels to Serve

In packaged goods marketing, there are three channels to serve. These also apply to NPOs:

  1. The consumer
  2. The sales force
  3. The store

But First, Start with “The Product”

Ask yourself: Does it meet the consumer’s needs?

Example of a Tangible Product: Coupon Pack for the Boy Scout Fair

Lynda discussed a Boy Scouts Coupon pack that scouts were selling to their 16 counties as a “ticket to the Boy Scout Fair + coupons.” Many of the coupons were focused in Houston-only locations and the ticket was positioned as the main benefit (even though a ticket to the Scout show is free).

Lynda’s team refocused the product to position it as a coupon book (because that is what her target audience really cares about) and cover coupons from all 16 counties to attract more interest.

They also changed salesforce incentives to give each year’s book a theme and got the prizes for each year donated from corporate sponsors around that theme.

Example of an Intangible Product: Boy Scout Membership Recruitment

Sometimes it’s more challenging to sell an intangible product like membership. Lynda also discussed the Boy Scouts partnership with the Houston Grand Prix to drive membership.

The Grand Prix has a partnership with BSA National and has an official BSA car. This national partnership does not include much for the local chapters, so the BSA of Houston worked to create their own partnership with the Houston Grand Prix. They positioned scouts as the salesforce to help launch the Houston Grand Prix and to recruit BSA members.

What’s in it for the BSA?

  • A “Scout Day” at the races, including a booth, PSA playing on the big screen, and a flag ceremony featuring local scouts (enhance the brand with a cool event)
  • An Automotive Merit Badge sponsored by the Houston Grand Prix
  • Donated tickets for new BSA members (“Gift with purchase” for joining the Boy Scouts)

What’s in it for the Houston Grand Prix?

  • Information about the event given to kids and their parents area-wide from the Boy Scouts
  • Partnering with a strong brand
  • Increased awareness and attendance at the event

Advice on Forming Partnerships

  • Don’t wait to ask them what they would like out of a partnership – be prepared and tell them what you can provide them
  • When forming a partnership – ask your partner to do what they are really great at, don’t try to force them to do things they don’t usually do

Case Study: Mike Hagan on YMCA Houston Cool Days

The Situation

Summer is a big time for Houston families, and it is also a big time for the YMCA Houston programs.

This summer was different, gas prices had increased dramatically and many families were option to spend more “vacation” time in town.

As far as brand recognition, most everyone has heard of the YMCA. But people tend to think of the one piece of the YMCA that they are involved with (i.e. the gym, childcare, etc.) The YMCA wanted to be more than a “gym and swim.” The YMCA team set out to bring the brand alive by institutionalizing the brand into the community’s everyday plans and actions.

Introducing Cool Days

The YMCA began the program Cool Days – a value added program for YMCA Houston member families of fun, free things to do during the summer. The program included great things to do at the Y including special family events, and provided free things at other partner organizations (the Houston Zoo, Children’s Museum, etc.) with a YMCA membership card.

Getting the Word Out

Partner Participation was Key

The Y partnered with other brands to expand usage occasions for more interaction with YMCA members. They began by looking at companies who had value-added campaigns or programs like museums and venues. Almost every partner organization was also a nonprofit.

Other Ways they Got the Word Out

  • Billboards (PSA)
  • Magazines
  • Spanish language ads
  • Got internal staff involved – printed Cool Days tshirts and buttons that said “Ask me about Cool Days” for staff to wear
  • Posters in their YMCA locations
  • Banners
  • Microsite website

Measuring Success

When it comes to measuring success, Mike recommends starting with your membership because you can have the most impact over that group. The YMCA sends out surveys to their members before and after a campaign. They focus on what their membership might not know about the YMCA and educating them on those things.

Panel - Houston AMA NPO Nonprofit Marketing Panel

Takeaways!

The top takeaways of the panel for me were:

  1. Nonprofits need a strategic plan in the same way product companies do – start with Objectives, Target Audiences, Strategies, and Tactics
  2. Look for strategic partnerships that are mutually beneficial
  3. Take inspiration from packaged good advertising and distribution

Thank you again to AMA Houston for a great program!

Want more? Check out our photos from the panel!

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Katrina Kokoska on DIY Email Marketing at AAF District 10 Conference!

DIY Email Marketing Public Speaking Recap
Over the weekend, our own Katrina Kokoska presented back to back sessions at the annual American Advertising Federation’s AAF District 10 annual Conference in Tulsa, Oklahoma on the topic of DIY Email Marketing.

She covered how to get started with Email Marketing – including things to consider when defining your goals and measuring your success.

Thinking about starting email marketing? Katrina breaks down the what, why, and how of getting started with email marketing!

Check out her presentation slides and presentation highlights below!

 

1. Why Email Marketing is Effective

  •  People Find it Valuable
  • You Have an Engaged Audience – 40% of consumers enjoy receiving a substantial amount of marketing emails every week –Blue Kangaroo
  • It is Easy to Measure
  • Emails have a Longer Shelf Life than other forms of communications – For instance, only 23.6% of email opens occur within the first hour, A Facebook brandpost will get half of it’s reach in the first 30 minutes.
  • ROI

Shelf Life of Online Marketing Communications

2. Things you Should Consider Before Getting Started with Email Marketing

Define your objective – Why are you doing this?

  • Who is/are your audience(s)?
  • What is a conversion for them?
  • Examples: Loyalty program, Referrals, Lead nurturing, Closing
  • How will you measure success?

Choose your ESP (Email Service Provider)

  • Hosting options: Fully managed, SaaS, In-House
  • We recommend using a SaaS
  • Factors to consider: Price, Commitment, Templating features, Reporting, Reputation

Build your list

Link Building Do’s:

  1. DO: Build your list offline. Add checkbox to offline forms including Business cards, Event registrants, *Recent consumers (see caveat below)
  2. DO: Build your list online. Collect emails on your Website Homepage, Sidebar, Contact Form, at Check out, Event Registration, on Facebook, on your Blog
  3. DO: Segment your list. Emails that have been tailored to specific audiences through segmentation get 50% more clicks than their counterparts. – Marketing Sherpa
  4. DO: Tell them what they will receive
  5. DO: Build trust immediately
  6. DO: Continue growing your list

Email Lists Expire at ~25% per year

Link Building Don’ts:

  1. DON’T: Buy lists
  2. DON’T: Harvest email addresses or copy/paste
  3. DON’T: Precheck the box
  4. DON’T: Add folks to more lists than they agreed to
  5. DON’T: Send to folks you haven’t sent to in at least 2 years
  6. DON’T: Do anything else that sounds shady

Notes on Email Spam

  • Spammy techniques affect your Sender Score/Reputation and your ability to get email through to people’s inboxes
  • CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non – Solicited Pornography And Marketing) Act of 2003 protects users from these spammy tactics
  • EACH separate violation of the CAN-SPAM Act is subject to penalties of up to $16,000

Takeaways:

  1. Define objectives first
  2. Use a SaaS solution
  3. Build your list thoughtfully across offline/digital properties
  4. Don’t be shady

3. Crafting and Creating Effective Email Messages

1. The Subject Line

  • Do it first
  • Be brief and explicit
  • Not appropriate for the hard sell
  • Sense of urgency
  • Avoid SPAM Terms
  • Localization not personalization
  • Use your company name
  • Test, test, test!

2. The Email Design

  • Your CTA:– Above the fold
  • All roads lead to CTA
  • Short and powerful
  • Redundant
  • How’s your subject line holding up
  • Can you “Share with a Friend?”
  • Have you integrated your other digital properties?

Email Design Technical Considerations

  • How does it hold up across email clients?
  • How does it look across mobile platforms?
  • Can you view in browser and as plaintext?

3. The Landing Page

  1. Never go home
  2. Focused value proposition
  3. Clear request
  4. One step conversion

4. Timing Considerations

  1. Who is your audience?
  2. What timezones are you sending to?
  3. What is it you are asking them do?

Benchmarks on Email Open Rates by Time of Day and Day of Week

4. Management and Measurement

Definitions:

  • Bounce – Undeliverable email
    • Hard bounce–Soft bounce
    • Bounce Rate = # hard bounces/list size
  • Unsubscribe – Opt out
    • Unsubscribe Rate = # of unsubscribes/ list size
  • Unique Open Rate – The # of people who open a message
    • Open Rate = # of opens / emails sent
  • Click Thru – Clicking a link in message
    • Click Thru Rate = # of unique clicks / #of links X recipients
  • Conversion – Someone did the thing you wanted them to do
    • Conversion Rate = # of conversions / #of recipients

Bounce Rate Benchmarks for Email Marketing 2013

Are You Set Up for Tracking?

Takeaways:

  1. Bounce/Unsubscribes – List health
  2. Open/CTR – Content
  3. Conversion – Overall performance
  4. TEST!

A big thanks to AAF District 10 for having us at the conference!

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What NPO Software Success Really Looks Like

success

This image came up as a topic of conversation in a meeting we had this morning and I wanted to share it. It is a pretty accurate description of the open source rewrite of Tendenci from the ground up over the last four years. And I’m pretty excited about the software moving away from the squiggly part on the right in this image from Henry Bloget’s blog post.

success
What People Think Success Looks Like Vs. What It Really Looks Like

Oh don’t worry, we’ll attack new challenges and make new squiggles which will make people think we are off track, or losing it, or “freak them out” as we get to the end of a road and go “oooops, that didn’t work.” But now we know that didn’t work.

It also reminded me of some of Hugh’s quotes in his book Not Sucking that I have always liked. For example:

THERE IS NO SECRET SAUCE

WORK HARD. LIVE QUIETLY. BE FRUGAL. SIMPLIFY. NEVER COMPLAIN. CONSTANTLY ELEVATE YOUR CRAFT.

Sure, a bit of talent and good for­tune comes in handy. It’s nice that you could draw bet­ter than any other kid in your small town, or that your parents had the money to afford ten­nis les­sons after class.

But that just gets you to the star­ting line. The actual race is what hap­pens after that, day in, day out, for many years to come.

And the ones who win, the ones who really ele­vate their craft, are gene­rally the ones who work the har­dest. Life is unfair.

People underestimate the power of hard work. I like that he simplifies it all into Creativity, Mastery and Meaning. He doesn’t lie to you about a four hour work week, or tell you you have to wear Gucci to be happy, he doesn’t even list being happy as a goal. Meaning, Mastery and Creativity are how you don’t suck. Being happy is what happens when you don’t suck. But not always, because it’s hard work.

The best way to not suck is to MASTER something use­ful. Obvious, yes?

Then he drops the story of Jiro on me. (my commentary is below this long excerpt from Hugh’s post).

The thing is, I know TONS of super suc­cess­ful peo­ple, but none of them fit this extreme, celeb-lottery-winner-Reality-TV model. Some of them are actually pretty boring, to be honest. But they lead happy, friendly lives and do VERY well career-wise.

THAT is what most suc­cess looks like, if you think about it. The stuff on TV or in the movies just isn’t REAL enough for us to learn that much use­ful stuff.

So I was thin­king about this again, recently, HARD.

What model would work for folk like you and me? A model that didn’t mean you had to sell your soul to Wall Street, Holly­wood, Washing­ton or the tabloids? A suc­cess model that doesn’t rely solely on the unli­ke­lihood of outra­geously good for­tune or acts of evil?

Then quite by chance, I saw a great docu­men­tary recently: “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”, a film about the world’s grea­test sushi mas­ter, and a light ­bulb EXPLODED in my head.

Our man, 85-year-old Jiro Ono is the world’s grea­test sushi chef– the only sushi mas­ter to ever have been awar­ded three Miche­lin stars. He’s also the oldest per­son to have ever been a reci­pient of that award.

The thing is, he doesn’t have a lot of money or own a fleet of trendy res­tau­rants in all the world’s capi­tals, a-la Wolf­gang Puck. No syn­di­ca­ted TV shows, celebrity-chef book deals or TV talk-show cir­cuits, either.

He just has just a small, plain, dull, ordi­nary-looking, low-key sushi bar with ten seats in the base­ment of a Tokyo office buil­ding, near the sub­way, the kind of non­desc­ript place you’d pro­bably just walk by without stop­ping, if you saw it. Ten seats! Yet he REALLY IS the best in the world at what he does.

Jiro works seven days a week, over 350 days a year (he hates taking vaca­tion), ser­ves sushi and sashimi to peo­ple in very small num­bers, and THAT’S IT. Just sushi. No salad, no appe­ti­zers, no deserts.

Like I said, JUST SUSHI. And by stic­king to this mini­ma­list, bare-bones for­mula, he’s become the best in the world.

A tiny little sushi bar in some ran­dom sub­way sta­tion. Yet peo­ple wait in line, peo­ple book a stool at his sushi bar as much as a year in advance, at pri­ces star­ting around $600 a head. Peo­ple have been known to fly all the way from Ame­rica or Europe, just to expe­rience a 30-minute meal. In an office basement!

I read that and felt humbled. And befuddled. And yes perhaps a bit justified.

I’m also really happy to know others are like me. I don’t particularly consider myself successful but I expect it will all work out. I have many blessings and I work with great people. I have a wonderful family. I’ve also had my share of loss and plenty of criticism, which I have learned comes with the role of CEO even for a small company (note: there are no books on how to be a CEO. You just do your damndest to learn fast!)

Hugh MacLeod

Back to Jiro. I get him. For me, I have been obsessing about one single software product called Tendenci built specifically for associations and non-profits for 13 years now. I’ve had a lot of help. I’ve never wavered nor lost the passion to keep improving it. I’m truly obsessed with making software in a way that makes our CLIENTS successful.

I started it in 2001, (the tech bubble had burst) on the premise, after reading hundreds of marketing books that clients who made money off of your software wouldn’t leave you. That they might forgive a missed deadline, but they would not forgive a security breach. That they wanted the freedom to leave at any time. So all of our clients were sold month to month, export your data and leave whenever you want. (this was before open source was an option and before PHP was around.)

What started on the Microsoft platform is now rewritten by a a great team of programmers who work here, and outsourcers, and hopefully more and more by people in the community. It is now Django/Python/Postgres and Ubuntu. We are working hard, and I am obsessing on adding donor management that integrates with Salesforce Foundation’s free licenses for non-profits. I’m completely obsessed with giving NPOs an alternative – that they can succeed on both bottom lines, financial and causes, and put more of their money and time towards the cause instead of spending 10k/user for Raiser’s Edge.

Can a 13 year old product built on Django give NPOs a real alternative to Raiser’s Edge and Blackbaud? And can it be an OPEN SOURCE product that you can integrate, extend, and experience with no vendor lock in at all? The odds are against me. And there are only 10 stools. And my obsession with achieving this success grows stronger every day, and it is not because I know anyone at Blackbaud.

I’m obsessed with collaboratively building Tendenci not because of what the software itself can do. I’m obsessed and seeking mastery because of what global-non-profits can do with the first open source Python software built specifically for them.  That is my passion.

 

 

 

 

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PyCon US 2013 – Python Conference in Santa Clara, Californa

[![image][audience]][audience-link]
[Photo by Eloy Zuniga Jr.][audience-link]

### You’d like it

For those of you who love to tinker with things or reverse engineer them (destroy them) to figure out how they work, [this is your place][pycon-url].

It’s always great to see the latest and greatest being invented by **2500** of your closest friends. When services and features are extremely undervalued and success is at it’s infancy.

Have doubts about the size of this annual event? [Check out the sponsors][sponsors].

I’ve been a programmer now for more than 10 years and a Python developer for over 3 and I can sincerely say I may never grow old of this stuff. It keeps me young, can I say that? Just did.

### What you’ll see and maybe learn

What to expect when your “[Excepting][exceptions],” little bit of nerd humour there, don’t mind if I do. But seriously, what should you expect if you come on down?

[![image][photo-guido]][guido]
[Photo by Ed Schipul][guido]

1. Well we have lightning talks with rapping programmers. [Listen to this intro][lightning-talks].

2. We have the benevolent dictator which only [speaks genius][keynote]. One of these days I’ll be able to understand his entire talk. AKA the creator of Python.

3. [The creator][keynote2] of the [Raspberry Pi][raspberry-pi]. A less-expensive computer that’s providing for those on the other side of the digital divide.

4. People sporting the latest technology such as [Teslas][tesla] and [Google Glasses][glass]. Maybe the car had more to do with the fact we were in California.

[![image][photo-tesla]][tesla]
[Photo by Ed Schipul][tesla]

### Tell me more about these “Lightning Talks”
Anyone attending PyCon can have 5 minutes to talk about anything that is *remotely* associated to Python. Bright minds are sitting in the audience, they could be sitting next to you … you could be one. So why not let them speak.

For 5 minutes you can talk to one of the widest Python audiences you’ll probably ever encounter. Talk about a pet project, do a little venting, bring a community together and promote your conference.

Just be careful, developers tend to be highly sensitive to the ole sales-pitch.

### See you next year

We had a great time — I hope this is obvious — we did a lot of learning, and we hope to see you next year.

[![image][photo-group]][group]
[Photo by Ed Schipul][group]

### References

1. [Full List of PyCon US 2013 Videos][pycon-videos]
2. [Photos taken by Ed Schipul][pycon-photos]
3. [PyCon 2011 Blog Post][pycon-2011-blogpost]

[pycon-videos]: http://pyvideo.org/category/33/pycon-us-2013 “PyCon US 2013 Videos”
[pycon-photos]: https://www.tendenci.com/photos/set/58/ “PyCon US 2013 Photos”
[pycon-2011-blogpost]: https://blog.tendenci.com/pycon-2011/ “Pycon US 2011 Blogpost”
[lightning-talks]: http://pyvideo.org/video/1853/friday-evening-lightning-talks “Lightning Talks”
[exceptions]: http://docs.python.org/3.3/tutorial/errors.html “Errors and Exceptions”
[keynote]: http://pyvideo.org/video/1667/keynote-1 “Keynote Guid Van Rossum”
[keynote2]: http://pyvideo.org/video/1668/keynote-2 “Keynote Eben Upton”
[raspberry-pi]: http://www.raspberrypi.org/ “Raspberry Pi”
[audience]: http://distilleryimage2.s3.amazonaws.com/fc91835c8d8e11e2beb722000a9f3ce2_7.jpg “PyCon US 2013 Audience”
[audience-link]: http://instagram.com/p/W4pwjGHu4G/
[guido]: https://www.tendenci.com/photos/1604/in/58/
[photo-guido]: https://www.tendenci.com/photos/1604/640×360/
[sponsors]: https://us.pycon.org/2013/sponsors/
[pycon-url]: https://us.pycon.org/2013/
[tesla]: https://www.tendenci.com/photos/1614/in/58/
[photo-tesla]: https://www.tendenci.com/photos/1614/640×360/
[glass]: https://www.google.com/glass/start/how-it-feels/
[group]: https://www.tendenci.com/photos/1599/in/58/
[photo-group]: https://www.tendenci.com/photos/1599/640×360/

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[RESOLVED] 5:30 PM – All Sites Online – Tendenci 4 Server Outage

Tendenci Logo

5:30 PM

All sites are back online. If you continue to see errors or have any questions at all, please let us know!

Questions? Contact us at support@tendenci.com or (281) 497-6567 ext 411

2:30 PM

Some sites are beginning to come back online as we continue to work through the server issue. You should begin to see these Tendenci 4 sites back online.

9:30 AM

This morning, one of our Tendenci 4 Servers is experiencing an outage and some Tendenci 4 sites are down.

Our team is actively working on the issue to get the sites back up as soon as possible.

We apologize for the inconvenience and will update here with more information as soon as we can.

 

Questions? Contact us at support@tendenci.com or (281) 497-6567 ext 411

 

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Introduction from Becky – The New Guy

Hello world!

Schipul Holiday Party Picture - 2008
Old School Schipul 2008
Fayza A. Elmostehi, Aaron Long, and Becky Leven

I am most honored to be welcomed back into the Schipul tribe and to be going for new guy round two.

I first joined the Schipul community back in 2008 as an intern while studying at Rice University.

My experience at Schipul was so mind blowingly amazing that I went on to create a self designed major at Rice in Communications, Culture, and Society based on the mission and culture at Schipul.

After graduating from Rice, I moved back to my hometown, NYC, where I worked in the financial services industry, but Schipul was never far from mind.

I am thrilled to be back and look forward to bringing visibility to the amazing people and organizations we work with and to partnering with our clients to grow their reach and strengthen their communities.

When not doing awesome things in Schipul land I can be found cooking and exploring restaurants, travelling, rocking out to NPR, and getting my workout on.

Sign - Welcome New Guy
Welcoming the New Guy
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Recap: The First Ever Tendenci Chili Cookoff!

2013 Tendenci chili cookoff

Friday was our first ever Tendenci Chili Cook Off! Our team members offered up recipes from vegetarian chili to chicken to unique ingredients like Guinness beer and even queso!

Good thing we have lots of extension cords for all these crock pots!

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All of the entries!

Chili Cookoff

Our esteemed judges judging in the categories of Flavor, Creativity, and Heat!

judges

We used PollEverywhere to text vote and picked our fan favorite!

Tendenci Chili Cook Off Results

CONGRATS to the winners!

A big thanks to all of our participants! Congrats to Forrest Purser for being the Judges’ Overall Favorite and new guy Ben Floyd for being the people’s favorite!

Also Congrats to Mary Shamburger for winning the judges’ choice for Flavor!

Chili Cookoff

More Chili Cook Off Photos!

Check out all of the Chili Cook Off photos in our Tendenci Photo Album!