Connect to Henrique on Idealist

A 3Qs conversation can be as simple as talking to a friend or two, or it can be a larger event. Henrique was able to get some time at a student government meeting to introduce them to IdealistNYC. Here’s his story:

I originally spoke to a friend, Ben Schaub, who is a member of the United Student Government at the Fordham University Lincoln Center campus. At first he was somewhat apprehensive of the project – he felt that IdealistNYC, and the Connectors’ role, was something that was already being filled (in terms of the university) by the student government. Nonetheless, he offered to give me some time to talk at a USG meeting about the project.

They reacted very positively to the idea. I pitched it as a project that is much less formally structured than the student government and much more ad hoc, in the sense that to be a part of it people only need to know about it, and that its goals can be achieved in whatever way works for those involved. I stressed that the only goal was to get people from ideas to action, using whatever means, contacts, or connections are available to them. They liked the idea of an “idealistic pragmatism,” and I also emphasized the lack of an agenda, positions, etc. involved in this project.

At the end of the meeting with the student government body I told them about a project that another friend of mine, Brandon Jackson, is heading, called Faces of Transformation in the USA, sponsored by Nations United. His project has two simultaneous goals: to reach out to schools and increase awareness and teaching of multiculturalism and conflict resolution skills among young children (aged 4-9), and to develop a smartphone application for young children that encourages these two virtues. By the time of that United Student Government meeting he had asked me to join his team, and so I used the opportunity to both give a real example to the student government members of how the Idealist project can work, as well as to test to myself on whether I could reach out, “connect,” and get some results. One of the student government members’ mother, it turned out, is a teacher in Brooklyn, and we are now in contact with her about the project.

So far, it seems that the three questions are a very effective way to quickly and succinctly get across the general idea and purpose of IdealistNYC. I’ve tried it both by introducing and using the 3Qs (with the student government body and some other friends) and also without using the 3Qs (with my original student government friend, among others). The conversations where I used the 3Qs have flowed much more easily and I’ve gotten my point across faster and with less effort.