The inaugural meetup for the Social Change Collaboratory Melbourne was one of those nights I’ll always remember; a room filled with more than 50 of Melbourne’s bright sparks who want to make a difference is real food for the soul. I can honestly say I didn’t expect such a big response from people to attend the meetup and have also been amazed by interest online from other Australian cities and from people on the other side of this big, beautiful world. It’s definitely the start of something good.

Inspired by conversations I’d been having at other meetups and events over the previous year, my dream for the Social Change Collaboratory (SCC) was to bring together a diverse group of dedicated change-makers that are smart, creative, resourceful, dynamic and keen to make the world a better place. Why? Because, as pioneering folk like Pete Williams have said, we don’t need to wait for ‘them’ to do it anymore, we have  the means and the ways to create solutions to the worlds pressing problems; maybe we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

My goal for the SCC was to cocreate a platform and experiences to connect people, and seed, inspire and facilitate innovative and collaborative social change projects with real impact. The kind of environment that Steven Johnson discusses in his TEDTalk: ‘Where good ideas come from’, and the kind of projects that change peoples’ lives.

At our first meetup, on Wednesday 12 January, I was keen to know what group members thought the SCC could be, and what we needed to do to make it so. While I had my dream and goals, as with Doing Something Good, I consider myself a facilitator and want to support whatever mission, projects and programs emerge from the group.

One thing I think we all agreed on, was that it’s important to be able to transform ideas in to action. In terms of realising the potential of the group to work together and achieving what’s possible, there were five main themes that stuck out for me. They were:

1. The need to have a credo, manifesto or list of guiding principles for the work we do.

2. The need for a platform that enables us to connect, share thoughts and discuss ideas — which also allows us to map our passions and create an inventory of our skills and resources.

3. The desire to hold additional meetups, events or activities that seed, inspire, explore and spread ideas.

4. The desire to build capacity in the group: skills, knowledge and experience. A combination of skillshares, meetups with guest speakers, casual get togethers and something like Trade School.

5. The need to make sure our efforts and activities are sustainable. One key idea was for the group to act as a think tank and agency to fund our development and projects.

One of the things that excites me is the number of people that have put their hands up to be custodians of these (and other) great ideas and who are interested in pursuing their development.

We also want to make sure we don’t duplicate or clash with events or the work of others. I’ve been having conversations with representatives of several groups and organisations on ways we can collaborate on events and projects. One idea I quite like is partnering with the Australian Social Innovation Exchange (ASIX)  and running a Social Innovation Camp (SICamp) every three months with projects the group has come up with.

The interest in Doing Something Good that has stirred up because of the Social Change Collaboratory has also led me to bring forward an upgrade to a new WordPress site from the current Posterous site. There’s still more content and functionality to come, but I like that it has more to offer and can only get better – particularly now that the site is being opened up to contributions from others and I have started working on a few collaborative initiatives including The Garden Project with Glenn Todd.

There are big plans for the next Social Change Collaboratory Meetup on Monday 7 February (note change of date). I’m excited to announce that Pete Williams, Luke McCormack and the Deloitte Digital Team will be running a rapid prototype workshop with us at Hub Melbourne which “will give you a clear insight into the concept of rapid prototyping and shaping of great ideas”. The first workshop held in December in Melbourne last year, was a fantastic event and places were taken quickly. This event will be run in partnership with Tomorrow [at] Work and the Sustainable Living Festival. More details coming very soon.

If you’ve read all the way to the bottom of this lengthy post, I whole-heartedly thank you for your time and attention. 🙂 As the first comprehensive SCC post I thought it was important to give context and and understanding for those who may be interested in joining in, supporting our efforts or collaborating on events, projects or programs. Thank you.

If you’d like to join the Social Change Collaboratory please jump on our meetup site. If you’re interested in being an SCC Partner or Event Sponsor please leave a comment below or email: david@doingsomethinggood.com.au

You can also join Doing Something Good on facebook, follow us on twitter, and read or contribute to the discussion on the #SCCollab tweetstream.

Let’s show them what they can do by showing them what we can do.

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