One Digital Meetups are lighting up the third sector

‘Weeeeeee-crash’! That’s the sound I imagine my smartphone making if I threw it off the top deck of a bus - a thought that’s entered my mind on more than one occasion lately. That was until I had a light bulb moment. Something I didn’t know how to do before suddenly became my favourite thing since cake (okay, that’s maybe pushing it!). It came when I discovered that I could talk into my smart phone and it would write my messages for me, rather than having to type them up. Bingo. I can’t tell you how much this new knowledge has transformed things. My annunciation needs some work (never easy with a Scottish accent) but it’s saving me so much time and frustration compared to my vain attempts at one finger typing on a tiny screen. Over the past couple of months, I’ve witnessed similar light bulb moments from a range of charity and voluntary groups attending our One Digital Meetups. Getting together over a cuppa and some cake (any excuse!) to share useful digital practice has clearly made a difference to people’s digital journeys. We’ve seen the light bulbs shine brightly across Orkney, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Fife, Glasgow, Renfrewshire and Stirling.

• ‘Ping’ - Turning a boring wordy case study into a colourful and engaging short video using a mobile phone and some free software. Wait until the funders see this!
• ‘Ping’ - Opening up the brain pool by using collaboration tools like Slack and Trello to breathe new life into ideas rather than letting them drown in an email inbox. Come on, grab your swimmies and jump right in!
• ‘Ping’ – Using genealogy as a hook to get all the Grannies and Grandpas in Scotland online. Who knew Sean Connery was my third cousin twice removed?!
• ‘Ping’ – Creating inspirational quotes using Canva and posting them on Instagram to promote mindfulness. ‘Life is digital; digital is life - Namaste!’
• ‘Ping’ – ‘Thank goodness I found you, my digitally clueless soul mate! We can embark on this digital journey together and one day we will rule the world.’ Just call us the Match.com of the third sector.

It’s been inspiring to see - and we want more! We want to spark a blaze of digital light bulb moments across the third sector that could rival the electrical grid at Christmas time; and we’re planning further Meetups to make sure it happens. More face-to-face interactions, more focus, more practical application, more light bulb moments and, yes, more cake. We’re working with our One Digital Network to achieve this over the coming months and want you to be a part of it. So the next time you feel like throwing your smart phone, laptop, PC, tablet or Granny off a bus – STOP!  Breathe, read a few mindful quotes on Instagram then get yourself onto the One Digital Meetup platform and sign up. A ready-made network of others working in the third sector and interested in the power of digital is waiting to meet up and help each other out. What are you waiting for? Let’s switch those light bulbs on together!