Columbus 2012 (or: the lost post is found!)

When I arrived home from the Columbus 2012 Bicentennial Citizen Summit last Tuesday, I felt empowered and excited and eager to post about the experience and all the thoughts it evoked. I was cheerily writing away when I hit the laptop touchpad, and I thought the post was lost forever. I just logged back in today to post about something different, and was happy to find the following. I apologize if it’s “rough”, but I’m posting it without rereading or even seeing if it has an actual “ending”…

Tonight I attended the Columbus 2012 Bicentennial Citizen Summit. I will admit that it first peaked my interest when it was announced that James Surowiecki (Wisdom of Crowds) would be speaking. It turns out Resource was actually one of three sponsors who brought him here, and our Founder/CEO is actually one of the Commission members. As a result, there were quite a few of us who wandered down to the Convention Center this evening.

I will admit, going into the meeting I wasn’t particularly interested in finding out what I personally could do to contribute to a stronger Columbus. I just moved into an area of town that has a decent amount of community activity, and expressed an interest in volunteering at that level. But sitting in a room of close to two thousand, sharing our thoughts, perceptions and hopes for the future, I will admit I felt more of a sense of community than I could have ever expected.

The entire evening’s activities were brilliantly executed. Participants were invited to share their personal suggestions on the state of the city. We then listened to an insightful presentation on ‘the wisdom of crowds’, about how we as a group have a collective intelligence and capacity that exceeds that of any single individual. What a way to get buy-in from a group that is there because they care about their community.

As an aside, I was a bit disappointed by James’ speech. Having read (actually, listened to) his book already, I knew each of his stories and anecdotes as he told them. I do hope, however, that those that were hearing them for the first time were dutifully impressed and empowered.

The next part of the program was very well orchestrated. We’d been told the commission wanted to hear our thoughts and opinions. We felt empowered through James’ words that as a group, we had much to offer. And so as we were presented with a series of multiple choice questions, we had a small wireless voting tool, and we were presented with the group results after each vote.

Why was this so ingenious? For several reasons:

Instant gratification. It was fun to see our results plastered up there on the screen.
Fostering a community. We saw how we stacked up in relation to others
Seeing other viewpoints. In some cases, answers I hadn’t even considered were popular. I felt compelled to try to see the other side.
Feeling valued. Often I think people wonder if their feedback is really ever noted. We saw data being tabulated right away.

In addition, the moderator did a reasonably good job in tying the questions together. Occasionally “possible solutions” would show up in several different focus groups, and he helped establish these relationships and call out trends as they arose.

After the fact, I was talking to a friend who hadn’t been able to attend, and she asked if I felt the group was representative of the greater Columbus community as a whole. I admitted that no, I think that is a common shortcoming in something like this. Those of us who came down to the convention center on a Tuesday after work were self-selecting. However, the overview of the program shared with us much of the other data gathering that had been done (that actually formed the basis for the focus groups that had been formed). Interviews had taken place at different events and areas across the city.