http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/25.aspxThe virtual water cooler! Discuss ideas and trends in the sector, post nonprofit technology news and events, find out the latest TechSoup news and upcoming features, and add your product suggestions to our <a href="http://bit.ly/2AYjd">Product Solutions Wish List </a>. <br />Hosted by <a href="http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/user/Profile.aspx?UserID=22456">Becky Wiegand</a> and <a href="http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/members/MeganKeane/default.aspx">Megan Keane</a>, both of TechSoup Global.enCommunityServer 2008 SP1 (Debug Build: 30619.63)http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/thread/99602.aspxThu, 04 Jun 2009 18:51:29 GMTcaa7681b-025a-49ce-809f-7435bfe4d232:99602MeganKeane0http://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/thread/99602.aspxhttp://forums.techsoup.org/cs/forums/commentrss.aspx?SectionID=25&PostID=99602<p>Next week, I&#39;ll be attending <a href="http://ocu2009-ocr62.eventbrite.com/" target="_blank">The Online Community Unconference (OCU)</a>, along with my TechSoup community colleague, Susan Tenby. </p> <p>The event description and registration details from <a href="http://blog.techsoup.org/node/861">my blog entry</a> about it are below. If you&#39;re attending, please respond to my post and let us know you are coming!</p> <p>Best,</p> <p>Megan</p> <p>****************************************************</p> <p>The OCU is a gathering of online community practitioners - managers, developers, business people, tool providers, investors - to discuss experience and strategies in the development and growth of online communities.</p> <p>Those involved in online community development, for-profits and nonprofits alike share many common challenges: community management, tools, marketing, business models, legal issues. And often the best source of information on all of these challenges is other knowledgeable practitioners, which is what makes the OCU a rewarding event.&nbsp;</p> <p>&quot;What&#39;s an unconference?&quot;, you say? Well there&#39;s a good description of it <a href="http://tinyurl.com/33svqq" title="here" target="_blank" rel="http://bit.ly/plugins/iframe?otherUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ftinyurl.com%2F33svqq">here</a> and a detailed FAQ <a href="http://www.forumonenetworks.com/ocu_faq" title="here" target="_blank">here</a>. Suffice to say, you won&#39;t be seeing the usual powerpoints and formal presentations, but instead the sessions and topics are proposed and chosen by the users. Topics might include online community metrics, new opportunities in social media, online community challenges in an economic downturn, building leaders in the community, and community management best practices. I was fortunate to attend last year&#39;s OCU and found myself inspired by all the interesting people I met and walked away with many new ideas for <a href="http://www.techsoup.org/community/where/index.cfm" title="TechSoup&#39;s community and social media efforts" target="_blank">TechSoup&#39;s community and social media efforts</a>.</p> <p>Discounted tickets are available, including special deals for recently laid-off online community professionals. You can find more event information, or information about sponsorship opportunities <a href="http://www.onlinecommunityreport.com/archives/504-Online-Community-Unconference-Updates-Discount-for-Those-Out-of-Work.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <p>And you can tweet about the conference and follow the action on Twitter using the <a href="http://search.twitter.com/search?q=ocu2009" title="#ocu2009" target="_blank">#ocu2009</a> hashtag.</p><div style="clear:both;"></div>