Poets as Resources

[Syd Malicious]

So, I think one universal problem we have is thinking that a) because we do poetry slams, poetry is the only thing we need to be good at and b) because we're poets and poets are artists, the only thing we know how to do is poetry. I, for one, am way better at math than I will ever be at poetry (or anything else), a skill that I am trying to put to use for the benefit of this community in other places on the forum.

I don't have nearly as much experience as Omni with organizing college slam events, but I have a reasonable amount of experience with other college events and I'd also be willing to share whatever insight I have.

Off the top of my head I can name at least a dozen poets who are better than the average person at a dozen things that are not poetry. And we currently have no way to utilize their skills. Some of these skills are incredibly relevant: we have graphic designers who could be designing promo stuff, we have organizers, we have tech savvy people who could be designing web space, hell even college kids with no ties to anything can do outreach at our respective schools. By this time next year we could have live stream of events, we could have a stats archive, we could have a dozen things.

I'm willing to do the work to make all this happen, but unless I can do it with a TI-89 I don't know how.

Suppose for a second that I was interested in taking on the project of creating a database of members whose consultation might be beneficial and their relevant skill sets with the intention of providing the information to HCC, how would someone recommend I go about doing that?

At Scott's suggestion, I've moved this idea to it's own thread.

As I said, I don't know how to go about doing this. I'm relatively new on the scene. I know relatively few people and I'm also hopeless at technology. That being said, I would really like to do this, so I'm looking for insight on the following things and probably some help executing by someone with more experience than I have.

• What's a good way to do this? What's a good format and where should I put it that it will be accessible without being cluttered?
• Who should I try and contact? Who do we already know if who has skills that we should use?
• What do I do with the list once I have it? How do I make it easy to find and maintain and utilize?

[BrianOmniDillon]

Could this be filed on the forums?

I think we can post a call for help on all the boards ( i will repost to the SM board for you Syd), then to the fb, etc.

a call for all psi members: tell us what you do best besides poems. give some examples, with some pointed preference to skills which are applicable to the needs of host committees. (graphic design, college administration experience, consultants on any number of areas of promotion, business contacts in the world of promotional materials ((cheap flyers, cheap postcards)), TALENT! ((DJ's, musicians, who can provide entertainment support at side-events)) super-capable tweeters. (hahah), anything. anyone who is willing to pitch in (free) services, input, insight should be put in front of future HC's. we can hand them this list and say "Hi Awesome HCC! Heres people who can help!"

and slowly, i imagine you will accumulate quite a list.

[Scott Woods]

This is something that the venerable and wise Bill MacMillan actually started years ago, but I don't think we had the tools we have now to best compile and implement what information we did receive. I'd have to do some digging around (in some pre-forum stuff probably) to even see where that dropped off and what the bets use of it was meant to be, but it might be something that could be found. That said, it's probably not worth the effort it would take to dig it out because we work and live in a completely different era in a lot of ways.

S I guess my advice would be to start with what the goal is here and refine the vehicle/forum to that goal: is this only for HCs? Is this for general membership to access?  Are you talking about creating the equivalent of a Slam yellow pages? What if I only want a certain level of people to access my skill set? Start talking about that. That will inform the best vehicle.

[Syd Malicious]

Is this only for HCs? Is this for general membership to access?  Are you talking about creating the equivalent of a Slam yellow pages? What if I only want a certain level of people to access my skill set? Start talking about that. That will inform the best vehicle.

Those are great questions. My intention would be to compile this information to be available only to HCCs. But it would be a simple matter to say Check this box if you're okay being contacted by X,Y,Z other people. It could also be that there's a person in charge of fielding requests and determining whether to forward it to people on the list. This has the potential to branch out a lot as it develops, but I think that the top priority is getting it to the HCCs. That's where we'll see the biggest results. At the very least, it might help people get invested in the idea of this as an ongoing project.

[Syd Malicious]

Also, this just came up in the other thread and I think it's relevant here also (yes, I'll make another thread, too):

What kind of documentation do we have from past HCCs? Knowing what skills to search for will be a lot easier if I know what skills we need the most. And although I can easily think of a long list of them (graphics, tech, etc.) there are also probably a lot of nuances that you wouldn't know about unless you had done it before.

[Syd Malicious]

Also, a rating system. For example, Omni (I keep using your name because you're on board and I know you) and I both say we're willing to be used as resources for college outreach and both of us get contacted and it turns out that the organizers find his help to be more helpful than my help, I think we should log that. Like an Amazon review.

I know as a campus organizer one disincentive from utilizing a lot of resources is that it's more people to hold accountable. Lots of times I've had committees of people working on shit and in the end I just say fuck it and do everything myself because it's easier than trying to keep people on target. I think if we keep a record of how helpful and reliable everyone actually is that helps to alleviate some of the fears of organizing.

Thoughts?

[BrianOmniDillon]

beautiful

okay.

i think the latter of your posts is a more long-term thing, but a highly desireable outcome.

for me the most immediate need is for HC's to have access to all the best resources the community is willing to offer in terms of skills and services. I can certainly see this evolving beyond that to be a general list for anyone in the community who needs assistance with their own slams. Which brings to mind what i think is an important distinction:

skills/services vs consultation

there are people who can offer tangible assistance: (flyer producing)

and people who can offer intangible(!) assistance: (how to best use those flyers)

there are innumerable folks in this community with knowledge that can be tapped from anywhere in the country. Slammer McMotherboards might be able to help you with your tournaments website's google ranking. She can do that from anywhere. If i know Ms. Motherboards was out there and willing to assist (maybe i saw Ms Motherboards home venue's website and its super sweet), then this would be a way to know if she was cool to help, and how i could contact.

i believe a first landmark to reach would be having a document wherein HC's could refer to for their individual event (id go so far as to say they SHOULD consult someone from outside the HCC on everything they do, just for a fresh set of impartial eyes).

down the road, opening this up to all SM's to help them with their own regular slams?

lets keep the conversation going and sort out a form that this thing could take shape.

great work as always syd.

[Syd Malicious]

Yeah, I'm a long-term processor. I agree. HC first.

And I agree with that distinction, also. Tangible resources need to be much more localized than intangible resources. In my mind this looks like a dichotomous flowchart and tangible vs intangible is a very important branch at some level of the cascade.

As I say, I don't know what format to put this in to make it usable to other people, but certainly for generative purposes, any distinctions of that nature are helpful to have.

[BrianOmniDillon]

this is something that will come up often...but you are smarter than i am, so sometimes your sentences make my forehead swell.

my main through in the initial production of this is to just list all of the things that go into these events, and what skills are relevant.

at the same time find a way to begin collecting from the body members who are willing to offer services or input/consultation on a variety of levels. we can then sort these into categories and flesh out the 'yellow pages' like form (as a rudimentary and easy to manage initial version)

if those two things come together, we should be able to get help to the right people when they need it.

that being said, again, your brain is better than mine. so if you have a more intelligent way of doing this, ill follow your lead gladly

[Syd Malicious]

Um... yellow pages is... great... except I was born in the 90s... By the time I was old enough to use the directory they were already obsolete.... I have no idea how to read one... let alone write one...

[BrianOmniDillon]

sure you do. like...


A

Assholes
Artists
Alechemy

B
Brainwashing
Bananas
Bonfire Construction

C


etc etc
then each skill has a list of folks under it who do that, and how to contact them

[Syd Malicious]

What?! No google search?! I have to remember the alphabet?!

[BrianOmniDillon]

I mean no..you dont HAVE to........wait...yes. yes you need to know the alphabet.

kindle is ruining bookstores. im not letting you ruin the alphabet.

[Syd Malicious]

I have a FLAWLESS vocabulary. Why do I need to know what order the words go in?

ANYHOW... back on target.

Yes. Yellow pages. Can 'Asshole be a designated skill set?' And can no one with a name higher than 'Arnold' be listed. I want to be first.