IFIwatchnet involvement in October AGM

From IFIwatchnet Wiki

DISCUSSION MOVED TO SHARED AREA! TRY IT OUT!

Using IFIWatchnet to coordinate civil society activites around the October AGM...

Ideas (rough!) and inspirations:

Also note that Karen is raising some questions re: the relative functions of the BIC calendar/emails and that of IFIwn, given her experiences coordinating the BIC calendar/emails the past few years.

CALENDAR
We've always used IFIwn for this, although BIC has done heavy editing.

Thoughts/Ideas/Challenges:

• Question: should we ramp up IFIwn's AGM calendar? I would argue yes. It would be great to give it a really prominent link off the homepage. We still have the issue that IFIwn doesn't post World Bank or IMF events. Thus I'm unsure if the IFIwn calendar (and any subsequent email) could ever really replace the BIC calendar emails. But it could still be the main calendar on the web, and the source for those BIC emails.
• Feeds: BIC has traditionally pulled an IFIwn feed, and added in the WB events. The IFIwn feed is often very slow, and format doesn't lend itself to being emailed. I'm not sure why this is happening, but its something to flag and work out.
• Another thought is to continue to ramp up our promotion of the calendar - especially to groups not normally on IFIwn. I'm thinking about groups involved in the mobilizations around the time of the meetings this year. Do we want to reach out to them?

Tasks:

• Arturo lets us know if the calendar feed can be placed in a prominent spot on the homepage
• BIC and Arturo work out any feed issues.

WHO'S IN TOWN
Has always been an effective way for participants to say if they're coming, where they're staying, etc. I don't know if this would need much change.

Tasks:

• Encourage members to post information
• Better manage spam entries - last year there were 9000 ringtones!

MEETING NOTES
We could more actively promote the shared places on the site as the place for meeting notes, feedback, etc. We can also develop archives of relevant documents, moments, etc. To date, different organizations and networks circulate notes independently.
One idea is to post daily 'meeting reports' containing highlights from the day's events. This wouldn't replace the meeting notes, but would serve to keep those not physically in DC in the loop...

Thoughts/Ideas/Challenges:

I fully support, this is a great idea that could really help underscore the value add of the Shared Area/being a member of IFIwn versus general animation etc. But I wonder how time-intensive it could be, given the already-chaotic nature of the meetings themselves.

Tasks:

• Speak to folks likely to serve as rapporteurs. For example Jeff Powell normally takes active meeting notes for Euro IFIwatchers. See what they think about posting on the site.

VIDEO
In general, capturing video of events and actions could raise the reach and profile of the meetings/actions related to them. Actively posting video would be contingent upon one/more organizations actively taking video. BIC might have some capacity (still unsure). Who else?

Thoughts/Ideas/Challenges:

• We could publicize video clips taken during the meetings and related events, posted on YouTube. possible uses: Snippets from key meetings, daily updates, impressions from participants, etc. We should think of some good, easy story lines.

Tasks:

• Draw Zoe into this conversation
• Really think about who could take and edit the video. Issue call to some likely suspects. If there's interest, draw up a calendar.
• Think of some compelling story lines. We might not be looking at more than 3-5 minute pieces, in some cases (interviews, etc.). We should do really adequate lead up to the meetings - so some of these should be prepared in advance.

BLOG
What have we learned from the past efforts? Singapore was successful, spring meetings less so.

Thoughts/Ideas/Challenges:

• Ensuring consistent, diverse postings.
• Publicity

Tasks:

• SG should be evaluating the success of the IMF and other blogs. Let's check in with them.
• start researching normal ways to promote blogs - emails to key organizations and press covering the meetings, etc. Draw up list of tasks (Karen will start list on this page. Others please add too!)
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PRESS
How do we want to use the site for press, beyond what we're doing now? Theoretically we're providing a list of contacts, blog, etc. What else would press find useful? And what outreach should we do to press?

Thoughts/Ideas/Challenges:

• Develop press page with contacts on various issues
• Post press releases
• Organize around actions (in private space)

Tasks:

GENERAL PROMOTION

• Send promotional email to various listservs, including regional IFIWatcher meetings

OTHER/FUTURE


• Let's remember to tie this experience into the other IFI meetings. We can develop something of a package of services different groups can use for the various meetings throughout the year.