Good times at Good Tech Fest
Photo from Pixabay
Good Tech Fest, a conference focused on creating an impact using technology, took place in Washington, DC two weeks ago and a group of Ajah employees were lucky enough to attend. This is the first Good Tech Fest in-person since before the Covid-19 pandemic and there was a real sense of a community that created an electric atmosphere of connecting and collaborating. The conference advances the idea that technology has the potential to support and scale the efforts of nonprofits, government, philanthropy, and social enterprise.
Our team participated in two panels at the conference. The first panel we partook in at the conference, How GivingTuesday Collaborates with Parsa Torabian, Marc Maxmeister, and our very own Lexa Wilson, and co-founder Jesse Bourns discussed data collection. Although there is a sophisticated technical infrastructure in place to collect, standardize, integrate, and analyze data - the need to have a ‘people-first’ approach when it comes to data that focuses on engagement and understands different needs and requirements is still necessary.
The second, Infrastructure for an Efficient Sector Panel with Tris Lumley, Teri Gartska, Phil Chow, and Ajah’s David Goodman, discussed the sector’s need for shared infrastructure. The “days of one system or one standard to rule them all are over” said Goodman. Shared infrastructure and collaborations are designed to help low-capacity organizations overcome their deficiencies, improve efficiency, and produce better results. Even more important is that there are examples of shared infrastructure being successfully implemented.
One of our staff’s favourite discussions came from Day One’s keynote speaker, Marnie Webb from TechSoup. In response to a question about tackling the often huge scopes of work our sector must face, she mentioned how important it is to separate the issue from the problem. For example, an issue could be childhood hunger - which feels impossible to tackle - but the problem is something we can work on solving. In this case, the sector and organizations could work on mapping out where meals are available for children within a community - their project Range does this. It can be helpful to think about the solution in terms of how we can make impactful steps towards solving the problem, and not get overwhelmed by the scope of an issue.
Ajah also presented the founder of Good Tech Fest, Andrew Means, with the inaugural Golden Pipe Wrench of Honour to recognize his contribution to the sector. Andrew has brought together and introduced countless community members and doers, including our very own David Goodman into our company. Without Andrew, many successful collaborations in the sector may not have been possible.
Our team had a fantastic time and connected with many like-minded individuals at Good Tech Fest. We are already looking forward to attending next year’s conference. If you would like to learn more about Good Tech Fest you can visit the website. Stay tuned for videos from this year’s event and follow to get notifications for next year's Good Tech Fest. We already can’t wait - hope to see you there!