brandspankingnew

A friend of mine, Heather, is running a mental health awareness event on 12 October and is looking for some support  and/or sponsorship.

The event is entitled “Keep Calm and Start Talking” and aims to enhance awareness of the mental health issues which affect 1 in 4 people, by opening up discussions and stimulating ideas. It is run independently but supported by the “See Me” Campaign (a Scottish Government initiative). The entrance to the event would host a stand where information can be provided on the different illnesses people face and how they can be supported. The second area would contain stalls which each hold an activity promoting positive mental health, and assisting to open up conversations which are often difficult to start. Including: a creative section for making crafts, a music zone to show the effect sound has on our emotions and a hands on coping techniques exhibit. The final section comprises of a seated area with provisions for cupcakes and drinks. Questions on tables would enable discussions with those who have personal /professional experience.

Volunteers are lined up but more are always welcome. Visitors are even more welcome. Material support is also required, although it’s not crazy amounts. Heather is hoping about 200 people to attend. Sponsorship is required for:
- catering of drinks and cupcakes for the event plus lunches for volunteers (circa £400)
- activities supplies which would be mostly printed info sheets and craft supplies (possibly £150)
- ice cubes (any city centre bars watching?)
- plus any publicity support you can offer

This is a really great cause being run independently but with the support of local mental health charities. I’ve asked for enough sponsorship in my career so am putting my money where my mouth is too.

If you’re interested in supporting the event then contact me on david@brandspankingnew.co.uk and I’ll put you in touch with Heather.

On 23 September, I did a talk about social media and the 3rd sector at the inaugural Social Media Week event in Aberdeen. During this talk I rattled through a load of resources that I’d seen, used and liked so here they are – in no particular order.

Twitter for Good by Claire Diaz Ortiz (@ClaireD), Twitter’s head of social innovation, philanthropy and causes.

Hope140.org Twitter’s social good website, highlighting causes they support.

Open Community, a great book for any non-profit trying to build online community – by @maddiegrant and @lindydreyer. Also worth a look is their organisation SocialFish, one of my bibles on 3rd sector social media.

And some ideas of resources and other folk’s campaigns to look at:
SoLoCo – social crowdfunding.
Givey – SMS/Twitter donation system.
Justgiving – online fundraising.
Common Purpose Your Turn Hamburg flashmob – a group of kids organised a flash mob to raise awareness of homelessness – well if they can do it . . .
Common Purpose Young Million campaign – highlighting the plight of unemployed 18n – 25 year olds, and offering them development.
Meningitis Trust – great integration of video and online activities into their campaign.
Beat Bullying and their Cyber Mentors scheme – really innovative use of social media to support young people.
Flock Edu – don’t know too much about it yet, but I’m really excited about social networks as a medium for learning!

I’ll add in some of the main points from my talk in a separate post.

What’s your big idea?

I used to have lots of ideas, some of them practical, some of them realistic, many of them utterly ridiculous. They all had one thing in common though: I did absolutely nothing about them.

There was the plan to set up as a consultancy to help people get through the technical details and red tape to install renewable energy technologies into their homes. I got put off by the fear of setting up my own business and not knowing where to start. I was offered a job doing essentially the same thing for an Aberdeen charity but took fear at the low salary – it was just too much hard work and too scary at the time.

There was also the idea to open a custom travel agency that would program a car satnav with a UK tour decided by your interests. Great idea that I could talk for hours (well certainly tens of minutes) about, but would require custom satnav software, me to learn a lot about the UK travel market and a huge amount of research. Realistically I didn’t have the knowledge or the skills so it would be way too much for a first venture.

Now I’m not being too hard on myself really – there are good reasons why I didn’t set up for myself. I didn’t have the business skills, I knew nothing about business development or business planning. But I’ve also not done anything to gain small business skills in this time either.
I want to have a real passion about what I do for a living. I want work to be fun every day. I’ve been dipping in and out of a business book – ‘Rework’ by the guys from 37 Signals. I think that I’ve learned a lot more from reading about software start ups than from listening to the traditional business gurus. Maybe I’m being too idealistic – these folk seem to talk my language (fun, passion, doing what you love) than the guys in suits that you see on TV programmes like ‘The Apprentice’.

What’s my big idea? I’m not sure yet but I know that there is one there. I just need to find it!