Yesterday I went over to Salford Lads Club for the social media surgery.  I think it was the eighth one we’ve held over there, or something.

On the SMS+ website, only Kate and I had “signed up” to the surgery, so my expectations were probably a little muted!  

Nevertheless:

• John from Recycle-IT, a local social enterprise, raced over.  We planned how he could consolidate his two websites into a single wordpress
• Leslie from Salford Lads Club was on hand.  Kate looked into effective ways to use the Facebook timeline and milestones to highlight the history of the club.
• I also talked Leslie through the Youtube non-profit channel status that had just been approved for the club – and we made a plan around their video content for June
• Kate had an idea for Recycle-IT to post images of the vintage computer stock they collect – as a way of engaging people via Facebook.  John said he’d start that asap!
• Kate then showed me a website/page she’d be working on to explain social media surgeries to our local audience, built upon the We Make Jam project she co-ordinates
• We also found time to share some thoughts on of the upcoming surgeries at the BBC  
• John nipped to the Smiths room at the club, to take some photos!

A really productive and interesting couple of hours!

Zero Expectations isn’t the starting point

Earlier this week I took part in an NTEN tweetchat (hosted by Claire) around the idea of Zero Expectations and commnity organising – building up the (now) seminal post by Nick.  

Some people understood that Zero Expectations was an integral factor to the design and planning of any event/initiative.  In turn. this would cause issues in terms of gaining supporters.  I can understand this hesitancy, especially when we can be chased for outputs or targets.  

For me, Zero Expectations only kicks in when you’ve arranged the date/room/possible speaker and invited people etc.  Once you know you’ve done everything your resources (time, and maybe money) allow, then it’s time to let it happen….

Your commitment to doing all this is the main factor.  It *should* bring in others, but we are a fickle bunch.  

Thankfully, Rachel posted this TED talk to help further my thinking….