A key part of the Learning to Compete project is the country case studies, is the fact that we're bringing together research from a variety of different countries across Africa and also in Southeast Asia. And what wider brings is the fact that we can bring in local country teams, we're working with local partners who bring with them experience, who bring with them policy relevance and context that is much needed in this type of research. Me personally I've been working with the country teams in Nigeria and Uganda and also I've been spending time in Southeast Asia in Vietnam and Cambodia. Vietnam's success over the last couple of decades has been pretty remarkable. I think a lot of it is rooted in the market orientation that they adopted in the late 1980s and as well as being market oriented they became very export focused. So a lot of policy over the last decade has been looking at becoming more export oriented, better trade policy, more deregulation of state ownership, investment policy and making investment and trade more easy essentially. So the growth that they've experienced has been fueled to a large extent by increases in exports but also by industrialization. So growth and industrial output over the last decade has been in the double digits and I think this is part of that remarkable success story. This has in part been fueled by foreign investment, so more relaxed investment laws has helped in this regard but it's also been private sector development. So you've really seen a massive growth in entrepreneurship, you've seen massive growth in private sector enterprises which are very dynamic, which adapt, are very adaptable, which are starting to export and I think that's really an important part of that story. Well to an extent it's down to entrepreneurial culture. There's also still state involvement, while there has been deregulation, state investment has been much better targeted, much better focused on sectors that have growth potential. So a lot of the policies within Vietnam have been sector specific and there's been sector specific policies and financial incentives directed towards areas where they feel they've got a comparative advantage. Some other examples include electronics and more recently kind of evolving sectors such as software development and these kinds of things. So you're seeing this transition from focusing on a focus on traditional sectors towards a focus on more higher value added sectors, emerging sectors and growing sectors. And a lot of the sector specific policies have focused on research and development, promoting research and development, promoting capabilities. I think that we can't assume that they can replicate Vietnam's success or follow the exact same path. The context as I've said, they're just very, very different. I think that what they can do is learn from the types of approach that they've taken. Look to things like what are their comparative advantage? What are the sectors that could potentially grow in the future? And by focusing on areas where you have a comparative advantage I think that you can learn a lot from that. It's also about I guess in early stages of development some amount of protection of your sectors is required, of your firms is required in order to help them and help launch them onto the world stage and launch them into export markets. I don't think you can underestimate the value in having a good infrastructure system. You can't underestimate the value in having consistent energy supply for example. These are major constraints that are facing African, many African countries. Towards private sector development. I think that it's about looking at how Vietnam went from a stage where there was very little private sector development to all of a sudden creating opportunities, creating a platform where small enterprises can start where small enterprises can grow. I think that's really where African economies can learn lessons. When we look at agglomeration what we're talking about is the tendency for firms to locate near each other and when we talk about agglomeration economies we're talking about the fact that this can be a source of productivity growth for firms. So a lot of industrial policy over the last number of decades have established industrial parks, tried to establish export processing zones to bring firms together so that they can potentially benefit from these types of agglomeration economies. They take the form of things like having access to a pooled set of labour, a pooled skilled labour for example, reducing transport costs and also maybe interactions with firms in the same sectors that could potentially lead to technology transfers or technology spillovers. So when we talk about agglomeration we're talking about this as a potential source for productivity gains really. I think you'll always get clustering where there are natural advantages to being located somewhere.  You see the same in Cambodia, see it to a certain extent in Nigeria. So you will see that kind of clustering. That's more like kind of an urbanization or maybe localization rather than agglomeration per se. When we talk about agglomeration what we're trying to see and what we're trying to identify is whether when firms locate near each other they start to interact more and if they interact more then are they benefiting from the knowledge that each of the different firms have. You might expect things like technological complementarities to emerge whereby it makes sense if these firms are all interacting one firm comes along and wants to introduce say e-business practices or e-banking then all of the firms will perhaps adapt because they are interacting with each other. I think in developing country contexts in Africa in particular these types of interactions might be very important where you have infrastructural deficits or where private sector firms are generally quite small and they tend to have to locate near their customers and have to locate near their inputs. So agglomeration might be even more important in these contexts than it is in developed country contexts. So that's the kind of thing that we're looking at when we talk about agglomeration. And there's kind of two things that happen when firms cluster together. They can become much more competitive so they have to compete with each other so there may actually be disadvantages to some very small firms from locating near their close competitors because of these competitive effects. But overall for productivity that's a good thing to weed out the inefficient firms and there will be reallocations towards the more efficient firms. And then the more efficient firms that are closely located to each other may then start to interact, learn from each other and together improve their production processes and business practices. It's difficult to know what the policy implications here are. I think that the evidence for industrial parks for export processing zones there's no really strong evidence to suggest that firms these parks and zones do experience these types of productivity spillovers. It seems that the evidence that we have suggests that it's more the naturally forming clusters of activity where these types of agglomeration economies are observed. So it's where firms, the profit maximizes themselves are deciding where to locate, they're the ones who are interacting and then they experience these productivity spillovers. So there's evidence for example in Cambodia that these export processing zones they're not very well developed yet but the ones that are developed become very insular and they basically still import all of their inputs and then they immediately export their outputs and there's very little interaction that happens between them. So the way you establish these types of industrial parks and the way you establish these types of export processing zones I think will matter. I mean it might make sense for a government to set up a special economic zone where infrastructure is a lot better where there's no problems with power shortages and so on and firms to come rather than specifically setting it up just say for export firms or just say for foreign firms. Absolutely and I mean I think it's a step by step process in many African countries and this is kind of what the starting point should be in terms of reducing that infrastructural deficit. I've learned that bringing all of the evidence together there appears to be a premium associated with exporting and it appears that firms do learn by exporting but I think it again depends on the context. There's a couple of different processes at work so the evidence is very strong that the more productive firms select into exporting. So in order for a firm to be able to export in the first place they have to reach some kind of level of innovation some level of technology or some level of productivity where they can then access the export markets. Once they enter the export markets not all firms learn but some firms do learn and so there is a premium to be gained from that there is some kind of productivity gain. It seems that where you export matters so exporting to developed countries exporting to the EU, exporting to the US the productivity gains are larger and also what you export matters so if you're exporting more high tech types of produce or high tech types of output then it'll also matter. But another phenomenon that we're observing in Mozambique for example is that there are many firms that the business literature would say are born global so it's not that they're domestic firms that then start to export they're firms that establish in order to export so this is kind of a different way of looking at it in a different perspective and these firms do have a premium an export premium associated with their export behavior so I would say that on a whole there are productivity gains from exporting I think that the mechanisms that we're getting more familiar with and we're becoming more familiar with but there's still a lot of work to be done to understand precisely when and how this learning actually happens from a policy perspective I think that there's kind of two margins which policy makers should think about the first is how can they encourage access to or allow access to domestic firms access export markets and this is about reducing trade costs and in many cases it's simply about providing information about firms with knowledge about how to sell their produce and putting them in touch and linking them in with the export markets because that appears to be one of the big constraints that we see and once that margin is covered of course these firms have to be efficient you have to reduce the constraints that affect their everyday business such as the infrastructure deficit such as perhaps accessing credit in order to be able to invest or innovate or invest in new projects which is really really crucial and then once they're at that margin and they actually accessing the export markets and it's about making sure that that's facilitated and that again constraints are removed I think FDI is a very important part of the development process and evidence in Vietnam suggests that FDI has been part of the story in many of the other countries that are involved in the learning to compete project we find that there is FDI but there are very few linkages with the local economy so FDI firms are investing and this creates jobs this is good for the economy in that respect but they are for the most part importing their inputs and then directly exporting their output so there's no real linkages with the domestic economy so I think for FDI to be a real engine for growth for developing countries we really need to establish linkages with domestic producers from a policy perspective what this means I mean the reasons why in many cases I believe FDI firms are not linked in is because there's insecurity of supply of inputs they have to be sure that they're going to get the inputs that they want they have to be of a suitable quality they have to meet environmental standards and increasingly there's pressure that they have to be follow some ethical business practices of corporate social responsibility would have to be built into this so there are gaps there and it could be just a knowledge gap or it could be some other gaps where there needs to be some investment in the domestic sector to start to take these boxes but I would envisage that an FDI investment project should I believe from a policy perspective include some kind of mechanism whereby the FDI firm would get their inputs locally and I think that's where there are real gains to be made entrepreneurship is a very important part of the story and certainly has been a very important part of the success story of Vietnam I don't believe that entrepreneurship is something that can be told I think that the recent evidence from various business training programs in Africa suggest that there are no real returns you can't teach this entrepreneurship these are entrepreneurs to begin with in many cases I think that what it comes back down to is having policy directed towards removing the constraints to entrepreneurs actually investing removing the constraints to small businesses from being established and small businesses from graduating from being small to being medium sized enterprises because that's where the action starts to happen that's really where they start to get into the export markets and so on so removing these constraints are what we've mentioned already making sure there's access to credit and improving infrastructure just making the environment easier for entrepreneurs to actually invest in enterprise my belief is that it's to remove the obstacles I think that if the obstacles are removed and the constraints are addressed it means identifying the constraints to begin with but once they're identified and they're addressed I think that entrepreneurs are profiteers they want to maximize profits to some extent maybe there are sector specific policies where certain sectors you can try and encourage for example you could think about the agricultural sector and agro processing there may be some kind of mismatch of skills there that the government extension programs could address to promote entrepreneurship to encourage agriculture producers to start moving up along the value chain so there may be certain sectors where there can be extension services that could have an impact but on the whole I think that it's about removing the constraints removing the bottlenecks and I think after that as was the case in Vietnam we should see entrepreneurship flourish


It's the mat work. Down to now are there any other ways outside of hey I'm going to do X on X day or you can find X on X platform. What are some other ways when it comes to training an audience that you might have utilized or even just you know have a thesis on? Yeah I mean instantiating behavior patterns is a huge part of building a business and marketing. So like when you're when you're building an email list typically like a very common piece of advice from email marketers is in your emails like automation sequence when someone joins your email lists like the set of emails they get automatically right there after the first thing you should do is first of all get them to whitelist your emails so they come through the second of all let them know the title of your next email or open a loop that you know that they know in their mind okay the next email I'm going to be looking out for because it has this in it right so they're instantiating a behavior pattern and then maybe before that email closes they're really good they'll get you to click the link over to a social media page just to just to get you in the habit of a clicking a link in an email from them so right there they've said open my emails when they come in because something good is inside and click links in my emails you're already doing it and they probably give you something cool when you click that first link just to make it like a positive experience dopamine floods whatever neurons were used in that action and reinforces the pattern in your brain right so like that's a common thing is is instantiating behavior patterns but really to make it sound far less nefarious and complicated people do what you tell them to or ask them to right you ask someone to do it they're much more likely to do it than if you never asked so ask and there's so many studies on that yeah it's like but it's like it's like it's common sense it's like most people are most people want their their audience to do something that they're unwilling to ask them to do and it's like yo you're if you're unwilling to ask them why would they be willing to do it you know why do you think that is why do you think so many people are afraid to ask people are too cool for fucking school man they think they're too cool for school they think that like it's uncool to ask they think it's i mean a lot of people think it's uncool to market themselves a lot of people think that a lot of people have been weird preconceptions about what their friend is and they fail to look at the people they admire and ask themselves if their standard that they're holding themselves to is exemplified in the behavior of that person that they admire their karma because it probably isn't it probably is that that person they admire their come up they're doing a collab with you know they're doing a collab with converse tomorrow and they're going to drop it on their instagram story and they're going to ask you to buy it they're going to be far more forthcoming with their desires for their fan base and their promotional messages than the average artist who ain't doing shit because they don't have this weird hang up about like being cool you know yeah i hate to use this word because it gets to what you so much today but i definitely feel like it's toxic and to to an artist to have these these desires right but then you essentially philosophically are against doing the things that it takes to get to that that point right which is marketing and not and it's in fan bases as well i these like you said too cool for school type spaces of specific like some parts of music or culture aren't as against it or but there's some of them that are totally against it like i've seen an ad where well that was actually one of my artists so the artist the guy we had uh he he ran the ad a lot of people were like yo i found this dude an ad but there was one dude that found it do the ad and talked about he loved the song but he hated the fact that he was running ads right like that like what kind of minus that you wouldn't even know about this if i wasn't running an ad but you hated the fact that the guy the artist was running an ad because he was he was a very uh let's just say anti-establishment type artist brain you know i i just think that like because there's so many people who we look up to who have no problem like selling themselves you know and but when we come when we begin to think about ourselves as a brand and i know this because like when i was a kid it was like this i know the feeling of being like yeah no when i picture my come up in my wildest imagination at night it doesn't involve me having to do anything whatever you know it's like i'm the fucking fawns bro you ever watch happy days i slide in there i hit the jukebox and i don't have to put a quarter in it because it just starts playing my song automatically and a leather jacket everything just comes to me in waves i don't need to even ask but it's like bro that's not real life like Gary v is one of the more successful people that like a broad majority of people have no problem looking up to they don't say it's corny and he's out there doing all these things that these artists think are uncool and he's way cooler than them like most of these people who think this shit is uncool they haven't done anything cool with their career yet do some cool shit and then act too cool yeah i could definitely say i understand it to an extent just because of some of my younger years as you said i know exactly what it is and if the sad part is a lot of it is really kind of justifying some of your own discomforts and insecurities to a point as opposed to you know just doing the work but if you think logically enough you'll just realize yo this doesn't make sense there's no way it doesn't make sense i'll get to my goal anybody that you actually like feel they're cool and you'll see that this doesn't this rule doesn't hold yeah go look at their social uh you ever seen that you ever see mike epps first big special he says i don't know if you like mike epps as a community i definitely know i was just waiting to see what would you would quote you're going to he said he said that you talk about he was like that he was like the worst pimp in the world oh yeah the girls were lazy and he said they were like we want to go on vacation he was like well best make some money first and then we can do all of that that's how i feel about these people who were like i don't want to have to do this instagram story it's not cool you know like bro make some money first and then we can do all that cool shit yeah no that that is that's real man and especially using Gary v in an example because nobody sells themselves as much as Gary v these days bro look at will smith look at the rock look at like all these man look at kevin heart bro oh my god kevin heart has no problem asking you to go check this out on instagram or go buy this or go see his new movie none of these people have a problem with it and they're not cool but how do you like to be fair on the other side all right how do you can how do you get yourself seen well how do you communicate and really get them attached to your brand without feeling like you're you're begging me i don't know maybe that's what some people are trying to avoid i think that i'm trying to worry and empathize you know bad bad sales people feel like they're begging good sales people know that they're selling so like you know if you're a bad sales person like you know there's training for that like you can become better got you um that's how i feel about it like because i don't know like it's just crazy that um it's just crazy that it's just crazy that like these there are like there's parts of the culture that respect it there's parts of the culture that respect salesmanship well hustle you know what i mean and know how to do all that but um but yeah man i just feel like i just feel like a lot of people feel like maybe like insecure about asking people for like asking people to take the action that they actually wanted them to take you know i get it man i think like to me when it comes to sales one thing i always resort back to it i can't remember the first person i've heard say it but it's common in salesmanship where they just basically leave back to the fact that like if you believe in the product why would you not tell somebody about it yo that's what i actually had to just post it on my it's the network


Hi, it's Dean Karnassas, author and ultramarathoner. You know, they looked at me and they said, but you're not even a runner. You're drunk. And I said, I am, but I'm still going to do it. But it's going to involve about 5,000 miles. He was named one of the top 100 most influential people in the world by Thai magazine. He runs 300 miles non-stop. And the answer is run faster. My whole life is built around attending live events, you know? And those kind of went away. Are you getting younger? It looks like you get younger instead of older. I think because I haven't been traveling as much. You know, I don't have that jet lag and fatigue of, you know, multi-day flights and travel. Yes. And we're here to talk about your wonderful career, friends at home. I'm just going to tell you how I got to know of Dean.  But let's just give Dean's book a shout right from the start. This is Dean's latest book, A Runner's High. Absolutely thoroughly recommended and we'll put a link below. But here's the thing. There was I, I think I just started my writing career about 2008. Might have been 2010. And I got a Facebook message from my friend Jim. And he said, Chris, check out this guy. And up until that point, Dean, I had been in the Marines. So it was quite challenging stuff that you do in the British Marines. But the hardest thing I think that I ever did was run a marathon. And because I didn't let myself walk any of it, I managed to just get in under the four-hour barrier. And as I say, I thought it was like the hardest thing I've ever done. And I genuinely believed if you ran one step more than a marathon, you just dropped down dead.  And so I'm checking out this Facebook page that Jim sent me and it's your page, Dean. And there's this guy. He doesn't just run a marathon. He runs 300 miles nonstop. And I thought, I want to do that. OK, not 300, although I did manage 200. Probably not in the times that Dean would do it in. But I did around 200 miles in six days. And I ran the length of the country in 36 days, so 1,000 miles. But I remember, immediately, Dean, I grabbed a copy of your book. I read it, I loved it. And yeah, like I say, I thought, I want to do that. And off the back now, I'll probably run, you know, I run, I literally run every day because I love it so much. So thank you. Well, I mean, I appreciate the thanks. And I think people read that book and they do one of two things. They say, I'm never going to do anything like this.  So I think my book just kind of opened people's eyes to, you know, what's possible. And you certainly, you know, you drink the proverbial Kool-Aid, if you will. But it's good to have spent some footsteps alongside you. Yes. And one thing, if I remember rightly from your first book, it was a long time ago, I read it. But were you not in a bar celebrating your birthday with your mates? And then you just said, screw this. I don't want it. My life's not going the way I want. And you just went running.    Like the night's young. Let's have another round of tequila to celebrate. And I said, no, I'm going to run 30 miles to celebrate instead.  You're drunk. And I said, I am, but I'm still going to do it. And I walked out of the bar and I'll never forget. I didn't even own running gear, but I had on these comfortable silk underwear, like these silk boxer shorts. So I peeled off my pants and threw them down the alleyway and just started stumbling off into the night, heading south, knowing there was a town called Half Moon Bay that was 30 miles away. And that's where I set my sights upon Half Moon Bay. Was that the same night you ordered a pizza or was that a different? It's a different night. But food is always a major theme in the middle of the night, as any ultra runner knows. Yes. And that's a whole interesting thing. And I think all of us, as we're getting older, we're trying to refine our act, which is, I think it's good credit to our generation. Everyone seems to go more and more plant-based. And I remember what I took from Ultra Marathon Man. Again, folks, link below. So it was that just eat anything on an ultra. Just cram it down your face, get some calories in. If you can stomach it, then it's fine. And then it's more questioning as you get older. Actually, should I just be shoving anything in my body? Am I on the money, Dean, there? So much so. I go back and look at the book. And in fact, I think I put a food log at the back. And it's just repulsive. I just thought sheer calories. Just get in as many calories as you can. Kind of fuel the engine with junk. And that has changed dramatically. And maybe it's a function of age. Maybe it's a function of the sophistication of the sport. The sport has really grown up. When I first got into it back in the early 90s, I didn't know what I was doing.  I was surfing as much as I was running. I didn't take it seriously. And nowadays it's much more refined. So I think that we've all evolved. And to your point, I'm more interested now in longevity and showing up. And to me, that means optimizing everything that I do to be the best animal I can. And certainly putting that kind of junk food in my mouth is not going to help me. Have you struggled at all with diet or alcohol? I know in your book, you stopped drinking from a young age. Was that right? Yeah. I mean, after that drunken foray on my 30th birthday, I said, I saw the writing on the wall. I said, do you want to turn 50 and be bald and overweight and miserable? And miserable? Or do you want to choose a different path through life? And I chose that different path. And so I really, I cleaned up my diet tremendously.  So I pretty much just wrote a list of acceptable foods and unacceptable foods. And the acceptable foods were all the things that are kind of in vogue eating now, which is mainly plants and things that grow. And you can pick from a tree or dig from the earth or catch with your hands. And I just eliminated all junk food. I just said, there's no such thing as a cheat day in my life. It's just, it's black and white. You just do not eat these things you used to eat. Dean, what would you, my issue is I snack in the evening. So I think it's probably like a comfort habit thing to get rid of the stress of the day. It was alcohol for 30 years plus all the other stuff. So I've kind of refined it down. But what I'm often thinking, I mean, Scott Jurick, he's really into diet, isn't he? And I would imagine he could just knock up a snack and it's going to be very healthy. What do you do? Yeah, I, you know, I snack primarily on fruit. Most of my carbohydrates come from fruit. So I'm pretty picky about my fruit. You know, I buy organic. It's, yeah, it's more expensive, but it's what I'm putting in my body.  And my go-to is an apple or a pear or something like that. I don't, I don't really eat, you know, like, I mean, Scott is, he's very, he's more into, like I'm more of a kind of a raw diet person. So I just, I don't refine my food where, you know, he eats vegan, but it's, a lot of it is, is, you know, processing the food processor or kind of made in a certain way. You know, I don't drink smoothies anymore. I just would rather eat the raw fruit. So that's kind of my snacks. And, you know, the other thing is that, you know, I see that when I used to snack, it was usually, you know, when I was reading the paper or watching a program or something like that. So I tried to turn off the stimulus. And, you know, now I kind of decoupled the two. So I'm going to have a snack. I'm just going to sit there and eat the snack. And it's going to be independent of reading the paper or reading a book or whatever. Oh, wow. I'm going to try that.   It is tough. And I'll tell you what, you know, the kids are so quick to spot her pocketry, right? If you say, hey, don't eat in front of the television and then you do it. Your credibility goes right out the window. So, you know, the one thing we did when my kids were younger is, you know, we just had family dinner. It was kind of a tradition where we just said, no screens, you know, no phones, nothing. We're going to have fun. We're going to make a really good dinner and we're all going to sit together and eat it.  You know, that's why I've been really, one of the things I've been cross about with all this lockdown is it expecting people to work from home that, you know. So my girlfriend, she works with youngsters with drug issues. So it's quite serious stuff. And there's a lot of, as I'm sure everyone listening can imagine, there's a lot of nasty stuff that goes on in that area historically for these youngsters.  And we just ignored the school and we just, you know, we're both in professions where we just sent him to school still. But these parents that had to homeschool, I mean, I think you homeschool anyway, Dean, didn't you? We did for periods, yes.  So my mom was a retired school teacher. So she came along with us and she would road school, as they used to say, but yeah. Yeah, yeah.  She'll now take half days off and say, I'll just work from home now. So we haven't got our dining table, dining table back. It's a tough period of history to be living through, isn't it? And for all of us. And, you know, on the back end of this thing, there's going to be a lot of issues still to work through.  And yeah, I say bring their work home. But if you work from home, as you know, your work is kind of there 24 hours a day. And especially in a vocation like hers, where it's hard just to flip the switch off, right? I mean, some of these stories, I'm sure, are so personal that it's hard not to internalize those things.  I mean, people are just not used to being on top of each work as you break from your partner. And yes, I think we don't even know what's in store for us, do we? Well, I think, you know, on the flip side, more people have discovered the outdoors because of the pandemic. And so at least here where I live in California, you know, trails where I used to see one or two, you know, people a day when I was running on them. Now we're like filled with people. And I think that's a really healthy thing. I think that when you get outdoors, you know, you appreciate the environment more and you're more environmentally conscious as a result. I think that it's healthy. You know, I don't know if you've been tracking on the rise of the, quote unquote, the metaverse, but personally, I prefer the real verse.  They almost sound like real birds. I'm like, buddy, just just walk outside and listen to the real birds. You don't need to put on a headset and be in the metaverse. So I think spending too much time, you know, in this digital world is not so healthy. No, it's also, I mean, in California, when you're out running and someone runs the other way, do you say hello to each other? Most people do or at least not or acknowledge. That's had a real effect in the UK, I think. I think everyone's just, the whole way society's been, it's made everyone so self-conscious that people will run down with their head down and everyone on their way to work, they're just staring at the screen and you run by and it almost makes me quite crossing. This is our, you know, this is our children's lives that we're just destroying. Yes, sorry, Gona.  And there's certainly, you know, a lot of things culturally we could talk about that are not going right, you know, both in the UK and here in the US. But, you know, one thing that we've really got wrong here that rarely gets discussed is that we're, we're the most age-segregated country on earth. And to me, that's really unhealthy. I'm Greek and when I go back to Greece, you know, you see multi-generations of families living together or at least nearby.  It's ages, you know, it's the whole generation. And it just has a, I think that's good for everyone. It's good for the young people and for the old people. So that's one thing in America that is, to me, is really very unhealthy, is that we're so segregated when it comes to putting people together of different ages. There's a lot of talk about, you know, being more racially non-segregated, but as far as age, that still is a topic I, you don't hear a lot about. And I think that's going to become more and more a topic of conversation moving forward. Yeah. Have you had the Frappe coffee in Greece? I hate it. Oh, really?  It's like a really strong espresso. Yeah. Yeah. I drove to India once from Norway. I drove a bus to India and back. All right. We got to unpack that one a little bit, but go ahead. Yeah. Well, we were doing volunteer. Well, we were volunteers. I'd just been working in Africa with street children and this organization asked me if I would drive a bus of journalists to India and back. So we could write articles about people living in poverty, communities in poverty. And when we got to Greece, we all became addicted to these Frappe Frappe coffees.  But one night we parked at the Acropolis. And so we all grabbed our sleeping bags and we all went and slept on the, on the, there's like a bit of a rocky mountain sort of thing going on there, isn't there? We all slept out on the rocks one night and in the morning when we woke up, we were these little snakes all around us that had come out on the rocks to warm up. What year was that? I'm just curious. That was the millennium, might have been 2001. Yeah. You spent quite a bit of time there. Yeah, I do. I really love Greece and it's kind of like, I didn't discover Greece until a little bit later in life, even though I'm 100% Greek. Generationally, my grandfather came over to America in the early 1900s and they thought of Greece as a poor country. They wanted to get out of Greece. And every time I say, I want to go back to Greece, they say, why do you want to go there? It's dirty and everyone's poor. And so I had this kind of tainted view. And then when I went and experienced Greece myself, I thought, wow, it's a, it's a beautiful place. And it's, it's, it's not these things that they described at all. So once I, I, you know, started going to Greece, I just, now it's all I want to do. The running there is phenomenal. And you know, it's just, it's kind of undiscovered. It's like the, the best known secret in running, you know, Greece is the birthplace of long distance running, but you go around on these trails and you don't see anyone. Yes.  Yeah. It's, it's, it's juxtaposed because most Greeks are pretty mellow, but you put them behind the, the steering wheel. It's like a different, different personality comes out. And yeah, the first time I ran there in Athens, it was, you know, I was running on the sidewalk and I saw a red light ahead of me and I thought, oh, that's fine. You know, I'll just stop. And all the, the motorcyclists to get around the red light just drive up onto the sidewalk. And all of a sudden I see 15 motorcycles, you know, tearing my way. So I've gotten used to the Greek driving. Do you prefer running in the heat? I do. I mean, I've, I've run across Death Valley in the middle of summer, which is the hottest place on earth. And I've also run a marathon to the South Pole, which is the coldest place. And to me, I'll take the heat any day. Yeah. So I'm, I'm a bit the same. So that's bad water, right? Bad. Yeah. The bad water ultramarathon. See, we're in the UK. We hear all these names and we can only aspire to sort of being there one day. It's a, it's a, it's a place worth experiencing, even if you don't do the race, just because it's, it's so, it's so much, it's, it's so otherworldly. You know, you just, it's like being on earth, but not on earth. It's almost like you're on Mars. It's, it's the heat is just, it's hard to describe, you know, the way it just warps, warps your perception, warps time, just changes everything.  Dean, is it true that you've run on the white line so you don't melt your running shoes? It is absolutely true. I've had my running shoes melt at bad water and the white line stays cooler than the black tarmac. Yeah. You've won it, won it, haven't you? Well, I don't say I won. I say I survived the fastest. That's, that's, yeah, that's pretty humble of you. It's, it's, they don't call it the world's toughest footrest for nothing. You know, it has changed a bit. You know, when I've done it 10 times and it was always running through Death Valley in the middle of the heat of the day because it started in the morning. But the National Park Service where the race is held, they don't allow races when the temperature gets above 120 degrees. And it's almost always above 120 degrees at bad water. So now the race starts at night. So you're running through the kind of the toughest section at night. So it's kind of changed the dynamic just a bit. How long does it take you to finish? Is it 120 miles? 135. 135. Yeah, it was around 27 hours. That's insane. And for the Western States, what's your fastest time there? Because you've won that one as well, haven't you? No, I've never won that one. I've finished in the top 10, I think five or six times. And I've run that in just over 17 hours. Wow, that's incredible. That's incredible because the sort of holy grail for 100 miler, they say it's 24 hours, don't they? If you can get under that, you're really doing well. But to think... At the Western States, about 25% of the field finishes in sub-24 hours. Yeah, and you get a different buckle. You get a belt buckle prize. So you get a different one, a silver buckle. If you finish in under 24 hours and a bronze buckle, if you finish under 30 hours, which is the cutoff is 30 hours. Did you get into it this year? No, I gotta be honest. I've done it 13 times and it's so hard to get into the Western States nowadays. The odds of getting accepted to Western States are lower than getting into Harvard. It's something like 13,000 to one. And I kind of felt guilty that I was putting my name in the hat because I thought, you've experienced it so many times, let someone else have their turn at it. I'm going to go and support the race, like I have the last couple of years, and potentially pay someone, so help them get to the finish line. But I think when I turn 60, I'm going to do it again, just because it's kind of a milestone. But until then, I'm just going to kind of let others experience the magic of Western States. Hmm.  What with YouTube, there's quite a lot about it on the internet now. Yes. When you wrote about it in a runner's high, it really seemed like it was getting hard work for you. Has that become a thing, or was this a one off? The thing that's become is that when I have a bad race, it's bad. In younger years, when I was having a bad race, I just kind of put my head down and grunt through it and still do half well. As I said with the Western States, I went from hoping to break the age record to just hoping to finish. So things went bad, and it took a lot out of me. I had to dig really, really deep to reach the finish line. But in a way, I chose to write about the Western States in my most recent book because it wasn't a good race. I think a tough race makes a better story than a good race. So that's one of the reasons I chose that particular event to write about. Do you say you've significantly lost, I don't know what we're going to call this, strength or conditioning as you got older? I'm 52 now and I honestly feel fitter than I've ever been. But then again, I was never a competitive runner when I was young like you were. Well, I think the subtitle of my book kind of states it. Which is older, wiser, slower, stronger. Yes. Though I agree with you. I think I have better endurance. But what has gone out the window is my leg speed. I have to work twice as hard to keep up the same pace that used to come easy to me. So I've really noticed my speed is what's compromised as I've gotten older. But not so much my strength or my endurance. Do you think this sport has changed since you started out? Oh, very much so. Like I said, in the early 90s when I got into it, there weren't a lot of trainers around. There wasn't any information on the court of internet. You could do research. So you just kind of threw yourself into these things and kind of learned as an experiment of one. And now everything is so quantified.  They can't just run for the joy of running. And they've got to stay on their schedule on what their coaches or their trainers outlined. We're obviously tracking every microstep we take, every breath we take, every heartbeat. The rhythms between our heartbeats, so it's changed so much. And the level of competition has increased incredibly as well. There are decorated collegiate athletes and Olympic qualifiers that are running ultra marathons and they're crushing it. So it really has changed a lot. I think one of the most interesting dynamics is the new records that are being set, they're incremental gains on old records. So they're not just smashing old records. And I think it speaks a lot about the resilience and the toughness of racers of bygone days that for them to be able to run those times now that are being surpassed, but not remarkably surpassed. I think that speaks a lot to how runners have maybe softened up a bit over the years. Yes, there's one thing that's sort of, I wouldn't say it doesn't bug me, but when I wrote, I wrote my runner's book, there you go, we have something in common, state of mind. And I think I open it by saying if you want to find a book about calories and hill sprints and laps and this isn't the book, this is not the book for you. What was I going to say? I've completely forgotten. Oh, yeah. I try to get across to people that the elitism in sports like this doesn't, it puts so many people off from wanting to give it a go. You know, if you watch the UK media, you'd think that running a half marathon was like the hardest thing in the world. It's only for the privileged elite, you know, you've got to have the gym. And I'm like, come on, what are you saying this stuff? It's just to put an old pair of trainers on doesn't, you know, don't have to be good. I don't even carry one of these water bottles that everyone seems to not on, certainly not on a short, you know, short, like a half marathon distance or something. And I don't know, do you get that in America, this sort of elitism that people who run ultras want to be held in this kind of esteem? I don't get that vibe so much. I'm a columnist for a magazine called Ultra Running Magazine. And it's, you know, kind of a leading voice of the sport. And, you know, one thing I love about the magazine is it's still funky.  And they're smiling.  So the magazine has tried to keep ultra marathoning approachable. And that's one thing I really advocate is to get away from what you just described. I think that it can be off-putting and intimidating for people.  So, you know, one thing I also advocate for is longer cutoff times in these races. Any race I'm involved with, I have really liberal cutoff times because some of these races, these races, like the Western states for someone, you know, they're so intimidated by the idea, like I would never be able to run 30, you know, 100 miles in under 30 hours. I'm not going to enter because I'll never be able to finish in that long. So I say, you know, for these 100 mile races, let's have a 48 hour, let's have a two day cutoff. So people that think I can never do it can get into it and actually have a go at it. So that's one thing that I, you know, I promote and I hope you do the same.  One thing that I don't do anymore, I don't have any Strava or or any app on my phone anymore. I don't know how you feel about this, but I was, I think I was, when I was running 200 miles, I did, I gave up last Christmas, not this one just gone, but the one before to run 200 miles around a running track for Christmas. And I remember people who messaged me goes, Chris, what's your Strava? What's your Strava?  It's just running is a personal thing for me. It's not, it's not. And now I just think when you, when, when your mind is on that thing, it's not, you're not being as spiritual as you, you can be. And I just love to love running. I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, I always say to people, you know, running is worthwhile in itself. Just the act of running and, you know, viewing running to me as play, it's, you know, it's adult play. I like to go play on a trail. And yeah, I'm, you know, I'm in my fifties, but it's rejuvenating and it keeps me young. So, you know, once in a while, I'll quantify a workout and very, very infrequently I'll share it. And I get the same thing like, Oh, you know, what, tell me what's your Strava address and this and that. And I just say, you know, I just, I don't even, I don't have a public Strava. Like I just, I don't want to get into that rabbit hole because it takes away the joy of running just as you said. Yes. And do you listen to music, Dean, when you run? I don't. I have the time I listen to audio books. So sometimes when I do what are called LSD training, so long, slow distance, I'll listen to an audio book. Because, you know, when you're training for six or eight hours a day, sometimes you don't have that much time to read. And I love to read. So I think I have more than 500 books on my audio book playlist now. And I listened to maybe three or four books a month. Yeah, I like listening to running audio books when I'm running. Is that maybe I'm a glutton for punishment? No, I enjoy that as well. In fact, I mean, because you're UK based, I can say this, I was not too, not too happy with the narrator of my most recent book, A Runner's High, in the US. And I was going to do the narration myself, but it was right in the midst of COVID. So all the recording studios were shut down. And the guy who read my book is a professional narrator. And he had a recording studio at his house. So he read it. He just didn't get the connotations right. And we don't speak, you know, the same way. But the gentleman who read the UK version, I think did a really nice job. So A Runner's High is available on audiobook in the UK. And I really like the way he read it. Oh, that's nice to hear. Yeah. I've still got to do all my audio books. I just keep putting it off. I'm just going to do it on. I've got a few microphones, but seems to be what a really popular thing now. It's they're tough to record. I've recorded a couple of my books and it's like an ultramarathon. It just goes on forever. Yeah, but I do. I very much enjoy listening to like adventure stories when I'm running, you know, like Into Thin Air and The Worst Journey in the World, you know, in Shackleton. And they just seem to resonate really well when you're running. Yeah, I think we've got similar taste. Well, we've both been in Antarctica. I went on one of these expedition ships down there and scuba dived. Had I in hindsight, I would have asked them if they could set me up for a marathon like yourself. But I was too engrossed in the scuba diving at the time. So yeah, I've been to the exterior as well, like which you just just described. And it's very different than going to the South Pole. So the interior of Antarctica is a very different experience than the coastline. Yes, I bet. I mean, it's a fascinating continent. I never believed I would have had such a wonderful experience down there. I thought it was going to be barren and boring and a few penguins. And oh my God, how wrong was I? I agree with you. It's an amazing place. I'm so happy to have visited a couple of times. I look forward to going back as well. And Dean, probably get fed up with being asked this, but what's next for you? Well, I'm planning a big adventure that's been pushed back because of COVID. But I'll tell you, it involves two places on earth that are the most extreme. And it's the... I don't want to tell you what it is because I don't like saying what I'm going to do next until I've actually done it. I'd rather talk about what I just did than what I'm going to do. But it's going to involve about 5,000 miles of running and also paddling across a bit of ocean, about 800 miles of ocean, to complete this trek. And hopefully it was going to happen at the beginning of 2023. I wish you luck with that. It sounds... Yeah, it sounds hairy. Yeah, no, I think I'd love to have you crew for me because I think you just love everything about this. Yeah. Yeah, well, feel free to invite me. I don't know if they'll let me travel because I haven't gone along with any of this stuff. But we'll see. Yeah, that's... Yeah, I mean, traveling these days, we could spend a whole podcast about that. But I've had all this stuff more than I ever wanted to, but I did just because they don't let you board an airplane for an international flight unless you show them all the proofs of all the needle sticks you've got, all your jabs. And that was the main reason I did it just because I want to be able to travel. Yeah. But one final question for you, Dean. Do you... I was going to say, do you run every day? But what I really mean is, do you still sort of hop out of bed looking forward to going for a run? I'm still pretty self-motivated. Yeah, I am. I don't run every day. I probably run five or six days a week, but I never run the same route twice. And I'm blessed where I live because I have access to great open spaces right out my front door so I can run on a different trail every day. And I can run 300 or 400 miles on these trails, literally, all the way up to Seattle for my house in Northern California. So I still look forward to it. I look forward to it more now than I did pre-COVID because now it's kind of like I need it. I really need it. Yes. You mentioned one thing in your book, the post-Ultra come down. Has that been a big thing for you? I think, I mean, I've never been analyzed by a psychologist, but I think that I definitely suffer from some level of depression. And I think it's more... I question things so much. I'm an existentialist. I'm Greek. So I kind of sometimes question the meaning of existence. And if you ponder that question for too long, it's always going to leave you in a kind of a quandary psychologically. So I think that that's one of the reasons I run. I mean, my wife always says, why do you even think about these things? Like, don't think about it. You'll be happier. And I agree with her, but I just can't stop it. Yeah. It's not a bad thing to be a thinker. Probably better than being a non-thinker. Yeah. I don't know. My wife and I are very different. I think she's a dentist, so she's learned it. But I mean, I think her take of ignorance is bliss. There's something to be said about that. I mean, she doesn't watch the news.  And this is happening. She's like, why do you even watch that stuff? I think there's something to be said about it. Yeah. Yeah, I haven't watched the news for 20, 20 years now. And I can't say I can't say I miss it. So, Dean, listen, you're a busy man.   I'd encourage anybody watching, get into running. When I train for the London marathon, I think they ran a quarter of a mile around the block. That was all I could do. A quarter of a mile and a week later, you're running a mile. And then before you know it, you've clocked up some distances. And it's just an incredible sport. So, thank you for your book, Dean. That was really kind of you and wonderful read folks. As I say, I'll put a link for Dean's books below. So please go and grab one. And Dean, stay on the line so I can thank you properly, but massive thank you again. And I hope we can chat again at some point in the future. I think I hope we can share some footsteps together at some point in the future. Oh, yeah, that would be. I would enjoy that much more. Yeah. Yeah, that would be magnificent. Thank you. And to our friends at home, massive love to you all. Please look after yourselves. If you can like and subscribe. Hope you've enjoyed this as much as I have. Thank you.


Good morning guys. Happy Friday. Just putting some dry shampoo in the hair. Today I went to Cyclebar class. I will put the little TikTok I make like on the side of the video so you guys can see but I wanted to do like a come-to Cyclebar with me real TikTok because realist is like paying creators and it's really cool I'm not that big into Instagram because I feel like Instagram like it's just a lot harder than YouTube Especially with like engagement and like reach and everything so I try not to focus so much on it But like I just wanted to make the TikTok since I was there today was so hard getting up. Oh my gosh Really unmotivated and I was like really lazy in class today. Not gonna lie. Um, this is my work at home attire I will show you guys the full outfit in just a minute, but I start pretty soon and this camera battery is gonna die So I'm gonna cut off this clip. So this is the work at home outfit. Super comfy Slippers on it's a little cold, but it's okay Valerie's making pizza tonight, which will be fun I will vlog that but other than that. I'm just gonna be like sitting on my computer waiting to Take orders or just whatever Everyone needs so I will see you guys in the next clip whatever I film next Jerry happy vlog miss. Oh, hi. I know do a vlogmas this year. I'm attempting you are very busy girl What are you getting ready for Oh there they are You're close, okay. Okay. All right. Anyway, we are having her pizza. I have a pizza. I might give some updates Might not I'm sorry Are you making the pizza? I'm making pizza. Yeah, I've got everything all out here. I have our Normal oh and it's just talking a little louder than normal. Her hearing aid is out Had to get it fixed. I know so I have this And that and this Whoa cheese And about the only thing I don't have out here is the green pepper and Alex's cheese because she likes just the parmesan, right? So I'm getting ready to fix the pizza. There are two pizzas in this box Fun stuff. Can you hear over this TV? Yeah, probably okay. Okay guys my favorite part of Pete tonight is this part It's the dough You love to smell it. I know it's the best smelling dough ever. You ever have chef Boyardee's Pizza like the three people that you watching to do Oh, yeah, because no one knowing people really makes make pizza chef But it's very old brand But you know what Valerie not consider it's better than any it's better than any Florida pizza. I think it is. Yeah Not dinados and not messy. All right, but pretty darn close There's mine I show this every time, but it's fine I'll try to show you the mother's but who knows if I'll remember or not and here is the mother's okay. All right No, I'll find something you're trying to find something to watch the next day It's the next day and I'm just continuing on this video because there's not enough footage So we're going to cycle bar this morning. There's sherry not we know Jerry's not going just Alex. Yeah, so I'm doing two classes because I really like the instructor and she's teaching both So I'm like why not okay.  So I just got out of my second class I can't believe I did two classes. It's fine though We're good. I kind of just like set goals for myself like how far I want to like ride the miles and like the calories burned I really like looking at that on the little monitor But now I'm gonna head into fit life foods because it's right next door and they always get shipments on Saturdays At least the other store did so I'm assuming this one does hopefully I'll try to get some footage in there Look at all the food looks great Okay, so I got some footage in there, but this is the food I got I got just the three protein mix girl They were like so surprised that like I kind of knew like everything, but yeah, they're like really friendly really helpful So he even gave me this like ice pack because like I'm going to lunch with my friend He gave me this like really nice ice pack to keep everything warm They still have the sealed packages So I'm hoping that that will like help keep everything like fresh and stuff It was kind of like out of the blue, but I told my mom I would get some meals for the week and then On another side note, I got some Starbucks and obviously I got my egg bites because they're so freakin good. Also, I got two forks, too That's good to have I love eating these because they're like not too filling even though they kind of are filling But I'm going to like have a later lunch with my friends So I just decided to get like a little snack and I wanted to try a holiday drink So I'll try that on camera. I'll let you know what it is before I try it because I don't know right now.  So yeah Okay, so I'm gonna try this Starbucks drink. This is the it's a tall iced sugar cookie almond blonde I Didn't do anything to like customize it because like I don't know what I'm getting myself into so we're gonna try it I got a tall version because I never know if you don't like it, you know Anyway, it's kind of expensive to like spend the money on but I'm just trusting that it's gonna be good That my friend is very good if you don't drink a lot of coffee like me It still has a touch of bitter, but it is so good. There's like the sweet creamy vanilla like touch of Sweetness to it. I really really like this. I think I found a Really good drink that I really like. Sorry guys. I need some air conditioning in here It's getting kind of hot. I would definitely get the grande version of this next time because it's really good The other cold nitro brew whatever I got in the last video It was okay, but this is better and this is under the festive holiday beverages, so highly recommend So also before I end this because I'm gonna start another Vlog because again when I don't have a lot of stuff to film I have to film like multiple things in like two days So sorry this video is like not that long I know you guys really like long videos my ideal like if I could like choose what I put out and whatever I would try to make a video 15 minutes long Just because like that's what YouTube likes watch time everything right now. I just can't do that So I'm sorry if the video is like six to eight minutes long I'm trying not to do as many jump cuts either So it's like more natural and for that watch time But I just don't know and I'm doing the best I can with vlogmas, especially with my new schedule now Yeah, also guys I'm like been really really inactive on Instagram and the reason for that is because like I am just really discouraged on Instagram I mean not that my views here get a lot of traction But they like incur views, you know like over a certain amount of time But when an Instagram photo like the algorithm is just so darn weird that like I don't know I just am really like I love still uptaking pictures and I'm still going to like post and stuff But I'm just been really inactive because I really want to focus on YouTube and what I'm doing on here and trying to get content I am kind of inactive on there. So sorry about that. Anyway, this is really good highly recommend I hope you guys are enjoying a vlogmas as much as you can I love doing this like guys. I mean whether or not I mean I did YouTube when I got 60 views Okay, like and I don't know 15 views like I do this because I genuinely love it and it's so fun So and right now like I have a full-time job now like I'm not relying so much on YouTube income. It's still really nice. It's still really good hobby money So thank you guys just for being here like I do this because I love it So, yeah, I that's I don't know why I just went off on a tangent But if you guys enjoyed or enjoying the videos of me like day in the life and stuff Chilling out then give this video a thumbs up. Don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you guys in my next video. Bye


Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. I'm just gonna wait another couple of seconds or so just to allow some other people to join in on the webinar. So we'll get started in just a second. Okay, I'm going to go ahead and get started. Welcome to the intro to the intro and donor engagement webinar for this year's Richland Gives event. My name is Lisa. I'm the Community Engagement Manager here at Mighty Cause and we also have Mara here from the Richland County Foundation. So for those organizations that are new to Richland Gives or have participated before, you might be familiar with Mighty Cause. Mighty Cause has been around since 2006. We've helped raise over 600 million dollars with over 30,000 nonprofits helping them reach to their goals and their missions. We're one of the leading Giving Day technology platforms and we try our best to create a platform that is really efficient and user-friendly for organizations to utilize for their Giving Day challenges. So I'm going to pass this over to Mara for a second. Hello. I wanted to welcome everyone to another year of Richland Gives and thank you for registering. Just a reminder, if you're on this call and your organization has not registered yet, the deadline is October 31st and you can simply do that by going to RichlandGives.org. I did want to let you know that we made a few tweaks this year. The giving period will just be two weeks long and Lisa will go through that later in this presentation. But we felt that a shorter giving period would be beneficial to both the staff at the local nonprofits as well as to our donors. We are going to do a leaderboard watch party. However, due to COVID this year, we will do it on Facebook Live and also on the RichlandGives.org website. We know that COVID has devastated and decimated operating revenues for local nonprofits and we hope that this year's Richland Gives will be even more beneficial to you and it's going to take all of our energy and all of our enthusiasm to make this a great Richland Gives. So welcome and thank you for joining us today. Yes, thank you so much Mara. So we're going to be going over some technical aspects of the platform for new nonprofits. This is going to be a really good introduction into Mighty Cause and into the platform for returning organizations. This is going to be a refresher on key technical tools and features that you'll be able to utilize for your Richland Gives campaign. So as Mara noted, just a second ago, you first want to make sure that your organization is registered for Richland Gives. That should always be your first step. Registration does end at the end of October, October 31st. So you still have some time to complete the registration form. If you're approved, you'll receive an email notification notifying that you've been approved. You can also check your registration status in the overview section of your organization dashboard. As well, in addition to registering, you want to make sure that you're reviewing your administrators and approving or removing any administrators currently on your organization profile that need access to edit and manage your organization page. So something that you may notice that's a little bit different on the platform is the dashboard. We've actually updated it to make it more user friendly and easier for organizations to navigate throughout the platform. The dashboard on your organization page is broken down into four key areas, which is your overview, your fundraising reports, and settings. Your overview will provide you key metrics such as information on donations you're over year or how your campaigns are doing overall. It's there to provide you quick stats on your organization overall. The fundraising section of your dashboard will allow you access to your organization profile, review all of the campaigns created for your organization, as well access tools such as matching grants and your checkout flow. The reports area will break down all of your donation reporting information. So we'll have a report for your overall donations, your offline donations, your recurring donations, a donor retention report, and a disbursement report. And then lastly, your settings will break down all of the key settings that you'll need for your organization in regards to really the backend tools that you need, such as adding new administrators, updating or adding EFT, etc. And we'll break down a little bit more some of those tools and features in each of these sections in a second. So after you've registered your nonprofit, you want to make sure that you're working on customizing your organization profile. This is where you're going to send your donors when the Richland Gives begins. This is going to be your main link. So you want to make sure that you're customizing the look and feel of your profile page to meet your goal and mission this year.  There's obviously a lot of real-world events that have happened this year. So how has that impacted your nonprofit? Why are you participating in Richland Gives? And how can a donation this year really impact your organization and help you achieve your goals and your mission? On your organization profile, you also want to make sure that you are making sure that your organization profile matches your brand. So you want to add a logo and a background image on your organization profile. If you haven't uploaded a logo previously, you want to make sure that it is a square image, so a one-to-one aspect ratio. And your background image will be horizontal. And this will allow, again, your organization to really pop out on the page. If you are returning an nonprofit, this is a really great opportunity to update maybe your background image or review if you have any other updated logo or customized logo that someone on your team has created for this year's Richland Gives. Your theme color will allow you to also customize the color that's shown throughout your organization profile. And again, you want to make sure that you're matching this color to whatever you have on your website or to the brand colors you have for your nonprofit. And all of these tools are found, again, on your fundraising section under organization profile. And you'll see those editing options available to you there. As I mentioned just a second ago, telling a story is going to be really one of the most important aspects for your campaign. This is what donors are going to be seeing and reading when they head to your organization profile. If you've participated in this before, as I mentioned, you want to think about what new information you want to add to your nonprofit, but you also want to consider thinking outside of the box. What else can you add to your about section? Maybe that means adding images or videos. If you're doing a Facebook live, you actually have the ability of embedding it on your story. Maybe you are doing virtual happy hours that you want to share with your donors. Add a custom tab and share that additional information. And again, as I also mentioned, you want to make sure that you are updating donors on what's currently happening with your organization. How are you handling COVID-19? Where is your organization currently? And what are your plans for 2021? At the bottom of your organization profile, this is where you're also able to add additional images and connect to social media. So you have the ability to connect with your Facebook gallery and your Instagram gallery. So if you are very active on the social platforms and you will be updating images or adding images on the social platforms, that's a really great opportunity to connect it with your profile so that those images that you're already uploading on Facebook or on Instagram are also going to be added to your organization profile without having you add it. Within the fundraising section of your organization dashboard, you'll be able to review any campaigns that you or any supporters for your organization have created. So you'll be able to see under your campaigns all the fundraisers that any administrator has created. And under the peer-to-peer tab, you can see any supporter or non administrator has created. So you can really review any individual's progress and as well you can actually review their contact information and email those supporters through the platform. Something new that we've added to the campaign section is the fundraiser template. So for those of you that are planning on advertising peer-to-peer fundraising or that is one of the strategies that you're going to be focusing on for this year, you can actually add a fundraiser template to the primary fundraise button on your organization profile. So for those of you that are not familiar on your organization profile, there's two primary buttons on your page. There is a donate button and then right next to it there is a fundraise button. So this template allows you to add information onto a fundraiser if someone clicks that fundraise button and wants to build a fundraiser. So you're helping that individual build out their fundraising page. You're helping fill in key information such as maybe a goal amount, a description, an image, etc. This is just a really great helpful tool if you want to make the lives of your supporters a little bit easier and fill out some of that information already for them. One template is allowed per organization on the starter plan and again you can find this in the fundraising and campaigns area of your organization dashboard.  The metrics tool can be found by selecting the pencil icon next to the metrics shown right underneath the title of your organization. So as you see here, there's a little pencil icon and then you'll see edit goal or the staff's displayed. And so you can choose what you want included in those metrics if you want amount raised to be shown number of donors, if you want to include offline donations in those metrics that you're showing to donors. And most importantly, you want to make sure that you are setting the correct start time for those metrics. So you have the ability to set what date you want donations to start counting from. So you want to make sure that you're setting up for when donations begin for Richland Gives, which is November 16th at 7 a.m. If you have a fundraising goal, you can also set it here. And again, based off that start time, your thermometer will show your percentage to completion based off that start time that you've added. So if you are a returning nonprofit, this is definitely an important step that you want to do and making sure that your metrics are updated for this year and don't have last year's dates for Richland Gives. As you start receiving donations for your organization, as I mentioned when we spoke about the dashboard, there is a report section. So you will receive all of your donor data in real time. If you are set up as an administrator for your nonprofit, you will receive an email notification letting you know that a donation has been made. On the donation report, you'll be able to see really quickly all of your donor information. If you need additional donor information, maybe you want to see what time the donor donated, or maybe you're looking, want to see their mailing address if you're collecting that. You want to make sure that you download the report and there will be a download report at the top of the report. There's a download button at the very top. And when you download the Excel file, that's where you'll be able to see more comprehensive information. The report on the platform will provide you just quick and basic information on all of your donors. Additionally, if you want to review a disbursement breakdown, so you want to receive, want to review all of your disbursement details, you can do so through the disbursement report on your dashboard. You'll see a disbursement history when you go to your disbursement report. But if you select on the disbursement that you want to review further, you'll see a comprehensive breakdown there that will break down the total that you've received. If your organization is planning on or you will receive donations that were not made on the platform, so they were made off of the platform, maybe a donor gave you a check, maybe they donated on your regular donate button on your website. If you would still like to include those on your page metrics, you can by using the offline donation tool that is also found on your donation report. You simply select add offline donation and you can enter that offline donation so that it's being included in your page metrics. However, please note that only online donations will count towards leaderboards and prizes. So although you can include those for your own internal reporting, you want to display that on your page metrics, that's fine. You will not see those donations included on the leaderboards. So that's just one thing to note when you are entering offline donations, you may see a discrepancy on your fundraising page metrics and your leaderboards because they will not be included on there. A really useful tool that we also have available in our report section is our donor retention report. This is going to be a really helpful tool for any returning non-profit and it's going to be a helpful tool for new non-profits a part of Richland Gives. So your donor retention report will allow you to keep track of donors who donated last year, but have not yet donated this year. So when you're thinking about your email marketing strategy or who you're going to target this year, who would be the best people that you think would make a donation to your Richland Gives campaign, this would be the first group of people that I would target. The people that have donated previously to your non-profit are the people that are most likely going to donate again to your non-profit because they're already familiar with your organization, they've gone through that pain point of making a donation before, so they're more likely to give again. So if you head to your donor retention report under the report section on your dashboard, you can grab a list of all the donors that you donated last year Richland Gives and you can look up who you have not retained yet and you can actually download this list of people and then right there in five seconds you have a list of people that you can immediately contact and reach out to. So I would highly recommend to check out the donor retention report. This could be really useful and helpful for your email marketing strategy or general strategy as to who to contact this year for Richland Gives. The checkout flow section of your dashboard will allow you to also customize the checkout form that donors see when they decide to click donate and make a donation for your organization. The checkout steps tab within the checkout flow will allow you to add custom suggested donation levels, add descriptions, and as well choose what data information that you want to collect during the checkout process, such as address information or phone numbers. If you use the platform previously, you also want to make sure that you're coming back here and checking the donation levels and descriptions that you've set here. If you have new goals that you want to reach for your organization, you may want to come back here and just revisit what you've added and see if there's any updates that you need to make in regards to your donation levels and descriptions. The post checkout tab within the checkout flow will provide you all the information in regards to what happens when the donation is processed. So once a donation is processed on the platform, a thank you page pops up for the donor and you have the ability to actually add text and images for this thank you page. This is a really great opportunity to share with your donors maybe another call to action and send them to maybe a particular place you want them to see more information about your organization. Perhaps you're asking them to subscribe to a newsletter or check out a certain blog on your website. You can include all that information within your thank you page. As well below the thank you page editing section, you also have the ability to customize the thank you message that appears on the receipt that we email out to donors. So you can add your own customized thank you language again provide any call to actions etc that you want to send to donors that will be included on that receipt. Both of these sections you can preview so you can see what that will look like for donors what the thank you page will look like and what the receipt will look like. So one of the fundraising strategies that's very common for giving day challenges is matching grants and we have a tool available for nonprofits to be able to display and report the matching grants that they've received. Within the matching grants tool you can set different types of matches based off the type of match that you want to create such as a dollar for a dollar match or a cumulative threshold match. One thing to note is that your match does not have to be paid through the platform. If your grantor prefers to pay via check that's perfectly fine again our tool is a display and reporting tool. However please note that if your grantor is planning on paying their match offline again offline donations do not count towards the challenge so that match value will not be counted towards leader boards or prizes. So if you do want it to count towards leader boards and prizes you want to make sure that you coordinate with your grantor and have them make their donation online through the platform. If the grantor is planning on not having making their donation online you can still include that information on your page matrix though and within the matching grants tool you can also add and create other conditions. You can add a logo if you're working with a local business or a company there's a lot of different options available in regards to matching grants. If you do have a matching grant available on the platform it will actually display at the bottom of your organization profile and it will be advertised to donors through the donate button as you see in the bottom of this slide. So this last section of the dashboard your settings. As you see here in the image we've made it much more easier to navigate this area by blocking off the key segments of your settings. So within admins that's where you're going to be able to add or remove administrators. Within your general settings this is where you can customize your URL. You can customize your social share information. You can also hide or unhide your organization profile. Within organization info you can update your display contact information. So the address you have the DBA of your nonprofit your email address website and disbursement settings is where you can set up or update EFT information. If you need to update your legal mailing address or your legal legal name you can do so in the organization info as well. Okay now that we've gone through all of the technical aspects of the platform so where everything is what tools you should be looking for we're going to talk a little bit about donor engagement on the platform. So some things to consider for this year's Richland Give. So you want to make sure that you're practicing social distancing and thinking again outside of the box in regard to what your organization can do. This is a really great opportunity to use for example live streaming like Facebook live to safely connect with your supporters and engage with your donors. If you haven't really utilized digital communications before this is a really great opportunity to do so now and you want to make sure that you ramp up your digital communications utilize that donor retention report that I noted previously and have a list of people that you want to target. Discuss how COVID-19 has affected your nonprofit and why supporting your nonprofit is especially important during these challenging times. So again you want to think about what is the impact a donation can make for your organization right now and how that can help your nonprofit and help your nonprofit in 2021. So you want to make sure that you're delivering a message of hope and community and that you're really sharing with donors the impact that their donation can make for your nonprofit. So for those nonprofits that are a little hesitant about live streaming what can I do what am I going to say there are a lot of really great and interesting things that nonprofits can say and do when it comes to live streaming connecting with their supporters and their donors. This is a really great opportunity for interviews maybe donors or your supporters don't know who works at your nonprofit and so maybe this is a great opportunity to share a little bit about your employees your staff your volunteers or maybe interview someone on your board that also has a really great makes an impact for your nonprofit. This is also a really great opportunity to do questions and answers or something that's very popular on reddit in particular called ask me anything where donors can or supporters can offer questions and you guys can answer about your nonprofit about your particular organization you know your nonprofit's industry etc. You can also provide impact stories where you're sharing about the impact of your organization and this is a great opportunity to tie with some of the marketing and communication you're doing around your organization and maybe there's a particular story that you're highlighting that maybe it's a really great opportunity to share a little bit more about that story or as I mentioned you want to highlight some people in your nonprofit that really do a lot and don't really get noticed often. This could be a really great opportunity to shout those people out thank them for all the help they do and again share some information to your supporters about those individuals. So there's a lot of great ideas that you can think about when it comes to connecting with your donors and your supporters. If you are still looking for some strategic help or any you know templates for social media for emails please check out the nonprofit toolkit resources we have a lot of great resources available there that will help guide you along you know the path to when Richling gives begins and also when it does begin. I mentioned in the beginning of this webinar that early donations begins on November 16th at 7 a.m so that's when donors can start donating to your organization and that's definitely something that you want to start advertising to donors that their donations can start November 16th and they can start helping your nonprofit then. All donations are going to be processed immediately so again any donations that are made before November 16th they're not going to count towards Richling gives this year as when you're thinking of some of the social media and email marketing strategies we've talked about live streaming we talked about who to target again that donor retention report but if you are an organization that has been able to secure a matching grant that's a really great topic to cover in your communication promote your matching grant and make sure that you're telling donors when you have this matching grant recognizing maybe the donor that is providing the matching grant and the reason why organizations are so drawn to matching grants is because they create urgency and they share with donors the impact that their donation can make so definitely promote any tools in your arsenal that you have such as a matching grant those are really great things to share and promote in your marketing there are other hosts of different ways that people can support your organization outside of providing a matching grant so think about ways that you can engage supporters and receive you know have ambassadors for your organization and having ambassadors or having people support your organization can mean a lot of different things that could be someone who's helping you with your social media if you're not so technologically savvy or savvy on social media maybe that's someone that is going to help you with your email marketing or create a peer-to-peer fundraiser those are all really great opportunities for people to help out your organization for reach rich land gives as I just mentioned peer-to-peer fundraising is a very common strategy for giving day challenges and giving days and peer-to-peer fundraising is really great because it provides your supporters or your ambassadors the ability to tell their story about your organization why do they want to fundraise for your nonprofit why is it important for them to help your organization those are all helpful tools those are all helpful reasons in regards to peer-to-peer fundraising and as well with peer-to-peer fundraising why it's so beneficial for nonprofits is that you're reaching and acquiring new donors that you haven't been able to reach before so for example if maybe a board member of yours or you know volunteer of yours sets up a peer-to-peer fundraiser and fundraises on behalf of your organization they're reaching out to their friends and family and you're being able to reach out to new donors that maybe have not heard of your nonprofit before or maybe have never made a donation to your nonprofit before so you're really spreading your reach and as well when you have these sort of ambassadors or you are able to have peer-to-peer fundraising you're also helping yourself out when it comes to strategy for leaderboards and winning any challenges or prizes I talked a little bit already well I talked a good amount about the donor retention report and that's how a really great tool to utilize on regards to who to reach out to when you're thinking about who to reach out to you definitely want to be methodical and think out who to contact and what you want to contact them with so you have a list of your donor retention report but maybe you also want to see how much that donor donated and maybe you want to craft a specific message for donors that donated another amount and you want to use strong language like make an impact again this year or please give again language that notifies these donors that they've made a donation before and they can continue to support your organization this year lastly you want to make sure that you're staying engaged overall with Rich Lang Give so you want to make sure that you are setting yourself up throughout Rich Lang Give to have social media posts send out emails so it's going to get a little bit crazy when it all starts so you want to make sure that you plan and schedule this all in advance and make sure that when you are sending out your emails and communications that you're providing them with a clear link to where they can donate or where they can help support your organization if you are running into any questions or need any help feel free to reach out to our support team that's what we are here for support at mightycost.com we also have a support form that will break down any section of our dashboard it'll really answer a lot of common questions that we receive so also definitely recommend utilizing our support form and yes contact us if you have any questions about anything we've discussed today. All right I'm going to hold a couple of minutes for questions that anyone has about what we've gone through you can feel free to utilize the question section of the go to webinar control panel and we'll answer those for you. Lisa I have a topic that you might be able to discuss some organizations have fundraising pages set up on their behalf how can they figure out what fundraisers have been set up for them under Rich Lang Gives and how can they reset the metrics on a fundraising page. Yeah so resetting the metrics on a fundraising page is really easy you to do so you if you you have to be the organizer of the fundraising page in order to reset those metrics so whoever is the organizer of the page would need to do so so whoever created the page um if they're if this person is no longer active or you need it to be transferred to you please contact our support team and we can help transfer it to the correct user account but once you're set up as the creator the organizer on the left-hand side dashboard of your fundraiser you'll see settings and within settings there is a tool called metrics calculation where you can update that start date for when donation should be counted so that's where you can update metrics on a fundraising page. I hope that answered your question Maura. Yes it did there are a couple outdated fundraising pages on the Rich Lang Gives website platform so um if you know who created those if you can contact them and ask them to update it so it is current. Yes and any organization administrator within the campaign section of your dashboard where I think I went through this in the webinar you can see all the fundraisers that have been created for your nonprofits so if you are an administrator check out the dashboard and the campaign section if there are outdated fundraisers there is a tool that you can hide all of those so there's like a little eyeball you select the eyeball tool that hides the fundraisers so you can you know make sure that those fundraisers are not going to be seen when people search your organization on the platform. Okay so there's a question about uh the cutoff time so how long will Rich Lang Gives keep taking donations is there a cutoff time and date yes so donations will start on November 16th at 7 a.m. and then it will go until December 1st at 6 p.m. At least sorry 7 p.m. Yes go ahead yeah yeah sorry about that 7 p.m. So you have until December 1st at 7 p.m. to receive donations on the platform okay are there any other questions we can help answer for anyone if not that's perfectly fine you can always ask us support at mydcause.com okay I think there are no further questions so far so again please reach out to us if you have any questions we do have a second webinar on Tuesday November 10th at 2 30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time it's going it's called Let's Talk Strategy and if you are looking for more tips or information in regards to strategy what types of strategy you should utilize in order to win prizes please definitely register for the webinar and you can register on Rich Lang Gives and you can go to the resource section and that's where you'll be able to register for the second webinar we'll also post this webinar immediately right when it's finished so if you need a copy of the slide deck or you want to rewatch it you'll have that available to you as well okay well so since we don't have any questions here I'm going to end it right here thank you everyone for participating and joining and I hope you this was a little bit helpful for everyone all right thank you so much and have a great day bye