Michelle Williams

Building Communities of Changemakers

Michelle Williams header image 2

Week 1: Lean Startup BootCamp @ Pollenizer

September 16th, 2010 · Uncategorized

I’ve been very lucky to score a spot on the Pollenizer BootCamp. Simply, it’s time for action!

For the past year the start up world has intrigued me. The current landscape online with it’s cheap and somewhat easy to use tools, the interaction by people with collaboration and connection all over the world, and the changing marketing landscape means opportunity abounds.

But, it’s so easy to have the intention, to acquire the knowledge, to listen to people talking about funding and/or  selling their business but to actually take the step and do it, well it’s not often explored.

I walked in expecting to be that sponge, to watch the others take part and talk about their product but was told by Mick “there are no spectators”.

So ad-lib pitch it was. Not punchy and succinct but it was a start.

After being part of another workshop, and running a few Lean Start Up Circles, the format of this camp is exactly what is needed to take action, it felt interactive at the right times, and the methodology was explained to start to give a frame to how we will progress. The highlighted point of the first session was the focus, finding the segment, with the customer development to follow.

The participants are a bunch of highly intelligent people with some very valid ideas and concepts, and I cannot wait to see how we have all progressed by the end of the camp.

Next step:
Hitting the street to sell lamingtons: was surprised that we would do this but it makes sense,  get out and sell your product, don’t be afraid, just do it. And it helps to see that even Mick is not afraid to do what it takes to get these start up businesses off the ground.

This is only the first session and I look forward to where this journey takes me, even if it hurts.

→ 1 CommentTags:

Power to the people

September 8th, 2010 · Politics

Going into this election it felt like a mass wave of disapproval across the country of the way the election campaign had become “a fight between 2 dogs” as Rob Oakshott so eloquently put it.

The outcome, of a hung parliament, was a great way of the people demonstrating this dissatisfaction.

Before voting, I worried that my single vote meant nothing in the grand scheme of 14 million people voting.  My tiny vote was not going to make a difference in the overall result but what else could I do?

The outcome, apart from the anxiety that has been felt with the uncertainty of who would become our leader, has been the best possible outcome.  We have a number of Independents pushing for reform, of challenging the major parties to think past their own internal party interests, of holding  them accountable to their promises.

I just ponder how this result happened. We did not plan this hung parliament, we did not vote for the Independents to be the one’s in control of these decision’s, we did not plan for this reform. We did not go out and vote for a dead heat of 72 seats to each party with 6 “others” deciding the outcome.

As far as I was concerned, this was just another election where I voted and the political process, even though it seemed so frustrating,  would stumble along with business as usual.

Without over-analysing the result it would appear that this mass thinking, this mass dissatisfaction with the process, the fact that we were so informed, so connected, so disappointed with the possible outcome, could this have actually created the result we were after.

Of great importance and relevance was the role that online activism played in this campaign. We did not have to leave our desks/homes to protest or voice our opinion. We were connected to the electorate and knew that we were not alone in how we felt.

Of course we could discuss how we felt at work and with our family and friends. But this time we also had the chance to connect with people we did not know, to engage in online debates with a larger audience.

We could also see the mass impact organisations such as GetUp! had online through continual campaigns that were supported by micro donations from people.

The power of the people is stronger than ever. We are globally interconnected and, from the result of this election, we know we can create the positive outcomes we are after.

Do you know of examples of this? What is your vision of how we leverage this?

→ No CommentsTags: ·············

Old style election campaign vs the new hyper-connected world!

August 26th, 2010 · Politics

Pt 1 of Change Politics in Australia: The uncomfortable election campaign: Using old style campaign and selling methods in the new hyper-connected world.

What an uncomfortable election process. I am so glad that I only watch commercial TV on the odd occasion as every time I flicked over I was aghast at how many political ads were on and, how many were negative.

The mainstream media was feeding off this negativity, and feeding on the lack of focus in this political campaign.

And, every time there was a new policy announcement I found myself asking why either party bothered when after every election I remember , the tally of broken election promises seems huge.

I also found it so interesting, in the time before the election was announced, how little the current government repeatedly ignored the electorate, topped onto that not effectively communicating their successes over their term.

Some of the techniques explained above may have worked before but, we live in a very  different world now, we are hyper-connected. We are turning off the TV, throwing out the newspaper and going online for our news. We don’t get one media outlet’s opinion or perspective, we get them all. We are super informed and overly critical. [Read more →]

→ 1 CommentTags: ·······

Change Politics in Australia

August 24th, 2010 · Politics

Australia now has it’s first hung parliament in 70 years. The people  spoke and told our politicians they were unhappy with the way they conduct themselves and the way this campaign was run. But can it change? And, if it does, can we maintain it?

As many of you who follow my tweets and read my blog know, I have a strong interest in politics, on the way it impacts our society,  on the possibilities of certain initiatives, the changing dynamics of engagement thanks to our hyper-connected world, and the role government can play in the process of social innovation. I was also very disillusioned about this Australian Federal election campaign, it’s negativity and hollow messages.

Over the next couple of days this blog will include analysis on:

If you have an opinion on these issues please feel free to comment. I won’t pretend to know all the answers but I do know, if we start talking, start a movement for a change in politics, we will be better off for it.

→ 3 CommentsTags: ···········

Everyone’s talking at Sydney’s first Social Innovation BarCamp

August 19th, 2010 · Social Innovation, entrepreneur, personal development

Saturday, the 14th of August, 2010  was the inaugural BarCamp discussing Social Innovation. An interesting and diverse range of people participated in conversation and activity throughout the day.

“the vision for running the Social Innovation BarCamp is to provide a place for people to engage. There are many intelligent and effective people, from various fields, across the private and public sector. If we can connect those in an open and collaborative environment, we can empower us all in becoming effective change makers”.

We started with Bob Carr, giving him a proviso to discuss what he was passionate about. Although he is not connected to our Social Innovation segment it was interesting, as was repeatedly mentioned after his session, to hear him talk of his experience of making change from the highest levels of government down.

From this us participants connected on various topics, including slow projects, myths of social innovation, impact of social innovation in the public sector, and using your voice to increase engagement and influence.

We’ve compiled a list of who did what sessions throughout the day.

Room A Sessions

Room B Sessions

Room C Sessions

Check out the site here.

Check out or add your pictures and videos here on our Flickr group

Follow us on Twitter @sibsyd

Follow the Twitter stream here

Follow us on Facebook

Share your presentations on SlideShare

Thanks again to  Cisco for sponsoring to provide participants  a lovely eco-friendly lunch. Thanks to  AskHer who sponsored our coffees and thanks to The Commons who provided the lunch and coffee.

The event also managed to get a mention in the press, although they did not really focus on the theme of the day: Pharma tactic phoney

As you can imagine, I was busy coordinating the event and did not spend enough time soaking up the sessions. All feedback and comments are appreciated

Stay tuned for more details on the next camp and the continued conversation, with all the links above right.

→ 1 CommentTags: ····················