Photo from Flickr by Stuart Pilbrow

If you’re the kind of person who believes there’s enough ideas, resources, business to be won out there that you’re happy to share your cool ideas then you have what’s called the ‘abundance mentality’. On the other hand, if you believe there’s only so much to go around, only so many clients out there to win business from, or only so many good ideas that you want to keep your latest gem as your own, then you have ‘the scarcity mentality.’

A few Meetdraws ago I mentioned that Meetdraw is a great example of the abundance mentality at work. Bournemouth is a fairly small place yet there are maybe 30 digital agencies* here. You’d be forgiven for thinking that there’s only so many clients needing websites in this area, so why would you fraternise with the competition? What possible benefit would there be of talking to other agencies, you might let something slip that loses you competitive advantage.

*wild guess!

The thing is, however groundbreaking your approach is and however unique you feel you are, it is unlikely that the way you work, or what you work on, won’t be replicated elsewhere in the country/world and sooner or later that precious competitive advantage you have will be gone as soon as someone with the abundance mentality happily blogs it and gets the kudos for putting it out there.

Sharing your ideas and your unique techniques is a great way to gain competitive advantage. Clients see you as forward thinking, other agencies respect your ideas, you attract potential employees and stand out as a thought leader. Lets face it, of all those great ideas you’ve had, how many have actually turned into anything? How many have been shelved at the back of your mind as ‘must do one day’ only to never see the light of day again. My advice would be feel the fear and blog it anyway. You’ll be amazed at how liberated you’ll feel.

Sharing your ideas, meeting the competition and getting to know them is a fascinating and enjoyable experience. You can talk about the shared challenges you face, laugh about the client questions you receive and enjoy the experience of meeting likeminded people.  Before Meetdraw started up I was contacted by a ‘competitor’ who asked if we could recommend a good supplier to them. If I had my pessimistic pants on, I would have told him where to go. But thankfully my abundance mentality kicked in and I happily shared the resource. Months later we met at Meetdraw and enjoyed a beer together. Months later again, he called me to see if we could help them out with some usability testing because they were overloaded with other projects. This was the abundance mentality at work.

Put simply, the abundance mentality assumes there’s plenty of work to go around and in my experience actually creates more work for you. The scarcity mentality closes doors, closes minds and limits possibilities. So, stop reading about Meetdraw and shaking your head, and get yourself down there and meet your competitors. Once you do, you’ll realise they are a lot less scary than you thought!

MeetDraw Six from eBusiness Media on Vimeo.

It’s a hard life working for eBusiness Media – we sent James to the beach to drink beer, enjoy a BBQ and mingle with some of the best creative minds in the South Coast.

I like the number six. I always have. It’s one of my favourites. Well certainly in my top ten, but then I guess it’s in every top ten.

• Six is the smallest perfect number.
• There are six strings on a standard guitar.
• A coffin is traditionally buried six feet under the ground.
• Six, in Latin, is sex, a fact that I’ll never forget ever since our Latin teacher made me shout it out as loud as I could (while counting to ten) as he hung me by the ankles out of a first floor window.
• A client of mine once said “all Mexicans have six sides”. With hindsight, she might have said “hexagons” but it was a dull meeting and I was staring out of the window and not really paying much attention.

Six is also, of course, the number of degrees of Kevin Bacon, and while we’re on the subject of meat, it looks like number six was quite possibly the best Meetdraw yet?

A fab evening

From the comments we’ve had via twitter, email and face to face, it seems that everyone enjoyed it.
It may have been the sunny weather, the stunning seaside view, or the great venue that tipped it, but for sure, all these things together form the very best of what Bournemouth has to offer. Add to that our mix of Meetdraw digital animals ready to chat, share, drink and have fun together then you can see why it was such a fabulous evening.

Spirits were high throughout the evening as the crowds increased, and there was an overriding feeling of determination and a sense of togetherness despite the less than cheery economic prospects that loom large.

With all our holidays, job changes, honeymoons (congratulations Mr Seys) and sabbaticals getting in the way, it’s been trickier than usual to organize Meetdraw and it certainly wouldn’t have been possible without all those who came forward to help, volunteering their time, money, or both.

Thanks again

We’d like to thank these people again, so could the following please stand up and take a bow:

• Nick (who spent 4 hours on BBQ duty and burnt his hands) & our chefs Rachel, Kriss, Tom and Neil
• Lou, and her fabulous helpers from The Green deli
• Lulubelles cakes for some seriously scrumptious cakey treats (it seems 8 is the record to get into your mouth at once)
• Folk for supplying the BBQ, food, pink plates and branded beers
• Redweb and especially Damian for the design work you may have seen here and there
• Dorset Design Forum & Creative Advantage for paying for the venue (keep an eye on DDF, there’s some big changes happening soon!)
• And our new friends from Bristol AdLib recruitment who sponsored the rounder’s tournament and the sandcastle competition, as well as being jolly good chaps and very nice to talk to

We need you

MeetDraw is an event run for, and by, our local digital community and we’re always on the look out for new volunteers to help each time and help share the love. So, give us a shout and let us know if you’d like to be part of future plans.

Meetdraw 7 ?

Yep, of course, but you’ll have to wait for the Autumn. And it’s going to be a student takeover. That’s right, we bumped into a group of students who reckon that they can put on a Meetdraw that puts all others to shame, so we’ve called their bluff and challenged them to prove it. The bar’s been raised now, so let’s see if they feel the pressure?

Now let me see, seven?… hmmm, there are seven fundamental types of catastrophes. Good luck (-;

We’ll also be handing out prizes for the best meat themed sandcastle creations. So come along, bring a beer or two, and get some sand in your pants!

Photo by Mosesxan ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/mosesxan/1303451263 )

OK; so technically they’re not grills, they’re barbeques.  But Thursday 22 July 2010 does look set to be the best Meetdraw yet, as we make the very most of the sizzling Bournemouth summer!

Whip out your shorts, dust down your office-white legs and come join us at the Branksome Dean Community Rooms where we plan on steaking over the beach at around 7pm, with food sponsored by the good soles at Folk.

Pure rump roast? Nothing butt!

You bring your booze; we bring a band of happy chefs who will be waiting to cook for you!  Plus there’ll be a couple of guest stalls too! Including Lou from the Green Deli and Louisa from Lulubelles Cakes. Yum!

Fancy getting involved in the barbequing action yourself and being one of our chefs?  Lettuce know!

Are you a game bird?

Great! – Then we have a super sandcastle building competition for you!  – And most probably a rounders tournament for those feeling eggstra energetic.

We won’t let the rain foil your fun!

Even if it’s more drizzling than sizzling, there will be cover inside the Community Rooms thanks to sponsorship from Creative Advantage and the Dorset Design Forum, so don’t let any baaad weather put you off!

So, where do we meat?

The Community rooms are at Branksome Dene Chine, set back slightly up the cliff.  See the map (PDF) for details. There’s also loads of parking if you’re planning to drive.

It’s a free (ticket needed) self-organizing un-conference for anyone interested in the digital and online world. All attendees are encouraged to get involved, either giving a presentation or hosting a discussion.

Starting at 10am Saturday April 10th and going right through to 4pm Sunday at Bournemouth University (main campus)… it’s also got free meat! …thanks to our kind sponsors, the sat evening buffet and Sunday breakfast are included.

Last time there were sessions from the very technical “web 2.0 applications, introducing MVC with the zend framework” to the controversial “designers vs developers – why can’t we get along?” and the off tangent but impressive “how I built a jet engine in my garage”… discussion panels (including: “digital death, what happens when I die?”), lightening talks of 5×5mins and the charity crowd sourced haircut… some attendees carry on overnight, coding and socialising (the bars open till 11pm). More info on #bcbomo2.

The website says all tickets have now gone, but, we reserved a few for meetdraw folks – sign up at barcampbournemouth.org (ignore the reserve list message) we’d love to see you.

Also follow us on twitter for updates @bcbournemouth (#bcbomo2) Hope to see you there!

Below are the instructions for the game. Upon entry you will all receive a coloured animal sticker that will also act as a name badge. After that simply follow the rules of the game to join in. Click the image to see it in alls its glory.

Click the instructions to enlarge

What do all the coloured circles and animals mean?! watch our Twitter and Facebook feeds to find out soon.