FALLing Over

Fall 2011 is over and I survived. Barely. With A's.

Thanks to Jan Schwartz of Education Training Solutions for being such a great Board Governance mentor.

And thanks to Joy Clarissa Taylor, Sustainable Communities Program Coordinator for College of the Siskiyous, for being a fabulous Strategic Planning mentor.

Out of all my mentors so far, I've enjoyed working with Joy the most. She was like a mentor/guide and was more organic in her way of thinking. She taught me to think more with my heart ("how does this make you feel, how do you think this will make the students feel") than my head and I really liked that. Hopefully, I'll be able to continue that thinking during my final two semesters. During my time with her, I had started out with a different study contract. After attending a YNPN Member Retreat in August this year, I instead went in a different direction. Within the first few weeks of the course, I realized I should've stuck with my original plan.

And promptly had a meltdown when I realized that Joy would be out of communication range for 12 days. After calming down, I just sent her an email telling her what was going on, we talked when she got back..and everything was right in my world. LOL. I think I just needed someone to confirm what I was already thinking. Her mantra became "Will this help you? Will you learn everything you wanted to?" and it was something she asked throughout the course. For me, it was like a Post-It note reminder taped to my computer.

It's times like that when I remember why I jumped into this program. It's so flexible that if one way isn't working, then I can change it.

Just as long as it's beneficial to my needs. Needless to say, if I had been going to a typical university, I would've been screwed.

Spring 2012 starts Jan 26th, so I'm going to enjoy this break.

As well as one can when searching frantically for next semester's mentors.

FOR IMPACT Afternoon Session: JUST ASK! Share the Story – Present the Opportunity

Hosted by the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and Tom Suddes of the Suddes Group

Date: November 29, 2011 Time: 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm

Location: Phoenix Catholic Diocese, 400 E. Monroe, Phoenix, AZ 85004

Just Ask! Just Ask! Just Ask! Get a VISIT… With a Qualified Prospect…to Share the Story…to Present the Opportunity…Shoulder-to-Shoulder…to Fund the Vision. Tom will present strategies on how to structure the visits and provide tools and techniques to give you the confidence you need to “Just Ask!!! You will learn how to create great Engagement Tools that can facilitate terrific dialogue, communicate stats & stories, foster engagement and interaction and GRAB PEOPLE’S ATTENTION!

Normally, I am significantly uplifted after leaving a Tom Suddes workshop. This one felt a little flat to me. Maybe because 1) He was tired after jumping on top of the podium during the first half of the workshop (wish I'd seen that. He didn't do that the first time I saw him) or 2) It was an all-day workshop and even though I'd already attended the first one over a year ago, I felt like I should've gone because I felt as though I missed some info. Which I did.

But I always leave with some words of wisdom and Tom never fails to drop some good ones:

• Find like-kind people who believe in your mission to serve on your board.
• ROI - about logic and magic, stats and stories, math and people.
• Selling is not telling unless it's a story.
• Presentation design - who goes with you on the visit? Predisposition hands-on or visual.
• The goal is to get the commensurate gift to campaign. 
• When presenting it should be in the format of You/Them/Us: You: 2 bullet points and the 3rd bullet is relationship to organization. Them: ask questions about them. Us: reason for visit (Ask "Do you know about we do?").
• In regards to qualified prospects: Identify, Prioritize, Strategize. Identify (low hanging fruit, referrals, ideal profiles, magic formula, target sectors, Women Rule! Prioritize (master prospect list)
• Champion - for your organization
• Invite - others to get engaged
• Invest - should make commensurate gift

Something to think about: Before the second session started, I had lunch at the location and sat with two ladies. They asked the typical get-to-know-you questions and when I told them what I wanted to do, one of the ladies said, "Oooh. You could be like one of those mobile libraries. But for creative writing. You could get yourself one of those camper-type things and just park on school grounds and have the school put out a sign or something to let them know you're there." Huh.