Its official!

Last year at the NTC conference in Seattle we met some folks developing some innovative web products right around the corner from us in DC. Over the intervening year we've had countless meetings, IMs, lunches, dinners, brainstormng sessions and afterwork drinks. And today we are announcing a strategic partnership with Orchid Suites. Here's the announcement copied from the Members Only website. February 1, 2007 Washington DC Members Only Software, Inc is pleased to announce that we have entered into a strategic alliance with Orchid Suites Inc., a D.C. based developer of Content-Management and Community-Building Tools. "This alliance enhances Orchid’s ability to deliver best-in-class integrated online management tools for communications." said Tanya Renne, Orchid Suites CEO. The view from the Members Only side of table: this partnership will allow us not only to provide our users with a state-of-the art CMS system, but one that will be closely integrated with the entire suite of Members Only products, allowing an organization to tie its web presence to its basic operational activities. Doria Howe, our Marketing Director, adds "Orchid Suites is more than a traditional CMS - it's a web-suite technology with collaborative tools that are very exciting for Non-Profits. They allow organizations with multiple chapters or interest groups to have integrated sub-sites, while organization staff can easily take control of look, feel and content." The first product to emerge from this partnership, the Orchid Suites - Members Only Link, will make it a snap for our users to give their constituents access to a wide range of Members Only activities on their Orchid-based website, including profile management, event registration and online donations. Orchid is able to do this by supporting the Members Only API, which allows software developers to access a wide range of Members Only functionality from other applications. The Orchid Suites - Members Only Link will debut at NTC 2007, a national conference for non-profit technology to be held in Washington, April 4-7,2007. D.C. For more info visit http://www.nten.org/ntc Learn more about Orchid Suites at http://www.orchidsuites.net Learn more about Members Only Software, Inc at http://www.membersonlysoftware.com If you are coming to the NTC, be sure to see us at the Science Fair!

Microformats anyone?

The 2007 Non-Profit Technology Conference is coming to my town! Yup, it's April 4-6 in Washington, D.C. I had a great time traveling to Seattle for last year's meeting, but it will be very pleasant to just roll out of my own bed and wander up the hill for muffins and coffee! Members Only Software will be participating in the science fair (nothings changed in my life in 50 years, has it?) and I've been asked to host a session on Microformats. Here's what the organizers have in mind: Microformats Are the New Tags But are they a flash in the tech pan, or are they here to last? Microformats are the latest attempt to address the most important hurdle in technology - data sharing. This session will address how they work, why they may be better for data sharing, and whether or not they will last. Takeaways: Definition of microformat Understanding of how they can be used with tags and other similar technologies Examples of how and where microformats are being used now Session Tags: Web2.0 Webmasters Opensource I've already got cautions and quibbles with this intro - but that's what gets discussion going. Speaking of which: I'd love to find a few collaborators for this session. So if you have experience using Microformats, or if you have strong ideas about the should be or could be used, please drop me a note as soon as you can. I've written just briefly about microformats here and here in this blog.