One of the best things about hosting events like this week’s “A-Ha!” NH Social Media Business Summit is being able to give passionate professionals the opportunity to talk about what they love in front of a new audience.
Bill Rogers – aka “Bald Guy on Climate Change” – was one of those pros. He’s taken to YouTube and blogging to share personal stories about what average people can do in their everyday lives to be more energy efficient and create a sustainable future. He’s amazingly prolific, too, and collaborates with a number of green-thinking business and organizations.
Not only did he graciously say “Yes!” to joining the NH Entrepreneur Success Panel during the Morning Session of the Summit, he also did what he does best – bring his audience along for the ride in witty, bite-sized chunks…
Beyond the video itself, he also shared his thoughts about the Summit on his Bald Guy on Climate Change website. (Which, if you’re reading this on Facebook, you may not be able to see the embedded video, so why not go straight there to read it and watch, too?)
One of the many things we appreciate about Bill has to do with the fact that, when it comes to promoting climate change (or any kind of change, for that matter), there are two different schools of thought on how to make it work.
One is that you need a lot of people – preferably a lot of powerful, influential people – behind a change effort to make it happen.
The other is that it takes just one person to start a powerful movement, around whose ideas and personality like-minded folks will rally and create something bigger than themselves.
Bill bridges the gap between these two schools of thought, and he works to promote green efforts throughout the Granite State and beyond.
Rather than using judgmental, off-putting, or shock-tactic tones that clamor for attention in the Green movement, Bill fuels his work with passion, persistence, humor, and creativity, offering a welcoming attitude that respects sustainability as a journey.
His web series, “Bald Guy on Climate Change,” showcases his thoughtful, witty, and realistic take on energy efficiency, and features New Hampshire business owners and mission-driven professionals demonstrating everything from insulation to haircuts, clotheslines to thermal storage tanks.
Bill interviews his subjects and narrates these quick-hit video segments, which are easily shared through increasingly popular and relevant social media channels. So in addition to delivering cost-cutting, planet-rescuing information, he also provides increased visibility and promotional opportunities for other businesses and organizations – a true virtuous circle of success.
And he’s not just a one-man show. Through his umbrella organization, Now or Never Media, he has partnered with Harvard Medical School, Northland Forest Products, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the University of New Hampshire to expand the reach of his mission: Creating and collecting climate change solution stories for broadcast and the web.
Or, as Now or Never puts it, “It’s about people taking action in their homes, communities, businesses, schools, faith places…It’s about a groundswell of energy to rethink energy.”
His vision isn’t limited to the Granite State, either. New Hampshire is his home base for the bigger picture – inciting awareness and change throughout the nine northeastern states (New England, plus New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) which represent the seventh-largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the world. Yet, according to Now or Never, “We are also among the leaders in addressing the crisis through regional and statewide policy initiatives, technological invention, institutional and municipal innovation, as well as individual and community crusades.” And Bill himself is in the thick of that work.
In short, Bill is a collaborative, passionate leader who practices what he preaches, and invites us to join the ride. He opens the door on his own life and sustainability journey to show us what’s possible. And he creates these opportunities for us because he knows that small changes add up over time, resulting in tremendous impact.
Bill, thank you for being part of the Summit!
Below is just one of so many fine examples of TED Talks. This one in particular has found its place of honor on The “A-Ha!” Blog because its content holds a special place in our hearts: “Where Good Ideas Come From,” presented by Steven Johnson, best-selling author of six books on the intersection of science, technology and personal experience.
Great ideas are indeed “cobbled together” from bits and pieces of the input we put into our consciousness on a day-to-day basis. They gurgle and marinate, collapse and re-assemble. They dart to your mind’s surface, then dive far below where you hardly remember you care about them. They do most of their magical work in secret chambers of your mind, and stay alert for information in the real world that may help them formulate into something better. 
In addition to the business and entrepreneurial loans you can make, starting at just $25, you can now make student microloans to fund the educations of university and vocational students through a pilot program running in three countries – Paraguay, Bolivia, and Lebanon.
In an effort to bring this ever-growing impact and power of social media to more NH businesses, organizations, and professionals, the NH Division of Economic Development (NH DED), in partnership with social marketing and success strategies firm Epiphanies, Inc. and Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH), will host the second annual “A-Ha!” NH Social Media Business Summit at PSNH, 780 North Commercial Street, Manchester, on Monday, September 27th. To ensure content is geared to the needs and skill levels of the attendees, the Summit will be split into two three-hour Sessions for two different audiences, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
When Allen and I incorporated our biz in 2004, it all seemed pretty easy and straightforward: Apply our talents, sharpen our skills, find a need and fill it, do good work, and make clients happy to we can live our lives and raise our family. We had no idea how much more there was to learn, how much we’d be invited to grow and transform and evolve and grow and transform and evolve again and again, and how unpredictable, scary, and wild creating, sustaining, fueling, and evolving a business can be.
