From the EN… “More than 90 people gathered at the Cotton Factory in downtown Rock Hill on Tuesday, February 16, to hear Jason Broadwater’s presentation about how Facebook, Linked-in, Twitter, blogging, and even Google can be used to expand small business outreach and customer service.” It was a great event. Thanks, Edie. I’m very pleased to see community gathering in positive ways.

Like I said, I also struggle with do and be. I have experienced truth when hearing someone say you are what you do, or a man is defined by his actions. And I have experienced truth when hearing someone say, understand what it means to be and don’t just be lost in the doing.

I tell my wife to ease her burden of task task task that while I appreciate what she does, I love her for who she is. So what makes her who she is? Well, it’s partially what she does, but it’s also her thoughts, ideas, desires, and dreams.

My children and the reality and idea of fatherhood have pushed the question of do and be to the forefront for me. I want to be a good father, and much of that is defined by what I do. But some of it has to do with who I am beyond action.

So I guess my conclusion is my usual one, that I don’t know much about anything. But I do plan to coach my son’s basketball, take my daughter to daycare, come home in the evenings, work hard and smart all day, grow my company significantly, work less on weekends, and give my attention to my wife and children when I am home. And I plan to be both more relaxed and more creative with learning and experiencing life with my little family. And to be more disciplined and steadfast in my time dedicated to work.

Peace and good will.

Jason

• in person,
• in media,
• in mind, and
• in action.

To be present

• in Person
  • Interaction with clients
  • Interaction with interested prospects (estimates, etc.)
  • Events and “being out and about”
• in Media
  • Push/Interruption Media
    • On TV
    • On the radio
  • Discovery Media
    • In the Yellow Pages
    • On the Web
• in Mind
  • Best when inspired by their need.
• in Action
  • This is the tip of the funnel, happening under the appropriate inspiration for each individual.

The nature of communicating to prospective audiences is forever changed because the Web is happening right now. We now function in a world with immediate casual access to seemingly unlimited amounts of meaningful information, able to be localized around any idea we put before it, while morphing around our behavior, our preferences, and our communities.

The world is forever changed. Yet, people are the same. We each go into that sphere of content, and we interact. We are each ourselves there. Even if we are masquerading, we are being who we are just by being compelled to do it. We explore what we are interested in. We seek out what we desire. And we share with others drawn into your sphere - proximity inherent in commonality / likeness / sameness.

In the search for meaningful use, one will wonder how these phenomena and shifts and changes present opportunity and challenges to one’s organization. What does success look like?

• every organization is investing in improved communications online - more fluid, more productive, more engaging, more interactive, more measurable in achieving real goals and objectives;
• every organization is morphing in its model due to digital technologies and the Internet; and
• every organization is faced with immediate needs and opportunities to fulfill their missions to a greater degree.

Specifics (remixed)

Below is a freely (but not drastically) edited version of this ( http://www.coyotecommunications.com/outreach/online3.html ). I liked it so much that I picked it up and started rearranging it, editing it, in order to further explore it for myself. Currently, It serves in my mind as the list of goals and objectives we will help an organization achieve.

An optimally functioning organization will

• allow and inspire the setting of strategies and goals to involve the participation of most staff members, from different departments, but not be based on lead by committee structures;
• allow and inspire web communications to be integral into the activity of its members instead of solely an IT responsibility or that of a marketing initiative (it is both of these things as well)
• allow and inspire updates to their websites with new information at least once per week, with information and activity coming from a variety of staff members;
• allow and inspire key staff members (paid and volunteer) to subscribe to online content through aggregation of data and newsletters produced by other organizations/companies that are related to their work;
• allow and inspire staff to post volunteering opportunities to online services, such as VolunteerMatch;
• allow and inspire staff to regularly publish a subscription-based, email-based newsletter/update, or a web-based newsletter/update, that is promoted via easy-to-use email subscription;
• allow and inspire all staff to have input regarding what goes on the web site; all key departments have their own section of the web site to maintain, and their changes are made promptly when given to the web master;
• allow and inspire staff to complete information about volunteering with the organization, including a downloadable-application, orientation schedule and agenda, and policies are available on the organization’s web site;
• allow and inspire the posting of public documents as freely-available online (annual reports, volunteer policies, etc.);
• allow and inspire staff to use the website to promote information and activities that builds the reputation of the organization as transparent and credible;
• allow and inspire staff’s engagement in online research and communications around grants, application deadlines, federal resources, statistics for grant proposals, etc.;
• allow and inspire staff to regularly send out announcements, agendas, reminders and minutes to meeting participants before and after the meeting;
• allow and inspire staff instant messaging to interact with each other, volunteers, and colleagues;
• allow and inspire appropriate policies and procedures about the introduction of new networking technologies at the organization, and regarding the use of all networking technologies by staff;
• allow and inspire at least some staff to telecommute at least part-time;
• allow and inspire an avenue for safe, secure financial exchange online;
• allow and inspire users to subscribe to updates on the web site or blogs via RSS readers;
• allow and inspire the regular publishing of blogs written by paid and volunteer staff, and even clients;
• allow and inspire online activism (sending messages to supporters regarding upcoming legislation on the local, state or federal level and how they can contact their representatives; or sends messages to supporters directing them to engage in various activist activities to influence decision-makers, the general public or other);
• allow and inspire online meetings with board members, advisors, and/or volunteers, to reach consensus, propose new activities, debate internal issues, etc.
• allow and inspire the use of a private, secure intranet (or cloud) that allows remote staff (paid or volunteer) to communicate, to share documents, to work collaboratively on documents or projects, to view each other’s calendars, and to use shared databases.
• allow and inspire staff (paid or volunteer) and clients to interact online in secure, private, one-on-one, web-based fora (for instance, an online mentoring program or online counseling service);
• allow and inspire volunteers to input their service hours and progress reports directly into a private online database;
• allow and inspire the viewing of online webcasts, or the downloading and listening to podcasts, relating to their work;
• allow and inspire the use of handheld technologies as a structured, integral part of their work with the community and those served directly by the nonprofit (This includes using micro-blogging, such as Twitter, to send immediate, short, time-sensitive updates to subscribers via their cell phone or a particular online platform (email, instant messaging, etc.);
• allow and inspire the leveraging of online social networking platforms for client, donor and volunteer outreach; and
• allow and inspire the hosting of public, live, online audio or video-based events at least once a year.