Stephen Blyth's Blog

I am a freelance advisor, writer and trainer specialising in helping good causes to powerfully use the Internet. I’m based in Te Whanganui A Tara Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.

The advisory work I do includes planning or strategy at an early stage, helping with selection of suppliers or software, and getting projects up and running.

A touchstone of my approach is being fiercely independent, producing high quality work, and a commitment to ensuring you’re in control. I have a wide network of industry contacts so can draw on the expertise needed to get the results you want. Find out more About me.

I specialise in working with tangata whenua, community and voluntary organisations, government agencies and small businesses.

Contact me to arrange a time to talk.

Just ask!!

The types of things I could help your organisation with include:

• Selecting and introducing online tools for sharing, learning and organising
• Writing and wrangling web content
• Planning for website upgrades, including reviewing site statistics, usability methods
• Ad hoc advice on software selection, web 2.0 and internet strategy
• Running online surveys and undertaking other research projects
• Making presentations or running training sessions on various online tools (see the my workshop & presentations list for topics I’ve covered in the past)
• Facilitating online communities
• Policy making around NGO capacity building,

If you think I could help in another way, just ask (Contact me).

Get off to a good start running online meetings – new in 2012

Without leaving your desk you can run productive online sessions within your organisation, or even present to a wider audience. This could include working meetings of a sub-committee, policy updates with Q&A, training sessions, or promotional announcements.

Using online tools can help keep people in touch, while going easy on both the budget and the environment by reducing the need for long distance travel. Of course, going online doesn’t replace meeting kanohi ti kanohi, but it can help keep people in touch in between the times they’re in the same room.

I can help you find the best online meeting tool to suit your organisation’s needs and budget, and then support you to run productive and effective online sessions.

Ask how I can help (Contact me) or find out more about online meetings and webinars

My charges and terms

Here are some details about the way I work:

After initial contact to discuss working with you, I will prepare an agreement and work plan to talk through and agree on.

If you’re seeking advice from me, including coaching and project management, I typically charge this based on an agreed hourly rate. I can provide a fixed price quote for producing specific deliverables.

I’ll work with you to suit your budget and circumstances. My clients include both large and small, government agencies and not for profit organisations.

Any work I do is only at the request of an authorised staff member. Outside an agreed-upon work plan, no organisation I provide freelance services to has a long-term obligation.