Interview with Marcel van der Drift & Arnoud van den Heuvel (Doe-het-niet-zelf)
Digital Pioneers has joined forces with Marcel van der Drift & Arnoud van den Heuvel (Don’t do it yourself) to facilitate a special programme during the Summit. If you can’t do it yourself, they will help you trade skills with someone who can! We interviewed Arnoud and Marcel shortly about themself and the project…
- Please tell us a little about yourself…
“We are Marcel van der Drift and Arnoud van den Heuvel, two creatives working together on various (mostly web-based) projects. We also organize Don’t do it yourself events. These events are just an excuse to meet skilled people in different areas, make interesting matches and see if they can help each other out”.
- How and why did you start Don’t do it yourself?
“In 2008 we were working together at the MediaGuild in Amsterdam, where we attended these network gatherings. They were nice but it wasn’t the best way for us to meet the right people. While we felt awkward pitching our services and handing out or new business cards, we had no trouble discussing ideas, designing and fixing stuff in a different setting. Hands-on and practical. So we organized our own event, Don’t do it yourself day. We developed a simple online service to match participants up and we personally suggested matches. This turned out to be productive and fun for the participants and for us. That’s when things started to roll”.
- What can we do with Don’t do it yourself?
“Basically we take network-gatherings to the next level by making them productive as well. People enjoy helping each other out, showing their skills or learning from a pro, one on one”.
- How does Don’t do it yourself stimulate social innovation?
“The idea of getting together to exchange services is hardly innovative. Bartering has been around longer than money. But every situation challenges us to find the right flavour for each event. The right interior, graphic design, technical tools, presentation. And we keep meeting people who love to join us as participants or fellow organizers. Keywords are: creativity and low-tech”.
- What are you going to bring and get at the State of Social Media Summit?
Submit to our matchmaker and find out! http://dontdoityourself.org/state_of_social_media/
Do you have something you can’t do it yourself? And/or would you like to know more about Arnoud and Marcel, come to the State of Social Media Summit, 28 and 29 October in Trouw Amsterdam.
- Register for Don’t do it yourself
- Register for the Summit
