In many ways, the sum total of all our communication is what defines the existence of Enspiral - it’s the connections between us all. There are a variety of different channels that are used in constantly evolving ways.
This guide is here to give an overview of the channels we've officially decided to adopt, the policies we've set, and to give you some tips for how best to communicat with the network.
These comms channels are hosted by the Enspiral Foundation and are open to all contributors (or wider). If you are a contributor but lack access to something, contact foundation@enspiral.com
Loomio - Decisions
Our tool for decision making. The assumption is everyone will see everything. A proposal passed on Loomio becomes network policy.
Posting on Loomio in the main Enspiral group sends a notification out to everyone (nearly 300 people around the world), and so should be used judiciously. Tends to get noisy if we over-use it.
Two categories of content appropriate for Loomio: a topic that could lead to a decision that affects the whole network, or important information everyone really needs to discuss.
Feel free to start subgroups on Loomio if you'd like a more targeted collaboration space with a subset of Enspiral people.
Slack - Daily Comms
Daily chatting, realtime comms, quick questions, intersting links. There is a #watercooler channel for general discussion, and many channels for teams, projects, locations, and topics, or you can create your own!
Chalkle - Events/Classes
Enspiral's Chalkle Channel is where events and classes are posted that everyone is welcome to attend. If you'd like to host one, feel free! They can be free or you can charge. Chalkle events are visible on the public internet, but only 'followers' of the channel (including all contributors) will get a direct invitation. More info.
Cobudget - Collaborative Funding
Our tool for budgeting and financial decision making. Enspiral's discretionary budget is distributed using a democratic process. All contributors are welcome to raise buckets (funding requests) and comment on buckets. If your message is about spending collective money, it probably makes sense to post it here as a bucket or comment.
Enspiral News - Broadcast
Every two weeks, a newsletter goes out to all Enspiral contributors via Mailchimp. It has info from ventures, media coverage, updates on decisions and happenings, and inspirational animal gifs.
To get something published in News, email news@enspiral.com or post in the #enspiral-news Slack channel. If you want to reach the whole network with non-urgent infomation, this is the way.
Google Apps
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Email - Everyone at Enspiral is entitled to an Enspiral email address if they need one to represent Enspiral to clients or the public. Email is great for one-on-one or small group correspondence, or one-way announcements.
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Calendar - Great for your own planning and for private events and meetings where you have a specific guest list in mind. If you want to put out an open invitation, use [Chalkle](http://www.chalkle.com/enspiral] instead.
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Drive - We use Drive (Docs, Sheets, Forms) extensively, but we're moving all 'official' documentation off it and onto GitHub. If a team you're working with uses Drive, you'll be invited to the relevant folders/docs.
Facebook & Twitter
Enspiral has a facebook page and Twitter (@enspiral) - to get something posted here, contact news@enspiral.com. If you have friends who want to keep up with Enspiral but aren’t in the network itself, tell them to like/follow.
Enspiral has a publication on Medium called Enspiral Tales that many people are actively contributing to. Generally, we welcome content from anyone in the network. The Fairy Blogmother is currently Rich Bartlett - talk to him if you’re interested in blogging.
We operate in an attention economy, and as a participatory network it's like we all have a debit card attached to the collective attention bank account. Getting the attention people at Enspiral is expensive! Here's some advice about making it count.
This is YOUR Space
We are all greatly enriched by all of our engagement. Your voice is welcome. Your perspective is valued. Your interests are interesting. The best thing you can do to give and receive value is participate.
Pick your Channel Wisely
Know the various channels available and consciously decide where to post. Within a given tool, post to the right group or channel.
Basically:
- General communication goes on Slack. You will reach whoever opts in to read when you happen to post.
- Topics requiring a decision by the network go on Loomio
- Events go on Chalkle
- One-way announcements to contributors go in News
- Public info goes on Facebook and Twitter
Messages relevant only to a limited group of people should be emailed directly, or posted in a specific slack channel or Loomio subgroup.
Subject Lines are a Channel
Put all the relevant info you can very concisely in the subject line (or discussion title on Loomio). Messages on Loomio trigger an email hundreds of people, many of whom will look no further than the subject line. Who, what, where, why, when.
Key Details in the First Message
Put all the relevant details in the body of the message, Chalkle event description, calendar invite, etc. You often only have one shot to reach people. Most will never click through to look at followup comments. Make sure the key info is in the initial post.
Include Links, Make it Easy
If you want people to click through to other content, include links! People will not go searching for facebook events, google docs, etc, on their own. Put everything they need right in front of people.
Tag Specific People
If a post is relevant to specific people, tag them (on Slack or Loomio) to help them notice it's there. People will often respond directly to stuff they are tagged in, which can increase engagement. Don’t post a comment that is just tagging a name though - that means the person will get an email notification that simply says their name. You want them to get a message too.
Be Very Sparing with @Channel tags
In Slack, @channel or @everyone notifications will send notifications to everyone in that channel - please use this sparingly for very important or time sensitive information, especially in large channels. Don't use @channel in #watercooler unless it's something that literally affects everyone.
Get Permissions Right
If you’re linking to something on Google Drive (or any other site), make sure you check the sharing settings before you hit send! It’s very common to be given a link only to be told “you don’t have permission” when you try to view it. Most people won’t come back and try again, so get it right the first time.
Include All Context
Write everything message as if to someone who has never heard of it before, especially network-wide messages. Don’t assume people already know any context, since your audience has diverse levels of engagement. We want invitations to engagement to be as accessible as possible. Be aware of Enspiral jargon and assumptions. Assume everyone is hearing about everything for the first time, every time - because many people will be. Include links to relevant background info or previous discussions so people can catch themselves up.
Make it Count
Send out as few messages as possible, and use each one to the max. Consider how precious people’s time is. Our attention is a commons we share - if we start overusing it, we'll degrade it for everyone. Do a quick search to see if there’s already an existing thread on the topic before posting a new one. On Slack, use @ tagging, channels, and DMs strategically - e.g. check the channel list for appropriate groups before posting niche questions in #watercooler.
Ask for Help
Realize that any time you’re communicating to large groups of people, you are doing comms work. If you’re not sure, or not very experienced with comms work, just check in with someone who can help you think through your message and how you’re delivering it to make sure it’s maximally effective.
Keep it brief ‘nough said!
Channels are like chat rooms, and they’re preceded by a #hashtag. You can browse the list and join/leave as many as you fancy. If a topic is missing, create it and invite people in. Keep your titles short and descriptive so someone browsing the list knows exactly what’s up (#cool-shit, #enspiral-space, #accounting-help, #dev-chat, etc)
If you mention a channel by # in another channel, it will create a link to that channel. This is useful when moderating and directing users to more appropriate channels (e.g. hey, I think this conversation is better suited for #enspiral-space!)
Private channels are invite-only groups - useful for small projects, teams with commercially sensitive information, safe spaces, or planning surprise parties. Anyone can create one and invite others.
Direct Messages (DMs) are one-on-one private messages - use these to ask a question of a single individual, or continue an exciting conversation out of a public channel to avoid dominating it.
Emoji are the best part of Slack! You can react to posts (just like a Facebook or Twitter like, only better because you can have pandas, poop, lazar kiwi, or Rich’s face instead of thumbs and stars!) or express your feelings.
Slack has a ton of useful shortcuts - from markdown for formatting text to adding ¯_(ツ)_/¯ to your messages. Type / to see a list of them.
Slackbot is your helpful robot friend. They’ll help you setup your account, and you can also use them as a reminder service. Send Slackbot a message in the format ‘remind me to [do a thing] at [a time]’ to set reminders. Slackbot is pretty smart, and understands both relative and absolute time (e.g. in two hours, tomorrow at 10 am, Monday at noon, or 28 February 2020 will all work).
We have a free account, which means we can only view our last 10,000 messages (across all channels). If you need to save important conversations or decisions, make sure you take screenshots or otherwise document what happened!
Contact news@enspiral.com to reach Jess, our comms maven.
Drop into the #enspiral_help channel on Slack