Nancy VanReece

Strategist | Way Maker | Artist

IT STARTS WITH A PROMISE - AND ALWAYS HAS A STORY

FROM THE GRASSROOTS UP

Rooms ... to go or not to go

Back at the kitchen table.

It seems the thing to talk about this week is Rooms from Facebook. I gotta tell ya, I don't see much innovation here.  It's pretty.  A little complicated. A little gaming happening,  You have to figure it out to get in the room, to get your prize, as it were.

I don't know, maybe I'm missing it here but finding another spot where you can post messages and pictures to people that have the same interests?  I think we've already done that.  Am I missing something?  Is this the latest greatest and I missed it?  I don't think so.


Wait a minute -- Rooms is Prodigy from 1996  ... it is anonymous - is that the point? To have a place to by anonymous and talk about the things that you like?   Davey Alba of  Wired writes about this.

Rooms isn't new - Page Six is reporting that there is a claim that it was created as Room and released in September! The intellectual property attorneys at Facebook are not having a good day.  

Front Porch or Back Deck?

Recently, we have been spending a bit more time on the front porch instead of always on the back deck. Have you noticed how some people are all about one or the other but not so much both? We have noticed a trend and it got me thinking about just why we nest in these different ways. The porch is a place of meditation and the scene of drama, conflict and nostalgia. National Public Radio presented a series on the topic in 2008. I've looked for the link but it seems no longer available. Please let me know if you find it.

The official slogan for the National Porch Sitters, yes there is one, is “Sit down a spell. That can wait.” Many people paint the ceilings to their porch a blue or periwinkle to use color to cool the space down. I grew up more of a backyard girl and thus am convinced that it makes me more of a back patio or deck person. Our garden is in the back and we like to sit and look at it. The back is for long talks with friends and for solitude and for meditation. The front is for gossip and nosy neighbor time. However I do sit there in the morning sometimes to write and our dog likes that time of the day most of all.

In one of the NPR stories we meet Douglas Kelbaugh, professor of urban planning and dean of the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. He is a proponent of New Urbanism — and of porches. In a world highly mediated by technology, face-to-face, Kelbaugh says that live interaction between people is “important glue in building community and sustaining it.”  Porches help facilitate these exchanges. Also featured in the series is a book titled Out on the Porch, a slim picture book that collects photographs and memorable literary passages about porches by authors. The book, published originally in 1992, proved so popular that it’s still in print and has led to an annual porch calendar.

I believe part of living an artful life includes the discovery of your preference to front porches or back patios/decks. Understanding what both places are to you and why they are important to you, or not important to you, may tell you quite a bit about yourself. What of that space between indoors and outdoors do you find significant to you? As the weather changes our yards become welcoming again its time to come out and enjoy the conversation!

As a newly formed, public-facing enterprise, our organization benefited from Nancy’s deep understanding and valuable experience in Public Affairs. She established community relationships — public and private, near and far — that will prove critical to our company’s success.
She is a positive and dynamic contributor.
Nancy defined the important role of Vice President of Public Affairs and Business Development beyond the scope of our expectations and executed the complex nature of this dual role seamlessly and with utmost professionalism.
— Fred Kennedy, Harken Hall
What can Nancy NOT do? Seriously - she approaches any role, job, task, or initiative with integrity, authenticity, and passion. She’s not afraid of the hard work needed to get the job done and is quick to look for wins for all parties. She also shows up with her community. Nancy is not merely well connected; she’s deeply connected and brings that network to any opportunity that has a chance to make the world better.
— Sam Davidson, Co-Founder Batch USA, LLC
I worked with Nancy for 4 years and I can attest that she is a life-long learner, leader, and relationship builder. Nancy has never met a stranger. I’ve probably sat in over 100 meetings with her and she’s always found something to connect with the person across the table- “a virtual connector of dots.” That takes both empathy and emotional intelligence. Nancy is thoughtful in her approach to everything she does which makes her excellent at business development. She is able to think strategically at ten-thousand feet while being detailed oriented in the execution of tasks. Ideas are nothing without execution and Nancy balances those effortlessly. Having Nancy is your corner is nothing short of incredible.
— RYAN CARTER, FOUNDER/CEO PARCHUTE MEDIA, LLC
Nancy did a spectacular job rebuilding MDSave’s social media presence. One heck of a turnaround job. She was creative, reliable and has a solid work ethic. She came to the table with fresh ideas, was always on time and always kept a great sense of humor.
— Chad Blackburn Vice President Business Development MDSave,Inc.

"I came to Nancy because I wanted to build my brand through blogging/social media and had zero knowledge about how to do it. She was the perfect person for the job. Her blend of social media expertise and calm, positive demeanor was exactly what I needed. 

Consultant/coach/patient trainer, she helped me create a path to launching my blog and gave me skills along the way. She made me feel like what I wanted to achieve was possible, and then got me there. There is lots left to do, but I feel confident that we will partner to achieve the long term results I'm hoping for."

- Lisa Pote, Consultant

Nancy VanReece is the real thing. She knows how to build an effective social media brand/platform. Even better, she makes this complex, arcane world accessible (and dare I say FUN) for her clients. She stands on the valuable ground where social media, branding and marketing intersect. I’m incredibly relieved to have her on my team!
— Amy Lynch, Generational Edge
What can be said about Nancy VanReece that you may not already know? There is a general consensus (and a look at her LinkedIn recommendations confirms this) regarding her wide-ranging talent for just about everything at which she tries her hand. As communications director at the Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation (GBBF), I was responsible for helping to coordinate a statewide summit featuring thought leaders and communications experts in the non-profit arena. During the planning phase for the event, when charged with finding a presenter for the topic of social media engagement, I knew immediately that Nancy was the best possible choice. Nancy is on the cutting edge when it comes to helping organizations create comprehensive social media engagement strategies. Her presentation at the Tennessee Executive Residence was eloquent, sleek, articulate and – most significantly – effective. Our attendees left the summit invigorated with a real sense of how to implement Nancy’s ideas and reach more of their constituents in the ever-evolving ecosystem of social media platforms. I cannot recommend her highly enough, and I hope to work with her often in the future.
— Kirk Graves, Communications Director, Governor’s Books from Birth Foundation
Nancy has completely transformed our social media program, creating a viable and robust presence for us across a variety of platforms, from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to Google+ and Pinterest. She has played a critical role in upgrading and maintaining our website, and she piloted the launch of the Nashville Symphony’s mobile app, which today has been downloaded more than 5,000 times.

Nancy’s commitment to the job has been beyond compare, as she has spent countless evenings tethered to her iPad, monitoring and responding to the outpouring of feedback we receive through our social networks. Day in and day out, she has created, organized and posted dynamic content that represents the full breadth of who we are and what we do here at the Nashville Symphony — our concerts, our musicians, our education programs, you name it. We are a better institution for all of the incredible work that she has done, and she’ll be greatly missed.

In her own words: “I have enjoyed my nearly two years with the organization. Over 16,000 tweets and 2,200 Facebook posts later — totaling 204 million impressions — we have grown a great community on 11 platforms having 500+ conversations a week. I look forward to working with new clients as effectively!”
— Sr. Director of Marketing|Communications, Nashville Symphony
Nancy put together a intensive 2 day workshop for Engage Kingsport and Kingsport Cultural Arts. The workshops gave individual artists the confidence and tools they need to enter the Social Media world as well as helped regional arts organizations refine and enhance their current social media strategies.
— Bonnie Macdonald, Director, City of Kingsport Office of Cultural Arts
Nancy was fun and informative. As the Luncheon Keynote Speaker for the Tennessee Conference on Social Welfare, Nancy provided great insight to a representation of over 20 different social service agencies. Her presentation spoke to each agency and everyone left with a more forward thinking mindset of social media and how it can be most effective and beneficial in telling their agency’s story! We loved Nancy!
— LaTamera Woodley, LAPSW