Be a majuscule in your local design community
Are you a seasoned designer who loves type and is looking to bump your leadership experience from the lowercase to the uppercase? Consider volunteering as a TypeThursday Chapter Lead and bring TypeThursday to your local community.
What Makes a Great Chapter Lead
Independence
You're a freelancer with years of experience and have no plans to work as a traditional employee for the next 12 months. You have the flexibility to meet obligations.
Leadership skills
You either possess capabilities to inspire and work with a large team of people, or you have the desire to gain such capabilities.
Personal Effectiveness
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You are engaged and look for opportunities to grow in your personal and professional life.
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When considering to take an action, you take a moment to think about what is the end goal.
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With limited time and resources, you can place your focus on the most important objectives.
Interpersonal Effectiveness
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You have a knack to uncover how the priorities of others can be served by working with TypeThursday.
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You seek first to understand, then to be understood by others whenever there is conflict.
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You understand how to create space for valuable things to occur.
A Desire to be Connected
You have lived in your particular city for over 1 year and have a desire to reach out to your local community.
A Personal Connection
A motivation to letterforms in some personal and heartfelt manner.
More Awareness of Yourself
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The key to promotion is being “top of mind” for your market.
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You are front and center at your events.
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Access to TypeThursday’s growing network of organizational allies
Adobe Type, Monotype, Google, AIGA, STA, the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography [HMCT] , Type Directors Club, WeWork
Opportunities to Cultivate Professional Practice
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Public Speaking
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Leadership Development
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Access to the leadership network in the TypeThursday mastermind calls
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Benefits of being a TypeThursday Chapter Lead
Q&A With Past Chapter Leads
What motivated you to become a Chapter Lead?
We started the Seattle chapter of because there was demand. I had already been running an informal monthly “typographers’ pub” gathering for several years, but TypeThursday offered a way to up our game and involve more people from the local design community. I like making connections between people and ideas, and I was well placed to be the point person for TTSEA. We’ve put together a great team that continues to make things work. — John Berry, Seattle
I wanted to be involved with something that helped educate people about all things type that wasn’t about money and that put people first. I wanted to do this in London where that was an unknown phenomenon. — Julie Strawson, London
Apart from my love for typography and building a community, I wanted to take a leadership role that allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and teach me new skills. — Krislam Chin, Los Angeles
I was already a Welcome Lead so when the opportunity presented itself I was motivated to move up and practice my public speaking/meeting more of the community. — Whitney Dobladillo, New York
A couple things motivated me. As a foreigner coming into the Barcelona design scene, TypeThursday seemed like a great opportunity to meet people: volunteers, presenters, sponsors, partners. And after working as a freelancer for five years I really wanted to face the challenge of managing a team of people, and working on community building for once. It was the perfect mixture of using my existing skills and developing new ones, right outside my comfort zone. — Álvaro Franca, Barcelona
I’ve always enjoyed helping out in the community and meeting people with similar interests. As soon as I found out about TypeThursday from my very first event in San Francisco I started helping out by showing up early and setting up. Over time I took on more responsibility and I took over the entire event! — James Butler, San Francisco
What one thing surprised you after you joined on as Chapter Lead?
I was initially surprised by the degree of organization in the TypeThursday structure: the formality of agreements and of the Master Mind calls. I was used to a completely informal approach. (And, indeed, we have never bothered with formal agreements for team roles in Seattle. But then, we’ve had the same team pretty much since we began.) I quickly found, however, that this structure worked well, and was designed to handle growth. — John Berry, Seattle
How much support and encouragement I had from the HQ team and how much people loved our events for being for them and about them. I have never held events where followers attend every month and we have attendees that never miss it. Everyone has an equal voice in TypeThursday. — Julie Strawson, London
I was surprised to find how large the Type community is in Los Angeles. It felt like such a lost craft and it was refreshing to find like-minded creatives to geek out with. When I see the event unfolding and seeing new relationships being made and nerds geeking out, it totally makes it worth it. — Krislam Chin, Los Angeles
That TypeThursday has an incentives program that encouraged me to explore conferences outside of New York. — Whitney Dobladillo, New York
The amount of support and insight I get every week from the mastermind calls, and the many — MANY — lessons learned as we face all the different challenges in organizing a monthly event. It has been a wonderful ride and I can already see it affecting other areas of my career and my personal life. I feel like I have made many new friends and new connections I couldn’t have made otherwise. — lvaro Franca, Barcelona
The variety of people and work shown at the event. We always have new people showing up and from all disciplines and walks of life. With that we see a large breadth of projects in the type crit. — James Butler, San Francisco
What specific things did you gain from being a Chapter Lead?
Meeting a lot of interesting people in the local design community, particularly in the Seattle AIGA, which has been a great source of both team members and enthusiastic participants. It has also given me an easily noticed role in our local community, beyond the informal one that I already enjoyed. — John Berry, Seattle
I learned how to work in a whole new paradigm. All the things I thought I was doing wrong in my corporate jobs were often down to the corporate structure preventing me from getting on with my job. I learned about how to lead a team without paying them money for it but make it a win/win experience for everyone concerned. Most of all I continue to learn more and more about Type and have made so many great friends in the design industry globally through TypeThursday, a fantastic organisation taking type forward for everyone, users and makers alike. — Julie Strawson, London
Becoming a Chapter Lead at TypeThursday has allowed me to practice my leadership skills and foster my passion for education. TypeThursday has helped me flex my communication behavior and strengthen the critical thinking skills that I can bring to my professional career. — Krislam Chin, Los Angeles
Definitely time management, better communication, acknowledgement from the design community and lots of new friends!!! — Whitney Dobladillo, New York
I have gained experience and perspective, have begun to learn the ropes of leadership, and to keep a tight ship running on an ever tighter schedule. I have learned how to motivate my team and how to solve problems in a pinch. I have gained access to people and institutions in my city, and overall just had a blast. It has been such a rewarding experience at every turn, from investing a bit of time and concentration I have gained so much experience, exposure and relationships that helped me break through to the next level in my local community. — Álvaro Franca, Barcelona
It has definitely given me new connections with people that I would have never met, but also just a better sense of the people out there that share the same interest, most who know much more than me. — James Butler, San Francisco
