Wouldn't it be great if complicated technology concepts were explained in a simple way that's easy to understand? Imagine how something like this could assist you in training sessions for patrons or staff. Well look no further, Common Craft creates explanatory videos "in plain English" that cover topics like money, society, and technology.
 
In this free webinar, Stephanie Gerding from TechSoup will interview Lee LeFever, from Common Craft to learn more about their learning videos and how they are created. We will also hear how librarians are using these videos to support the needs of their community.

Wednesday, November 18, 11 a.m. Pacific time (12 p.m. Mountain time, 1 p.m. Central time, 2 p.m. Eastern time)

Space is limited, register today!

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TechSoup is a nonprofit that partners with corporations to distribute software and hardware donations to nonprofits and libraries. You may already know about our donation programs that can save nonprofits and libraries approximately 90% on Microsoft products and Symantec's Norton Antivirus donations but did you know we offer a typing program, discount on Flickr, and more? Attend this free webinar at 11 a.m. Pacific on Wednesday, October 28 and learn about TechSoup for Libraries and how we can help you offer more to your patrons and staff while saving money.

The Internet is a great tool for communicating and connecting. We now have a variety of ways to do so, but which one is best suited for your needs? Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn? Each serves its purpose and audience, but what if your needs aren't served with these tools? Create your own!

Ning is a powerful tool that allows you to not only create a dynamic, easy to update website, but its functionality allows your community to create accounts, share information, connect with you and other people in your community and work collaboratively.

Kami Griffiths will interview Manny Hernandez, author of Ning For Dummies who will give an overview of Ning and how it is being used by several organizations. Learn what it takes to get a Ning site set-up and the resources needed to keep it going.

Please join us on Thursday, October 15, 11 a.m. Pacific time. Space is limited so register today!

Kevin blogged last week about the upcoming Online Nonprofit Technology Conference that NTEN is hosting on September 16-17. I want to add a bit more to the discussion about it here.

First, TechSoup users are eligible to get a 25% discount off the registration price just for being part of TechSoup. Type "TS25" as your discount code when you register.

A few months ago we conducted a webinar called Producing Webinars for Nonprofits & Libraries where we discussed the best production practices for delivering webinars and how to inspire participant interaction and engagement before, during, and after the event. We heard from experts that have used webinars to develop awareness and build online community in their organizations.

There was overwhelming interest from participants to go even deeper by presenting the process step-by-step. So we'e decided to take you behind the scenes of TechSoup Talks and demonstrate how our webinars are organized, what we do, and don’t do to ensure a successful webinar.

Join us on Thursday, September 10, 10 a.m. Pacific time for Step-by-Step for Conducting Webinars for an inside look into how to produce great webinars for your organization.

This webinar is ideal for nonprofit and library staff who have decided that they would like to conduct webinars or web conference calls, but aren't sure how to get started. We will walk you through the process from start to finish, spending time talking about ReadyTalk – the web conferencing tool we use to promote, register, conduct, record, and track each webinar. Shawn Cardinal from ReadyTalk will be available to answer product-specific questions.

Register today!

Update: TechSoup users can get a 25% discount off of the regular registration fee by using the special discount code "TS25" when you register here.

Did you miss your chance to attend NTEN's annual Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) back in April? Here's your chance to catch up on the many conversations about tech planning, fundraising, and social networking for your organization.

NTEN will be hosting an online NTC on Sept 16 and 17, with a keynote from our very own Marnie Webb, co-CEO of TechSoup Global. Attendees will receive a copy of the NTEN book, Managing Technology to Meet Your Mission (for which we contributed a chapter), and the many expert sessions promise to be engaging and informative.

Prices go up on Aug 31 so check out the full agenda here and register today!

You understand how to track the success of your programs, but when it comes to social media you're at a loss. How do you show that this new technology is something worth the staff time invested?

If you are interested in implementing a social media program (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Digg) but are unsure how to measure the impact or know what success looks like, attend this free TechSoup Talks webinar on Thursday, August 13, 10 a.m. Pacific time.

Kami Griffiths will interview John Haydon and Chris Garrett to learn more about the impact we can expect to see from these tools, how it can be tracked, and how to adapt to get the most return on your investment.

In my opinion, web conferencing is one of the easiest ways to be greener with technology. Think about it. If you have a meeting with 10 people who would normally drive 20 miles each to get to a meeting or worse yet, fly to a training… how much CO2 is being saved? Also, if you had the meeting in person, how many copies of your slides would you print out?

TechSoup and Adobe announced the winners of the Show Your Impact design contest at the very end of May. Since then, we've been featuring the winners and runners-up in each of the four main categories. We ran the contest for a couple of reasons —  to show off the amazing work of these nonprofits and libraries and also to inspire the work of others. You can see the previously featured winners here and here.

On July 22, Laura Quinn from Idealware posted a message to their blog titled "A Microsoft SharePoint Overview" which was re-posted from the NTEN Discuss discussion list and Gavin Clabaugh.