Richmond Brainstorm

One question that will inevitably come up for the ideas submitted at RichmondBrainstorm.com is "what's next?"  So, how do we turn these ideas into action?

The focus of this site is to help collect ideas, facilitate discussion, and connect people with each other around projects that may arise.  To do that broadly enough to accomodate all kinds of ideas in all kinds of categories, we'll probably necessarily have to avoid becoming a specialized online gathering place for any one project or effort, but we certainly want to help you use the site to figure out "what's next."

To that end, here are some specific steps you can take when you find an idea that you want to see move forward:

• Vote for the idea on the site.  This helps raise its visibility so that other users can tell it's an idea being held up as important
• Leave a comment that affirms the idea.  You don't have to have all the answers about how to move it forward, but even by saying "I think this is good and here's why," you can help create momentum for those who are looking at the idea in our community.
• Contact the original idea submitter to see if they have any particular next steps in mind.  We'll soon be adding the ability for users to contact each other through the site without giving out personal contact information.
• Check with local organizations who might be interested in pursuing the idea.  They may already have programs or resources in place that you can plug into, instead of starting from the beginning.
• Tell your friends and neighbors about the idea.  When we spread these ideas around, they're more likely to be found by someone who can move them forward.   Tell those you encounter that you saw a great idea on RichmondBrainstorm.com and you wonder what it will take to make it happen - who knows what interesting conversations and actions will result!
• Create your own online gathering place for moving the idea forward.  Free tools like Google Groups make this a simple process - you can have discussion e-mail lists, shared document posting, a free web presence and more setup later today!

Each idea is going to have its own path for becoming a reality in the community.  We all have different gifts to share, and so you get to decide how much of that you want to take the initiative on.

Thanks for participating!