Outreach Working Group
March 28, 2004 - minutes
We got off to a strong start with many good ideas of how to move forward. Along the lines of our working group at the Shambhala Congress, we identified facets of the issue and hope to accumulate data about "best practices" around the mandala. This approach is a type of appreciative inquiry in order to tap the wealth that is already there.
Our objectives fall under three facets of outreach, dubbed the 3Ps: publicity, pricing and programming. In each of these areas, the end goal is either to make specific recommendations for the mandala as a whole and/or to provide a tool kit of resources for the variety of needs at individual centers.
Objective # 1) Strategize about Publicity. We identified two aspects of publicity: external and internal marketing (the latter was dubbed "inreach" and would involve creating feedback loops and database sharing). Our objective here is to strategize about systems on local and mandala levels, which might be as ambitious as taking out an add in a mainstream magazine or as basic as sharing database models for registration so that no program ends without collecting contact information for future marketing purposes. Do we maximize our use of the web? Are there broader dharma networks we could be a part of? How do we advertise programs: Internally and externally? Locally, regionally and internationally?
Objective #2) Collect Data on Pricing. Individual centers handle pricing in a variety of ways, through individual discounts, tiered-pricing structures, work study, or a suggested donation policy. We would like to find out what different centers are doing and how this correlates with program attendance. There are a number of directions this might take us, but the goal is NOT to recommend fixed pricing in a top-down model, but rather to provide information and tools to help centers reflect on their current pricing policy. Based on the economic rubric of supply and demand, is there a "magic number" for each center that could increase participation and also profits? How can each center figure out what that number is? What type of tracking mechanisms could we create to make these kinds of assessments?
Objective #3) Reflect on Programming Format and Follow-Up. We would like to cull information from local centers about what programs and formats work best to draw new students to the center and keep them once they walk in the door. As such, programming also has outreach and inreach dimensions. In terms of "turning the lotus outward," how can we use TMA for taking Shambhala out into the community? Where is the dharma already being brought into the community (college campuses, prisons, public libraries, hospitals)? As for inreach, once students make their way through the door, how do we follow up with them? Could we use our Shambhala Guides to generate a kind of "buddy system"? How do we support new people and guide them from the time they walk into the door to their first dathun?
Lots of ideas and energy. It should be a productive year! Now the task is to prioritize these objectives and choose a set of pragmatic "deliverables" to guide our work together over the summer. I'm looking forward to our next conference call on Sunday, April 18th.
Members of the Outreach Working Group in attendance: Brian Spielman, Kerry Conant, Ravenna Michalsen, Ann Cason, Adam Lobel, Holly Gayley.
Additional Members of the Outreach Working Group: Deborah Garret, David Quinn, Sophie Maclaren, Magali Meneses, Peter Bancel, Valerie Morvan
Consulting Members: Jane Arthur and Seth Bregman