Please don't let my silence be an indication of the level of excitement for this project. I'm a thinker and then a doer but am still on first step!

Oh so good to hear from you Kerry. Thanks.

Truth is I'm here with you here on the first step. lol Never having done strategic marketing (?) this is all new to me as well. Actually I am on the staring line and haven't taken that first step. I'm trying to understand what is a fitting title. Does strategic marketing of Time Out Alliances encompass what our project is about. Maybe Google can point the way.

Thanks again for keeping topic conversation going?

Hello,
I am finally catching up with my commitments towards building a successful Timebank with Kerry. Lots to learn with you Tony.

:-) Hey Ash great to hear from you. I sure that I will be learning from you as well. do you have thoughts about how to embed Time Banking into the culture of a local community or town? I'm thinking of methods that may be done after a time bank is established and operating all be it just started is no problem.

All the best in 2015

Culture, according to me, has always been... 'this is how we do things'. Even a good change is resisted by default. How to breakthrough then?

I would try to identify a small part of the existing culture that has sharing imbibed in it and start from there. and then let the cultural mix and acceptance help the whole idea of Time banking evolve.

Excellent suggestion, thanks. I love your description.

A new thought just crossed my mind. A big mistake people make is when they follow the mentality 'Build and they will come'. It almost never works that way.

A better way to do it is to Build after you have a compelling reason to organize such a platform for people who have gathered and acknowledge the need.

What do you feel about this?

Hm, there are several if not more premises to think about in your idea to "Build after". What comes to mind is build with people, not for and not to them. The idea is to practice what we preach, walk the talk, simply think and do Co-Production.

It's worth noting the call for this very group "to develop a strategy to market or advertise, the creation and branding of an Alliance or Network of Time Out venues." went out to over 600 timebank program coordinators and yet ONLY four (4) individuals responded.

So what are we to make of this low response for participation?

A very nice question...

The answer might be....

"I don't have time for this!"

Because they don't see the value or significance or need for such a forum.

Good point, people are very busy yes, and don't see or appreciate the importance of a mutual support network system.

Seems that we are back to the beginning question? lol

As a relative newcomer to the scene, it seems that there has been much dedication and work of late to rallying the troops and building the Knowledge Commons as well as attending to those willing to learn or asking for help via participation in the Facebook group ... so I think we may be seeing a burnout a tad along with fact that its the holidays so focus is usually on family and such. Sometimes the very way a request for participation is posed can influence response as well. With that said, if we're keen to attract more experienced Time bankers the way to do that is to start generating content that they can see is coming out of this brainstorming and see that it's actually something they are keen to participate in after all ... or perhaps simply 'correct' our thinking :D

Ash, our job in January is to figure out how to interweave the Timebank into other cultural norms so that it's not so much a brand new thing that few will adopt but rather an extension of something old and familiar. I have been thinking about churches in this regard. Much to ponder and this dialog has really go me thinking! Thanks.

Before we construct our road map we must first all agree upon the desired destination. What are we trying to accomplish / build? What does the destination look like? Once we have a firm set of goals in place, we can then start building out the SM plan. I have templates we can use albeit will have to be modified as we're marketing something quite unique.

Feeling a bit frustrated with this platform for discussion but liking the discussions here. Agree that people are (well, I am) having problems keeping up as we're all so busy. So don't think we should take that as a negative. Slow, small steps will work as long as we persist. :)

I tried to post a comment here using email response but it seems we have to login to post, is that right? Any chance we could move this discussion to a most flexible platform. Think we might be more people involved if we did (though I don't think numbers are the only indicator of success).

I agree Marie re: not getting discouraged. And, yes you do have to be in Loomio to comment v replying to earlier thread.

[Where to Start]
Here is a post from Co-production practitioners network, Wales, It's an attachment on a thread, titled, How can we make a start with co-production? Posted by Diana Reynolds on July 14, 2014 at 10:31, interestingly nobody responded. But there are a few salient points: Hope that this link works;
http://coproductionnetwork.com/forum/attachment/download?id=5217382%3AUploadedFile%3A33583

Back to Ash's point of "‘Build and they will come’. It almost never works that way."

So why when Apple releases a new I pad, folks are sleeping on the sidewalk during the night to be the first consumer's to get the fresh new gizmo?

Certainly not all manufactures / companies have such a strong brand, but many producers to various degrees of success attempt to market to trend setters.

If we take an example of Apple... it took quite a while to catch up when it started off. It took a whole lot of study, exploration and finally focus on easy adaptation to enhance convenience... thanks to Mr. Steve Jobs. And soon, it became a culture / lifestyle statement. A sense of belonging... 'I love Apple'. What we see now is nothing but an extension of this craze that took years to build up. People are not in queue for the gadget, they are in queue to attain more of what they perceive to be a part of their lifestyle... or want to adapt to this lifestyle.

Thinking of Time bank, the biggest challenge we face with culture is that of 'receiving' as against 'giving'.

I can't help but think that the strength may not necessarily be in numbers. But if various TB could choose their niche and shape it around the Givers... it would be possible to focus on maximum impact through small quality numbers... to create a brand image for TB culture itself.

For example, I was recently approached by a member of a TB to compose music for a poem which will be available in her published book as an Audio CD. I can't limit the possibilities here. Do I think of exchange? No! I want to do this because I love this work and I would love to make a dream come true for this person.

What happens if this book becomes a success? Or if the music gets attention?

It will start a whole new trend among authors and musicians... who may be more interested in joining this culture?

Just some thoughts.... I am trying to touch the mainstream and use every opportunity to engage TB to make a difference there... so they can see IT WORKS!

This change in mental models is a huge task and it will take all of us to climb this tall slope before we reach a plateau :)

And then the crowds will start jumping into the wagon.

Well said Ash, Thank you.

Interesting that you see people wanting to get rather than to give. I have a couple of observations on that which I have come to over several years of observing interactions in Tampa Bay Time.

1. I think this will naturally correct itself. I have seen several people say, I came to this group thinking about all I could get from it, but what I find is that the best part is that I'm making friends. I'm enjoying getting to know people I've "known" for years but now we've become friends. It's fun to get together with them and help each other. (That's an approximation, not a direct quote). While we're only now beginning to have much experience with this, I do think that creating activities people care about helps get them acting for a deeper purpose than just getting something they want or need.

2. I also find that two kinds of people are attracted to time banking and that an equal but opposite issue is the problem of all the do-gooders (like myself perhaps) earning a lot of hours by helping but not spending them. I'll share something Tony taught me a long time ago, which is that when we spend our hours we're creating jobs for people who may need them so we're "giving" even when we're "getting." That's where the equality comes in--both people are helping, not just the ones who "give." I think talking about it in this way is one way to get the do-gooders to see value in spending as well as earning. And, in our time bank at least, that is as common a pattern as the one you mention.

Marie, thank you for your input. While off-tangent in terms of this thread, let me say that it's more a problem of people joining and then doing nothing - not setting up offers or interacting in any way including not accessing the various ways we have set up to demonstrate how to use the software. I believe this is a baby growing pain and that hosting our 1st in person orientation in January will soothe this.

In regards to issue 2, one of my own personal beliefs about how this is going to help those struggling to get back on their feet is by empowering them to help others in need. There is no greater feeling for someone coming out of a depression than to be able to feel valuable again. It's an opportunity to show someone that they do indeed matter. Perhaps if more realized that by accepting offers they are really helping people take their lives back more would do so.

I'm doing a meta-analysis of sorts right now of all the TB studies that document mental health benefits, so if you all know of any off-hand please do send my way.

Cheers.

Tony, the link to word doc on co-producing worked for me! Am studying now.

Hm, I want to reply to all of your recent messages. But this forum is a bit trouble some, lots of scrolling up and down. Nice to have a little wheel on my mouse. One step at a time I'll get caught up to the ideas raised.

I'm requesting that we try running this discussion in another forum. We just may find a forum that works both friendly and efficiently. Please lets make and exchange our messages there as a trial as we check it out?

Thread Topic- Where to Start:
http://timebankswork.net/forum/index.php?board=42.0

In Board- Time Bank Champions/Co-Developers
http://timebankswork.net/forum/index.php#c10

Let us know your thoughts, post either here or in the Forum Board any comments about whatever.

Thanks much for your patience,

So are we moving from Loomio?

Loomio is best used for short discussions, then propose, and then vote to decide. Loomio is not good for long and complex discussions or multi topic threaded conversations. I didn't realize software boundaries or such long conversations here when we started.

We can come back to Loomio to make decisions, however, we are such a small number of participants, I doubt we'll have problems making decisions.

Yet for example I should have used the vote system here for us to decide to move or not to move. Please be patient it's all so new to all of us. So lets vote