What do you say When the Mayor challenges you to tell him - in 15 seconds - what Transition Solihull is about? It happened at our stall yesterday in Dorridge Park. He wasn't being unkind, just reflecting to us that, very often, you don't have much time to catch and hold someone's interest.
For me the difficulty is that there is so much that you could say. His question prompted a paralysing internal debate 'Where do I start? Will he understand peak oil? If I've just 15 seconds, is it worth the risk of confusing him with big new ideas? It's about resilience - but can I mention that if I haven't included peak oil? Do I have to say something about uncertainty and risk - o, lord, why, whenever you start on these things do you get into gloom and pessimism so quickly? So, be positive. It's about communities getting together to look after themselves, it's about local food and local energy...but if I don't mention peak oil, why would we want to do that?...' but I've gone round in a circle and my 15 seconds is already long over.
Of course, this particular merry-go-round, will be my version of the problem. And I do think Mr Mayor was being a bit tough - 30 seconds might be fairer, but I'm guessing we would all struggle unless we had prepared beforehand.
We want to spend time doing just that at our meeting on Thursday night. We're starting earlier to give ourselves a little more planning time and sharing our 30 second visions for Transition Solihull. It should do more than help us tell our story. We'll be making plans based on the the ideas we share and trying to get a better idea of where we want Transition Solihull to be this time next year.
Come along if you want to join in. It's this Thursday, on the 16th September, in the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Solihull, starting at 6.30.
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