I was recently reading a post on one of my favorite blogs about how to build a user community. Kathy Sierra (Creating Passionate Users) was going on about the concept that there are “no dumb questions.” You’ve probably heard that before; you’ve probably said it before too – to your kids, employees, spouse. If you facilitate seminars or workshops, you’ve probably told your participants to speak up because there are no stupid questions.

In a following post, she goes on to assert that there are no dumb answers either. What she’s driving at is the value of turning “askers” into “answerers”. In order to do that, you have to give people permission to try, to encourage them to teach, to participate, while reining in the “experts”. This keeps your online community active, growing and developing.

Beyond online communities, these are valuable concepts to incorporate into other communities – your family, workplace, classroom, church. As Kathy says, “The more they become involved, the more likely they are to stick with it through the rough spots in their own learning curve, and we all know that having to teach or explain something to another person accelerates our own understanding and memory of the topic.”

People are encouraged to become mentors, but many of us don’t feel qualified because we don’t have all the answers. Perhaps we should apply the “no dumb questions or answers” principle to ourselves as well. Would it give us permission to treat ourselves a bit kinder and gentler?

Here are Kathy’s six tips for encouraging a No Dumb Questions atmosphere:

1. Encourage newer users--especially those who've been active askers--to start trying to answer questions
2. Give tips on how to answer questions
3. Tell them it's OK to guess a little, as long as they ADMIT they're guessing
4. Adopt a near-zero-tolerance "Be Nice" policy when people answer questions
5. Teach and encourage the more advanced users (including moderators) how to correct a wrong answer while maintaining the original answerer's dignity
6. Re-examine your reward/levels strategy for your community

Personal note: I’m not sure I agree with her premise entirely, because I have to admit that I’ve heard some pretty dumb questions and even dumber answers, but I’ll go along with it for the purpose of this article.

I encourage you to read the entire post. And I’d love to hear how you can apply these concepts in your own communities. If you interested in setting up an online community of your own, or getting visitors to participate, let me know. I’d love to help you!

These are some of our favorite tools we use in our day-to-day business, or they've been recommended by our clients and associates. Some are FREE, some include free trials, and some have a small fee. Whatever the cost, they may be just the ticket for your business needs.

CutePDF
If you want a FREE and easy way to create PDFs, this software is a great solution. If you need more functionality, there's an inexpensive upgrade, but if all you want to do is convert your Word Doc to a PDF for your web site, the free version should work just fine.

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Ever done any blamestorming? How about prairie-dogging? Do you work with any BMWs? Or has your career been plutoed?

Those are among the 13 Most Fun Buzzwords of 2006 as selected by the readers of The Buzzword Dictionary: 1,000 Phrases Translated from Pompous to English (Marion Street Press $12.95).

1. blamestorming: A group process where participants analyze a failed project and look for scapegoats other than themselves.
2. Death by Tweakage: When a product or project fails due to unnecessary tinkering or too many last-minute revisions.
3. BMWs: Bitchers, Moaners and Whiners.
4. clockroaches: Employees who spend most of their day watching the clock - instead of doing their jobs
5. plutoed: To be unceremoniously dumped or relegated to a lower position without an adequate reason or explanation.
6. prairie dogging: A modern office phenomenon. Occurs when workers simultaneously pop their heads up out of their cubicles to see what's going on.
7. carbon-based error: Error caused by a human, not a computer (which we assume would be a silicon-based error).
8. menoporsche: Male menopause. Symptoms include a sudden lack of energy, crankiness and the overpowering urge to buy a Porsche.
9. adminisphere: The upper levels of management where big, impractical, and counterproductive decisions are made.
10. deja poo: The feeling that you've stepped in this bull before.
11. bobbleheading: The mass nod of agreement by participants in a meeting to comments made by the boss even though most have no idea what he/she just said.
12. ringtone rage: The violent response by cube mates after hearing your annoying cell phone ringtone for the 15th time.
13. muffin top: The unsightly roll of flesh that spills over the waist of a pair of too-tight pants.

Meet Kayda, our news, advertising and public relations executive. She's busy digging up tasty treats on WBT, our clients and associates. When we found her at the CIA (Canine Intelligence Agency), we knew she was the pick of the litter.

Look for us at the Boulder Chamber EXPO-sion! Whole Brain Technologies will be staffing the Constant Contact booth (#S4) at the Expo on Thursday, April 5 from 9:30 to 4:00 at the Omni Interlocken. Don't miss Boulder Valley's largest business-to-business tradeshow - a day of networking, seminars, and the First Annual Sparks Awards Luncheon recognizing excellent small businesses.

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Teri's Brain is now open! For anyone who's ever wondered "what was she thinking?" here's your chance to find out. In her blog, this open-minded professional shares her experiences and insights in the virtual world along with tips and resources for building effective Web projects and successful businesses.

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