How I succeeded on social media

Back in September 2013 the only social media I used was Facebook for my own personal use.  Until I started my role as the O.R. Pro Bono Project Manager at The OR Society I hadn’t given much thought to how vital social media could be to an individual’s job role and to the wider organisation.

I started out small, I got myself a Twitter and LinkedIn account and then a few months later started a blog.  Before you start it is important to determine what you want to accomplish by using social media. 

For me there were several reasons for using social media:

•          To increase the awareness of O.R. to third sector audiences, explain what O.R. is, how it can help and that free support is available via Pro Bono O.R.
•          To engage with members of The OR Society and the wider O.R. community to inform them about Pro Bono O.R. and encourage them to sign up as volunteers
•          Through promotion of Pro Bono O.R. to increase the awareness of The OR Society, to increase traffic to the website, to improve member retention as well as encourage new members to join.

To succeed Pro Bono O.R. needed third sector organisations to sign up to receive support and then volunteer analysts to carry out projects. 

Initially I needed to choose which social media platforms to use.  Firstly I signed up to Twitter, this was really useful for sharing information about Pro Bono O.R.  Although I needed to grow my follower base I knew this would take time so I used other twitter handles in my tweets such as @TheORSociety, @Reachskills, @NCVO etc. because if they retweeted my tweet I could reach their followers.  I also created a hash tag #ProBonoOR which I put on all my tweets so that any information or conversations could be easily found through the search function.  I decided who I wanted to follow which in my case was third sector umbrella organisations in order to keep up to date with third sector news as well as individual third sector organisations and O.R. organisations and individuals.

It is important with twitter to make the most of the 140 characters you have, it is best used for short conversations and sharing information.  I try to post opinions, questions, reply to posts whilst including my hash tag, other twitter handles and links to other places like my webpage.

Next I got my head around LinkedIn.  Firstly I spent time on making sure my profile was right, this is the first impression people get of you and it will be at this point people decide whether to connect or not so it is really important to spend some time one this.  LinkedIn for me has been my most valuable social media tool.  It has allowed me to make connections with people that I otherwise would not have had the chance to.  I joined groups which looked like good places to learn and contribute too, such as The OR Society and a third sector sub group where I can post information about Pro Bono O.R.  Through that I have made many connections with O.R. professionals.  I also joined groups that were third sector related, through these I promoted Pro Bono O.R. and made lots of useful connections.  As you grow your connections LinkedIn will then suggest people you may want to connect to.  I have made some of my most valuable connections by this means and has led to some really successful Pro Bono O.R. projects which benefits the organisations, The OR Society and the volunteer.  LinkedIn is useful for sharing short updates, connecting with individuals and groups and sharing information and ideas.  A more recent feature which I like now enables you to write longer posts and you can monitor your views, likes and comments.

Lastly I started to write a blog.  Having never had any experience with blogs my first point of call was google for some tips!  I found a host site called blogger, built up my profile and got going.  What I found important about blogging was to use eye catching titles to entice your reader to open the link and read further.  Trying to write regularly e.g. once a week and keeping your blogs interesting is important.  As well as my own stuff I often share what others have been saying.  Once I write a blog I share the link on twitter and LinkedIn with a short summary to get the readers interest.  My blog is now the centre of my social media strategy where I get most engagement.  As a platform I can extend what I’ve said in other mediums and provide more breadth and depth of information. 

Over the last year I have learnt more about social media and I must say I think a lot of it is about giving it a go and learning as you go.  I use all the social mediums weekly and will adjust what I post depending on my audience and the medium.  Once you have your audience you need to keep them interested so I keep them updated about Pro Bono O.R. and things that are of interest in the third sector and O.R. community.

The reality is that, done effectively, social media success can be achieved in an easy, straightforward manner.   The key is start small and build your social media engagement slowly. 

An apple a day keeps the doctor away… and, it turns out, so does volunteering.

Great article demonstrating the benefits of volunteering.

http://webcastnewsroom.com/doing-good-keeps-the-doctor-away/

According to a 2010 study from UnitedHealth Group, volunteering is closely linked to improved health. What’s more, the study also found compelling evidence that employee volunteer programs can help businesses in key areas, such as productivity, engagement and synergy.

Aside from doing good, volunteering helps employees feel good. According to the study, over three quarters of employees who had volunteered during the last 12 months found that they felt healthier and found that they had less stress.

The UnitedHealth study found that an incredible 96 percent of employee volunteers believe that volunteering enriches their sense of purpose in life.

Other benefits included better time management skills, better connection with colleagues, new job skills and almost 71% believed that they made business-related contacts while volunteering.

Do you have Operational Research/Analytical skills? Could you use those skills to benefit the Third Sector? For more information on Pro Bono O.R. please visit: http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx

In order to sign up please complete the short volunteer details form. Signing up does not require any commitment it just means you'll receive emails about upcoming projects that require volunteers. 

What a difference a ‘year’ makes: Pro Bono O.R. one year on…

A year ago I had never heard of the term ‘Operational Research’ or in fact heard of ‘The OR Society’.  One year on the terms have become part of my daily vocabulary and one of my aims is to ensure other people have heard about The OR Society and in particular how significant operational research is and the enormous impact it can have in benefiting the world in which we live.

My first exposure to operational research was The OR Society’s annual conference (OR55) last September.  I was amazed at the ways in which operational research could be used in all sectors and how significant it was in helping to increasing efficiency and effectivness, reducing costs, helping plan strategy and much much more.  As OR56 starts today I am able to look back at the last year and reflect on how operational research has been used to impact the third sector.

I have had the pleasure of managing the Pro Bono O.R. project which is a service provided on behalf of The OR Society to Third Sector organisations (UK only) in order to provide them with access to O.R. at the cost of expenses only.

The aims of the Pro Bono O.R. scheme are:

•       To help Third Sector organisations to do a better job;

•       To promote O.R. in the Third Sector;

•       To give O.R. analysts an opportunity to practise in a wider arena and widen their skills.

We found these were some of the problems the third sector was facing:

•        ‘We have lots of different options for the future but it’s impossible to decide which to choose in such uncertain times.’

•        ‘We’re under huge pressure to do more with less, and we don’t know how we’re going to do it.’

•        ‘It’s hard to stay objective when we’re faced with such emotionally charged decisions.’

•        ‘We know we’re doing a good job – but how can we prove it?’

A large part of my role has been promoting and increasing awareness of the project to both organisations who could benefit from pro bono O.R. and volunteer analysts who work on the projects.

Over the last 12 months we have had interest from 60 organisations, have completed 6 projects, have 13 projects that are currently being worked on, have 3 which are establishing a project scope and a further 10 that are in the initial enquiry stage.   Information on the completed case studies can be found on the webpage: http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx

I have recruited 100 new volunteers since September 2013 and we know have over 200 volunteer on the database.  Of those around 130 are active and ready to work on projects.  These volunteers are made up of both members of the society and non-members.  In the past year we have advertised 21 projects to our volunteers, 54 of the volunteers have applied to work on projects and of those 28 have worked or are currently working on projects.

It has been really rewarding to hear how successful this project has been both from the organisations and the volunteers.

Here’s what a few of the organisations have had to say:

‘We’ve benefited hugely from your work and support in all areas of the project, and from an organisational perspective you’ve enabled us to take a highly professional approach to increasing the efficiency of our charity.’

‘The work is already supporting our planning and development for next year and allowing us to focus our thoughts and decisions on the places of most importance for our organisation’

‘Brilliant – it makes the predictions of risk visible.  This will be so useful’

Here is what a few of our volunteers have said:

"It’s a chance to make a difference, practice getting to the heart of a problem quickly, meet some very dedicated people and use techniques which you might not in your every day job"

"I’ve really enjoyed working with third sector organisations and found the staff extremely positive about the contribution we make"

"Working as a pro bono volunteer is a great way to contribute some professional expertise to some truly worthwhile causes.  The Third Sector is full of people who feel passionately about their Mission, so working with them is invariably a positive learning experience"

If you are an organisation that would like to receive Pro Bono O.R. support or have the skills to become a volunteer, please do not hesitate to get in touch.  Please visit: http://www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Probono/Probono.aspx or send an email to felicity.mcleister@theorsociety.com

OR56 The OR Society annual conference

Only 3 weeks to go until #or56. A great place and a great conference for academics and practitioners. 

OR56 is a unique opportunity to develop your professional skills, build your knowledge of the latest developments, use other people’s experiences to spark your imagination, and meet, discuss and share with others in the field. 

24 STREAMS and around 200 presentations of interest to academics and practitioners alike, including for example, case studies and presentations in methodological areas such as simulation, analytics, forecasting, problem-structuring; and application areas such as health, public policy, third sector, and supply chain.

PRACTITIONERS – be they Analytics professionals, Data Scientists, Systems Engineers, Decision Supporters, or just plain analysts, a dedicated Making an Impact (MAI) day on Wednesday 10th September: focused sessions for consultants, analysts and decision makers – and anyone with a passion for making the world work more effectively.

PLENARY talks from : -
- Ursula Brennan (Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice) 
- Andrew Jennings, (Senior Vice President and Chief Analytics Officer at FICO)
- Stewart Robinson, (Professor of Mgmt. Science at Loughborough University and President of the OR Society).

A DEBATE – Our first! “Is Good Enough Good Enough?”
Come and join a contest between optimisers and satisficers with Join Jacek Gondzio, Professor in the School of Mathematics, Edinburgh University and Konstantinos Katsikopoulos a senior researcher and associate professor at the Centre for Adaptive Behaviour and Cognition of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development.

PANEL DISCUSSION - On the emerging field of Behavioural OR. 
This plenary panel will try to help to shape a conceptual view of what ‘Behavioural Operational Research’ is, what it should be, and what its perspective can contribute to the theory and practice of OR.

There's still time to book  OR56

Pro Bono O.R. in the UK & Internationally (Conference talk by Graham Rand) at IFORS (Barcelona 2014)

A member of the Pro Bono steering group (Graham Rand) was invited to give a talk at the IFORS (International Federation of Operational Research Societies) conference in Barcelona (July 2014).  The talk looks at how Pro Bono O.R. is operated and looks at some case studies both in the UK and abroad.  Conference slides

On the back of this, Graham has been invited to the INFORMS (The Institute fr Operations Research and the Management Sciences) conference in San Francisco to deliver a similar talk.  INFORMS is the largest society in the world for professionals in the field of Operational Research, management science and analytics.

Volunteering is win win-both the volunteer and the organisation benefits

The feedback from both the Pro Bono O.R. volunteers and the Third Sector organisations we've worked with have been overwhelmingly positive.

Pro Bono O.R. has so far completed 7 projects and is working on a further 12 organisations.

The Pro Bono O.R. project provides opportunities for both volunteers and the Third sector. It gives volunteers an opportunity to practise in a wider arena and develop their knowledge and skills and it helps third sector organisations to increase efficiency, help to reduce costs, plan strategy, demonstrate impact etc. by using the skills of volunteers.

What the volunteers have to say:

'Working as a pro bono volunteer is a great way to contribute some professional expertise to some truly worthwhile causes. The Third Sector is full of people who feel passionately about their Mission, so working with them is invariably a positive learning experience' (Ian Seath, Pro Bono O.R. volunteer)

'The assignment really opened my eyes to the challenges of the third sector, which I will bear in mind in my day job. It has got me thinking about how important this is for all in roles that are far removed from front-line but involved in developing policy that affects the front line. I also appreciated seeing the direct impact of my work and using OR skills in a new environment.' (Sarah Culkin, Pro Bono O.R. volunteer)

'Being a volunteer was a great way to make a real difference for an organisation with people that were clearly passionate about what they do. At the same time I’ve added some interesting people to my network and expanded the breadth of projects I’ve undertaken on my CV' (Sam MacKay, Pro Bono O.R. volunteer)

What the organisations have to say:

'Brilliant-it makes the predictions of risk visible. This will be so useful.' (Lafora Screening Coordinators)

'We have really benefited from having a fresh pair of eyes coming in to review a particular service in a very structured and rigorous way. Sarah has helped us to gain a fuller understanding of the way in which the services benefit clients and made some very helpful recommendations for the future development of the service.' (Karen Weaver, CEO HARCVS)

'We’ve benefited hugely from your work and support in all areas of the project. And from an organisational perspective you’ve enabled us to take a highly professional approach to increasing the efficiency of our charity' (Performance Manager, Crimestoppers)

'The work is already supporting our planning and development for next year and allowing us to focus our thoughts and decisions on the places of most importance for our organisation. It has helped us to come up with new solutions already.' (Mary Dawson, CEO Springboard)

To recieve support from Pro Bono O.R. or to sign up as a volunteer please get in touch or visit: Pro Bono O.R.

New Pro Bono O.R. Case Study: A tool to help dog breeders identify genetic risks

The Dachshund Breed Council (DBC): A tool to help dog

 breeders identify genetic risks

Two of our Pro Bono O.R. volunteers, Dr. Sophie Carr (Bays Consulting Ltd.) and Ian Seath (Chairman of the DBC) undertook a project with the DBC. 


Some Miniature Wirehaired Dachshunds suffer from a form of epilepsy called Lafora Disease. 2 DNA tests are available, but are not yet used by all breeders. The DBC wanted a tool to help predict the probability of breeding puppies with Lafora Disease.

To see the case study please click here


The feedback from DBC 'Brilliant-it makes the predictions of risk visible.  This will be so useful'