We began these Potluck Brainstorms as a chance to learn more about what our community cared about when it came to innovating the future of our town. In 12 months in 2018, we had more than 400 people attend an event (and cozy up in our home) and from those multiple conversations, we learned that there was a big hunger to have a dedicated space in town to further spur the Arts & Innovation scene.

In 2019, we funneled that energy into creating exactly that: a physical space for creatives to regularly convene which we called 3 Dots (www.3dotsdowntown.com. That organization has been operating since June 2019 and began hosting regular Potluck Brainstorms for the community. Since then, the Potluck Brainstorms have been hosted at other community spaces, like the co.space (www.thecospace.com).

As word began to spread about the impact of the facilitation method, other towns began hosting their own Potluck Brainstorms and adopting the model as it best fit for their neighbors. Today, aspiring community members learn how to run the technique through an online course that we created to help spread the model.

For all of you who participated in the original experiment in 2018 – and to those who continue to carry the events on ever since then – thank you! We can’t wait to see what magic you all create next…