Six Sessions on CSR and Volunteering You Won’t Want to Miss at #NCVS12

This weekend I’m joining six of my colleagues from VolunteerMatch in Chicago at the 2012 National Conference on Volunteering and Service. Convened by the Points of Light Institute, the conference is the largest gathering of volunteers, organizations and business leaders in volunteering and service.

This will be my fifth (maybe sixth?) year at NCVS, and it’s always great to meet emerging leaders in volunteer engagement, hear from the experts, share stories, and come away inspired for a year of helping others make a difference. (You can read my recaps here, here, and here.)

I’m even honored to be presenting a few of my own ideas at the Social Media for Social Good pre-conference event on Sunday. I’ll be leading a workshop on content strategy for engagement. If you’re planning to attend, please say hello! (On Twitter I’m @volmatchRobert.)

Over the years NCVS has become rich territory for business and CSR leaders who are looking for ideas and new relationships to sustain and grow community involvement programs. This year is no different. While a big part of the conference is focused on celebrating the accomplishments of national and global trendsetters, there are plenty of sessions, workshops and panels designed to help managers and administrators on their way to building impactful and sustainable programs at businesses large and small.

Here are a few of the sessions on volunteering and CSR that I’m hoping to attend:

• Track, Report and Benchmark: Measuring Social and Business ROI for Employee Volunteer Programs
  With: Farron Levy, True Impact; Kimberly Walker, Points of Light; Atlanta McIlwraith, Timberland Company; Bea Boccalandro, VeraWorks

• Generate Some Buzz: Promoting Your EVP through Traditional and Social Media
  With: Anna Cunningham; Julia Gin, Kraft; Tara Greco – APCO Worldwide;  Shia Kapos

• What Nonprofits Can Learn from Corporate Social Media Managers
  With: David Armano, Edelman Digital; Corey Edwards, Dell; Kevin Hauswirth, City of Chicago; Rick Wion, McDonalds

• Apps, Maps and Micro-volunteering: Innovative Approaches in Volunteering
  With: Jacob Colker, Sparked.com; Kevin Espirito, Microsoft; Kate Rubin, UnitedHealth Group

• Inspiring Practices in Global Corporate Volunteering: Impact on Issues that Matter
  With: Lucila Ballarino, FundacionTelefonica, Fernanda Castanheira, Vale; Sarah Hayes, Civil Society Consulting Group; Sam Santiago, American Airlines; Cindy Schwab, Abbott

• Beyond Business as Usual, Billion + Change: Leading Innovation and Driving Social
  With: Pranav Kothari, Mission Measurement, LLC;  Jenny Lawson, Points of Light;  David Nassar, HotSpot Digital

You can also find the VolunteerMatch team at the three-day Summit for Advanced Volunteer Engagement. As well, we’ll be in Booth #221 in the Exhibit Hall where we’ll be sharing the details of Fighting Hunger Together, our recently launched initiative with the Walmart Foundation to provide critical capacity-building support for thousands of organizations that work in hunger-related areas.

Are you planning to come to Chicago? You can connect with me on Twitter @volmatchRobert. What’s piquing your interest? Let us know.