Jordan Watch : Jordan Planet Outreach Compaign

My Jordan Planet meet-up debut was such a fascinating experience for me. I have been excited about it all week leading to the meeting, and it was the first time I feel no restrictions preparing for a meeting with people I do not have prior personal exposure to. It has been magnificant to put the faces on the names and get to direct contacts with some of them. The time however was not very helpful since I usually do not get "permits" for an outside- family Thursday night, and that's why I had been granted a "restricted permission" from my wife and had to leave after only 90 minutes to catch-up with our social agenda. I wanted to stay more to meet with more people and I managed to get in direct converstaions with 10 out of 31 and only a slight interactions with some including Ibrahim Owais who gave a very realistic perspective on our "short encounter"!

It is always difficult to manage the interactive and lively debates of 30 people and I know that from my work sometimes as a facilitator, but this was a meeting in which chaos was relatively organized. I listened more than I talked as I always do in my first meetings with people and was enjoying having glimpses of the creativity and skills of people around me but could not have a full picture. For instance, I was reading Al Ghad this morning to discover that the guy setting only at a distance of 3 chairs at my right was a very creative Jordanian film maker with a great potential. I wanted to talk more to Amin Matalqa who is a source of prode for us. I want also to have more in-depth discussions with all of the group and I think time will give us all a chance.

In a nutshell, most of the discussions centered around a need felt by all members in different expressions that we want Jordan Planet to be recognized, either as an institutional entity or as a known network with good impact. I think all of us feel that Jordan Planet is a platform for us to express ourselves and we want it to grow. This is why I think we need to have a robust "outreach campaign" for Jordan Planet.

I am currently thinking of some elements for this campaign and its objectives and I will come back to you shortly with some practical suggestions to initiate a debate.