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Keys to Success

(formerly known as Best Practices) "If It Ain't Fun; It Ain't Sustainable" The most important goal for each evening is to have so much fun that you are compelled to come back for more. Don't stress the video over the potluck. In the long run, personal relationships and meaningful dialog will mean far more to your group than the content of the movies. Create a Safe Space for Deep Engaging Conversation. Humans love to have meaningful conversations. We are hungry for conversations that lead to practical, local, on-the-ground solutions for ordinary people to fix a world that seems to be spinning out of control. The questions in the movie guide are designed to stimulate your imagination, aspirations, curiosity, self-interest and ability to connect. There's an art to creating the context for meaningful conversations. The folks at Conversation Cafe (http://www.conversationcafe.org) are masters at creating engaging dialog. We highly recommend that you visit their site and read their agreements as a ritual before each potluck: Six Agreements for Quality Conversations 1. Open-mindedness - listen to and respect all points of view 2. Acceptance - suspend judgment as best you can 3. Curiosity - seek to understand rather than to persuade 4. Discovery - question old assumptions, look for new insights 5. Sincerity - speak for yourself and from your own experience 6. Brevity - go for honesty and depth but don't go on and on These are time-tested agreements that will create a safe place and the context for deep engagement. That's why we put them on every participant guide. Diversity is an essential key to success People who study how ideas spread have noticed that new ideas move much more quickly through a community when you plant them among a range of different sectors. The more you can bring different age groups, ethnicities, political leanings, economic groups, professions, etc. into the room, the quicker the ideas with spread through the community. People who study ecological systems find that diverse systems are the most robust. They adapt better to change. They can be more creative in solving problems. The same holds true for creating sustainable communities. (very Darwinian, can find example of this in Origin of a Species. perhaps make it a little creative and call this section - Variation saves the Species -) Public Declarations - little changes mean a lot People who study the art of changing social behavior for societal good have long known that education is not enough. The key to behavior change is getting people to change their identity. The easiest way - for you or anyone else to make a big behavior change is to start with a little behavior change. Once you make a small behavior change, it starts to influence the way you think about yourself, and opens you up to bigger changes- we tend to respond to the little voice inside telling us we are acting like a hypocrite. And, when you make a public declaration of your new behavior patterns and changed identity, you will reinforce the changes dramatically. Wearing a button, going to a movie party on sustainability, recycling, turning off unnecessary lights, driving less-these are all little behaviors that signal you are a person who cares about sustainability. Having regular house parties over several years is critical to the effectiveness of building sustainable local communities: 1. Sustainability is a complex topic. It takes a long time to digest all the interconnected, systemic issues and formulate a plan for bucking unsustainable trends. 2. It's much easier to change long established values and habits with the support of your community. If you are a part of a tight-knit group, it's much easier for to go against mainstream norms. You can't build a sustainable world outside the context of a well-knit community. Not just because we need to cooperate more to live on a low carbon diet, but also because community support makes a low carbon diet more fun and hip than individualistic, high-consumption lifestyles. 3. Social change movements are always founded in personal relationships. We go to battle for issues because our friends are there and it's part of our identity. InterMission house parties create the bonds that build the movement.

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