George S. Ledyard

I am working to get people to start thinking about our events based on a new paradigm. Since the vast majority of folks doing the leg work in our Aikido world... mailings, flyers, web announcements, dojo websites, Facebook Pages, etc are part timers, i.e. they have other jobs. Their work on behalf of a teacher or dojo is fitted into the cracks between job, family, and training.

So, the model I am working towards is one of "collective" responsibility for making our dojos and events work. Social Media offers the ability for folks to easily help multiply the benefits of the work that the few do. An event that gets posted on Facebook has the possibility of going "viral" within the Aikido community if enough folks "share" the event and the various posts promoting the event.

I also think that the teachers themselves who are out there on the seminar circuit need to help organize and promote the events they are teaching. The major teachers have a world wide following. The dojos that host them may have only the most rudimentary skills at promotion. I think teachers should help with the promotion of their own seminars rather than simply accept an invitation and show up to teach.

When the only outreach to potential attendees was through snail mail. e-mail, and a website, it wasn't so easy for someone to help out with the promotion of the events he or she is excited about. Nut now, with Social Media, it is possible for folks to easily assist in this effort. One one has to do too much. The responsibility can be shared. Folks just have to start thinking in these terms. The Aikido community is predominantly older now, they are not exactly of a mindset to be progressive on these issues. The more senior folks are, the less likely they are to really be interested in things like Facebook etc. But we need to see how technology may actually be one of the ways that Aikido can be what the Founder had always wished it to be, namely a way to bring people together.

- George