Gregory Heller Get in touch

Writing

The blog

725 posts on careers, communication, technology and civic life, since 2005.

  1. Responsive Design, Email Content Strategy And Templates

    Why do so many organizations waste the opportunity to hook their email subscribers with the first line of the email message? I hadn’t really noticed this sooner because of the way I consumed email: through a series of complicated email aliases and gmail filters. Honestly, in Gmail, I was basically ignoring most solicited bulk email (organization email lists). But since I’ve been taking a first look at my email through my iPhone and iPad using the iOS mail app, I’ve begun to notice this shocking fact. Here are some facts about viewing email via the iOS mail app: Approximately 35 to 40 characters of a subject are displayed Approximately 100 characters from the top of the email message are displayed Two lines at 50 characters, and a subject of 35 to 40 characters. That’s basically a Tweet. And that (plus the “from” name) is all you have to get your reader’s attention and convince them to open the email message and read on. Why do so many emails waste this space with something like: “Click to view this email in a browser” (37 characters) “Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.” (64 characters) “If you’re having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online.” (68 characters) “Web version | Edit your subscription | Unsubscribe” (55 characters)

  2. Cell Phones Maybe Illusive Cause of Colony Collapse Disorder

    If it is to be believed, we may be totally out of luck as a species. Cell Phones may be the cause of the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder effecting Bees in Europe and the United States. WorldChanging reports that bees provide somewhere between $14 billion and 92 billion in free pollination services. The WorldChanging article is very interesting and worth a read.

  3. Using Live Video To Reach Your Audience With Google+ Or UStream

    I think that most organizations are a little bit afraid of video. And if they are a little bit afraid of video they are even more afraid of live video. Video, the conventional wisdom goes, is expensive and hard to produce. Your chances of doing it wrong are higher than of doing it right, and either way the cost and time involved is probably out of reach. Live video, well that is just crazy talk! Anything could happen! As we all know, the cost of video cameras has come way down, the once much heralded inexpensive Flip camera is now obsolute because of smartphones with high quality video cameras! And editing technology has also become cheaper and easier. For years now every Mac has shipped with iMovie, but today you can edit video with a range of online services including YouTube . Video engages people . How many times a day do you want a few minutes of video on the web? That clip from the Daily Show, a segment from the local news, something on YouTube (perhaps involving a cute animal) a friend posted to Facebook? Or maybe you were glued to live streaming of the #occupy demonstrations this fall? How can nonprofit organizations make use of video easily, and without great expense, to connect with their audiences? My, perhaps counter intuitive answer, is through live streaming. Yes, jump in on the deep end. With live streaming video there is no post production necessary, just a camera and an internet connection. UStream has garnered much press because of the #occupy movements and it is a great platform, scales well, offers some good tools, but it also requires a bit more setup than, say, Google+ Hangouts .

  4. Process Vs Knowledge

    I recently saw the wonderful documentary, Eames: The Architect & The Painter , and if you are a fan of the furniture, films or other design of Ray and Charles Eames like I am, you have to see this film when it comes to your town, or becomes available via DVD or some streaming service. Even if you are not obsessed with the work of the amazing couple, you have certainly been exposed to it, and I think we all can learn from the example they set.

  6. Unplugging and Improving Productivity As A Result

    Perhaps it is just the end of the year approaching, and we are all getting a bit reflective, and thinking ahead to New Year’s Resolutions, or maybe something larger is happening.

  7. Should Nonprofit Organizations Hire Zero-Gravity Thinkers?

    Yesterday I wrote about a recent study suggesting that millions of baby boomers want to start their own nonprofit organizations or social ventures . This morning I returned to a tab opened in my browser a day or two ago, an article on the Harvard Business Review blog, “ Don’t let What You Know Limit What You Imagine. ” I’d highly encourage reading it, but for now I will draw some connections between it and my post yesterday. The author, Bill Taylor, references a book by Cynthia Barton Rabe, The Innovation Killer , in which she talks about how experience in a field can become a detriment to innovation and success. Her answer is that organizations should hire “zero-gravity thinkers,” innovators “who are not weighed down by the expertise of a team, its politics, or ‘the way things have always been done.'”

  8. Lessons Of The Dancing Guy, When To Lead And When To Follow

    Today I was reminded of the Derek Sivers TED talk “How To Start A Movement” in which he analyzes a popular YouTube video of a guy dancing on a hillside at music festival. What reminded me of this video, and its lessons was an opinion piece in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, “Calling All Boomers: Don’t Start More Nonprofits” .

  9. DrupalCon Denver Session Voting Open

    We are excited to present a wide range of session proposals for the upcoming DrupalCon Denver. If you take a look at the proposals our team members you will see that there is a little something for everyone, from very technical sessions, to sessions on using Drupal for Mobile applications, nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations using Drupal, and how to use Agile not only to run your projects but also to run your organization. These sessions are born out of our experience and expertise on these topics, as well as our passion to share what we know with the community. Take a few minutes to look over the proposals and cast your vote. We hope to see you at DrupalCon Denver, and empower you and your organization with one of these excellent sessions. Occupy Drupal International NGOs Leveraging Drupal For Social Change Zen and The Art of Estimating How To Architect For Drupal Using Agile Software Development Methodologies To manage Your Organization Do It With Scrum Create Your Community: Social Archiving And Participatory Culture Drupal Base Your Next Mobile App A Very Large International NGO Case Study (the NGO will be announced soon!)

  10. NTEN NTC 2012: Vote For Our Sessions

    For many years now we’ve participated in the NTEN NTC , one of the premier technology conferences for nonprofit organizations. The NTC provides an opportunity for organizations to share and learn from each other about both big picture technology issues, and nitty-gritty tips and tricks. For next year’s conference, folks from our team have proposed a number of sessions. Voting is open through September 23rd. Take a look at our session proposals, we hope that you will consider voting for them!