By Vickie Cammack and Al Etmanski
Imagine a cloud of concepts, requests, emotions, ideas, values, outrage, research, vision, impulses and ideology swirling around you on your change-making journey. The listener or recipient of your message is bound to be confused. Reacting perhaps to your emotion. Wondering how to sort through the many signals you are sending. Leary of wading through too much detail. Fatigued by another list of ‘must do’s’ Unclear what your expectations are and what you want them to do.
This is a common challenge for busy activists. No matter how important your message, you must make it easy for people to do the right thing.
That means converting your content into a literal or figurative container. The container can be a campaign, an organization, a slogan, an app, a platform, a book, a box, a bear, a red nose… (Read Al’s book Impact for those examples.)
This holds true whether you are recruiting members, seeking funding or expecting government to implement your suggestions.
Two people who excel at this conversion are Jack Pearpoint and Lynda Kahn, our guests for the November 1st IMPACT-Ability webinar. One of the main reasons they are talented advocates, presenters and movement builders is because of their ability to create literal and figurative containers for their big ideas. The PATH strategic planning process is one example. Until PATH, personalized planning was dull, forced and formal. They made it fun, practical and desirable.
Another one of their inventions was the concept of ‘inclusion’ – an attempt to codify a vision bolder than integration. The concept is so majestic it has redefined how we think about education and indeed community living. The story of ‘inclusion’s’ birth in their living room and its journey to become a global cultural norm should be better known.
We intend to do our part during our upcoming webinar.
Our conversation will unpack Lynda and Jack’s creative process. We’ll learn how they cut through the swirl around them to frame an issue creatively. How they generate ‘ah-ha’ moments. How they change the way people see things. How they freshen up language. And make it all fun!
Whether you are inside or outside the world of disability, you are in for a learning treat with Lynda and Jack. What more can you ask for, the day after Halloween?
For more about this Webinar Series and to register, click here.