{"id":1953,"date":"2015-03-09T12:59:34","date_gmt":"2015-03-09T12:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/new\/?p=1953"},"modified":"2015-03-11T12:16:25","modified_gmt":"2015-03-11T12:16:25","slug":"highlights-of-the-2015-nonprofit-technology-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcafeteria.com\/?p=1953","title":{"rendered":"Highlights Of The 2015 Nonprofit Technology Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m back and moderately recovered from the 2015 NTC in Austin, Texas<\/a>, where, along with plenty of good Texas food<\/a> and beer<\/a>, I shared some wisdom and learned a lot. \u00a0Here’s a summary, with my favorite pics:<\/p>\n

#NTCBeer<\/a> is a proven formula. Take a decent bar<\/a>, Nonprofit techies, and a room without blaring music, and everyone has a great time, whether they’re NTEN mavens like me, or first time attendees. We estimate that about 275 people came by this year. Here’s a great shot of the room by Jason Shim<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"7th<\/a><\/div>\n

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On Wednesday morning I led my session on contract negotiation<\/a>. \u00a0I’d been hoping for an even mix of nonprofit staff and vendors in the room, as these are the types of topics that we don”t spend enough time discussing together, but we were skewed heavily on the customer side. \u00a0All the same, it was a good Q&A. I learned some tricks to add to my arsenal, such as, when buying software from small vendors or developers, arranging for rights to the source code should the vendor go under. One vendor somewhat sheepishly asked if I thought that scoping out a fixed bid discovery phase to be completed before submitting a project bid was a bad thing, and I am with him all of the way. We need to stop asking vendors for fixed pricing when there’s no realistic basis for estimating the hours. My slides, below, are\u00a0a good read\u00a0for anyone who is responsible for negotiating contracts; and whomever took the collaborative notes<\/a> just rocked it, capturing fully the wisdom of the crowd.<\/p>\n