Get Gobby competition, step 1: Wading through the idea minefield

Aaron Faunch

25 April 2013

Hello, I'm a student from the University of Lincoln, and I'm entering Friends of the Earth's new competition, Get Gobby.

It asks entrants how they'd convince people to help the environment by changing their diet. This is the first in a series of blogs to help any of you out there struggling to come up with and develop an idea.

If you're like me, vague ideas are whizzing around your head but they are unstructured and hazy. I am often tempted to step back and let my mind go into overdrive. I loosen the reigns and let my thoughts go from one thing to the next. But at some point you will need to slow it down and fix on an idea.

To narrow my options, I first drew a spider diagram for each possible category. For the written category, I put down ideas like 'blog', 'essay', and 'magazine feature'. All the things that I thought could be used to communicate with other people through writing.

I did the same thing with the other three categories, and ended up with a long list of things I could and would like to do. All I had to do then was pick one.

To help you do the same, you should have an idea about who you want to aim at. A blog wouldn't necessarily be a good way to convince a local business while an essay would be useless for families and students. You have to really think about who you want to reach.

I've tentatively gone for a magazine feature aimed at local communities. I felt a regional magazine is aimed at a local audience while other media are less targeted. I am also playing to my strengths as I have experience in both writing and print design.

This is a great chance to earn experience and some extra cash for the summer. So if you haven't entered Get Gobby yet, go for it! Good luck.

Aaron Faunch is a volunteer in the Land Use, Water and Food Security team. He is also studying a Masters in Science and Environmental Journalism at the University of Lincoln.