Jonathan Frederick
Observer
SciCycle
Well, two things I would say that I've learned along the way through some fits and starts is always when chatting with people, and if they're open and interested as you're wrapping up the conversation and setting up a time to talk more, it's always ask, "Who else should be a part of the conversation?" And let them think a little bit about what other entity or group just like Justin was doing, who would be interested. And then see if they're willing to make that introduction. Because a lot of times I'm not the right person to go into a community and start trying to reach out, but finding people who are willing to be a part of it is great. And then the other thing that the whole term of "reaching out" is loaded. Like I noticed, and I fall guilty of this. When I say I talked to someone, I'm mind typing with my fingers, which means I emailed them. And did I email them? Did I show up? Did I find a time that was convenient for them? And again, you probably did all this, but I think it's important to think about, and to document that building those relationships, there's a lot of shiny objects that get dropped into different places and then they disappear and go away. So sometimes thinking about how much you can actually show up and show up in person, which I think the currency of in-person has gone up as much as the currency of digital and perhaps even more so. So I think getting into the right meetings and thinking about the different neighborhoods, communities, community leaders, stakeholders, organizations, non-traditional beyond the cultural institutions, like informal learning places, but certainly your churches and community centers are big. So thinking through some of those places and finding those connectors, is really key. And I'm probably not saying that anything you don't know, it's just who goes to bandwidth? Because you try it with one and then get pulled away on 17 other projects and initiatives. So being really intentional and committing to it, is key.