This post comes from George Weiner, CTO, DoSomething.org

I was really sad and surprised to find that NCVS did not have a technology track this year.

NCVS is the largest conference in our sector, drawing a massive and diverse group of not-for-profits from across the country.

In my geeky mind this is like if the super bowl decided not to have a half-time show.

My passion lies at the intersection of technology and social impact, I work on it at DoSomething.org, I write for it on the Huffingtonpost.com Impact Section, and I teach it whenever I can at conferences and colleges.

For our sector to increase impact, transparency, and efficacy we must make technology a priority.

So back to the Super Bowl half-time show...

In 1993 the NFL decided to take a risk and go after the hottest performer for the halftime show – Michael Jackson.

Even though the game was a complete blowout (Dallas 57, Buffalo 17), 1993 was one of the biggest jumps in year-over-year ratings in the show’s history with an increase of 11.4 million viewers (90.9 Million watched).

From that point on the Super Bowl boasted some of the hottest talent for halftime shows and the ratings never dropped below the 1992 – 79 million viewership level again.

The rules of foot ball don’t change much year-to-year where as the halftime show has varied wildly as it brings in current culture and the mass appeal that has brought record breaking viewership to the mega event.

Technology, like the halftime show, changes wildly every year as new social media sites emerge, existing tools are improved, and our relationships with them change.

NCVS needs to bring back the halftime show if it wants to provide the greatest value for its audience.

Clearly I am biased on this point, but it doesn’t make me wrong.

I am pleased that NCVS has given some slots to social media and technology sessions in the schedule.

JD Lassica and I will present a pre-conference session focused on maximizing social media tools for impact.

(So shameless plug coming...)

Sign up now because we are going to make this the best session possible in the hope that we can get the halftime show back!

There is also another session that I am leading during the conference focusing on using tech to track and analyze action.

This session will cover streamlined field reporting, surveying so results can be quickly aggregated and analyzed. It will offer tips on collecting photos and anecdotes from the field and cover how to look at website Google Analytic data.