An overview of our current thinking about the methodology of community building and how it relates to the work of local media companies.

1. Community Building
Amanda Styron: Amanda@seedhere.org, (319) 400-7782, @mandastyron

2. Across the top
✤ A global shift from an hierarchical industrial society to a distributed
and networked one
2-WAY MINDLESS UNI-MINDED MULTI-MINDED
SHIFT OF SYSTEM SYSTEM SYSTEM
PARADIGM
NATURE OF ORGANIZATION
NATURE OF INQUIRY
ANALYTICAL APPROACH
INDEPENDENT
VARIABLES
SYSTEMS APPROACH Community
INTERDEPENDENT Building &
VARIABLES
Design

3. Example of The Shift
MINDLESS
SYSTEM
✤ Farm, trade in the center
✤ Factory enters the center, jobs for the masses means economic
progress in lots of ways UNI-MINDED
SYSTEM
✤ Cities and economic development organize around getting factories,
and life is good
✤ Until, the factories start to dwindle, and more people are mobile and
independent MULTI-MINDED
SYSTEM

4. Do you see this shift in your city?

5. Three important notes
✤ The organization is still ✤ Their overall mission is still
competent critical
The game just changed.

6. Redesign for the new game
To play in the new environment, we must:
✤ Engage more people
✤ Connect with them and them with one another on a more personal,
authentic, and meaningful level than ever before.

7. Community Building
Strategic work to...
foster the culture and build the context that
helps more people connect, have better conversations + take action
on their common needs/opportunities.

8. Community Building Activities
✤ Aim to build relationships with ✤ Produce resources where
all players needed
✤ Convene conversations and ✤ Support capacity building and
facilitate connections density of actors and acvities
✤ Highlight what’s working and ✤ Promote collaborative
where help is needed constructive values
✤ Listen most to the needs of the
innovators

9. Ideal Community Builder
✤ Deeply passionate about the ✤ Willing to lead and relinquish
community control when needed
✤ Forward looking with a 20+ ✤ Interested in nuanced
year outlook conversation and explaining
context and emerging patterns
✤ Welcoming, inclusive and
collaborative ✤ Willing to make the community
their priority instead of their
✤ Thinks in systems, design +
own ideas, solutions
effective communication
✤ A jack of all trades in media and
✤ Transparent in their dealings,
event production
objectives and perspectives

10. Do you know people like this?
✤ Deeply passionate about the ✤ Willing to lead and relinquish
community control when needed
✤ Forward looking with a 20+ ✤ Able to convene and engage in
year outlook nuanced conversation
✤ Welcoming and inclusive ✤ Willing to make the community
their priority instead of their
✤ Thinks in systems, design own ideas, solutions
✤ Transparent in their dealings, ✤ A jack of all trades in media and
objectives and perspectives event production

11. Our Communities

12. The key players

13. Measuring progress

14. Indicators of success
✤ More people reading, attending ✤ Reports of innovation being
and participating community easier to accomplish within the
activities community
✤ More people taking ownership ✤ Increase in the vibrancy of the
and initiative by producing community
their own events, projects,
programs and gathering spaces ✤ External recognition of the
vibrancy of the community
✤ New community building
teams popping up on their own

15. What hasn’t worked for us, and
where we see hope.

16. Where you might start
✤ What are the most important conversations your community is
having?
✤ Who in your community is already building community around this
conversation?
✤ How could your team and products help that person expand their
efforts and engagement in the conversation?

17. Apples + trees
a new generation for local media with the same heart and soul
Amanda Styron: Amanda@seedhere.org, (319) 400-7782, @mandastyron