getting started

The article from Seth Godin has a lot of excellent 'bootstrap' start points for folk looking for different ways to get their ideas listened to by more people. My own experience is that it works.

It takes time to build followers on a blog, and it works providing your content is wanted; 600 more people read 3000 more pages last month than would have done without a blog.

The Do Lectures - a platform for change, like TED, were watched over 500,000 times in their first year.

We're building our library of pod casts and MP3s as we go, for free to share LifeCraft skills.

Read and enjoy

When you have a big idea, the question is, how to spread it?

You can go through a traditional publisher and have it printed in the tried and true way, like Clay Shirky. I had a chance to read Clay's new book a few months ago. No surprise: it's pure gold, unalloyed insight about the state of media and the world.

If you're looking for big ideas and are prepared to lose a little sleep, there's no better book to buy right now.

You can have someone take a short speech based on your book and have them turn it into a animated video. Dan Pink's video has been seen about 20 times as often as his book has been purchased. Video spreads.

You can turn your idea (like a focus on entrepreneurs) into cool trading cards, like Evan did.

You can skip the printing altogether and start your own video university, like Kahn Academy.

Perhaps write a short manifesto and watch it spread as a free ebook. Like Changethis, a free service that has reached millions with the work of top authors from around the world.

Don't forget podcasts or mp3s, which can be very funny or motivational.

Consider starting a conference with a unique platform and worldwide reach, like TED.

Or you can blog your idea for several years in a row, slowly building up trust and making an impact over time.

Of course, there's no right answer. But there's probably a best answer that matches your time frame, budget, audience and idea.



Toxic conversations or useful mutations

Blogger and media guru Euan Semple is one of the excellent speakers at this year's Do Lectures; his simple, powerful insights are what many businesses need to make sense of change that's happening. A couple of days back Euan posted this:

During the Q&A at a recent event a senior manager in the organisation I was speaking to said something along the lines of "If we let people begin to use these social media tools then we won't have control over what is said in public". I waited a moment then asked "And what will happen then?"

There was an awkward silence then someone at the back of the room said in loud voice, directed at the senior person, "Yes - what will happen then?"

The funny thing is that about a week before, almost exactly the same thing happened to me in reponse to a question of "how many of you are blogging regularly", with an audience of partners of a consultancy who wanted to be better known. "We can't have allow uncensored copy going out online". Silence again, then a voice that said "apart from the facebook group of ex-employees - we censor ourselves and they don't".

Here's a Do. If you've never blogged before, set up a new blog and commit to writing 25 posts , using the excellent free tools on offer from sites such as blogger, wordpress or tumblr. Write in a diary style about what's interesting. If you can't find anything interesting to write about, change your job or your life, and write about the change. In a blog.