Cohousing-L Mailing List: Cohousing Conference attendees: bring documents, flyers, slides/photos, videos, buttons, and a smile

[Raines Cohen (rc3-coho-L]

As you pack your bags for travel to the 2008 National Cohousing
Conference this weekend at Bentley College in Waltham, MA, this week,
you may want to consider including a few things:

1. Documents: As any reader of Cohousing-L well knows, people living
in cohousing neighborhoods and especially those forming new ones are
crying out for examples of what you've already created, so they don't
have to re-invent the wheel: mission statements, vision, legal
documents, CC&R's, bylaws, timelines, plans, budgets, committee
structures, decisionmaking systems -- you name it. While putting these
on your community's website and posting pointers here is the most
efficient all around, we recognize that some documents aren't handy in
electronic form, especially those created by your professional
partners, and for older groups who went through the process at a time
when the internet and computers were not as widespread (I've found
several boxes full of hand-typed documents from the early stages of
our community)

So, I'm delighted to announce that you can bring any of the above to
drop off at the Cohousing Coaches booth at the conference (up on the
3rd floor "Executive Dining Room" where we'll be having meals
together), and we'll have a document scanner and slide scanner set up
there. While we can't promise "while-you-wait" scanning (we want to
get to all those exciting sessions, too, and we have a few to present,
facilitate, and coordinate), we will have a system set up for you to
label and drop off materials for later scanning and pickup. If you
have them electronically, please burn 'em onto a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM (we
can reimburse the materials cost or replace the one you used) or copy
onto a USB stick for transfer. But if you don't, we'll be set up there
to help collect, digitize, document and republish materials to enrich
the pool of available materials.

2. Marketing Materials: Ditto to the above. Show off your stuff! We'll
post some of the best examples we get at the booth throughout the
event, and perhaps interview you if you care to share the real story
of how you created your incredible, persuasive, effective, and
inexpensive piece, and how well it worked.

3. Slides: We expect to have a slide scanner on hand as well. Please
pick out no more than five of the best/most representative, with shots
including people, process, activity, community... not just buildings.
Because we all know that what matters in our neighborhoods is much
more than the "sticks and bricks" of the structures.

4. Videos: Got DVDs? We'd love to see more of your community in action.

5. Buttons: We would love to take a picture of you and your button,
perhaps get you to tell the story behind it. Do people really "Ask you
about cohousing"?

As a Gold Sponsor of the conference, Betsy and I (your Cohousing
Coaches) would like to make sure we get the opportunity to connect
with all of you who are coming. Safe travels, and see you shortly.

Look for a separate message about some FREE events around the
conference that all are invited to.
Raines Cohen, Cohousing Coach http://www.CohousingCoach.com/
Planning for Sustainable Communities (at Berkeley, CA Cohousing)

P.S. Last night we got to visit the affordable-housing-lottery info
public meeting for Sawyer Hill EcoVillage, for the two cohousing
neighborhoods under construction in Berlin, MA: Mosaic Commons and
Camelot Cohousing. Very impressive the work the two communities are
doing for joint marketing and outreach for economic diversity in the
community... and the way that embracing affordability helped them
overcome local zoning/planning challenges.