5 top topics: small trends and opportunities hidden in challenges many rural communities face. Rather than obvious trends you've heard over and over, these are small town topics that get overlooked. If you're feeling a little uninspired, stale or burned out by the same old things, take a look at these top topics for rural places and small towns.

Make your town more open to new ideas24 minute video to watch on your schedule

Take small steps to pull your town together. You build a stronger community through experiences that bring people together from across different groups to each play a meaningful role. 29 minute video to watch on your schedule

Put the Idea Friendly Method to work: identify Old Way behaviors and shift to more Idea Friendly methods. Start building community around your ideas.

Serving as an official or on a board in a small town can be frustrating with all the rules and restrictions, not to mention the limited resources. The Idea Friendly Method gives you practical steps you can put into action right away to approach these problems in a new way, one that makes it possible for your town to prosper.

Young people like you CAN make a difference. It starts with seeing the change you want to create, then using the Idea Friendly Method to Gather Your Crowd, Build Connections and Take Small Steps. We show you examples of photos from other towns, talk about ideas kids like you came up with, and then we’ll share ways to make those ideas happen. Perfect for kids from middle school to college and anyone who helps them.

Real kids, real businesses, real rural - Build a culture of entrepreneurship in your community by helping kids start real businesses today.

Get beyond the same ten people. Kill your committees! The secret to finding volunteers in small towns today is to let go of old ways that no longer serve us. You’ll discover things you don’t have to do anymore, and new Idea Friendly ways that will attract more new volunteers.

You know the old way of planning by heart, but those same-old plans involving the same ten people with the same old goals... Time for an Idea Friendly approach! Learn 5 alternatives that will reinvigorate your community engagement and overcome the resistance to change. 24 minute video to watch on your schedule

Take small steps to pull your town together. You build a stronger community through experiences that bring people together from across different groups to each play a meaningful role. 29 minute video to watch on your schedule

Organizations like Chambers and Main Streets depend on local businesses for projects and events. But how do you get them to even read your emails let alone be involved and volunteer? This video gives you five principles and 8 practical steps to get past the apathy and get businesses on board.

Serving as an official or on a board in a small town can be frustrating with all the rules and restrictions, not to mention the limited resources. The Idea Friendly Method gives you practical steps you can put into action right away to approach these problems in a new way, one that makes it possible for your town to prosper.

Addressing hunger, growing prosperity. Part of recovering from any disaster or economic blow to your community is making sure people have enough to eat. Grow more food, harvest more of what is available and share equipment to get more food to the people who need it most.

All towns have too many empty spaces downtown right now. How do we make downtown look full or busy? 1. Fill as many as you can with pop-ups. 2. Decorate the windows of the rest really cheaply.

Disasters of all kinds can strain your community’s social ties, and that can make it harder to recover. This video shares real world examples from small towns that moved forward from tornado, flood, hurricane, drought, economic disaster or pandemic. You’ll learn ways to shift mindsets, look forward and rebuild community ties.

You'll learn how being Idea Friendly makes your local economy more resilient How you can support lots of people participating in business, not just a fortunate few How you can grow an interconnected ecosystem, better able to resist shocks How you can shift to supporting lots of small tests, rather than making a few big bets

You'll learn how to cut time and money off the process of getting into business How tiny businesses help manage the risk of failure How temporary businesses provide reliable market research How putting businesses together increases entrepreneurs' skills, happiness and success

Overcoming customer reluctance and helping merchants make the transition. This video is great for individual businesses, groups and organizations