I think you’ll have an easier time getting together with Rebecca, since she’s in Boston, and I’m in Vancouver, but I’d love to hear about anything that comes from that discussion.

I think the song auction was a fantastic idea as well, and there were some more shenanigans along those lines, and many more to come in the future, as well. Because this was our first event, we were basically testing the waters for much of the planning phase in regards to what the community would invest in and take an interest in.

Now that we know what portion of our efforts were effectual and what we could have done better, we can push in different directions and try new ideas on top of what was already successful.

What is most important to me is that we truly benefit the causes, not just the social media landscape. Taking risks and tearing up the envelope are important, too, but sometimes community building isn’t a matter of capitalizing on the most “out there” strategies and tools you can get your hands on. Sometimes it’s just a matter of communicating and being sincere and letting that shine through in whatever ways work best. And I think that was where sm4sc really made an impact.

You will see us innovate. no doubt in my mind. And I’d enjoy anyone with ideas getting on board with advice and thoughts as we make it happen. If you think it can be done better, then we’d love to have you help us do it. :)

Mainly because I think the people involved, social media and PR pros, could have been even more innovative and more effective at the same time. When I first heard about the event back in the summer, it was going to change the landscape in some interesting way – not that I have any idea what that way should be. But as things developed, I saw a fancy party being promoted by social media marketing techniques. To me, that’s not changing things enough. There were some stand-out ideas like the song auction, but why just one song? Why just one ticket price? Meg, Rebecca, let’s meet up some time and we can talk more about it.

But please, everybody, look carefully at the comparison here — the “innovative” social media, web 2.0 stuff like Blog Action Day generates a lot of fuss all around the world, but little money — while the “not innovative enough” SM4SC generates a local party and a boatload of money. Why can’t I have the big involvement and the big impact too?

Thanks for your comments on SM4SC — we certainly are excited that we were able to help Jane Doe out, since that was the true goal behind the project. Social media provided us with the tools to reach out to the community that contributed to the cause, and we’re inspired to see what’s possible the next time around.

A couple things — I’m not sure where the statement comes from that we weren’t using social media, since the entire thing was conceived on blogs and on Twitter, and then administrated and planned and promoted through a number of other social media tools.

The only way it was promoted to anyone was through social media — there wasn’t a group email, a call or mailing list, or any other kind of mailout involved. It’s a pretty radically different process from the days when I was a full-time non-profiteer.

Perhaps you wanted us to use more tools? If you could elaborate on that, I’d love to hear your ideas so we can incorporate them into the next event.

As far as transparency goes, can you give me more information about what you hoping for there? We communicated in detail (and in public) every time we made a plan, received a sponsorship or donation, or did pretty much anything (some would call us oversharers!)

We linked to posts about SM4SC that others wrote, we blogged and tweeted about it ourselves pretty regularly, and took part in a number of podcasts where different members of the team explained the effort and answered any questions anyone might have had. We also fielded and responded to any questions anyone had about contributing or participating via email or DM or public communication streams.

I think the only thing we kept on the DL was that I was attending from Canada.:)

Thanks for linking to us, though, and I look forward to hearing more. Feedback helps make us better, but I want to make sure I get the whole story.