I had the privilege of speaking at the Chicago Green Festival this past weekend. A joint project of Green America and Global Exchange, the event attracted thousands of people from all over the Midwest and speakers and exhibitors from all over the country. Here is a video with excerpts from my presentation. I'll be speaking at the Seattle Green Festival next Saturday, June 5th at 3pm, and I hope to see many of you there!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Chicago Green Festival
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Party with a Purpose!
When I started writing Ten Ways to Change the World in Your Twenties, the chapter “Ways to Party with a Purpose” was one of the first ones I came up with. After all, it is how we spend a lot of our twenties – celebrating, networking, meeting new people, and gathering information about the issues that matter most to us. It seems like an easy leap to transform some of this time spent socializing into time spent making the world a better place. Parties and fundraisers are also a great way to meet like-minded people, who might have a lead for that perfect world-changing job.
No matter where you live or what your budget is, you can plan your own Party with a Purpose. Here are a few tips to help you get started:
- Gather a few like-minded folks who are also interested in the idea of throwing a party with a purpose.
- Decide on a cause and a charity that will receive the proceeds. Once you have chosen a few options, contact each organization to see how the potential donation would be used and what the organization would be willing to do to help promote and plan the party.
- Choose a venue and calculate your budget. If this will be a bigger bash, create a list of possible sponsors. Even if you're doing something smaller at your favorite neighborhood bar, for example, ask potential sponsors to consider donating space, food, drink, helping to recruit a local band, etc.
- Send out invitations via social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook and ask that everyone pass on the information about the party to their various networks. If you're selling tickets, you may also be able to get marketing assistance from your ticket vendor.
- Accept help from guests. You will probably need additional volunteers beyond the members of your planning crew, so let guests pitch in as well. Offer different levels of involvement, so that everyone can be involved with the growing community of world changers!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Turning Your Passion Into Promise
Many of us are passionate about one thing, or more often, a whole lot of things, but the next step is the tricky one: how to take that excitement and translate it into a job? I’m a big advocate of figuring out what you love by volunteering, traveling, and dabbling in all sorts of ventures before deciding on where to place your most valuable resources, your time and energy.