Day 16: Google NGO Day

After all the long hours of prep, it was the D-day. Gopi had taken us through the run of the show and we were all set to 'rock the party!'. :)  By 7 everyone was in the van (breakfast was eaten hurriedly in the van) and we got the 'Ghana India Kofi Annan Center for Excellence in ICT' - it sure is a long name for a convention center! The team quickly got to work assembling the Google logo, banners etc and in under an hour, everything was ready.

The kick started with Estelle's (Google Ghana country manager) talk on Google's initiatives in Ghana.  Then Gopi, took over the stage and took everyone through a 'Gopi style' way of presenting through interesting YouTube videos & some gyaan on accelerated growth through technology. Almost all of Google's products that would benefit NGOs were covered by the rest of the team - Google Maps, Google Places,  Social Networking, Google Storebuilder, Google Earth, Website Optimizer, Google AdWords, Analytics & Google Grants. The top 3 products that people were interested in were - Geo (Maps, Earth & Places), Google Storebuilder 'coz those who didn't have website wanted to create one, Google Grants - those who had offices in the locations where Grants was launched were going to send in their applications.

Estelle presenting on Google in Africa

Megan took them through some compelling product demos on how Google Earth & Maps can be used to spread their message. She spoke about how features like Fusion Tables, use of KML in Google Earth, use of Google places can create a compelleing story about their good work in the region. The example she used for the demo was the holocaust in Sudan & how Google Earth satellite imagery was used to let the world know what was happening there. It was moving and you could see that the crowd had completely bought into Google Earth/Places usability for their organization.

They all listened rapt attention to Olivia & Mohit had to say about website optimization. Many of them either wanted to create website or wanted to learn how to optimize their existing site. Social networking tools  like Facebook & Twitter introduced by Yannic & Larry. Though these were not Google's products, we touched upon them as social media has become a powerful tool mobilizing people for a cause.

Yannic & I presenting on Google AdWords

Post lunch was my presentation on Google AdWords & Grants along with Yannic. We rocked! AdWords was the only paid service we introduce to them during the entire event but once we told them about Google Grants program, you could see many of them excited about trying it out! Our demo was done by taking them through MAD's  Adwords account - it was a grants account which made it easy to explain with content relevant to the audience. Only 2 participants in the audience had an AdWords account and only another 4 even knew about the product. There is so much potential here! 

*Wish I could stay here longer* 

We ended the day at 5 with a short trivia on products covered during the day with each right answer fetching them a Google t-shirt. With that, the audience went bonkers! The final question was to repeat 3 of the presenter's names which would fetch them 3 tees. It has a spectacle after that with almost all of them crowding near the front of the room to shout out their guesses!  Gopi almost got devoured by the crowd. It was super fun to watch!

Observations:

1. Even at conferences, Ghanaians are more informal than what I'm used to. They love jokes and everybody laughs! Despite my poor joke delivery skills, I'm sure I can get people to laugh at all my jokes here! I reinstates one's faith in their sense of humor. :D 

2. People are outgoing, friendly and waiting for you to smile at them or take notice, for them  to strike a conversation with you. I like that! You rarely meet someone who wouldn't smile back or nod if you do the same. That's refreshing! 

3. If not for me being an organizer here, I would've been participating in such a conference. I went about giving my 'MAD' business card rather than Google as that was what most of them were interested in. Many wanted to network and see how we could collaborate, but I haven't met any organization that would offer strong collaboration opportunities yet - apart from helping them based on MAD's experience in using technology in operations. 

4. I discovered that NGO operations are concentrated mostly along  common themes of: supporting women & children through education, after school programs, organizations working with sex workers, programs to bring down stigma associated with HIV etc. But very few of them operate in the urban areas - their focus is in the rural regions (particularly North of Ghana). 

5. They love competitions, especially if there's a gift/prize involved with no qualms about asking if they want something. For eg. everybody wanted info sheets  that 1 participant had brought along his organization, even if it was not relevant to them. 

Post the event, Mohit , Gopi & I sat down to go over the OrphanAid database stuff with Lisa (OrphanAid founder). We ensured Lisa the list of things she needed to ask her developers & Gopi/Mohit put her ideas & thoughts about the database into 'developer' language. :) 

Eating crocodile tail was on the things I wanted to check out on my list of things to do before leaving Ghana. So, I dragged Mohit & Gopi with me to Monsoon - packed up crocodile tail (which cost a fortune & 1 hour to arrive) and we head out to our favorite restaurant 'Bella Roma' to meet the rest of the team. As usual, Gopi used his 'charming demeanor' & negotiation skills (which he's extremely proud about) on the restaurant owner to allow me to bring in my 'crocodile tail'!! & Predictably, it worked like a charm... I really need to learn how he does that!!

Clicked a picture with the bouncer @ Bella Roma - He had the most perfect beard!! :)

Crocodile Tail - looks & tastes like chicken...but feels more rubbery like mutton.  *I suck at explaining how food tastes...so that's the best I can do*  ;)