Posts filed under 'Collaborative communities'
Human beings need to connect, to communicate, and to collaborate to survive and thrive.
I’m a member of many communities, some geographically based, some virtual. One community, Web 2.0 Community and Business, is a community about community, aren’t we?! We’re a virtual community of like-minded people who are committed to developing and learning how to create and thrive in a virtual community. And to collaborate, co-create, and thrive we need accountability and commitment.
Today I got an email from one of my local colleagues, David Brown. He’s a coach and an alumni of IBI / CEO Space. That means he’s part of our tribe…
He sees “community as being the structure that creates a sense of belonging. A space that taps into peopleʼs longing, imagination and possibility. A space that calls people to organize around something larger than who they are or what they can envision individually. A space from which completely new futures can emerge.
In a workshop he attended, the host, Peter Block, spoke of a statue of a man, blindfolded, hammering himself into shape, forming himself from the inside out. That image was shared in the context of what is the purpose of a community: to rediscover its capacity and its gifts, and create from there.
David goes on to say “I also have a vision. I see an organizational culture that is a community of peers where communication flows freely and there is a natural sense of ownership, pride, cooperation and support, like in a well run healthy family business. We care, we listen and we help each other out, because our primary concern is for the well-being of the whole. Complaints become requests and promises are our word.”
If you like what you’ve read so far, click on this link and read Summary of the Six Conversations that Build Accountability and Commitment.
This is a core conversation I’d like to have with YOU!
What’s your vision of community and how do you see us moving toward healthy, happy, whole communities of healthy, happy, whole members who come together to collaborate and co-create a world, our world, in which we can be all we can be and do it together in the spirit of honoring and connecting with the spirit in each of us.
Thanks for reading, I’d really love to hear from you!
The Energizer Bonnie
- Please, Come Back. More Articles Every Week
- Join the Community and Business Online Community and post your comments and questions. Membership is free and and you’ll find rich and valuable content and conversations.
Bonnie Dubrow
Web 2.0 Expert : Blog ~ Expert’s Page ~ Expert’s Resource
Website : Marketing to YOUR World
Tags: Effective Communicating, Web 2.0
January 22nd, 2010
Do you go to networking events because you know it’s a
great way to meet new people and reconnect with those you’d
met before?
It really doesn’t matter what you’re networking for –
clients, connections, joint ventures, a job…
Has this ever happened to you at an In-Person Networking
Event?
Have you ever gone to a networking event where you made no
new connections, or you couldn’t break into a conversation
with someone you really wanted to meet, or you couldn’t
break away from a conversation that went on and on and on?
Even worse, have you ever paid an annual membership fee so
you could then pay for gas and parking driving to an event
where you then paid to enter and met nobody new?
Use BlitzTime and it won’t be this way at all!
You’re next networking event at BlitzTime will be like this:
You go to a networking event where you make the right
number of new connections, or you have a conversation with
someone you really want to meet, or your conversations are
just enough time at 6 minute each to know whether or not to
reconnect. BlitzTime gives us professionals the ability to
make up to 6 new connections in a single event through
actual 1-on-1 conversations!
* No annual membership fee.
* No paying for gas and parking.
* No driving to an event.
* No entry fee to enter and met nobody new.
BlitzTime combines the personal nature of in-person
networking, the reach of online networking, and the
convenience of the telephone.
While you’re talking with someone, you’re on your computer
looking at their picture and a detailed profile. That means
you know more about them during your conversation than
you’d probably learn about them at an in-person event.
So take this opportunity to join me and others for a
telephone Blitz Event. During each event you have up to 6
short 6 minute conversations with others signed up for the event.
Simply go BlitzTime to sign up.
There, you will be assigned a phone # and passcode to dial
into any event. You can attend two events free-of-charge so
you get to test drive this virtual speed networking venue.
I didn’t choose an event for you so you could choose the
ones most convenient for you. Simply click on the
word “Events” at the top of the page. You’ll see all the
upcoming events in chronological order. Choose whatever
works for you.
FYI: The price is going up from $9.95/month to $19.95 for
unlimited BlitzTime sessions on June 15.
That gives you a week to attend your two free sessions to
see if you love it as much as I do!
I look forward to talking with you on a future event!
P.S. Please pass along this invitation to anyone you think
will be grateful you did. Thanks!
P.S.S. BlitzTime is the perfect venue if you’re shy, an introvert, or new to networking and want to get your feet wet before jumping into the deep end! Yes, it’s one of the best ways I know to overcome Marketing Resistance Syndrome!
One more thing ~ be sure to fill out your profile before getting
on your first BT call. You’ll be glad you did! Trust me!
Tags: Marketing for Professionals, Social networking, word of mouth marketing
June 7th, 2009
You know how NOISY it is out there, don’t you? If you’re like me, you’re always receiving incoming messages via email from people you know and even those you don’t know, AKA Spam.
You can’t switch on any kind of media, surf the Web, go to the grocery store, or drive your car from one place to another without being bombarded with advertising.
The trouble is, you as a professional, author, entrepreneur, or business owner ~ someone with a message ~ also need to get YOUR message across, don’t you?
So, how do you spread the word about YOUR message out there in a world that is absolutely saturated with messages?
How do you make sure YOU’RE SEEN and HEARD above the din?
I believe there is a very effective way to get people to listen and even buy what you have to offer. But it means embracing a new approach.
You’ll find out what that is in the article “Cutting Through the Noise So You Can Be ‘Well Heard’”: http://www.publishingcoachweekly.com.
The article was written by Your Publishing Coach, Diane Eble. Diane, Russell Cox and I are going to be co-teaching the interactive teleclass program “Design Your Village” that starts Thursday June 11, 3:30 – 4:30 pm Eastern.
Why would you want to design your village? The village is the infrastructure upon which you build your online community.
Today, having a list of email addresses is no longer enough. While having a group, like yahoo groups, is better, Web 2.0 and Social Networking have been around too long. People are too used to connecting and communicating with others to settle for less.
And now with online software platforms like CollectiveX, Ning, and iGroops, you can build your own online community.
An online community is the perfect place for like-minded people can get to know, like and trust each other. And CollectiveX is the perfect platform for members to come together to learn, collaborate, co-create, and more in the spirit of cooperation.
A Groupsite powered by CollextiveX is also the perfect place for an instructor and students to gather to share supporting class materials, new ideas, questions, and to share with others the projects they’re working on for feedback and praise. That’s exactly why we have our own Groupsite for our class Design Your Village.
If the Design Your Village program sounds like interesting, remember we start on Thursday, June 11. There’s an early-bird special going on through midnight EST on Monday, June 8th, so check it out today!
More about that here: http://www.designyourvillage.com.
The next time this program will be offered is late September, 2009.
Having your own online community is a great way to be well seen, well heard, and well paid. And isn’t that what we all want!
So visit http://www.designyourvillage.com and decide for yourself if you’re ready to have your very own online community. You’ll be glad you do!
Tags: Collaborative communities, CollectiveX, Design Your Village, Develop Your Audience, Groupsites, Ning
June 5th, 2009
Patricia Weber is a new cyberfriend of mine. I ‘met’ Pat years ago when I was signing up for every newsletter and teleclass I could get my hands on. I was impressed with her work and what she stands for ~ helping introverted sales people and other professionals be successful in business and in life by leveraging their true nature to their fullest advantage. Yet Isomehow lost touch with Pat along my journey.
I’ll let you in on a secret: the phrase Marketing Resistance Syndrome, which I coined and helping professionals overcome Marketing Resistance Syndrome is one of the cornerstones of how I serve them, was inspired by by Pat’s phrase “reluctant salesperson.”
Then a few months ago, I got an email from Pat telling me about this new networking thing called BlitzTime. It’s the coolest new virtual networking gig in town. You can click on this link if you just can’t wait for me to tell you more ~ which I promise to do in tomorrow’s blog. For now, back to our story.
I accepted Pat’s invitation, LOVED my experience on my first BlitzTime session, I joined immediately and have been attending BlitzTime sessions every week ever since.
Anyway, Pat and I ended up getting paired in our private BlitzTime sessions. While we talked we could see each other’s profiles on our computer screen. How cool is that!
This happened a few times. We decided to read the handwriting on the wall and connect intentionally outside the BlitzTime setting. And we’ve been connecting ever since. We’ve become part of the Fabulous Four ~ four like-minded professionals who met on BT, resonated together, and decided to support, encourage, cross-promote, and share tools, tips, and trade secrets ~ well, maybe not secrets ~ how to use certain social networking tools better, how to cross-promote each other, and things like that.
So thanks, Pat for showing up in my life!
And here I am cross-promoting and commenting on your blog post Introvert Tip – Three Ways Introverts Can Draw Boundaries.
Pat, as always, your posts inspire self-reflection, and I always love what I discover… even though I’m a flaming extrovert. Actually, I swing both ways. I, too, need my alone time ~ to connect with my deeper self and trusted higher source, to just be. I think is just that I also get LOTS of energy from people, too.
The thing is that this extrovert, and I’m wondering how many others would do well to take these 3 boundaries to heart ~ to practice and live by them:
First, am I going to let myself be fooled into thinking that I’m not good enough as I am? For any reason – for me it’s from being prone to sudden bursts of enthusiasm… even in business settings, oh my!
Second, I have some traits that could be helpful if everyone had them! Passion and compassion, energy, ideas, creativity to share and joyfully do, the ability to connect heart-to-heart with friends and strangers…
Third, there are certain skills that we are all smart to learn. How to play fair and care, how to cooperate and collaborate, how to co-create win-win resolutions to conflict, how to take good care of ourselves, how to shift our attention from what we don’t want to what we want, how to be grateful and appreciative for what we have and for what we’ve asked for and yet to see evidence of.
So thanks, again, for bringing to the forefront of my consciousness who I am and what’s really important to me.
The Energizer Bonnie
http://MarketingToYOURworld.com
Tags: Information Marketing, Marketing for Professionals, Social networking, word of mouth marketing
June 3rd, 2009
The need to connect and to belong is part of human nature, and is balanced by the need to be independent.
For a long time we here in the US prided ourselves in being “the Rugged American,” the individual who could do anything including survive on their own even in the wilderness against all odds.
Many of us self-employed professionals and solopreneurs adopted the version of this posture known as “The Lone Ranger.” We did everything from soup to nuts on our own. Speaking from personal experience, that’s a quick path to burn-out regardless of how much you love what you do.
And there’s more competiton today than ever before in just about any field, certainly the ones in high demand.
It’s becoming more important than ever before for us to come together to cooperate and collaborate, to leverage our passions, talents, gifts and strengths.
Jayesh Badani posted this question on the Discussion section of Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators’s LinkedIn group.
He went on to say, “I believe it is ‘duality’ which is fueling collaboration.”
He included a link to his blog post from which I exerpted these comments:
“Most of the people on this planet cannot afford to do what they love to do, for some it’s the daily bread, for others it’s equated monthly installments. And there are too many mundane things to be done to keep the world spinning….
People are slicing their time, and some slices are being used to do what one loves to do intellectually. People are increasingly becoming dual.
It’s this duality which is fueling collaboration in this age. An hour of intellectual fulfillment is giving a day long high and we love it. When we collaborate; a little contribution can make us feel part of bigger achievement. Collaboration facilitates the variety of part time intellectual fulfillment which otherwise was not available.
Erma Bombeck once said … “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, “I used everything you gave me.”
I believe more and more people are feeling what Erma felt, and duality is the means for some people to “go get it.”
Here’s what I wrote in reply:
The need to connect and to belong is part of human nature, and is balanced by the need to be independent.
For a long time we here in the US prided ourselves in being “the Rugged American,” the individual who could do anything including survive on their own even in the wilderness against all odds.
Many of us self-employed professionals and solopreneurs adopted the version of this posture known as “The Lone Ranger.” We did everything from soup to nuts on our own. Speaking from personal experience, that’s a quick path to burn-out regardless of how much you love what you do.
And there’s more competiton today than ever before in just about any field, certainly the ones in high demand.
It’s becoming more important than ever before for us to come together to cooperate and collaborate, to leverage our passions, talents, gifts and strengths.
And with Web 2.0, we can do this quicker, easier and more effectively than ever before. Isn’t that what many of us on LinkedIn for… the opportunity to meet and get to know others with whom we resonate AND have common interests. I know that’s one reason I’m here… to share my thoughts, to contribute to discussions so you, my fellow professionals and entrepreneurs might discover that you don’t need to fly solo any longer. There are folks like you looking for each other to co-create, cross promote, support, and encourage each other.”
To which Jayesh replied, “Bonnie, I love the sense of pride you showcase. Last time I heard similar one was in Amsterdam, when the city guide proudly said, “God created the world. We created Netherlands!”
What are your thoughts?
Are you being well used? Are you sharing your strengths, gifts, talents and expertise in ways that are serving others and fulfilling you? What one thing can you do to share more today? What can you stop doing or do differently so you have more time to do and whare what you love?
Equally important, who do you know who’s also into what you’re passionate about? Have you told them of your common passion? Even better, are you exploring how you can cooperate and collaborate?
Post comments on someone’s blog. Say something encouraging and acknowledging on their social networking page. Retweeting their tweet. These are great places to start. They’re quick and easy to do.
Remember, we who are playing in cyberspace are sitting someplace, probably alone. Your comments and words of support mean so much. They’re as close as we can get to real human interaction. And that, like the need to belong and the need to feel appreciated and acknowledged, are basic human needs we all share.
So let’s collaborate! We’ll all feel better. And those who do stand a way better chance of being well seen, well heard, and well paid.
To your ever expanding success.
June 1st, 2009
As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, I’m pretty active in a few groups in LinkedIn. It’s a great place to find like-minded people for support, encouragement, guidance, new ideas, and for doing ’soft’ marketing of your expertise and your products and services.
So this post is about a segment of a discussion in Linked Businesses entitled “It’s time for small businesses to stick together and get the economy going again.”
Steve contributed this last post. My comment is below his.
Lori, You are singing our song. Local B2B can have a great impact on our economy but it takes the right mindset to use local resouces if at all possible. COSE’s IbuyNeo is one! We at SJK have expanded our service offerings using ONLY local small businesses and just in 09′ have inserted over $80K in project work to local businesses-the economy. I find it disappointing to see out of town contractors working in our backyard – don’t people see the impact?
Here’s my reply:
Steven, I hear and understand your frustration. Sometimes I get into that space too. Then I realize that energy and attitude don’t serve anyone, least of all me. Here’s how I deal with anything any time I find myself looking outside myself and blaming others, the economy, etc. and even when I’m looking inward and blaming me.
Once we’ve realized something’s happening that we’d rather see be otherwise, once we’re clear on how we’d like it to be, shame, blame and guilt don’t help anyone, especially the person who’s feeling that way.
I use these feelings to remind me of a few things:
We’re all human. We’re all always doing the best we can with what we’ve got at the moment. In this challenging time of constant and rapid change that’s rocking us to our core, it helps me to remember this. Then I can find something to appreciate which is uplifting to me and puts my attention back on what I want instead of what I don’t want.
I also look within and see where, even in some small way, I’m doing something similar to what I’m complaining about. I always find something. Like I buy my produce at the local produce store, yet I still go to Walmart for things they don’t sell. Could I go to a few stores and buy those things elsewhere? Sure, except many of them are chains, too, and WM is literally just around the corner. And I know I’m doing so many other things, playing full out where I can. How I spend my time and money is part of the mix that allows me to do my work, life on purpose, contribute to the success of professionals, small business owners, and entrepreneurs. Running around town isn’t always the best use of my time. I have to make these and other decisions throughout my day and week.
Again, I remind myself I’m always doing the best I can with what I’ve got at the moment. I do what I do and do my best to minimize the shame and blame that’s part of my negative unconscious programming which I’m becoming more and more conscious of so I can change it.
And I can take the energy I would have spent blaming and shaming and put it into action that’s aligned with my vision, mission, and purpose.
So let’s continue to unite, to talk to others who have yet to see the wisdom of “think globally and locally, and act locally.”
Here are my questions to you:
Can you relate to what I’ve written? Can you apply these principles about honoring yourself and others for we all are doing the best we can to yourself?
And do you have any suggestions for how are you thinking globally and locally and acting locally?
Is there anything you’re not doing now that you can do? Anything you’re doing you can reduce, modify or stop?
And how can we professionals, entrepreneurs small business owners band together to support, encourage, and guide each other through this transition in which it is we who will once again be the economic backbone of this country.
Comments? Thoughts?
May 31st, 2009
Once upon a time, not all that long ago, the list was the valued treasure of the kingdom and its owner king. The bigger your list, the more money you made. This was a good thing.
The limitation of these list, no matter how big, was they were basically about one-way communication. E-newsletters, ezines, broadcast emails could take your message to your world way faster, cheaper and easier than traditional communication channels. Yet except for reply emails (if a reply address was provided,) members of the list had no way of communicating with the list owner, certainly not with themselves.
Times changed and with it Internet and computer technology. Maybe we could call Yahoo groups and their kin the pre-dawn of the new age of Web 2.0. We could gather in cyber-groups. Members of the list could finally meet, greet, and communicate with each other. Yet, the technology behind these groups made it difficult for people in different locations to come together in the spirit of cooperation to collaborate on joint projects.
Yes, there were a few powerful tools, like Lotus Notes. These were only available to the larger companies with deep pockets… certainly out of reach of the self-employed professionls, solo-prenerus and small business owners who also had needs and desires to connect and co-create with like-minded people.
For years we made due… at best…
Then we moved into the the Age of Web 2.0. Joy, excitement, relief… combine with overwhelm, confusion and more to learn, more time spent on good things for us social creatures. We w
The dawn of the new age created by Web 2.0 has now past. The sun is rising in the sky illuminating the power and the weakness of social networking tools, technologies and strategies.
For some who wish to connect and communicate, to find long-lost friends, school buddies and co-workers social networking is perfect. We can find out who’s who and what’s what through profiles (when they are well crafted.) We can reach out and touch someone with text, pictures, and audio and video recordings. We can invite others to join our groups, invite people to events, and keep people updated about our progress on projects. We can share pictures and videos. We can do a better job of sharing our expertise with the world through blogs which even allow for feedback and interaction among members as well as the blog owner. These are all good, even great ways for the people of the kingdom to get to know, like and trust each other.
Yet we are moving beyond the consciousness of being the rigged individual. The world of business has changed and those of us who used to fly solo long for and need to be able to do more than find each other, connect and communicate. We need to do more. We need to be able to come together to co-create and collaborate.
A new day has dawned. Now we can use traditional social networking and media to find, connect, and communicate with like-minded people. We can now find people from around the country and around the world whom we would otherwise never have met. Now we can come to know, like and trust them.
Most important, we now have a platform for collaboration. Thanks to Groupsites Powered by CollectiveX, we can now come together and collaborate in ways never before possible.
What do we need now? Here’s I believe we need:
* We need people on the leading edge to pre-pave the way for others to optimize the new consciousness of cooperation by sharing their thoughts and feelings about what’s now possible.
* We need people who are ready, willing, and able to lead by example, to demonstrate how to live in the spirit of cooperation and leverage the new technology to bring together brilliant minds separated by miles. Distance can no longer stop us from making magic happen. And given the challenges we are facing on so many levels in so many places, we the people of the planet NEED to come together in powerful ways to co-create new solutions, and then spread the word far and wide.
* We need people who can show others how to use Groupsites powered by CollectiveX so more and more people discover the inner workings of the technology itself. While some do learn by reading text and others have the courage and technical know-how to go exploring on their own, many of us, especially those who are uncomfortable, overwhelmed and confused by all these new-fangled tools and technologies, need to see and hear, to show and tell, and especially to hold their hands while the learn. We need people who are passionate about teaching others and do so in a respectful, empowering way.
* We need people to spread the word about Groupsites powered by CollectiveX so more and more people come to know their time has come, the tools and training to optimize this new consciousness of colla
boration are available now and they’re FREE!
How cool is that!
Are you ready to raise your hand, to volunteer to be a leader in though, word and deed? Come join us. We need you now.
If you’re interested in learning more, please ask. I am assistant teaching classes with Russell Cox, the expert in using the technically of CollectiveX, the philosophy of collaboration, and the coming together of the two so we can apply the power of Groupsites.
May 1st, 2009
My mind loves coming up with three words that all start with the same letter. More important, together they tell a story that’s juicy and easy to remember.
Lately, I’ve been writing Connect, Communicate and Collaborate several times a day so I decided to share my thoughts before going for a walk.
Here I sit in my lovely back yard. The birds are singing, secada (delightfully noisy insects) are buzzing, the leaves swaying in the breeze, and me, a flaming extrovert, sits alone writing this blog post.
I love to CONNECT with people, preferrable in person, second on the phone, and third through all these new digital ways, whether text, audio or video. I belong to several physical communities and am so grateful that I live in a place where there are so many who share interests and passions.
And I’m so glad to be connecting with people from around the world who long to connect with other like-minded people. Whether it’s about business and marketing or personal and spiritual development, I’m ready to connect.
What are your passions and are your reaching out and connecting?
Connecting is only the first step. Then it’s time for us to COMMUNICATE. Share your dreams, your Vision, Mission and Purpose. Who are you? What are you about? What’s important to you? What do you have to offer others and where do you need help?
Find people who resonate with you, who are willing to share who they are and really care about you. Get to know them, like them and trust them. Maybe even form a community with them. Maybe it’s based on geographic location, maybe it’s virtual. What’s important is the communing of hearts and spirits. I long to belong and communicating is key to fulfilling that need. Is that true for you?
As I CONNECT and COMMUNICATE with others, I’m always finding those special people with whom coming together is joyful and inspiring. These are the people with whom I naturally find myself wanting to COLLABORATE. To co-create in the spirit of cooperation ~ this brings joy to my heart and uplifts my spirit. And what’s created from this space is good ~ for me, for them and for those who partake of what we produce.
So, if you’re into CONNECTING, COMMUNICATING and COLLABORATING, reach out and touch someone. Find out who’s out here wanting the same and make beautiful music together. Let the inspirational sparks fly from your minds and hearts. Let them awaken your spirit and mine, and the millions out here around the world who long to belong, to connect, communicate and collaborate.
April 27th, 2009
