Welcome to Young Metro Poly. We hope that you become a regular reader. Here's some steps that you can take to stay connected with my site:

1 - Subscribe to our RSS feed so that you can be informed when I post a new article.
2 - Connect with me through Facebook and Twitter
3 - Join the YMP Fan Community! In addition to meeting other fans, you can also discuss my posts.

Thanks for visiting!

The Poly Living Conference & Poly Leadership Network summit were awesome, and I was amazed at how well everything went. Last weekend exceeded my expectations and hopes, and I’m inspired by the camaraderie that formed among fellow polyfolk and fellow leaders/”movers & shakers“.

My euphamism for leadership (movers & shakers) went viral this weekend. That was pretty freaking cool! A more detailed version of what happened (and my thank-you to the community at large) are posted on Modern Poly.

I am also starting a new project (I can hear my hubby and bf groan at the term “new project”…) – I want to build a resource site to help poly “movers and shakers” both in their local community, as well as on a larger scale.  In my teleclass I talked about people “moving to their groove” – finding what they’re good at, and building upon those strengths.  The idea is to provide a directory of different mad skillz that people have, and how to further develop them.  I am still hashing out the details – my initial idea is to have articles on different topics within leadership, with each article being a blend of “corporate-world” knowledge and personal experiences from those that are making things happen.  This is going to most likely be a group effort.

That’s all for now. I need to get back to work.

P.S.: I’m now the Chief Technical Officer of Modern Poly. That’s a fancy term for official web-geek :p

P.P.S.: There’s a semi-official rumor that there may be a polyamory conference (and PLN summit) in Seattle some time in October, and I may become involved in that. More details as this develops!

As the general public becomes more aware about the existence of polyamory, we in The Polyamory Movement are in desperate need of role models and public figures. While there may be people with the will to step forward and out themselves through various media channels (interviews on radio or television, internet sites, etc.), they may or may not have the skills necessary to draw and influence a larger audience.

In the upcoming series, I will share various ways to build a public poly presence-

• First, we’ll look at what type of “poly presence” you want to build.
• Since Poly Living is coming up in 2 1/2 weeks, we’ll continue with how to network at a convention.
• Next I’ll talk about building a web presence through building a blog and tapping into larger social media tools and services.
• Lastly, I’ll show how you can increase the number of fans that read – and return to – your site through permission-based contacts (newsletters)

Series Disclaimer: This series is the result of conversations that I’ve had with fellow poly leaders, mixed with my own thoughts, experiences, and observations. While it seems that a lot of us have similar experiences and thoughts, these writings do not represent the beliefs of poly leaders as a whole.  These writings are not meant to target specific individuals or organizations, but instead show how “the system” is defunct and needs a lot of TLC and fixing.

Sanja Gjenero @ SXC.hu

From what I’ve seen on a local level and learned through discussions with my peers, people that identify as polyamorous fall into one of two categories:

• Those that are motivated to actively contribute to “poly”, whether it’s on a local or national level
• Those that aren’t

Once we accept this, everything else fits into place.

Series Disclaimer: This series is the result of conversations that I’ve had with fellow poly leaders, mixed with my own thoughts, experiences, and observations. While it seems that a lot of us have similar experiences and thoughts, these writings do not represent the beliefs of poly leaders as a whole.  These writings are not meant to target specific individuals or organizations, but instead show how “the system” is defunct and needs a lot of TLC and fixing.

In my most recent posts, I applied the business rule of 80/20 to the polyamory community, both in what percentage of people within an organization are actively involved in events, as well as what percentage of that sub-group (20% of the 20%) do the majority of the volunteer work. I also provided my own theories as to why this subset of a subset – those that end up with the label of “leader” – feels compelled to push themselves to the point of burnout to provide for the larger group.

One of the reasons why the core group of volunteers, the leaders of the polyamory organization, push themselves on how much they contribute is a sense of obligation towards providing for their community.

Today I will challenge the belief that an organization of 100+ members on a bulletin board or a large meetup group  qualifies as a community.

Series Disclaimer: This series is the result of conversations that I’ve had with fellow poly leaders, mixed with my own thoughts, experiences, and observations. While it seems that a lot of us have similar experiences and thoughts, these writings do not represent the beliefs of poly leaders as a whole.  These writings are not meant to target specific individuals or organizations, but instead show how “the system” is defunct and needs a lot of TLC and fixing.

As I previously mentioned, we can apply the 80/20 rule to polyamory groups and organizing.  Of the people that identify with the group, only a minority within that group are “active” – meaning they regularly use the discussion forum or attend events.  Of that subset, a small percentage of the active members are responsible for the majority of the time and physical resources needed to keep the group functioning. Not surprisingly, these people are also those that take on the label of “leader”, or have it thrusted upon them by the group at large.

Why the heck do we – the few, the labored, the burnt out – take so much upon ourselves, and how can we stop this viscous cycle from continuing?  I will offer insight on this by providing four mantras that poly leader-types should repeat and apply to their lives.