HomeMy WebLinkAboutMeeting Minutes_8-15-12Bozeman Climate Partners
Communications & Outreach Working Group
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Meeting Minutes
August 15th, 2012
Bozeman City Hall, Madison Room
Members Attending:
Jeff Moore, Jay Sinnott, Paula
Beswick, Benjamin Bennett, Kathy Powell, Kristen Walser, Cyndy Andrus (Commission Liaison)
Staff Present:
Natalie Meyer (Staff Liaison), Emily Baker (Energy Corps Member)
Call to
Order
Changes to the Agenda
None
Public Comment
None
Website Development
Revised Homepage
Beswick: make the icons on bottom darker.
Bennett: for SEO, it is best not to change the quarter
feature too often; perhaps once quarterly would be a good choice, or once a month. Easier for people to find an article they saw in the past.
Meyer: need good photos for all 4 main sections,
to scroll across top. Ideas/ photos?
Missing Elements
Be a Partner
Yellowstone Business Partnership Uncommon Sense program: what relation could we have with them?
Bennett: a simple
opt-in is good for building your audience. Requirements shrink the number of people you are speaking to.
For now, we want people to gather around us, and gain a portal of contact with
them, so we can transfer info on resources and events.
Sinnott: having an open membership, with later levels of achievement to be identified. 1st level = partner, indicating simple support
of carbon footprint reduction.
Beswick: we need different asks for different groups. E.g. individual vs. non-profit vs. business.
Bennett pointed out that people coming to this website will have gotten there on purpose, and likely already have an environmental bent, and have already thought about upgrading their
lightbulbs, etc.
Andrus: we should get everyone who is interested on board.
Powell: Simple enough to have ‘be a partner’ just mean get on board, and have a spot for their email. Be
informed, and get information on events happening in Bozeman.
What is the hook? Bennett: We anticipate one email a quarter packed with valuable insights and trends in our community.
If you find value in our group, opt into our newsletter. Moore: See what other stellar community people/ groups are doing.
Moore: positioning selves as leaders in considered thought.
We’ve done the homework to see what is happening in our community, and here is what we’ve found.
How to include the simple asks: water heater, insulation, etc, etc without being preachy
or repetitive or boring?
Beswick: when people sign up for the list, have an auto-reply welcome newsletter ready to go with these simple-type asks. Ask: have you considered this yet?
This
email should be something that will appeal to all categories of viewer, i.e. individual, business, community group.
How to encourage people to sign up for this list ?
Moore: group can
think about why someone would want to be on our list, and then write a short blurb answering by the sign-up spot.
Have a list of ‘seed’ partners with impressive community standing (e.g.
Schnees, msu, etc) that will encourage citizens to think ‘ok, if they’re in, I’m probably interested too’.
What we’re doing:
Home Lecture Series (with wx center)
Earth Celebration (annual)
SWIMBIA
Home Show
Compost Bin Sale
10% energy reduction challenge
Funneling info and resources of others to public.
Beswick: do we have a school district week for reducing carbon footrprint?
Could we help create one?
We should present to all types of groups, from catapalooza to lions club to boy scouts, etc.
Bennett: doing something as simple as carbon awards, similar to
the beautification awards given by the Beautification Board would be effective, and a way to spotlight green choices for the community.
In sum: multiple levels of recognition and engagement.
In this first phase, we will cast our net as widely as possible.