Design the Future
Many communities may have similar goals and strategies, but each community will have a unique vision of their digital future.
Getting Everyone on the Same Page
The assessment process in the Prepare stage gives you an idea of where your community is now. Getting everyone to understand the value of being a connected community and creating a shared vision and strategies to get there are the next steps.
Here are some things for the “To Do” list:
Set a date for a community event to learn about being a connected community and decide about becoming one. Be inclusive — every segment of the community should be invited.
Determine how the community will hear about it. Advertise it. Create a 'community buzz.'
Invite a local or regional expert to help present at the meeting. This could be someone from a neighboring 'connected community' or a state or local educator or perhaps someone from an Internet Service Provider.
Use these PowerPoint presentations to help show the community what connected communities are and how businesses, organizations and individuals can benefit. Select from the following PowerPoint presentations, or modify them to create your own:
Then, answer the question "Do we want to be a Connected Community?"
Assuming the answer is yes, move on to design solutions or set a date for a next meeting to design the solutions.