I’m currently attending The Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference in Washington, DC.
The fifth annual conference is focused on understanding the nature of individual and organizational behavior and decision making, and using that knowledge to accelerate our transition to an energy-efficient economy. You can see the agenda here. Below is a collection of blog posts I’ve been posting during the conference to share a little bit of what I’m learning. Enjoy! Oh, and if your community wants to benefit directly from what I’m learning, apply for my support on your initiative.
BECC Day One: Game on! A lesson in gamification
Hello from Washington, DC! I am at the end of my first evening at the Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change Conference. I think I’ve died and gone to heaven–there are so many incredible people here, with so much experience, and who truly understand the task of changing culture and behavior to meet important environmental and community outcomes.
In the opening evening of the conference, early-arrivals gathered for a social desserts-only networking event. I’ve already run into several individuals I only hoped to meet and have time to chat with here, and had a wonderful discussion with Cool Choices (see previous post) and a programmer from University of Hawaii about “gamification” for energy savings.
For our networking activities, we played different games, including “two truths and a lie” and even Charades. As Kathy Kundt from Cool Choices pointed out in her opening talk, games are fun. ”Fun” isn’t necessarily how we’ve branded energy efficiency. But games can bring that element to the work we value.
She talked about some of the outcomes from doing games: People try new things, we take risks. We get engaged and maybe even competitive. Games are social, so our actions are done in a social context (which can lead to norming effects and social diffusion). Most of all, we have fun.
The element of fun is important.
- We try new things because they are fun. If a friend recommends a book (social diffusion), we only take them up on it if it’s fun.
- We are likely to do things again if they are fun. If we try a new restaurant and have a good time, we’ll go back again.
If we engage with energy with our friends and community and it is fun…we are much more likely to do it again.
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BECC Day 2: “Can I sit here?” Best networking ever + Keynote take-aways
Just wanted to share this interesting experience I’m having here at BECC. There’s a lot of people here, over 650 to be exact, and from all over the nation and world. So, what are the chances that I unknowingly sit next to four people I know fairly well on my first night? And two more today?
Apparently very high. And don’t worry, I’m also meeting many new other people–program designers, social marketing consultants, computer programmers gone energy-geek, and even today’s keynote speaker David Gershon, Founder & CEO, Empowerment Institute and inventor(?) of the EcoTeams concept.
I had a special opportunity over lunch to end up sitting next to Mr. Gershon, where we shared more about each other’s work and he quizzed me (yes) on my take-aways from his keynote. Not a difficult questions since I learned a lot about the EcoTeams and some interesting insights of his. Video of him below.
His lecture spoke about getting out of “the box” that is information intensive, economic incentives, monoculture programming, and command and control models. His EcoTeams concept really speaks to the opposite, that people want a lot of things, and we need to know what those are and show how our work helps them achieve those wants. And it’s not always the message you traditionally deliver. He talked about how neighborhood EcoTeams were successfully marketed as 1) conserving natural resources for future generations and 2) getting to know your neighbor. Not to be green or to be carbon neutral…though those are very real outcomes of the program.
What kind of unique challenge does this offer organizations that are really pressured (in the culture of non-profits) to be on message about mission? How can our organizations be organized and communicated to avoid being pigeon-holed into a particular MO?
The other big take-away was that Gershon advised, “DO preach to the choir.” They are your first adopters, and they make up 15% of your audience. Only when you get them on board will the First Majority follow, because that’s what they do. The First Majority aren’t risk takers, they just want to be seen as leaders after it’s proven. They make up 35% of your audience. Second Majority are another 35%. They act when it looks stupid not to act. (Like not wearing a costume on Halloween, personal example.) Last adopters will possibly never act unless it’s built into their infrastructure or system.
To do list: Social Change 2.0 – Gershon’s book on Second-order Systems Change
Heading off to another set of breakouts!
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