Quite frequently questions are put to the CTTE Admin or membership asking why there are no markets in a particular area or why the focus of activity is in certain areas and not others.

Most of us are so familiar with hierarchical organisations that we assume the CTTE must also operate according to this organisational model. As such, there is a perception that an appeal to ‘authority’ will fix any problems.

The main point to be made here is that the Talent Exchange is not an organisation or club in the conventional sense. It is essentially a community of people who have adopted alternative tools to facilitate exchange – alternative to money, that is. The CTTE does have an administrator, but the Administrator’s role is purely functional: taking on new users, sorting out problems, correcting errors, responding to information requests and the like. The Administrator is not the ‘boss’ deciding what happens in the Exchange and issuing edicts on how we should all operate and behave. There are no organisational structures deciding where markets will be held or how the Exchange should focus its energies.

The Exchange belongs to all of us so we are all ‘bosses’; we are all equal. If there is no market in your area then please organise one. Don’t appeal to the Admin to organise it; just put an advertisement in the Wants List or Announcements inviting others in your area to assist you in organising it. Find a venue and advertise your event. All the tools are available on the site and this Newsletter goes out once a week. The Admin can assist if Talents are required to cover costs.

Markets are not the only kind of events that can be organised. Use your imagination to come up with a unique activity that will help promote the Exchange and form a community network in your area. Here are some ideas: supper club, book club, meet and greet, yoga in the park, group hike, pub night, mini-market in your home, garage sale, babysitting group, veggie-gardening team, drumming circle, seed sharing, guerilla gardening etc, etc. The options are endless.

No permission is required to organise an event. Just do it and advertise it on the Exchange or Facebook group!