Nonprofit Commons gala opening tomorrow

The Nonprofit Commons is an island in Second Life that houses 32 virtual offices and meeting space for NGOs. They’ve been up and running for a month or so, but tomorrow will the be their gala mixed-reality opening celebration. I recommend showing up early before it gets too crowded. (It shouldn’t be too hard to come early as they are doing it on west-coast time. The challenge will really be staying until the end.)

Much more information is posted below and check back here for live reports and pictures from the event tomorrow night.

San Francisco Meets the Metaverse: 32 Nonprofits and their supporters will host a grand opening celebration Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. PT/SLT, in their new locations at the Nonprofit Commons in Second Life.

The Gala event will be a mixed-reality launch party, complete with networking, a panel of speakers (featuring Susan Tenby of TechSoup and Jeska Dzwigalski of Linden Lab in the live-event, and Anshe Chung in Second Life). Audio and video content will be streamed live between the two worlds.

Generously donated by the world’s first virtual millionaire, Anshe Chung, this nonprofits-only space, managed by TechSoup, creates and houses a community of nonprofits in the online virtual world of Second Life. This community of practice is entirely volunteer-run and hosts organizations from across the globe. To date, they have created a community blog (http://www.nonprofitcommons.org ), and a resource-rich wiki (http://npsl.wikispaces.com ) and have held mixed-reality events, workshops, and regular weekly town hall meetings.

This “sim,” or virtual acre of land, was designed as a pilot project to lower the barriers of access to Second Life, and to create a community of practice for nonprofits to explore and learn about the virtual world. The Nonprofit Commons provides free office space to qualifying groups to meet and collaborate, create a cooperative learning environment, and foster outreach, education, and fundraising, all in a virtual space

The live-event in San Francisco will be a part of NetSquared’s Net Tuesday. The Gala event’s activities include:

5:30 p.m.: Meet and greet

6:00 p.m.: Speakers and event

7:00 p.m.: Tours of the Nonprofit Commons

The events in Second Life will be at the same time, working in conjunction with the events in the real world, live event. Nonprofit organizations in the Commons will also be hosting their own events in conjunction with this Grand Opening Gala. To find the Nonprofit Commons search the Places tab in Second Life for “Nonprofit Commons,” or, go to:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Plush%20Nonprofit%20Commons/130/125/22/?title=Ampitheater%20in%20NPC

This event is free of charge, but space is limited.
RSVP via email to Susan Tenby (susan@techsoup.org), or IM Glitteractica Cookie in Second Life to attend the event in Second Life.

RSVP on the San Francisco NetSquared Meetup site (http://netsquared.meetup.com/1/) to attend the live, real-world event

Attire: Avatar fabulous, if possible, dress as your avatar or your favorite avatar.

OMG, what is my avatar going to wear???