Sheldon MainsLast week, I had the great pleasure of attending the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Technology and Communications Conference. I went to A LOT of events. Some things are always the same -- the chicken lunch, for example. Minneapolis had a bunch of really cool takeaways, though:

1. Over 600 folks showed up! Yes, 600! For a state conference on technology! I'm told that once they added "communications" to the title of the event, registration really started to boom. Makes sense: communications folks are some of the heaviest tech users at nonprofits, but don't really identify as "geek."

2. Minneapolis WiFi is really awesome. Everywhere I went, people were online. NTEN member Sheldon Mains is pictured in this post with his nifty WiFi antannae.

3. Being a leader is hard. I did a session on managing technology for leaders. I know now from first hand experience that being the boss means a LOT of juggling. But I was really impressed with how open and excited my session participants were about technology in general. The will is there. We need to figure out a way!

4. Some Minnesota nonprofits are doing awesome things online! I had the privilege of hosting the MCN .ORG awards with Mike Dean from Tipping Point Strategies. The winners included:

• The International Wolf Center - The Complete Pack Award
• KFAI - the Wisdom of Volunteers Award
• Minnesota Energy Challenge - the Bright Idea Award
• New Tactics in Human Rights - Think Global, Act Global. I got to interview them before my phone ran out of batteries!

Many, many thanks to Nicole and the rest of the crew at MCN who put together a really fantastic day!