24NTC Conference Presentation: Online User Portals, Impact and Adoption

March 25, 2024

I recently had the pleasure of speaking at my first conference, 24NTC, hosted by NTEN. Together with my friend and colleague Yas Najeebi, I gave a presentation on online user portals and specifically how you can further your impact by focusing on adoption, feedback, and continuous improvement.

Online user portals are often implemented without enough focus on user adoption. This “Field of Dreams” problem arises due to a lack of time, resources or an overconfidence in the relationships with constituents. Organizations often believe that if they build it, users will automatically start using it, which is rarely the case. However, with proper planning and intentionality, non-profits and NGOs can significantly improve their user adoption and ultimately enhance the overall impact of a new online user portal.

In the presentation, we discuss:

  1. What is a portal, and how is it different from a website?
  2. What does a basic project plan look like when implementing a new portal?
  3. What types of questions can we ask along the way to bring focus to user adoption?
  4. What actions should we take after going live to continue supporting adoption?
  5. Examples from a recent client with whom both Yas and I collaborated.

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Written by Saul who lives and works in Boise, ID. You should connect with them on Linkedin.