Outreach Working Group

October 11, 2004 - Minutes from Outreach Taskforce Meetings

The taskforces within the Outreach Working Group met last week to discuss strategies for advertising and gateway formats.  These conference calls were incredibly productive, and we have generated an initial "to do" list for creating an outreach toolkit in plenty of time for the Shambhala Congress. Be sure to read to the end of these minutes to the list of "homework assignments." These are reminders about what each of us committed to do in the coming weeks.

Advertising Taskforce

In this taskforce meeting, we discussed the merits of a global approach to macro-marketing verses a services model of creating a series of advertising templates.  Developing the Shambhala International website as a marketing tool is a type of macro-marketing that could be fruitful, and a possible recommendation to the Mandala Governing Council may emerge from this idea. Otherwise, the advertising features of our outreach toolkit will consist of templates that are adaptable to local purposes. The templates we are planning to offer focus on advertising for Turning the Mind into an Ally include the design and copy for a poster, fliers, postcard, email, newspaper release, press kit, coupons, 1/8 and 1/4 page adds, community e-bulletin board posting, and public radio announcements.  Whatever format, it will be important to make our discount policies visible.

Our thinking is that a toolkit designed around a single gateway program is not only a resource for that program. It also helps to develop skills at the local level and stimulate thinking about the possible venues and forms of publicity beyond internal mechanisms (i.e. list-serve emails and brochures).  That said, whatever templates we create, they need to be "turn key," meaning that they should be as easy as possible to adapt and implement.  One possibility that came out of our discussion is to offer an order form that could be filled out and sent a designer to customize posters, etc. for a nominal fee.  Another idea suggested is to generate templates in user-friendly software so that logistical details and center contact information could simply be typed in.  This would also give centers the option to customize the templates to whatever degree they like.

Gateway Taskforce

In this taskforce meeting, we discussed gateway on two levels: formats for the Turning the Mind into an Ally class and expanding the whole idea of gateway to include community events. On the educational side of entering the mandala, so far we have focused on the Turning the Mind into an Ally class or Learn to Meditate. For this, we are hoping to have a curriculum for a full-day class, a half-day class and a five week follow-up class. Also discussed was the possibility of a one hour or two hour version.

We also discussed what community support newcomers need during the tender time when first exploring meditation. We are finding that young people in their 20s gravitate to group activities during this time: volley ball, tango, dinners with older students, Shambhala Cafe, hiking trips, poetry readings, and social action projects. We also talked about suggested prices for programs for younger people and how get the word out. For instance, in Boulder Shambhala Training is $25.00 for youth, but no one knows.  Could we make our centers attractive to people under 30 so they would want to come back with their friends? 

We decided to gather information about innovative programs and community activities that are already happening around the mandala, along the lines of best practices.  These would serve as a resource for centers who want to try something new.  At this point, we are figuring out the best way to gather these stories. Then, we will need to discuss what format these could be presented in: vignettes in a handout, a mixed media presentation at the Congress, etc.

Tracking Taskforce

The threefold logic of our taskforces is "before, during and after" a gateway program such as Turning the Mind into an Ally.  These three stages relate to advertising (before), the gateway format (during) and tracking (after). As such, the tracking taskforces is focused on mechanisms to follow up with participants in a gateway program. These could be ways to help guide participants through the rich program offerings of an individual center or ways to capture contact information for advertising future programs. 

When this taskforce meets in the near future, there are a number of ideas on the table from discussions in the other taskforce meetings: (1) templates for handouts announcing upcoming programs and community events relevant to the TMA audience, (2) coupons to "bridge programs" as an incentive or welcome to continue coming to the Shambhala Center, (3) evaluation forms that could capture the newcomer experience and see how the schedule, teaching style, and content of the program worked as an initial experience of meditation and our community, and (4) program report form for the coordinator to fill out that details the attendance, demographics, revenue, contact information of participants, etc.

This group may want to encourage a broader discussion about what "bridge programs." How do newcomers get from an introduction to meditation or gateway program to one of our more systemized series, like Shambhala Training or the Shambhala School of Buddhist Studies. Is it a specific program like Peaceful Warrior, Fearless Buddha?  Or just participation in the community and sitting? It seems like the answer could be different for every center. If so, how do we help centers articulate a "bright, clear path" in the initial phases of a newcomer's journey?

Homework assignments:

* Brian volunteered to draft a proposal for revamping the Shambhala International website as a marketing tool, so that visitors are just a few clicks away from relevant programming and contacting centers in their area.

* Deborah is planning to contact her designer in New York about the best way to create advertising templates in an easy-to-use software that centers could adapt to their needs.

* Adam is compiling key phrases from the TMA curriculum that can be used in our advertising templates. This way, the language of the advertising matches the language of the program, tailored to new students with a minimum of insider terms.

* Sophie offered to draft a note for Sangha Announce asking for sangha members to contact us about any innovative programs and community activities.

* Holly is going speak with Carolyn Mandelker and Cheryl Campbell about the possibility of incorporating our advertising and tracking mechanisms into the teacher's manual for Turning the Mind into an Ally.  This could then be sold at the Congress to center directors and also made available to individuals at teacher training courses for TMA.

Thanks to all, whether or not you were able to make it for a taskforce meeting!  It is exciting to see the way our toolkit is developing as we refine our plan of action for the fall.

Members of the Outreach Working Group: Brian Spielmann, Deborah Garrett, Adam Lobel, Holly Gayley, Sophie Maclaren, Ann Cason, Peter Bancel, Valerie Morvan, Kerry Conant and Betsy Pond

Consulting Members: Jane Arthur, Seth Bregman, Bill Karelis, and Ravenna Michalsen