Friday I was invited to a conference to teach the City of Fort Collins more about Social Media alongside Viveka Von Rosen and Dawn Putney.
We arrived just in time for lunch, catered complete with plastic silverwear and plastic plates.
As the meeting got going again, I noticed the plastic plates and silverwear had been thrown away. It certainly wasn’t because Fort Collins doesn’t like to recycle (we love to!); it was because the recycling bin had a cover that kept everything but bottles and cans out. Nobody had thought to remove that barrier to entry: there was no need before that.
So, as Kim, the organizer, introduced yours truly to the 40+ attendees, I was elbow-deep in the trash pulling out anything plastic I could get my hands on and tossing it into the now-uncapped recycling bin.
When it was my turn to talk, I started by opening up the windows to get some natural light in and wake up the attendees.
And then, for the first time ever, a company with an explicative in the title and an owner under 25, spoke to a government agency about how to integrate governmental social media into an amazing city.
First impressions, right? Barriers to entry should only exist as long as they make sense. I’m glad we broke a few.
