Distributive Politics Spreadsheet

Implementing Teleconferencing and Collaboration Technologies to Aid the Alternative Fuels Revolution   by Scott Baily

The alternative fuels cause has finally reached a tipping point. The combination of oil prices skyrocketing over $115 a barrel and coal costs doubling has been essential in awakening a new sense of urgency about alternative fuel.

With US drivers paying close to $4.05 per gallon of gas and California drivers paying approximately $4.20 per gallon, support is increasing for a national commitment to accelerate use of alternative fuels. Whether these be hydro, nuclear, or hybrid technologies, US consumers are finally realizing that our country’s energy independence and economy are 100% linked to reducing our dependence on traditional fuels.

It would appear as if the political climate has never been better for the alternative fuels movement. To truly seize this opportunity, the organizations that comprise the movement would be well served to consider the import of technology in enhancing the cross community communication needed to secure lasting successes.

Indeed, many alternative energy lobbying groups could experience benefits from using new technologies that facilitate networking. Examples include Rondee.com’s <*a href=”http://www.rondee.com”>free conference call<*/a> solution which enables scalable teleconferencing as well as online conference calling and networking tools.

Tip #1: Use online tools to network

The most successful alternative fuels advocacy groups create networks of supporters who believe in their values and mission. While the term networking frequently gets an undesirable reputation, the simple reality is that these networks can provide significant aid. Today in San Jose, the expectation is that professional people will have at least a rudimentary LinkedIn profile.

At the same time, other networking applications such as Facebook are starting to see adoption by more professional users. These services also offer a relatively easy method of developing your network.

Second Tip: Use a free conference calling offering

In the last handful of years, there has been escalating levels of cross-functional integration between geographically separate alternative fuels advocacy groups. One underlying reason for this trend has been reduced air travel costs – a trend that may now be going the opposite direction with the leaping oil costs mentioned earlier.

Another factor is the accessibility of the sorts of <*a href=”http://www.rondee.com”>free conference calling services<*/a> highlighted above. Most of these offerings, including those offered by Rondee work on the same central principle. They provide groups a personal access number and a toll number to call. If all teleconference users dial the same number and enter the same PIN code, they are put into the conference phone call.

Tip #3: Investigate technology to enable desktop sharing

Some alternative fuels advocacy groups have distributed leadership groups, and it is impractical to have face-to-face meetings. Technology is solving this problem by way of desktop sharing. Whether it’s displaying a PowerPoint presentation displaying the group’s fundraising initiatives or a spreadsheet showing the performance desktop sharing can be extremely useful for not a few alternative energy groups.

Fourth Tip: Deploy an electronic newsletter system

It was not too long ago that sending out an email newsletter was time consuming and tiresome. That has now changed. On-line services are making it possible to create templated and scalable newsletters. These solutions reduce the work load by at approximately 90% and in so doing allow alternative fuel groups to concentrate on content development rather than delivery of messages.

Tip #5: Leverage data driven decision-making practices

One of the most significant trends in the last several years affecting nonprofit organizations in the alternative energy community has been the increasing reliance on evidence based decision-making. Practitioners can apply the same practices with simple to use Excel or Lotus spread-sheeting applications to ascertain what works and what does not work. Increasingly, the hurdle for quality decision-making is rising and thus reliance on conjecture is being systematically replaced by empirical data to support decisions.
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About the Author

Scott Baily has had an impact in enhancing the teleconferencing arena by having participated in pioneering the Rondee <*a href=”http://www.rondee.com”>free conference call<*/a> service.

Eric Schmidt at IBM Business Partners Leadership Conference

Distributive Politics Spreadsheet