Some brief comments
Hi All
Here are some brief comments. First of all, where is Caroline on the list of members of this group? I would like it if your picture were up there, as you started all this great discussion!
The question of logos and steering groups is a sticky one. We have no mechanism for agreeing such things round the whole network. And if there were a proposal and everybody liked it, I would probably be happy to use it for that part of my web site that refers to coco. The set of all websites owned or managed by cocos is not a pyramid but a series of intersecting circles - many of us have other styles and types of course on our sites which are not coco (confidence building, assertiveness, 6-cat, TIR)
My interest has picked up now that I have a web site. Having it has made significant changes to my recruiting practice already, which hasn't much to do with SEO and I think is an important mechanism in its own right. It is the website as an intermediary between a leaflet or an introductory conversation and a taster session. or course I used to stick leaflets on notice boards and so on, and would never get any enquiries. Now I have my "elevator" sentence like "Co-counselling is an excellent way of getting your life the way you want it and of helping others to do likewise" and I also feel more able to hand out leaflets to people. Inevitably they ask me stuff and I then explain a bit more. And when we run out of time or energy now, I can just say "well, have a look at my website and let me know what you think". Suddenly I feel far better about publicising coco! And this morning, someomne came bck to me and said "I read your cv on the website and I didn't know you had all those degrees!". So then the convesrsation entered a new phase.
In "Real life" all sorts of tiny things can put people off when they ask about coco. I spray out dozens of conversations about coco and the one thing I must not be, is attached to "gettiing a sale". If the receiving person gets the faintest whiff of "Sales talk" they usually run a mile. So while I am not against market research (I have done some of my own) don't be surprised if it doesn't result in people in classes. As the commercial purpose of marketing /advertising is precisely to "get a sale" I am a little wary of it. What is absolutely OK and I am trying to do, os let people know who I am as clearly as I can and in waays I hope they can hear. I think of taming a wild animal and making friends with it. (Well, if Pi can do it, why shouldn't I?) Or, indeed, making a new human friend.
Work in progress
love
Celia