Notes on the Launch Meeting for the Outreach/Cross-pollination committee

Date: July 2, 2013

Committee members in attendance: Brent, Bonnie, Mark; Unable to attend: Esther

Summary:

The committee for Outreach/Cross-pollination met Tuesday, July 2, 2013. Mark, Brent and Bonnie discussed ideas on how to engage other organizations in participation with the Alliance, and which organizations might be good targets for outreach.

We agreed to compile a list of organizations, industries, fields, and practices that might work and once we’ve created a draft, will invite you all to add to it. We asked the question whether there was anyone we should NOT include or what the criteria may be and generally agreed that any group working with soul, symbolic living, or depth practices (dreamwork, study of the unconscious, engagement with nature, somatic and creative practices among others) would all fit under the umbrella of “depth psychology.”

Brent was recently interviewed by a journalist from Harper’s who, while knowing little about psychotherapy, seemed greatly engaged and this seems to confirm the notion we’ve discussed in past meetings that there’s a growing awareness and hunger for depth work.

Meanwhile, one idea we discussed in great detail for outreach is the idea of holding an online “community gathering”—like a trade show or town “festival” where we invite organizations to set up “booths” via their own member page. Then, during the time-limited event (maybe 2-3 days), the would create updates and info on their member page, maybe make special offers, offer speakers, host a community text chat, etc for people to “drop by” their page and see what’s going on there. Academic orgs like schools could have set information meetings on enrollment, publishers could offer book give-aways or discounts on subscriptions, orgs holding upcoming conferences could do a “show special” where they discount attendance during the trade show, other orgs might want to broadcast a pre-recorded speaker video and host a Q&A in the forum or on chat, etc. Imagine if we even had 20 different organizations do this---or better yet, 30, 40, or more…

This would only require us to get the word out, direct orgs how to set up their pages, and ask them to submit any events or specials which we could then publish as an overview of the event. Then we promote it to members who (hopefully) will show up at least once during those (2-3 days) to see what’s going on in the industry and take advantage of some of the specials and speakers, etc.

We did address the potential shadow side, wondering whether any organizations will feel reluctant to share Depth Alliance with their members, whether they might wonder who we are and if we’re trying to “control” the space, and whether we might attract some people that are really not very well from a mental or emotional health standpoint. We agreed it would take some good planning so as not to suggest competition and to make sure not one is marginalized or left out as well as to make sure any technology we offer works so their first experience with the Alliance is positive. (We agreed orgs can always use their own existing teleseminar or video software and maybe we shouldn’t offer too much beyond what we already know works).

We discussed doing this in the late Fall when the weather isn’t so great so people will be online instead of outside and agreed if we do it in late October or early November this will give us time to organize it and get the word out. This may also be a great opp for the Alliance to have it’s own “booth” where we promote the first in-person conference (we should have dates and location by then) and any other offerings we may choose. We may also be able to have a series of dialogues with other orgs who would agree to engage in the Forum over the course of the three days on topics that bring to light how depth psychology (and the Alliance) intersect with what they are doing.

All of this would be done with an eye on underpromising and overdelivering rather than the other way around. It was also suggested there might be some organizations we would choose to approach and engage with one-on-one rather than starting with the “trade show/community festival).

While the original idea was to send out “letters” introducing the Alliance and asking other orgs to share us with their members, this would offer those orgs a reason to do so and give them huge exposure to the existing member base in return. I also think people who are not members of the Alliance might sign up in order to attend the trade show, so it should be a win/win all around.

Next steps are to compile a list of orgs,  and start honing in on some of the details so we can do a write-up to share on the announcement/invitation to orgs. This also includes setting dates and timeframe.