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One thousand, six hundred and twenty-five. That's the number I blurted out months ago, off the top of my head, when folks on the ad side of things here at FundRaising Success asked me how many people I thought would sign up for our first-ever daylong virtual conference and trade show.
They laughed. "No way!" they said, while making estimates that hovered timidly around the 1,200 mark.
And honestly, they were right. The expo, "Engaging, Enlightening, Empowering Your Donors," took place May 20 — and no way was the final registration number anywhere near 1,625. In the end, more than 2,900 fundraising professionals signed up for the event, which was free to attend and featured a full day of both live and on-demand online webinars, e-chats, networking opportunities, an exhibit hall and even ice cream giveaways.
(In case you missed it, you can still "attend" the full conference — minus the interactive parts, of course — on-demand until 10 a.m., Aug. 24, by going to tinyurl.com/2cp6n3y.)
As the registration number grew with each e-blast we sent out and as more movers and shakers in the blogosphere started talking it up, I was increasingly fascinated, delighted and, quite frankly, humbled by the response. How cool is it that so many people spent the day with us and our lineup of amazing speakers? Everyone involved on the FS side had a great time tweeting in real time about the show; engaging our speakers; and interacting with attendees in the virtual networking lounge, the FS information booth and on the trade show floor.
So tell me, did you attend? If so, we'd really like to hear from you. Send an e-mail to me at mbattistelli@napco.com and let me know your thoughts — positive or negative — on the event.
On behalf of everyone here at FS, I want to thank our speakers, our sponsors and especially our attendees for making our first virtual conference and trade show such a huge success. We're already planning next year's event, and we hope you're already planning to attend.
And while you're writing …
This issue marks the second installment of our Advisor's Choice Series, where we've invited members of the FS Editorial Advisory Board to choose and write about the topics that they believe should be at the top of every fundraiser's mind at the moment. In March, Bernard Ross talked about scenario planning, and this month Kyla Shawyer and Tom Harrison take on the importance of multichannel integration in fundraising.
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PURLs for Profit
Secrets of List Research (2nd Edition)
