Changes to Type 1 Talk

re: Changes to Type 1 Talk

Melissa — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 22:22:18 GMT

Thank you for all of the comments so far. If we do something like this again, I think we could definitely work a bit more on the publicity and encouraging more involvement/support from local chapters. Scott, I really appreciated all of the coverage and support you and Mike put out there for us!

@Stanca, I'm sorry that there wasn't much local support this time around. I hope that if our office took a different approach next time, it would make a difference.

@Mike A, I've heard from others about limiting the number of topics as well and think that is a reasonable request!

And @Susan, I hope we can do it more often. We'll see!

Again, I really appreciate everyone taking the time to share your thoughts. Your feedback will truly help me as I (hopefully) work on "next time."

re: Changes to Type 1 Talk

Without Envy — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 20:56:47 GMT

Would agree with Scott's comments. Even in terms of supporting this by rolling it out to parents of children with diabetes, my local branch let me down. As a new board member, I hope to help change that, but with all that is going on this time of year, I think it will need support and push from the national office down.

re: Changes to Type 1 Talk

Scott Strange — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:55:22 GMT

I think it was a very good start. At the local level here, and other places from what I've heard, there was bare minimum communication about the event except for Facebook updates in the days approaching WDD. The local chapters need to be much more involved and, honestly, each one of them should have sponsored an event.

As I've said before, the JDRF has a lot of ground to make up in supporting the Adult T1 community. The apparent disorganization between the national and local levels (and even among different portions of the national level) didn't really bolster your case much, it comes across as being not very important when looked at from outside the JDRF.

I think the event needs more press coverage in general and it definitely needs to occur earlier. I know Mike Hoskins and I were trying to promote it, but it would do you well to try and get more of the online community involved in that effort. The online community has been providing support for the adult T1 group and, I believe, we would welcome assistance in that effort from a national organization.

The event itself was good, Kerri is always a good representative to have nearby and I look forward to more efforts along this line!

re: Changes to Type 1 Talk

Susan S — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 18:06:30 GMT

I thought it was great! The entire panel did a good job. The whole idea of spreading the word and having a live forum like this on the web reached so many people and has the potential to reach far more in the future. Please JDRF help the smaller groups get, get more support. I just today discovered a local group in my area and have been searching for a year. There is one 50 miles away, but needed one closer. Anyway, the love talk was great, keep up the good work! Maybe do it more than once a year is my only suggestion at this time.

re: Changes to Type 1 Talk

Mike A — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:38:12 GMT

Thanks for the stepping up and making this happen! The facebook tool was a great communication tool and should be enhanced for next T1talk.

Melissa Smicker was great and was in constant contact.!! I hosted an event at my house but only had 3 people there, not counting my family... Next time I need to get organized sooner and promote it among my friends. Need to find out what materials or meeting ideas are available to use. Also would be good to get help from local JDRF chapter staff -- to help me send emails, post it on the chapter's web page, etc.

I think we definitely needed to spend more time on how Adults T1s as well as all T1s and T2s in local community could draw closer together -- with or without the local chapter staff -- for non fundraising events or meet ups. Local staff and local volunteer chapter boards must take this social networking seriously.

Next time, limit the subject to 1 or 2 topics and dive deeper on the topics. If we do this on a quarterly basis, we'll have time to cover lots of meaninful topics.

Again, Thanks for making the first step forward!