Ainsley,

Thanks for challenging me on this. 

It was really hard for me to attach a price to this workshop.  I spent 15 years volunteering and giving away my time to three different community bike shops trying to help them help people.  The workshop I put on in May was super tough and cost me money and a LOT of time, not only in building it and putting it on but in assembling all the results and posting them to the Thinktank.  I was doing that while taking a class, looking for a job, and raising a toddler with no daycare.  And I'm happy to have done it.  It really helped me to read people posting on the listserv that it has helped them because I came out of it feeling really rough on the inside.  Since Dennis from Australia just got hired to work on some data work for COVID-19 and is unavailable to assist, I decided to pay Alex, former board member of the Village Green - MoBo's parent organization, to help me.  And I decided to pay her well.

I believe this workshop can help.  I believe that getting together leadership from different shops to come together, look at the future, and apply that to your plans are will save a lot of time, money, and resources later on.  I think that's worth $30.  I'm hurt that people might think I'm trying to take advantage of a group of nonprofits that have played a huge role in my life.  I'm also trying to make a living doing something I love.  If a shop is struggling and wants to participate to help figure out how to keep the lights on then I hope they do so and they can pay what they can.


To you, I ask, how much time, energy, and money did your group spend to adjust to the pandemic?  How much more will you have to spend to continue to readjust as the pandemic continues, if it does?  If you have paid staff and you're all constantly meeting to try and figure out what to do next - how much is that costing your organization if they're on the clock?  Are all your volunteers still showing up?  If this workshop helps you work out some of that, how much is that worth?

I'm offering this as me, Rob Grossman, as part of my own consulting business.

That's all I got. 

On Thu, Aug 20, 2020 at 9:42 AM Ainsley Naylor <needleandthread@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Robert,
Is this workshop being presented by an organization, or by you as an individual?

I am rather confused by the cost attached and the lack of information on where that money would be going. It does not seem to be in the spirit of this community to be charging an entry fee for an activity aimed at this (non-profit/volunteer) community.

Any clarification you can provide would be appreciated.

On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 7:08 PM Robert Grossman <rgrossman7@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello Thinktank,

Is your shop's plan for how to continue operating considering different futures? Would you like to work with other shops to determine what the future may look like?  Join us for a two-hour collaborative workshop to help future-proof your shop's operational plans.

When: Friday, August 28, 2020
Time: 11am - 1pm CST
Cost $30
*If your shop would like to attend but cannot afford to due to finances and the current state of the world then email me directly and we can work something out.

Click the link below to sign-up.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/future-proofing-your-shops-ideas-for-how-to-operate-tickets-117587115227

In this workshop, you will come together with other community bicycle workshops to put together four possible future scenarios to better inform your ideas of how your business model needs to shift. Working around the issue of how to continue to effectively operate and provide services to the community, we will break off into small groups to identify social, political, economic, and technological driving forces. From there we will determine which of these are stable and which are uncertain. The most important of these will be used as we describe what four possible futures may look like. Each of you will then consider how your organization’s plans for continuing to provide services to your communities will need to adjust to meet these futures and what potential unintended consequences may arise.

It’s important to note that the future will not be one of these, but more likely a blend of aspects from each.

This workshop will require participation.
There will be no other applications involved beyond Zoom and a note-taking app of your choice (Notes, Word, Google Docs, etc.)

Excited to see you all there!

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Robert Grossman
www.robertgrossmandesign.com
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