On silo busting, bridge building, and social media . . .

Wanted to bring you all up to speed on what’s happening with the NESEA strategic plan, and catch those of you up who might not even be aware that we have a strategic plan!

The board adopted a new strategic plan in May. The plan sets forth a number of priorities for the coming year. But rather than bore you with you a dry list of bullet points relating to communications and branding, strategic partnerships, membership and chapters, metrics, etc., I thought I’d bring you up to speed on a few of the things I’ve been working on in conjunction with the plan that excite me most.

First, we’re breaking down silos and building bridges. Such cliché language, such over-used expressions. What they mean in our case is that we’re looking at NESEA as a solar system, and BuildingEnergy is the sun. For many people, BE is NESEA and vice versa. So part of what we are doing is reevaluating all of our programs with respect to what works well with BE: great opportunities to network with and learn from a multidisciplinary group of professionals, a “whole systems” approach to energy efficiency and renewable energy, the opportunity to share the results of proven case studies . . . the list goes on. We’re trying to add a bit more of the BE vibe to our other programs, and bringing our other programs to BE, both figuratively and literally. For example, this year we’ll hold our first educators summit at BuildingEnergy. For years we’ve been offering excellent teacher training programs on energy efficiency and renewable energy, but we’ve not created opportunities for educators to network and learn from and with other NESEA professionals. This year, we’ll have educators attend sessions geared toward K-12 science curriculum, but will also invite them to take in a few of the traditional BuildingEnergy sessions. We’ve known for years that teachers involved in our K-12 training programs are often the strongest advocates for introducing energy efficiency and renewables into our schools. Let’s equip them with the tools and the passion to be evangelists for a larger audience of students and their families as well.

Second, on the sponsorship front: we looked at NESEA’s sponsorship packages and found ourselves really uninspired. We also did a lot of research into the sponsorship packages that other, like-minded organizations were offering and were similarly unimpressed. Then it struck us that we’d never really gone out asked our sponsors what they wanted from their partnership with NESEA. Duh! So one of the first things we’ve done is to schedule meetings with a few of our key sponsors to hear from them. We held our first meeting this week with BuildingEnergy sponsor Conservation Services Group. They gave us lots of ideas of really do-able things that would add value for them. And more than anything else, I think they were delighted just to be asked. Just this meeting set us apart from the other 100+ organizations and/or trade shows that seek money from them each year! A great opportunity to build the relationship and learn more about the needs of some of our key members in the process. We’ve got a few more of these meetings set with other sponsors over the next few months, which I’m hoping will be equally valuable.

Third, (and last for now), on the communications and branding front: We know we need to be doing a lot more with social media to keep our members in the loop and to attract potential newbies as well. This blog post is one of my first personal efforts in that regard . . . and I have to say it’s a bit terrifying to try to speak in my own voice, and to figure out what’s relevant to share. I’d love for this forum to be a dialogue . . . but then again, I don’t want anyone to disagree with me . . . ever. (Just kidding, of course – working with this highly engaged and opinionated group sometimes requires me to have a thick skin!) I’m going to do my best to keep you all updated, both here and through our enewsletter, but if a few weeks go by without you hearing from me, feel free to jiggle the handle. You can always reach me at jmarrapese@nesea.org. Thanks!