YBR'S THE GOLDEN CAP COUNCIL MEETINGS: How we got to Day 1

So YBR was a go to pilot with NEU..  Now I needed a team for my Golden Cap Council.  The Queen of the Field Mice and Gaylette felt that I should meet with all the Kansas Winkies (all FY students)who were not already committed to an internship program for their final term.   Kansas' term ends on July 2nd, fifty two (52) weeks from when this amazing group of 45 Winkies started their journey.  There were ten weeks left in Kansas and there was still a lot of internal social media structure to be accomplished for YBR.  We needed to create:  Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, a newsletter, Youtube, the Pepsi Refresh application and in due time the YBR Foundation website and radio show.   It may have seemed like a daunting task, but I knew that this Noble Sorceress, with a well chosen Golden Cap Council would make magic happen.  The Queen and I agreed that the best course of action would be for me to present The Yellow Brick Road Project to the Kansas Winkies to generate excitement.  We presumed that there would be at least 5 or 6 Winkies who would want to intern as the Golden Cap Council.  We were not wrong.  Seventeen Winkies demonstrated sincere interest.  I was even more impressed by these youth when a few of them took the initiative to approach me and voice their passion for why they should be chosen as a member of the Golden Cap Council. It was there and then that I truly knew I had created a project that had value.   The Queen, Glinda and I arranged to meet the following week to discuss which Winkies were worthy of becoming my council.  Part of the Kansas program is that the Winkies must earn the privilege to participate in special projects and The YBR Project was just that.  We all agreed upon 6 Winkies and I contacted them and scheduled one on one interviews for that same week.  Time was of the essence.  These Winkies were all remarkable.  Within each one was the fire and spirit that would give The YBR Project and this Noble Sorceress a boost of energy to start our journey.    As part of their internship with YBR, each must also keep their own blog.  We will be featuring each of these amazing Golden Cap Council members thru their own blogs in coming weeks.  I believe it is better to have them introduce themselves to you and speak in their own words as to why they wanted to be part of YBR and The Golden Cap Council.   All features such as other bloggers who are part of the YBR Foundation, Project and Radio will be under the TOTO title.   I digress, so the Golden Cap Council was chosen.  As we were to meet weekly, Glinda arranged for us to meet at the Curry Center.  Our first meeting was April 27th.  As I expected, my council was shy and slightly nervous.  I had purchased a copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz so that the council members would understand the premise of the YBR Project and we could develop the unique way we present our mission to the world, such as connecting the characters and names in the book to the individuals, groups or personalities within  YBR.    Our agenda for our first meeting was:  Introductions: Personal History: Social Media sites and other forms of viral marketing to be developed: The Pepsi Refresh project to apply for: YBR Mission Statement development: discussion of Branding statement and it's application to the Mission statement:  Value Proposition:  Research of other corporate Mission and Branding statements:  Brainstorming of both. Personal Linkedin and Twitter pages for each council member was the homework assignment for the following week.   This council held up like pro's.  Our most significant contribution to our first day was the development of the YBR Project Mission Statement.  It took us two hours of brainstorming and re-wording until the council and I all agreed that we had developed a succinct yet substantial statement that showcased our mission.  The Yellow Brick Road Project's Mission Statement reads:  THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD PROJECT PROVIDES AN INNOVATIVE EXPERIENCE FOR FOUNDATION YEAR STUDENTS SEEKING TO FOLLOW THEIR PASSIONS AND ACHIEVE THEIR DREAMS, BEYOND THE CLASSROOM, THROUGH OPPORTUNITIES IN SOCIAL MEDIA, MINI INTERNSHIPS AND BUSINESS NETWORKING.    My Golden Cap Council was quite proud of themselves.  They laughed when I told them that PR firms got paid big bucks for the same amount of work.  Everyone contributed and I was so proud of all of them.  We started work on the Value Proposition, got thru a solid list of descriptives and laid it aside.  One statement a session was quite sufficient.   We still have to finish the Value Proposition and we will probably re-visit it at our next meeting when the Queen of the Field Mice and Gaylette join us for a bit.   As with every good council meeting, notes were taken and an agenda for the next meeting was discussed.  Stay tuned....day 2 of our journey is next.