“The bottom-up world is to be the great theme of this century.” ~ Matt Ridley

Nobody can know everything, nor do everything well.

Yet you can know someone who does – or know somebody who knows somebody who does.

And that may be the secret to staying sought-after in this increasingly complex and connected world.

In fact, next to honing your top talent your most vital trait to strengthen is probably your capacity to collaborate – especially with those extremely unlike you.  Seven of the ten trends in how we work involve being adept collaborators.

“Collaboration is the new competition.” ~ Pamela Slim and Michele Woodward

The next trick is understanding exactly how to connect so others want to collaborate with you. It starts with speaking to the sweet spot of mutual benefit.

“A radically different order of society based on open access, decentralized creativity, collaborative intelligence, and cheap and easy sharing is ascendant.” ~ David Bollier

For a project on which I am collaborating on with the remarkable Kris Schaeffer, ably assisted by Steven Toy (expect an announcement in December) here’s some books that helped me discover why and how to collaborate:

Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age by Clay Shirky, Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity and Reap Big Results by Morten T. Hansen,  Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives by Nicholas A. Christakis and James H. Fowler, The Culture of Collaboration by Evan Rosen, Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers, and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy by Moises Naim, The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion by John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison, What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers, The Firefly Effect: Build Teams that Capture Creativity and Catapult Results by Kimberly Douglas, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni and Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams.

“Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than in the one where they sprung up.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

See other books on collaboration that I recommend at Listiki and please add your favorites. After all its a collaborative list.  I also tweet about  examples of collaboration here.

“Collaborations are strengthened through appreciative relationships.  You know you’ve got it right when you find yourself in a relationship in which you are listened to, dream together, choose to contribute, act with support, and are positive.” ~ Ben Ziegler

There’s a simple, satisfying way to attract those who share your interests or seek your kind of product.  It enables you to demonstrate your expertise and it doesn’t take much time nor cost anything.

Sharing helpful tips with those who want them is more appreciated – and credibility-building – than self-promotion. In a time-starved world, the best way for people read your tips may be in a list they find online or via their smart phone. It helps people find you – and it’s a quick read.

The more specific the list the greater your chance of attracting the people you most want to reach.

Hint: Top Dog Breeds for People with Allergies. (I have yet to take my own advice here).

Your list can be a “best of” something such as books and sites on a topic or a David Letterman-style Top Ten countdown of relevant advice, or…?

For example, four of my interests are collaboration, connective conversation, human behavior and, as a paid speaker, conferences so I created a Twitter list of favorite people and organizations for each interest.

The bottom line is your list should catch the interest of the people you seek to reach.  They may be your peers, possible customers, or individuals who share your hobby, medical condition, belief, profession, industry or other interest.

Your list enables others to quickly:

•  Get ideas on a subject that interests them.

•  Know who you respect.

•  Understand a bit about your perspective and priorities.

•  Identify possible sweet spots of mutual interest.

•  Find you.

Once you’ve created your list you can share and update it online at several popular places where friends, kindred spirits and strangers are likely to find it:

• Your blog and/or web site.

• Twitter List – create several for the different parts of your life and find others who share your interests.

• Listiki – where you can invite others to add to your list.

• List of Bests – Make a list in one of three categories, personal, definitive or award.

• Posterous – where you can share your list without creating a blog.

• Facebook group page – see examples, Shareable and my Etsy where you can link to your list, first explaining why it is relevant to them.

• Linkedin group of people who have something in common – you can join or start a group, linking to your list as you would for your Facebook group.

• Ta-da – create and share “to do” lists for everything from organizations you respect to meeting agendas or famous quotes you don’t want to forget.

Q. Want to live faster or slower?  A: Yes.

Want to savor food (or fashion) slowly  but grow your career or business faster? Try a Speed Coaching event. From Hong Kong to Anaheim, this wildly popular format is being adopted to serve diverse crowds quickly.  They range from those who got pink slips to food and beverage folks,  non-profit staffers, journalists, executives, students, government staffers, indie business owners and, well, even coaches. It may be your next business – or way to attract clients.

• Picture the scene. People “are lined up outside an exhibit hall in a Manhattan hotel. The doors open, and they rush to tables set up around the room. They grab a number for each of the experts they wish to consult.

When it is their turn, they get five minutes to blurt out their questions above the din. A small digital clock on each table tracks the fleeting minutes.” Speed Coaching session times can vary from five to 20 or 30 minutes. Depending on your coach, that will seem too brief or too long, of course.  And when time is short coaches can be blunt (I mean direct).

Another format has “you and a group move one at a time through the coaching stations.”

Some Speed coaching events are free, others include keynoters, workshops and meals for up to $350.

• At the Samuel Adams Brewery in Boston, sixty microentrepreurs “jumped on the opportunity to rotate through 20-minute  discipline specific stations with 26 coaches — many of them Sam Adams employees — to get advice in business consulting, marketing, sales, people management, financing, legal advice and more.”

“Some brought their food, others came with logos and package concepts, yet others had a specific business problem they needed help solving,” said marketing expert, Risa Sherman who coached on behalf of her client, Sam Adams.

Thinking of hosting a Speed Coaching event? Involve sponsors and coaches that serve the same niche

This Speed Coaching event, part of the American Dream program, targeted entrepreneurs in the food, beverage and hospitality business.  Thus the lead sponsor, The Boston Beer Company partnered with a non-profit that trains microentrepreurs - ACCION USA.

To spotlight Boston Beer, founder Jim Koch gave a talk as did the president of another sponsor, Carol Coutrier, with the Massachusetts Specialty Foods Association. The danger is if keynoters are boring and sour attendees on the event. In this case, coach Risa Sherman wrote, “for many, the highlight of the event was listening to their talks.”

Sherman dubbed this approach by Sam Adams as “strategic skills based volunteerism.” Another participant, Erika labeled it “engaged philanthropy.”  Whatever you call these partner-based Speed Coaching events, they can leverage value and efficiency for all participants.

That’s a good thing in a bad economy. (The format proved so popular that the partners chose to host another in Providence.)

• And on the west coast over 200 entrepreneurs showed up last month in Anaheim (it was free) for the “Small Business Speed Coaching Test Drive.”  It’s part of a cross-country tour co-sponsored by SCORE (experienced, often retired business folks) and American Express’ Open Forum group dedicating to supporting small business.

Their format includes, not only 30-minute speed coaching sessions, but a keynoter, panel discussions, workshops and a mixer. Topics include strategic business planning, marketing and business finances.

• Women’s Leadership Exchange promotes their popular Speed Coaching events as an opportunity to have private coaching from experts, “many of their coaching services typically run as much as $500 per hour.” (That might be a stretch.)

• Here’s still another format. “A Speed Coaching & Networking Lunch.” Just $27. Aspiring local government leaders in Northern California can connect one-on-one with senior managers from cities, counties and special districts this month.

• To help their women students learn how to brand themselves (and to build the sponsors’ brand visibility) Wharton forged a partnership with their alumnae group and others S.F. Bay area partners -  Financial Women’s Association and Ascend - to jointly offer a Speed Coaching day. Deloitte, Clorox and other supporting organizations recruited volunteer coaches.

As you consider the role you might want to play in Speed  Coaching, consider the benefits to participants in this event. It managed to:

- Raise the positive, public visibility of all sponsoring organizations.

- Enable students and alumni to get to know each other and, in some cases form friendships and mentoring relationships.

-  Strengthened ties with alumni involved, which can payoff in future fund raising other volunteer needs.

- Help the college forge local corporate partnerships “with organizations that share values like development and diversity”  - and, of course, raise Wharton brand visibility and credibility.

- Provide sponsoring companies with a first-hand look at rising stars as potential employees.

• Software firm, Siveco, is such a fan of Speed Coaching it supports its customer/users by providing them in two-hour sessions.  Could your company or membership-based club or association offer it as a service?   If you did, your organization might enjoy …

-  Better, happier customer/member performance.

-  Loyalty to your firm or other organization.

-  Appreciation from participants because you facilitated their collaboration  with each other after meeting at your Speed Coaching event.

• What next?  Virtual Speech Coaching. That seems to dilute the purpose of getting fast but in-person advice.

Some hints if you choose to attend a Speed Coaching event:

• Carefully review the list of experts, if provided in advance, to choose your top two to meet.

• Use old-fashioned 3×5 cards to write your questions out ahead of time, one set per coach.  On the backside of the card or in a notebook take notes on the answers you get.

Diane Cuniff, for example, of cageless doggy daycare The Bone Adventure, wanted advice on whether to buy or lease property for a second location. And Monica Herrera and Ronald Brown are starting a biofuels project so they want to know how to get government contracts.

• Take a digital recorder, say an Olympus and, with their permission, tape sessions.

• Later, thank every coach with whom you met –  preferably by email. It’s the polite thing to do.  Plus your coach and/or the sponsoring groups may use your well-crafted “thank you” as a testimonial – thus boosting your visibility.

What If …

• Your group hosted a Speed Coaching event? Some member-based groups, like National Tour Association are ideal for speedcoaching at their annual meeting – or as a pre-conference afternoon.

After I spoke at NTA I was fascinated watching the long rows of tables at which locale promoters leaned forward over their photo-filled spiral notebooks, alert and ready for the precious ten minutes to show each bus tour operator why he should stop at their sight to see. In my Sausalito, whenever I see tour buses open and tourists spill onto our main street I wonder. What was the pitch that sealed the deal to drop them off here?

• You organized a Speed Coaching event for your profession or industry – as a service and/or to make money? You know, first-hand, the issues and opportunities your peers experience. What experts have the skill, interest and credibility to coach them? How would you make it worth their while to volunteer?

Beyond the obvious joy in sharing knowledge with people who really want it, how does the way you design the event, its promotion and online visibility afterwards help them attract clients or boost their career in their corporation?

What companies and associations also want exposure to that niche?  They could be sponsors, recruit coaches and other volunteers  - or survey attendees where the results would be helpful to them, the respondents and other people like them.

• You offered to recruit volunteers to cover a Speed Coaching event? Other than the private coaching, be sure that other parts of the day are videoed so that the learning and visibility for all participants continues.

Volunteer citizen reporters can use a Flip to video:

1.  Sessions: keynote(s), panel(s) and workshop(s) if you have them

2.  Coaches, and those in #1 in short two to three minute interviews:

“What are two of your best tips for these attendees?”

“What one or two books do you recommend for our attendees and why?

3.  Attendees, also in brief interviews, roving the event, asking:

“What is your favorite bit of advice so far – from whom?”

“What will you do differently after today?”

See more at Elevate your Value and Visibility by Jointly Offering a Speed Coaching Event

If a hotel can become famous for leading ducks across their lobby at 11:00 then certainly your business can become more well-known for some simple ritual that customers like to photograph and tell others about and reporters love to cover.

In fact it’s surprising that so few businesses and other organizations see the power of memory-making rituals that we keep talking about the few that do. And instead of creating a new ritual a sister hotel simply imitated the duck walk. You can do better.

1. Think quirky

As all actors know, a cute kid or animal almost always steals the show.  For example the annual ritual that raised $120,000 this year in a town of just 2,404 is the weiner dog race.  That’s right. Long, cute dogs. People and their pets came from all over the country for the chance to compete.

2. Create community around your ritual

The race is a great example of what the beneficiary of the race, the Lions Club calls a “core belief – community is what we make it.” It has been an annual tradition around which dog owners (and their families and friends) meet to compare notes and catch-up. Hint: the more fervent the community the more valuable your participation can be for your organization.

3. Offer the unexpected

Instead of “just” offering a loaner car like the one you are getting serviced a British Volvo dealership also offers bikes as loaners. The dealership enjoys two benefits  – deepening the loyalty of its eco-minded customers and attracting worldwide media coverage.

4. Reduce your cost of providing that ritual by partnering

Volvo’s ritual was then topped by Fiat in Spain. By partnering with electric bicycle maker Trek it could make the same offer yet without the cost of buying and maintaining the bikes. Trek benefits by getting a warmed-up introduction to possible customers.

The bonus benefits are that many of the people who saw the cyclists heard also saw the message on the bike and many of the cyclists told their friends about their experience.

5. Give a souvenir sample whenever people have to wait – or even pause

For a client years ago I set up an experiment in which those waiting in a movie theater line were greeted by smiling, good-looking college students and offered a free ice cream bon bon on a silver tray. One each. The students simply walked down the line, saying, “Like a tasty bon bon while you’re waiting? If you like it there are more inside.”

The results of that study were so positive the theater chain intermittently continued the practice. (Intermittent rewards create more happiness, perhaps because of the hedonic treadmill effect yet we crave the certainty of constancy – “the ducks will walk across at 11″). When bon bons are offered movie theatre snacks go up an average of 26 percent.

For the owner of seven upscale restaurants in London we did a similar experiment with wine.  Per customer sales went up as average of 23 percent.

Then we suggested that the restauranteur approach his wine distributers to offer them the opportunity to provide their wine, at cost.  Several agreed so he could rotate the kinds of wine he gave waiting guests.

For this sampling ritual, the wait staff, while offering the tray with the glasses of wine, showed the bottle and said the vinter’s name.   That was so successful that wine makers now vie for the opportunity to give their wine for such samplings. They also began offering samplings to delighted diners during their meal.

That way more customers get free wine and often wind up ordering more wine.

The participating vintners get their wines introduced in a relaxed, convivial atmosphere.

Cost-saving Hint: Make your ritual so popular that you can attract partners that want to participate in it.  That way you can offer your customers that ritual more often yet at a lower cost to you.

Conclusion

Most any consumer-serving place can create a small, simple-to-execute ritual that:

• Gives an unexpected experience to customers, one they can brag about – and others can see them enjoying.

• Increases sales.

• Attracts media coverage.

• Demonstrates the value of partners participating so the cost of offering that ritual go down.

See more ways to profitably partner and then create your own, unique, customer-attracting ritual – with the right partners.

Want to be in the book, The Obama Time Capsule: World History in the Making?

Any of us could be a co-author, thanks to a partnership between fellow Sausalitan, photographer and editor of “Day in the Life of…” big theme books Rick Smolan and Hewlett-Packard and Amazon.

Together they enable you to place yourself (your photo, writing, video) in a point in history.  More plainly in a book of photos, maps, election results and essays from Joe Klein, Colin Powell and other notables. I like the collective approach, think the product is pricey and believe we’ll see imaginative variations of this approach, perhaps instigated by you.

At a much more humble level I partnered with three women CEOs in India who inserted their examples, quotes and advice in my book, Resolving Conflict Sooner, thus becoming co-authors in that book published in India, promoted by them, giving each a new facet to their public face, enabling me to learn from them and providing us all with a new profit center.

As an expert on something (you certainly are!) you, too, could turn your content into an online multimedia book or scrapbook, providing places where complementary experts could insert their relevant tips, video and audio to:

• Increase the value of the collectively-created book.

• Generate more visibility as all contributors tell their friends and clients about it.

• Enable co-authors to learn from each other via their blended contribution.

Via social media you can spur involvement.

Start simple by creating a Scrapblog covering your favorite subject or event, then invite convivial colleagues to contribute their words, images and photos, then tell the world of people who care about that topic.  With each new contributor “our” scrapbook can become more interesting, valuable and talked about.

Or, even simpler, start a group at Posterous, set the stage with your narrative of text, photos and video.

“We live in the age of interdependence. Borders don’t count for much or stop much, good or bad, anymore ~ Bill Clinton

One person didn’t cause it. Like most great events Independence Day happened because people came together around an idea greater than any single individual. Within that revolutionary declaration of how these united states should be governed are “firsts” that inspire us today.

“Problems can become opportunities when the right people come together.” ~ Robert South

When some of us believe that a freedom or responsibility in this noble experiment is being ignored fierce – and open –  debate ensues amongst many of us.

“My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. ~ Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.

Our greatest weakness comes not from without but from within. Each time we do not vote or speak up in civil debate or take action, we dilute our collective strength. In celebrating this day of independence let’s recall it happened because people came together to accomplish something greater than they could alone.

“Ideas are a capital that bears interest only in the hands of talent.” ~ Antoine de Rivarol

That is the inherent Me2We opportunity for Americans. Wherever you live the possibility of peace and freedom burn bright only when people rise up together. It may not be the way yet it is the most likely way.

In celebration of this day, here are some Me2We thoughts (what are your favorites?)…..

“It is not in numbers, but in unity, that our great strength lies.” ~ Tom Paine

“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.” ~ John Lennon  

 “Perhaps we are not here to see each other but to see each other through.” ~ anonymous

“The three hardest tasks in the world are neither physical feats nor intellectual achievement, but moral acts: to return love for hate, to include the excluded, and to say, I was wrong.” ~ Sydney J. Harris

“A community is like a ship; everyone ought to be prepared to take the helm.” ~ Henrik Ibsen  

“Step into the strong currents of history and shape your country’s future. Your own story and the American story are not separate, they are shared. And they will both be enriched if together, we answer a new call to service.” ~ Barack Obama

“To get others to come into our ways of thinking, we must go over to theirs; and it is necessary to follow, in order to lead.” ~ William Hazlitt

“There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, that is an idea whose time has come.” ~ Victor Hugo

“The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is beside the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech.” ~ Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kenney

“Things can fall apart, or threaten to, for many reasons, and then there’s got to be a leap of faith. Ultimately, when you’re at the edge, you have to go forward or backward; if you go forward, you have to jump together.” ~ Yo Yo Ma

“A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

“We judge others by their acts, but ourselves by our intentions.” ~ American proverb

 “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

“Human beings are essentially here for two purposes – to learn about and express love, and to create.  We learn about love in all our relationships.” ~ Angeles Arrrien

“The best way that we can begin to produce positive change is to make peace with what is in ourselves and others, and then work to move forward and make life even better.”?~ Marshall Goldsmith?

“From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength.” ~ Cesar Chavez 

“I think a major act of leadership right now, call it a radical act, is to create the places and processes so people can actually learn together, using our experiences.”  ~ Margaret J. Wheatley  

“Conversation means being able to disagree and still continue the discussion.” ~ Dwight Macdonald

“Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.” ~ Chief Seattle

“War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.” ~ Jimmy Carter  

“Peace is the result of the small stitchery of everyday actions, most of them unconnected to any of the others.  Each carried out in a long train of other.” ~ Will Kirkland

“Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves.” ~ William Hazlitt

“We didn’t come over on the same ship, but were all in the same boat.” ~ Bernard M. Baruch

 “We take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere.” ~ Tim McGraw

“We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”  ~ Benjamin Franklin 

“I am becoming the people I love.” ~ Carlos Santana

After seeing her grandma struggling to hold heavy pans, Celia Gates recruited an inventor as a mentor then designed ergonomic pans. Kayley Vincent and Jennifer Land created a cookbook that turned local business owners into foodie stars – and turned a profit for them. With churchgoers’ support, Henry Pearce raised money by donning a 1920s bathing suit. What sparked their entrepreneurial streaks?

16,000 young Brits were given a tenner (10 pound note) and “challenged to make as much profit and social impact as they could.”

The goal of the partners who back this Make Your Mark contest: “To drive economic prosperity and social cohesion by increasing the UK’s enterprise culture and entrepreneurial behaviour.”

They designed a powerfully simple contest that reinforces confidence, collaboration, real life skill-building -  “a healthy ambition to be enterprising – to have ideas and make them happen.”

Sitting in a classroom listening  - even to an extraordinary teacher -students can’t cultivate a “can-do attitude and the skills to spot opportunities, overcome challenges and implement ideas.”

Nearly two-thirds (62%) of young people say their top career choice is to run a business.

Some contests randomly reward winners, but yours, like this one, can reinforce the traits that relate to your kind of work – and that matter to the people you serve.

What if you forged an alliance of businesses and organizations that serve the same niche market? Then co-designed a simple yet exciting contest that:

• Enables participants to hone the skills they most need.

• Motivates them to form teams to improve their chances to win and thus their ability to collaborate.

• Shines a spotlight on all individuals and organizations that support the success of the contest and the participants.

• Involves several contest categories for diverse talents to be recognized and rewarded with prizes.

• Generates bragging rights for participants and resources for them to continue their efforts after the contest is over. (This contest, for example, includes “a national network of student-led enterprise groups.”)

Have you adapted some object to better suit your purposes? Would your invention delight and inspire  others? Get featured on TV, via computer and in a magazine, thanks to a new Me2We joint venture.

Make magazine invited American Public Television and Twin Cities Public Television to join them in launching “Makers.”  Half-hour TV episodes, in high definition, that cover innovative DIYers and their projects.Shows can be seen on online (Vimeo and YouTube) on TV (public, broadcast and cable) or via free DRM download. Makers covers inventions as diverse as a VCR-powered cat feeder, oddly-modified bikes and Blubber Bots (robotic inflatables). Thank you Geek Squad. This partnership piggybacks on the growing popularity of amateurs like us making stuff to delight ourselves and share with others – as demonstrated by the crowds at Maker Faire. 

Other disparate signs of the growing DIY movement include the DIY Network, ReadyMade, cafepress, high school robotics and Build it Solar. In this uncertain economic time why not design something to improve your life, share with old and new friends, perhaps even make a bit of money?  Start here.

Some people duct-tape small cameras to their dogs’ collars to see life from another perspective. (Dog is their co-pilot) Yet you can enlist human friends to co-cover the scenes of your lives.  AmericanWinery, for example, sent Flip video cameras to their winery partners, inviting them to record “daily operations, tastings, harvest footage” and other glimpses at the back stories behind wine lovers’ favorite wines, then email back their footage. AmericanWinery then edited them into a short clip and posted it on their site and elsewhere. That Me2We partnership brought vintners’ and wine buyers closer. The folks at Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library co-created a short film to promote their summer reading club.

For fun, why not co-cover your holiday or other gathering? Direct a multi-camera shoot to create a short film, easily 

edited by you and others you recruit to also video the celebration.  Imagine showing many sides of the unfolding scenes,

quick cutaways and zoom in close-ups. A DIY delight – now made easy by Flip video.  It passes the “one-minute” test. Mine, a gift, is orange. (No I have no financial connection to the firm).

It is an iPod-like, simple, sleek point-and-shoot camcorder. You’ve probably seen them or may have one. Since it is small, I am more inclined to carry it with me and shoot the unexpected scenes – like the manicurist sitting on a small stool on bustling, gritty Market Street in San Francisco, carefully sanding the fingernails of an entranced homeless woman. This camera makes it easy to video, plug into my computer to upload, edit and send to friends or post to YouTube or other places. Warning: the quality is not as high as larger camcorders.

Back to the Me2We part of this story. Turn the solo activity of videoing, editing then sending scenes to others into a chance to co-cover a gathering – with friends. For example, try a three-camera shoot to co-create a short-film.  

Who could be the cadre of photographers?

• Young cousins or siblings at a family celebration – to enable them to play together yet stay involved with the adults.

• An incoming committee of a club or association, so they get to know each other in a fun way.

• More reserved people among your different group of friends, coming to your event. 

It gives them a way to connect with others.  Since the front side of a Flip Mino can now be customized via a SmartPartnership with CafePress, your personalized camera will be a conversation-starter.

Co-Filmmakers Collaborate in Four Easy Steps:

1.  What’s Our Storyline?

Discuss, in advance what to shoot: how to cover it from different angles, what scenes to be sure to cover (toasts, singing, award-giving, etc.), what people to include, how to capture possible opening and closing scenes, etc.

2. Initial Editing.

Each photographer edit what they shot to remove out-of-focus and other excess, then cut the video into segments and upload it to the other photographers. Also grab memorable moments as still shots for your co-videographers and others to create Scrapblog versions of the gathering.

 3.  Final Cut.

Either agree on one person as your lead editor or take the more complex and potentially fun approach, and co-edit at one photographer’s place.

4.   Who Gets to See It?

Agree on your short film’s title and credits (videographers’ names) and how you will share it.  Will it be shared only with those at the gathering or also posted in a public place such as You Tube?

Here’s my what-if dream scenario.

What if Pure Digital sponsored a Short Film Stories of Holiday Gatherings contest – open only to co-created submissions. They would give prizes the top Ten Best submissions.  Prizes would be more Flip videos to give to friends. To reinforce their partnership with Café Press in a way that would delight us co-videographers, other prizes would be gift coupons to put custom images on the front side of the flips.  Some possible contest categories:

• Most Fun to Watch

• Most Inspiring

• Most Varity in People and Scenes

• For a Cause

• Best Editing

• All Videographers Under 10 Years Old

• Most Videographers Involved

You may be inspired to move onto co-creating how-to videos, such as how to snowflake gift wrap.

Shark and dolphin stories grab students’ interest but attention wanes when it comes to sponges, mollusks, starfish and their kin. A marine biology professor in Maine learned from his son on how to keep his students involved.  A lesson that any teacher  - or trainer, coach or speaker

 - could adapt. The Me2We part is that this approach involves showcasing the best work of people in your field – and other areas of interest where you see a connection to your message.  Plus your presentation, showcasing their work may attract them to suggest collaboration with them.

I’ll bet professor Robert Klose enabled students to literally picture the innate importance of that fragile web of “exotic invertebrate” life that supports the larger animals in the ocean – and thus us.  It helps, of course, that he’s an extraordinary writer.