What is Smaller Indiana--in 15 words or less?

[Amy Stark]

A few weeks ago Pat Coyle requested Smoosiers to submit an “elevator pitch” for Smaller Indiana. After staffing the Smaller Indiana Table for the Indy-volved event, I know first-hand why Pat was vexed. It became a challenge for me to answer the simple question, “So what is Smaller Indiana?”

Aware that a person’s attention span rarely goes beyond 15 words at these events, it took me a while to fine tune a phrase to describe Smaller Indiana. Here are a few of the ones I tried that did NOT work:

1. Smaller Indiana is a virtual social networking platform used to build community and spark conversation --- invariably this synopsis met with blank stares so I tried…

2. A collaborative public sphere to share ideas and information to build a stronger Indiana--- more blank stares, so I tried a different tack…

3. It is a combination of TED and Linked IN -- to my surprise there were only a handful who knew about Linked In, and no one knew about TED! For over a year now I have been a TED addict. I thought everybody knew about TED Talks!

The short phrase that seemed to work best:
A Facebook for Indiana professionals who share and collaborate on ideas and exchange information-- this phrase was met with the “aha” look I was hoping to achieve--an expression that meant, “Ok, I get it,” rather than, “I have no clue what you are talking about.”

Even though this 14 word phrase seemed to work, is it the best representation of Smaller Indiana? Did I get it wrong? In 15 words or less what would your response be to the question, “So what is Smaller Indiana?”

[Rae Kridel]

I've just called it "Facebook for adults."

[Amy Stark]

Do you have a Facebook profile? I'm just curious. I've signed up, but I haven't done anything with it as yet. Perhaps I am exposing my age a bit.

I just sent an invitation to someone to join Smaller Indiana and I used the phrase, "you can pick up an idea, or leave a piece of your expertise."

[Rae Kridel]

No, I've never wanted one. Maybe it was my time teaching at IUB, with students who were obsessed with it (and myspace) and would play on it during class. I was a pretty tolerant professor and didn't mind a quick e-mail check, and the vast majority were very respectful of me and my classroom time, but the few here and there would try and multi-task with Facebook and the class exercise. Not being the militant sort, I never reprimanded them because I knew that their inattention would bite them in the ass later. Without fail, there were parts of the assignment they didn't understand and without fail, their work would be inferior (and their grades lower) than the rest of the class.

As an aside, my husband is in law school right now in Bloomington, and the student groups use Facebook to connect with each other, because the University doesn't provide good social networking tools for collaboration. So this could be a totally untapped market for SI.

[Nwokedi C. Idika]

Okay. I think to try to describe SI as something like TED is EXTREMELY misleading. If somebody told me that SI was like TED and I joined up because of that, I would be mad at the person who told me that and would've probably deactivated my account shortly thereafter. I mean not any ol' body can present their ideas at a TED conference. So I think it's a good thing that nobody you talked to knew what TED was, b/c their expectations would've been really really high.

IMHO, SI is an intimate social network (you can use Facebook in place of social network b/c Facebook is more concrete for most people) that attempts to shatter derogatory stereotypical notions of what a Hoosier is.

Such a pitch will most definitely get people asking more questions (which is what you want), and then you can completely unload all the aspects of SI on them. If they have no questions, then they probably weren't listening to you, or have little interest in Indiana and how it's perceived.

[Amy Stark]

I must thank you, Nwokedi. Because of your post I dug a little deeper into TED. I‘ve been using TED passively for over a year. It has been part of my morning to listen to a TED Talk while preparing myself to begin the day! Hans Rosling always makes me laugh. My only active participation was my donation to the “buy one give one” program. Because of Nicholas Negroponte’s first TED Talk, a child in Afghanistan now has a laptop.

Until today I was a passive TEDster, but because of my investigation, I’m now an active participant.

No doubt my ignorance is showing, but I just discovered that when you sign up, you can fill out a profile with several (optional) fields:
Bio/CV – Maximum 5000 characters
I’m passionate about – Maximum 200 characters
An idea worth spreading – Maximum 1000 characters.
Talk to me about – Maximum 200 characters
People don’t know that I’m good at…--Maximum 200 Characters
My TED story – Maximum 1000 characters.

There is also a place to upload 5 photos.

Wow! Thanks again for prompting this search, I learned so much, and I’m enriched because of your perspective.

Perhaps my initial post should have contained the question, “In 15 words or less, what is Smaller Indiana to YOU?”

[Amy Magan]

I guess I'd say SI is an online place for people who like living and working in Indiana to share business and personal ideas and experiences.

21 words. Is that close enough?

[Jean Palmer Heck]

Think this is good and worth the extra few words.

Jean

[Amy Stark]

I like that one, too, Jean, and I always think a few extra words are worth it.

[Tom Jennings]

I do not have an answer for you because it is still somewhat vague to me. Originally, I thought this was a network for business people to share ideas. But, I really do not think that is the case. I have learned there are a "set of rules" to follow in order to share any ideas, and it must look a certain way. So the idea of business professionals sharing ideas doesn't really resonate with me. It seems to be more of a social networking group that has business professionals in it. The social connections then may turn into business connections.

[Amy Stark]

Isn't it a good thing to have a social connection turn into a business connection? Laying a foundation of trust before doing business is a good approach isn't it? I define trust as "consistently ethical behavior over a period of time" and smaller Indiana is still young.

Your sentence about following rules intrigues me. I'm not sure I understand what you mean. Are you referring to SI etiquette or something else?

[Tom Jennings]

Turning a social connection into a business connection is absolutely a good thing. Turning a business connection into a social connection works as well. Is there a difference?

In my experience, there seem to be "networking" rules that I am slowly learning. In addition, there are also SI rules which are in place to guide people.

[Amy Stark]

You asked an interesting question that I have been thinking about for several hours.

I think social relationships that turn into business relationships may be stronger than the reverse. My experience has been that when social bonds are established first, the relationship lasts longer and the foundation is stronger for commerce to flourish. Maybe I have been unlucky, but I can't think of any business relationships that turned into long-lasting friendships.

Establishing a social connection first allows for the exchange of goods, services and ideas to flourish in a spirit of trust and accountability. This is the theory behind the oldest not-for-profit, non-religious associational group in the United States. It is over 300 years old, and even though membership is down, it is still in existence with a presence in every state.

Am I way off base here?