The art of relevance

Introduction: Unlocking relevance

1. What is relevance?

A walk on the beach

Meaning, effort, bacon

Something old, something new

Two delusions about relevance

A note on irrelevance

2. Outside in.

People who don't normally show up

Start at the front door

Some doors are invisible

Dumbing it down

Whose room is this?

The people in the room

Go outside

Inside-outsiders

Otherizing outsiders

Outsider guides

Outside institutions

Making room

3. Relevance and community. How do you define community?

Finding your people

Wants and needs

Needs and assets

Community-first program design

Relevance for one

Relevance for everyone

Build a door or change the room?

Building a bigger room

4. Relevance and mission. Steady in the storm

A hunt for relevance

Relevance is a moving target for institutions

Relevance is a moving target for content

You can make boring things relevant

The ugliest painting on the block

Proactive relevance

Content versus form

Old plays, new forms, new audiences

Co-creating relevance

Getting past the pretty fish

One core, many doors

5. The heart of relevance. Part ex-con, part farmer, part queen

Measuring relevance

Transformative relevance

Empathetic evangelists

A great treasure.