Calm down. Seriously. Before you create another twitter account, just calm down.

“But Dayton is awesome and I want the world to know!!!!!!!!!!”

Yes, indeed it is, and other people feel that way, too.

“But I have the best idea ever, EVER for a totally unique to Dayton hashtag that is about to change the landscape and economic development of our entire region!!!!”.

Nah. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.

“But I am a super special with a unique perspective on our area that no one has ever thought of before. Have you tried talking positively about Dayton?? Gamechanger”.

Take a seat. Grab a beverage. Then take notes.

“Dude, I really like this area and like to take pictures and / or string words together so maybe I should talk about Dayton”.

Come on in, the water’s fine. Snap, talk, and write until your heart is content. But for the love of all things holy, talk to some people before you try to reinvent the wheel.

“I need to boost my resume and look like I’m making a difference”. It’s cool, there’s room for you and your self-promotion. Just jump on in beside the people already doing the work for the good of the big picture – not just a 6 month project. There are ideas that need a face, need someone with the rockstar mentality, and need someone tenacious enough to be out there waving the flag of (insert cause here). Ask around. There is a 97.9% chance someone is waiting for a “you” for a project that may already be under way.

Well, now what?

I promise, I am not trying to rain on your parade. Or parades. Because there seem to be 746 parades marching to their own band right now. Let’s get the drum majors at least on the same beat. At the very least some semblance of a similar tempo. Keep reading to see where you might fit in here.

“I want to promote events in Dayton / get more exposure for the events I care about / the ones at my business / the ones at non-profits I like / fundraisers I want to organize / parties I want to throw.”

Dang it, we love you. Help spread the word, you are awesome. First stop, enter your event on the mostmetro.com event calendar. It’s free. It’s easy. The entire website was created for exactly this purpose. There is so much happening in the Miami Valley. SO.MUCH. This was created as one stop shopping for all events. All sorts of organizations around the area use it as their official calendar. It is referenced by the organizers of the largest events in the area to try to plan around each other. Other websites pull content from the calendar for their stories sometimes, or even to update their own calendars. It’s alllll good. Most Metro knows it, other websites know it, it’s cool and what it was built for. Not being self promoting here, I realize you’re reading this ON Most Metro. Sure, there are gobs of other great things on the site, but the calendar is what it’s all about. It was built for you, and you, and you and even that guy over there to use for this purpose. It was built because as soon as Wilbur & Orville landed their plane, this community realized a need for a big ol’ magic calendar such as this. Ok, not *that* long ago. But about 8 or 9 years ago DMM answered the call of community members and UpDayton attendees and this baby was born. So use the calendar.

“I am the voice of a generation. I must use my powers for good.”

Being the voice of a generation is a pretty kickass responsibility. Building & maintaining a website takes the one thing many of us are lacking – time. Consistently putting out fresh content ain’t for the faint of heart. There are several outlets that will be happy to publish your content. It’s a win win. You get to run your big ideas up the flagpole and see if you have what it takes for your movement. You also get the benefit of not carrying that weight by yourself. Obviously, Most Metro is one of them, I’m saying that because here we are. But if you don’t think this is a good fit for you, shoot us an email, we’re happy to point you in the right direction. Yeah, seriously. Another site talking Dayton isn’t competition, just different, and we’re happy to connect you to the best megaphone for your awesome ideas.

“Someone else has a similar idea to my awesome idea, but they are a big jerkface and I don’t want to work with them”.

Been there, done that. The beauty of Dayton is there are a lot of enthusiastic people trying hard to make a difference. These people come in all shapes, sizes, colors, styles, ages, genders, affiliations, cliques, you name it, we’ve got it. The best part? They are all probably more connected than you think and definitely more than willing to help get you connected. Just ask. If you don’t know who to ask, holla in the inbox. If you don’t want to work with so and so, you don’t have to. It’s 7 degrees of Kevin Bacon around here. We’ll get you connected.

“I have created this amazing business / attraction / activity and people should flock here to see it in person”.

Start with the CVB. What the heck is a CVB? Dayton Convention and Visitors Bureau. They reach out to people all around the country to attract people here to our city. You know how you want to tell your friends about Dayton? They do that…but everywhere. Do you know what visitors bring when they come to Dayton? Money that stays in Dayton.

So why is this bloggy article happening? For a hot minute Dayton was in that angsty, emo, “I don’t like myself” mode. We’re coming out of that now and it is in large part to an endless well of good feelings, some hope and the willingness to get out there. We are coming to an interesting point in our resurgence. We want to make it easy for people who aren’t already in the know to find the good stuff happening in the 937. When there is a different hashtag for every little thing, it makes it hard for people to get to the nitty gritty of what we have to offer. Do you know how many people search for #DaytonGoingUpOnATuesday or #DaytonCanadianGeeseHuntersClub or #937islikeheaven, etc. The person who made it and 3 of their friends. Let’s work on simplifying things a little bit. Let’s bring people into the mix before we confuse them. Let’s be accessible and open, rather than like a secret rave with a password. (Do people still have raves? I may have watched too many Stefon SNL sketches). This area is known for its innovation. so let’s innovate strategic ways to collaborate.

It’s Spring, literally and figuratively. We’ve got the UpDayton Summit coming up in April, a time when our city is revived with a new batch of ideas. It’s also almost patio weather. Let’s be honest, there’s something about sitting on a patio in warm weather with some good wine or Bad Juans that makes people get creative. Let’s give these ideas the best chance possible to get off the ground. Part of that means not starting from scratch where it’s not needed. Tap into the resources with an audience. If everyone is re-inventing the wheel, we’re all just rolling around with no where to go unless we find a hill to roll down somewhere. No one wants that.

Before you pay godaddy $12.99 a year, before you try to come up with another way to use some iteration of Dayton DYT D8N in a twitter handle, before you take a big bite out of a bigger project, research what we have and use these to your advantage.

Here’s a cheat sheet:

An event is coming up or you want to write your view on Dayton- mostmetro.com
One of the above, but it involves food or alcohol – DaytonDining (part of mostmetro.com)
You’re starting a new business – daytonbusinessjournal.com
Something just happened that needs a news crew- whio.com / wdtn.com / wkef.com
Something is happening that needs more in depth coverage or some investigating- daytondailynews.com
You want to highlight a day in the life of a person or business- @daytonbaton
Does anything look cool in Dayton? – @daytongram
There is something cool IN Dayton that might attract people from OUTSIDE of Dayton to come here – daytoncvb.com
Is there a place, a person or a story that mystifies or intrigues you? Submit a question to WYSO Curious