Month: December 2011

Back on Friday, October 21, I was privileged to attend 3 Things for Calgary: A Conversation about Citizens and Cities. Held at the John Dutton Theatre at the Central branch of the Calgary Public Library, it was part talk about what citizens can do to help improve their communities, as well as the launch event to the 3 Things for Calgary initiative, spearheaded by the newly-formed Mayor’s Civic Engagement Committee (MCEC).

If you want to see video of the event, check it out below:

The premise is simple:

1. Think about 3 Things you can do to make Calgary better. These things could be for your street, your neighbourhood or for the entire city.
2. Do those 3 Things.
3. Encourage 3 more people to do the same.

The deadline, so to speak, is to complete the objective “before the tulips blossom,” which, as Mayor Nenshi half-jokingly stated, “since this is Calgary, that could potentially be in August,” although to be honest, I’m not even sure if tulips bloom in this neck of the woods.

Anyways, it’s quite clever when you think about it. They’ve broken down civic engagement into three potentially simple steps, the success of which depends on the cumulative effect of others performing three things as well and repeating. As they like to say:

If every Calgarian did at least 3 Things for Calgary, we’d have more than 3 million actions making Calgary an even better city.

I remember when Mayor Nenshi was speaking about the program, he said that he recognized many people in the audience and knew that they were already doing things in the community. So he asked all of us to “just do 3 more things” which I thought was pretty sneaky, but only because it’s a trick I sometimes use to try to get people to push beyond their potential, or what they think their potential is. So well played, Mr. Mayor 😉

Ever since then I’ve been wracking my brain to think of three things to do before writing a blog post about it. The problem is, at least in my life, opportunity seems to come with very short notice, and it’s hard for me to plan ahead since I already have so much going on. In fact, at the time, I was so swamped with commitments that I really couldn’t see myself cramming in 3 more things without killing myself, unless they were super simple tasks.

Fast forward to now, and upon reflection, I guess I’ve already done three things since then to try and help contribute to making Calgary a better place. Actually, depending on how you look at things, I may have done more than three, but the ones I’ll list here are the ones I’ll count for now.

So, what have I done in the seven weeks since I heard about the program?

Well:

1. I’ve started blogging again for myself.If you’ll notice, there’s some content flowing again over here despite me blogging for some other organizations in the meantime. You may be asking yourself what this could possibly have do with helping to make Calgary a better place. Well, if you’ve been watching my Twitter and Facebook feeds, you’ll notice that I try to put a lot of local content on those platforms, or try to promote other local community initiatives. I figure that perhaps I can highlight some of that content here as well plus add some commentary of my own and help promote those initiatives by others or at least bring awareness to others about them. I’ll admit, it’s been very difficult for me to write these days, although it’s gradually been getting easier again. I’m not sure how consistent I can be, but my goal is at least one new post a week. Wish me luck!
2. I’ve volunteered to help with the High Performance Rodeo.There’s a reason why I reposted the piece I wrote for the Downtown Calgary Blog on the High Performance Rodeo. Not only because it’s just around the corner and that I love the event, but it’s also because I’ve volunteered to help with their social media efforts this year. Like I said in the previous piece, after being exposed to the HPR for the first time last year, I fell in love with it and feel that all Calgarians should know about this unique and world-class arts event that happens right in our own backyard, and I want to do my best to help spread the word. The Calgary Stampede sucked me in the exact same way back in 2006 by exposing me to some really neat things that I was never aware of beforehand, so I’m hoping I can take what I’ve learned in helping them promote things since I joined the Stampede as a volunteer and apply and innovate on those techniques with the HPR (and ideally, bring back some of what I’ll learn with helping the HPR to my Stampede work, thus ensuring the continuation of the Circle of Life). So…if you’re looking for a great gift idea, why not grab a High Performance Rodeo Flex Pass? 😉And make sure you’re following the HPR on Facebook at facebook.com/HPRodeo and Twitter at @HPRodeo and keep an eye on the #HPRodeo hashtag too for contests, promotions and other cool stuff.
3. I’ve joined an events subcommittee with 3 Things for Calgary.Yep, I love the concept so much that I’ve decided to try to help out in an official capacity. A few weeks ago, the organizers held a 1-2-3-GO! meet-up where the public could meet some members of the team, learn more about the program, and brainstorm ways to help implement the program in various places in the community. There were so many ideas that came out of that meeting that we all figured that we should get together again and flesh some of those out and maybe even execute them. The formation of the subcommittee still needs to be approved by the MCEC, but regardless whether it goes through or not, I’ll find a way to get involved somehow, either officially or unofficially.

So those are the three I’m going to submit for consideration.

Of course, part of me wonders if it’s a cheat since the way it was technically supposed to work was that we post/share what our 3 Things would be, try to do them, then when the tulips blossom, look back and see how we did.

So, since there’s a chance that I may be a part of the 3 Things team now, I’ll post three more things that I’m going to try to do before the arrival of the tulips, if only to try to lead by example:

1. Be a Snow Angel.This one seems simple: Whenever I shovel my sidewalk, I’ll do one of my neighbour’s as well. To keep things interesting, I’ll alternate between my left neighbour and right neighbour at random intervals (hey, just because I’m doing something nice for someone doesn’t mean I can’t have fun with it, no? :P). In all seriousness though, to me, this task seems very doable and if I’m in the snow shoveling zone, it’s sometimes hard to stop so maybe both neighbors might benefit ;-).
2. Find one small one-off community event or initiative to volunteer with in some capacity.While it’s true that I’m active in the community and that it’s very difficult these days to cram much more into my free time, I’m going to find one event or cause to volunteer with that I’ve never done before or for an organization I’m not affiliated with. The HPR was kind of meant to be like that, although it is a one-month long event. I figure if this one is just a one-day thing, it can be squeezed in somewhere in my schedule and is probably accomplishable. Since I haven’t found one yet, I’m not sure what my contribution would be (it could be time, expertise, money, or other), but whatever it is, I hope it’ll be meaningful.
3. Become a Calgary 2012 Cultural Ambassador.2012 is going to be a big year for culture in this city, with our recent designation of a Cultural Capital of Canada and the centennials of the Calgary Public Library, Calgary Stampede, and a few other organizations in the city. This Cultural Ambassador programorganized by Calgary 2012 sounds fun based on what I’ve heard on the down-low, so I’m looking forward to participating. It’s super simple. I just signed up and you can too by following this weblink.

So those are three more things I’m going to try and do before the tulips bloom, and we’ll touch base again later to see how I did.

Interested in joining along? To learn more about 3 Things for Calgary, visit the website, check out the Facebook page, and follow along on Twitter at @3ThingsYYC and the hashtag #3ThingsYYC.

And let me know what your 3 Things for Calgary are too in the comments! Peaking at what others have said, it’s fascinating how they can range from small tasks to big projects. Either way, it’s always inspiring to read up on what others are planning on doing or what they’ve accomplished thus far, and it makes me motivated to find ways to do more.