Photo credit: CollegeDegrees360, Creative Commons/Flickr

Yes, it’s cliche, but January is the perfect time for resolutions, goal-setting, and making plans to better yourself throughout the year. Here are some events, webinars, and other activities of note to help you with your professional development this month.

Job-Hunting Help. If you’re on the hunt for a new job, and one-third of employees are, look for online resources to help you make the most of social media and learn more about potential future careers.

• Learn how to leverage the new LinkedIn profiles in a paid webinar from Jason Alba, the author of I’m on LinkedIn—Now What??? on January 17.
• Join #JobHuntChat on Twitter, Monday evenings from 10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. EST.
• @HFChat (Hire Friday Chat) also hosts #HFChat with career experts on Fridays at 12:00 p.m. EST.
• NY Creative Interns hosts Creative Q&A virtual events, and on January 16 at 8:00 p.m. EST, Tina Yip, community manager for R/GA will talk about getting into and advancing in the social media industry.

Local Events. If you live in one of these cities below, check out the interesting workshops and panels taking place during January.

• If you’re in Atlanta, attend a “Embracing Conflict: Personal & Professional Conflict Management Workshop” at Little Five Points Community Center on January 19 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
• In the New York City area? Achievement First is hosting a professional development session for teachers called “The Together Teacher: Plan Ahead, Get Organized, and Save Time!” on January 26 from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Brooklyn.
• In Portland, the Nonprofit Association of Oregon is hosting “Nonprofits & Advocacy: Mission Advancement & Civic Engagement,” a day of training on January 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Free Online Events and Resources. No matter where you are located, you can easily attend several free webinars in January related to nonprofit management and operations.

• The Nonprofit Technology Network is hosting a free webinar on January 15 at 11:00 a.m. EST about mobile donations.
• The “Developing an Epic Facebook Strategy for your Nonprofit” webinar will be held on January 30 at 3:00 p.m. EST.
• If you’re looking to expand your organization’s Twitter presence, marketing software company HubSpot is offering a free download of “How to Use Twitter for Business.”

Conferences. Do you have the time and money to attend a conference that’s not in your zip code? Plan ahead with a couple conferences set for early February.

• The DMA Nonprofit Federation 2013 Washington Nonprofit Conference is set for February 7 and 8, with Katya Andresen, COO and CSO of Network for Good as the keynote speaker.
• The Social Enterprise Conference is planned for February 9 and 10 in Boston, with Ben Rattray, founder and CEO of Change.org as the keynote.

Fellowship and Mentorship Programs. If you’re looking for something a little more in-depth and long term, there are several fellowships and internships in public service, government, and more that have January deadlines.

• Apply to work with President Obama (January 27 deadline).
• Choose between a year-long fellowship or a ten-week leadership training program with the Greenlining Institute (both January 18).
• Learn more about the nine-month Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs (January 18).
• The Nonprofit Consulting Meetup Group is expanding its incubator and mentorship program in 2013. The group is currently gathering interest via its Meetup page and will plan a kick-off event soon.

Management Training. Even if you are a bit farther along in your career or more set at your organization, there are still ways you can grow and learn.

• Goodnik, a group for social entrepreneurs and nonprofit innovators, is hosting a free Meetup event on “Hiring and Firing in the Social Enterprise” on January 23 at 7:00 p.m. in New York.
• The Center for Nonprofit Advancement is offering classes in January on “Facilitating Meetings that Work” and “How to Present Skillfully and Tactfully,” in Washington, DC on January 16 and 25 starting at 9:30 a.m., respectively.

And don’t forget to volunteer. Volunteering during your free time is definitely be one ongoing way you can boost your career, especially when the career is in nonprofits. Martin Luther King, Jr. day is Monday, January 21, and there are many volunteer opportunities available on Idealist and elsewhere for that three-day weekend.

A friendly recruiter chats up a prospective student at an Idealist Grad Fair. (Photo: Jung Fitzpatrick)

School may be out (or almost out) for the summer, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be on your radar. We’re kicking off the summer with two Idealist Grad Fairs and you’re invited! As always, the fairs are free, open to the public, and geared toward people who want to make a difference through their careers.

Learn more and RSVP:

• New York, NY: Tuesday, June 19
• Washington, D.C.: Wednesday, June 20

Why attend our summer fairs?

Come beat the heat in air conditioned spaces – ones that are slightly more intimate than the fairs we host in New York and DC in September, which tend to draw huge crowds. You’ll have a chance to talk one-on-one with admissions folks from about 60 different programs, and mingle with people who are looking to further their education, achieve their career goals, and make a lasting impact on the world.

Bonus: You’ll be a step ahead of your peers by attending a summer fair. That’s three months before the fall Idealist Grad Fair season begins, and gives you lots of time to prepare applications for 2013! The early bird gets the worm, right?

Can’t make it to New York or DC?

Don’t fret if you can’t make it to either of the summer fairs. We have 17 more planned for the fall 2012 Idealist Grad Fair season, from Boston to Denver to Miami. Check out the full lineup and please spread the word to your friends in those cities who may be considering grad school.

Hope to see many of you at the fairs!

–

Thanks to Kevin Kennedy, our Events and Communications Intern, for this post – and for all of your hard work supporting the Idealist Grad Fairs.

For the third year in a row, the organizers of Personal Democracy Forum (PdF) are offering a discount on registration to members of the Idealist community. (If you’re reading this, that means you!)

PdF is a two-day conference exploring and analyzing technology’s impact on politics, government, and civil society. This year’s event takes place June 11-12 in New York City and is centered around the theme “The Internet’s New Political Power.” Speakers will include:

• David Boyce, CEO of Fundly, the largest online social fundraising platform in the U.S.
• Sara Horowitz, Executive Director and Founder, Freelancers Union
• Van Jones, president and co-founder of Rebuild the Dream
• John Perry Barlow, Co-Founder & Vice Chairman, Electronic Frontier Foundation

…And many more.

Planning to attend? Receive 15% off the nonprofit rate with coupon discount code IDEALIST2012.

You can also apply for a Google PdF fellowship for a chance at free registration. According to the site, they’re “looking for innovative people who are trying to tackle big, meangingful problems. Are you trying to change government? Shaking up the non-profit world with a promising new start-up? Blazing new trails in online politics? The Google PdF Fellowship could be yours.” Learn more and apply by Wednesday, May 9.

I’m sitting in the lobby of the hotel where the Nonprofit Technology Conference will officially kick off tomorrow morning, back with more tips for conference survival and…thrival. (Did I just type that? I blame the jet lag.)

My post last week focused on what to do before you go. Here are some suggestions for what to do once you arrive.

Be realistic about email.

Think you might neglect your inbox a bit? Don’t forget to put up an out-of-office auto reply. Before the NTC, the smarties at NTEN provided boilerplate text that attendees could copy and paste into their email auto-responder (which deftly include information about the live stream of the conference). You could be cryptic, but Sarah Durham of Big Duck advocates that you share “that you’re out, when you’ll be back, and whom to contact in your absence.” And why not take the opportunity to show off your organization’s personality a little bit?

Remember who you meet.

Trish Tchume, National Director, Young Nonprofit Professionals Network:
I know this is an old trick, but I do still write a brief description about every person I meet on the back of their business card that includes where I met them, one physical detail, one professional detail, and one personal detail that will later jog my memory of who the person is. Hence my rolodex (yes, I still use one) is full of cards that say stuff like, “Chicago IS Conference, cool glasses, been at X org for 2 years, joked abt 4th season 30 Rock.”

Not feeling a session? Put one foot in front of the other, says Amy. (Photo: CarbonNYC, Flickr/Creative Commons)

As my yoga teacher would say, “Create your own experience.”

Amy Sample Ward, Membership Director, NTEN:
Remember the law of two feet: if you’re in a session, a social event, or anywhere else and it isn’t the conversation or topic you thought it would be, feel empowered to leave and find the people and conversations you’re after. Every conference tries to cover many topics and create opportunities for all the various goals participants may have, but participants also need to feel free to make the conference what they want it to be!

Building on that, a tip from me (julia@idealist.org):
Give yourself permission to leave and breathe. I’ve arranged to meet up with an old friend in the city for dinner one night. At the end of a long day of nonprofit tech immersion, I’ll have a chance to unwind, talk about totally different subjects, and see another neighborhood. (I’ll probably forget to take off my conference name tag. She’ll probably make fun of me. I’m OK with that.)

Share power…literally.

Friendly admissions professionals want to get to know you in person. (Staff photo/J. Smith)

It’s time for our final four graduate degree fairs of 2011:

• Atlanta, November 1
• Houston, November 3
• New Orleans, November 7
• Chapel Hill, November 12

All of these events are free and open to the public, so please feel free to spread the word! The better our turnout at these fairs, the more likely we’ll be able to bring these free events back to the South in future years.

What happens at an Idealist Grad Fair? You get to meet admissions representatives from all sorts of programs that can help you further your social impact career – from education and social work to nonprofit administration and public policy to journalism and public interest law. Figure out how to make yourself a competitive candidate and clear up any questions about financial aid.

If you’re in one of these areas, we hope to see you this month!

See you Thursday, Denver. (Photo: Larry Johnson, Flickr/Creative Commons)

Thinking about going to graduate school to further your career and make a social impact?

We’re bringing Idealist Grad Fairs to 18 cities this fall. Here are the next six. Click on a city name for details and to RSVP:

• Portland, OR – Monday, Oct. 17, 5:00-8:00pm
• Seattle – Tuesday, Oct. 18, 5:00-8:00pm
• Denver – Thursday, Oct. 20, 5:00-8:00pm
• San Francisco – Monday, Oct. 24, 5:00-8:00pm
• Los Angeles – Wednesday, Oct. 26, 5:00-8:00pm
• Atlanta – Monday, Nov. 1, 5:00-8:00pm

All of the fairs are free, open to the public, and feature a free Q&A panel about admissions and financial aid from 6:00-7:00pm. See the rest of the season lineup at idealist.org/gradfairs.

Image of monks volunteering in Kyegundo earthquake zone via SFTHQ (Flickr/Creative Commons)

Have you been thinking about volunteering abroad, but aren’t sure how to go about it? If you’re wondering where to go, how long you can afford to stay, and how you can be sure you’ll contribute to a meaningful and positive impact, here are two free events that might help:

• IVPA Global Volunteering Fair in Washington, DC (Tuesday, Oct. 25):  www.dcglobalvolunteerfair.eventbrite.com

• IVPA Global Volunteering Fair in New York City (Thursday, Oct. 27): www.nycglobalvolunteerfair.eventbrite.com

At these free events, you can chat with representatives from organizations that lead volunteer projects in communities around the globe. You can also attend free workshops—sponsored by Cross-Cultural Solutions—on the basics of international service and strategies for making volunteering abroad more affordable.

Our former colleague Erin Barnhart is coordinating these fairs along with the International Volunteer Programs Association (IVPA), so we’re sure they’ll be beautifully organized and full of valuable info. Click the Eventbrite links above for the full details and to RSVP. And let us know if you go check ‘em out!

And if you can’t make it to one of these events, check out our International Volunteering Resource Center.

Looking for practical ways to improve your fundraising, inspire donor loyalty, and broaden your community? Want to connect personally with other fundraisers and share your own expertise?

If you’re a volunteer manager or a nonprofit development professional and you’ll be in the San Francisco area from November 10-12, you can do all this and more at the Vivanista Fundraising Summit. And between now and September 30, Idealist blog readers can access a $60 discount off the ticket prices using the code IDEALIST-VIP.

A Vivanista training (photo: Vivanista1, Flickr/Creative Commons)

The summit features dozens of bootcamp workshops, plus “TED-style talks” from the likes of Adriana Gasciogne of Girls in Tech; Susan Gordon, Director of Nonprofit Services at Causes.com; Darian Rodriguez Heyman, organizer of Social Media for Nonprofits; Robert Rosenthal of VolunteerMatch; Tamsin Smith of (RED); Julia Hartz of Eventbrite; Rick Smolan, photojournalist best known for the ‘Day In The Life’ series of books; and many others.

Learn more about the full summit lineup at http://vivanista.com/fundraising-summit/, or follow along on Facebook or Twitter (@Vivanista and #fundsummit).

It’s that time of year again! This summer we’re hosting five Idealist Grad Fairs:

• Los Angeles, CA: June 13
• San Francisco, CA: June 16
• New York, NY: June 22
• Washington, DC: June 23
• Chicago, IL: June 27

Nothing warms our hearts like the chance to connect you with the program of your dreams. (Staff photo/Julia Smith)

If you join us…

You can meet representatives from 50+ graduate degree programs from across the country and attend a Q&A session about admissions and financial aid. All of the fairs are free, wheelchair accessible, and open to the public (but we do ask that you RSVP on those pages above).

Whether you kinda-maybe-sorta want to consider investing in grad school, or you’re 100% clear on which degree you want to pursue, this is a chance to enjoy a friendly, relaxed conversations with recruiters. And they love meeting members of the Idealist community.

If you’re not in one of those five cities…

• Keep in mind that we’re bringing fairs to 18 more cities this fall, from Ann Arbor to New Orleans.
• You can RSVP very early for any of those fall fairs, or like us on Facebook and local events will appear in your feed as the dates get closer.
• If you know people who live in LA, San Francisco, NYC, DC, or Chicago and who might be considering grad school, please consider sharing this information with them.

Thanks, and we hope to see you at the fairs!

Visit http://personaldemocracy.com/pdf-2011/ to learn more.

Personal Democracy Forum is a month away, and as a member of the Idealist community, you qualify for a $100 discount off the registration cost.

What is PdF?
Personal Democracy Forum (PdF) is “the world’s leading conference exploring and analyzing technology’s impact on politics and government.” It takes place June 6-7 in New York City.

This year’s theme is Agents of Change. Say the organizers:

We’ll be shifting focus from technology itself to what people do with these new tools; how key actors like organizers, political leaders, volunteers, and followers interact; and how these players are learning from and adapting to the new environment they are themselves helping create and shape.

Learn more and register at www.Personaldemocracy.com/Conference.

Who can I see there?
Speakers this year will include:

• Sami Ben Gharbia, Tunisian exile blogger-journalist-activist
• Vivek Kundra, White House Chief Information Officer
• Jenny Beth Martin, national co-coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots
• Andy Carvin, NPR social media guru
• Susan Morgan, director of the Global Network Initiative
• Nathan Freitas, longtime longtime coder, the Guardian Project
• …and many more.

And how do I snag that discount?
Simply enter the code IDEALIST2011 when you register, and you’ll be charged $100 less than the stated price.