A new event to help social changemakers feel more confident with innovative tech platforms will be held in Melbourne on Friday 29 November.

The inaugural event ‘Platform Demo Day’ is an initiative of The Xfactor Collective community, whose mission is to help changemakers work smarter, not harder.

The inaugural ’Demo Day’ will feature Aussie innovators and Specialist Members of the Collective – Seer Data and Analytics and its data platform, and Vollie with its online volunteering portal.

“We created this event for changemakers to have their own dedicated time to look at the platforms, discover the efficiency gains for their organisations, and have the time to ask questions,” CEO Julia Keady said.

Seer Data Platform has an ever-green and ever-growing library of public data and community-driven research, and enables organisations to include their own. It includes private data resources in an online environment with simple tools to create and share insights.

Seer CEO and Co-Founder Kristi Mansfield reports that many organisations are seeing great results from being able to use a simple interface.

“We have recently seen one small organisation secure a $450,000 philanthropic grant after using the data platform to better understand community needs for strategic programming,” she said.

Vollie has seen some 12,000+ skilled volunteering hours go through its platform to date, providing $630,000 of value  to the not-for-profit sector, and Co-Founder and CEO Matthew Boyd says the rise of ‘skilled online volunteering’ has only just started.

“In 3 years of operation, Vollie has engaged 625 charities across 16 different countries around the world, allowing modern day professionals to share their skills remotely and around their busy schedule with causes close to their heart,” Matt said.

Demo Day participants will be able to bring their laptop and experience the platforms, and hear how to use data in evidence based decision making and advocacy, collaborate with data across different skill sets and organisations and build an understanding of your organisation’s challenges and opportunities through data. They can also understand the changing landscape of corporate volunteering and skilled volunteering  and see how how the changing motivations of Gen Y and Gen Z will impact their employment choices.

The venue of ‘Events by Kinfolk’ in Bourke St has been chosen as its proximity to Southern Cross Station means it can be easy for regional or rural changemakers to attend.

“Next year, we expect Demo Day to run over a full day, as we currently have 3 Specialist Members building out some great technology-based solutions to support changemakers,” Julia said. “For us, this event is also about showcasing brilliant Aussie innovators, many of whom are often overlooked as changemakers themselves, and we’re proud as punch to be helping them shine.”