In a true epidemic, studies show that there are always a few people who infect others at a much higher rate – the sneezers. For any number of reasons – hygiene, genetics, behaviour, etc – these people manage to spread the disease all too effectively. They're highly contagious!

In a typical fundraising campaign, we see the same phenomenon. If you're a fundraiser, chances are you've observed this yourself. Those people who know how to work their network, ooze charisma, and raise way more money than the average? Those are your sneezers. (I spoke about them recently in a Charity Village article, which you might want to check out too.)

Bottom line: if you're smart, you'll treat them differently.

No, I'm not suggesting you isolate them in quarantine... quite the opposite! Rather, a smart sneezer strategy looks something like this.

If you haven't been hearing the word "Facebook" on a daily basis, then you likely haven't been paying attention! Over the space of six short months, this social networking site has rocketed its way to centre stage in the lives of millions of people – many of whom had never engaged in online communities before. With the launch of their developer platform in June 2007, they transformed themselves overnight from a website into a "platform", offering anyone the opportunity to create applications for Facebook users.

Some people developed silly things (like the Happy Hour app), some developed absurd things (like the Zombie app)... and some did their best to leverage this opportunity to use Facebook as a tool for social change. With the launch of the "Causes" application, we at Artez wondered whether we were watching the start of Facebook's foray into the world of online fundraising. A few months in, I have some thoughts about this.

This past Tuesday, May 29th, Artez hosted its first-ever ArtezInterAction Conference . Held at beautiful Hart House on the University of Toronto campus (think Harry Potter-style splendour, smack in the middle of Canada's busiest city), we had a full roster of speakers and sessions, and a full house of attendees.

The day also marked the launch of our brand-new Personal Events Module, which we celebrated with a lively launch party featuring the extra-ordinary DJ skills of our very own Shane Davis.

Keep an eye on this blog over the next week, as we will be posting the slides from the presentations that were made over the day – lots of valuable information in there, whether or not you were at the conference.