Ready, Set: Swap!

So yesterday was Swap Ideas Day. If you don't believe me, check this out. (I, for one, am a little sorry that I missed Lumpy Rug Day and Nothing Day.) Anyway, I put out a call on Facebook, looking for ideas to swap.

No one had any they could spare. Or the time to swap, I guess.

Perhaps idea swapping just gets a bad rap as something one has to do in professional development sessions. Mandatory idea swapping, followed by a pre-determined, canned response from management.

"Let's all play a fun game with our Halloween candy! You can choose the values and the rules for swapping. Good. Now turn in all the candy and go clean your room."

Been there? Me, too.

It is far easier to collect pet peeves than get people to swap ideas. It's easy, it's one-way, no muss, no fuss, no uncomfortable interaction. But one local blogger has been quite successful using the Starbucks approach, with the occasional happy hour thrown in for good measure.

Bill Santos, of Columbia Compass, hosts the SantosSundaySixty at the Starbucks at the Mall in Columbia. It's Coffee Hour without the church. He wants hear what you think, tell you what he thinks, and maybe come up with something new. I challenge you to name anyone who understands what Columbia is and what makes it tick better than Bill does.

He and I don't always agree on local issues. That's not the point. The point is that he's not afraid to be out there, actively idea-swapping, and not just on September 10th. We all need to find a person like this, or be that person, if Columbia is to survive and thrive.

I highly recommend these two recent blog posts:

http://columbiacompass.weebly.com/1/post/2013/09/columbia-maryland-a-leader-in-playground-infrastructure-that-no-one-knows-about.html

And:

http://columbiacompass.weebly.com/1/post/2013/09/the-johnny-people-seed-project.html

One more thing. You might want to try swapping some ideas at the Resident Speak-Out at the CA Board Meeting tomorrow night. It's possible that CA may be looking at new ways to use your Halloween candy.

It's not Starbucks or Frisco, but they do have a Keurig machine and snacks.

hocoblogs@@@

 

 

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