Pushing Ideas Out to Your Community

“If we are transparent enough, our ideas gain traction from the feedback and accountability provided by those around us.”

Scott Belsky, Making Ideas Happen, p. 147.

Overcome the Stigma of Self Marketing

Your ability to access the resources and opportunities in your community is dependent upon others recognizing your qualifications, your initiative, and your interests.

Marketing should not be seen as fake. At its best, marketing is building relationships—and learning.

Sara Horowitz, Founder, Freelancers Union
as quoted in Making Ideas Happen.

RESOURCE: The Freelancers Union. (Free) [https://www.freelancersunion.org/]

Effective Self-Marketing Builds Respect

Meetings

• Never hold a meeting when action will produce just as much or more.

• All meetings are conducted standing up (except of course, for those who are legitimately chair bound).

• No meeting may last longer than 15 minutes.

• No meeting may be held without a preplanned agenda (including estimated times for each agenda item).

• Every agenda must begin with a statement of purpose (aka the hoped for outcome).

• All purpose statements must be actionable.

• Everybody must participate. No spectators.

• No phones or other electronic devices may be present.

• Computers are allowed only if they are serving a function to further the meeting. (Such as displaying images or recording minutes or making it possible for someone to attend from a distance.)

• All meetings end by filling out an Action Item table:

Action Items table: In a real-time meeting, whether face-to-face or online, the group comes to a consensus about who should do what and by when.

First, through group discussion, a list of critical action items is agreed upon by consensus.

Second, if needed, further discussion is conducted about who, from those present, maybe the most appropriate person to complete each action item.

Third, having matched action items to appropriate parties, each party commits to taking their action items on.

Finally, they also agree to report their progress and completion to a third party as a way of creating a system of accountability.