On stage in front of a conference room of 400 suited-up doctors, Brian Williams started his speech with a simple, but enthusiastic request. “Raise your hand if you know how to color!” Awkward silence deafened the room.  “Raise your hand if you know how to sing!” Again, absolutely no response. “Raise your hand if you know how to dance!” Not even a little bit.

Then he showed that same room of doctors a video of him asking the same questions to a room full of kids. “Raise your hand if you know how to color, sing and dance!” ….“YEAAAAHHH!” – Erupting as if they were at a rock concert. He laughed at this point, “If only you could crowd surf over third graders.”

Brian is the founder of Think Kindness, and this story opened his keynote at Ad2 Reno’s nonprofit workshop this past Sunday.

He begged the question – Somewhere between third grade and age 40, adults forgot how to color, sing and dance? What happened to the creativity? What happened to the dream big, be anyone, do anything attitude we had when we were little? The theory: negativity in the media. The solution: non-profit organizations.

He reminded us non-profits that we’re the dreamers, the ones who promote good in our community, the ones who fight for what we believe in. We work hard at creating positive messages, rallying for a cause, and sharing them with the world.

Non-profits in the room were uniting around causes like autism, butterfly houses, health and fitness programming, technology for students, girl leadership, railroad safety, horses, and more.  They’re the rock star third graders coloring, singing and dancing.

Big thank you to our marketing professionals for sharing their industry secrets, and to Brian for setting such an inspiring atmosphere.