To launch the GES ShortTalk series, Jake Nickell of  Threadless, and Melissa Elliott of Standby Task Force advised GES delegates and staffers how to harness group energy to create social change.

Threadless is “a community of people making cool stuff together.”  Originally started to respond to international disasters by creating designs, selling T-shirts, and donating that money to charity, they have now expanded to “give the creative minds of the world more opportunities to make and sell great art” while helping needy organizations around the world.  They are using their skills to do good, and because of this, they enable thousands of artists to use their skills to do good as well.

Standby Task Force works in the sphere of international disasters, creating a digital platform for outsourcing and resource allocation.  Through social media communication, Melissa Elliott helped to build a trusted network both on the ground in Haiti and around the world where immediate coordination led to speedy resources in needy communities.  She now volunteers on the Standby Task Force, where just yesterday she had 317 new Skype messages asking for resources as a result of earthquakes on the West Coast.

Nickell advised the crowd to “use your hobbies to do good. You never know what it will turn into. You never know what will happen.”

Elliott also emphasized the power of a single individual. “Every individual can make a difference; they just have to stand up and start.”

Be confident, and do something to start change in the world around you.

Check out photos from our first short talk, Crowdsourced: Group Efforts in Social Change.

Watch a video of the first short talk: