the work we’ve done: 2 – making networking work for all

We’ve developed a member network for businesses and community members, and brought people together to learn and plan together, on green business practice, local ecology and archaeology, mining heritage and marketing… despite covid! And we learning so much about rolling with change as covid hit – getting creative and building an even stronger partnership than we could have imagined. Click here to find out more.

We thought carefully about the content of our training, to make sure we were all learning as much as we wanted, about the things we wanted to know about. We ran workshops on our new website, on the visitor charter, on sustainable business practice, on heritage, history and the natural environment. And we got pretty close to pretty good; the response was 2% negative, 13% neutral and 85% positive.

Interestingly, the negative response was entirely about wariness around a new website and perhaps unwanted visitor impacts it might generate; now it’s with us, it’s proving itself to be a gorgeous community asset. Just check the comments below. Bingo.

– recovery planning in response to Covid-19;
– collective planning for visitors, online and via Trello planning board
– Tin Coast brand and tone of voice
– “Community First, Destination Second” marketing principles
– Business Resource Library on the website
– free wifi hotspots
– Tin Coast Stories online
– Tin Coast website and Business Directory Listings
– Visitor Information Hubs and Visitor Information Points (VIPs)
– Cornish language included in our website and visitor charter

With the help of a local story teller and illustrator, we made sure we captured what we learned, and what we discussed, in fantastic images, which helped us see what we were talking about more clearly, as well as how it all joins up.

Keith Sparrow, our fabulous illustrator, helped us literally “see” what we were saying, and then reflect on what ideas had come up, and how to implement them. A massively helpful way of keeping ideas clear to everyone, with an action coming out of that reflection.

The big issues were consistently transport, collaboration, connection, linking up, keeping the community healthy and well looked after, environmental management, helping keep people in a thriving community, sourcing more local food and helping locals become ambassadors and pass on values of place.

So that’s what we concentrated on, and it hit the nail.

Through surveys, questionnaires, conversations and our regular online covid-canny Recovery Sessions, we’ve kept checking in on each other. Because, you know, we were in a global crisis that had rained down trouble on the hospitality industry, and community, alike. So it’s all about working together through the trouble. And wow, was there trouble. See some of the emerging issues here.

We love our website. We built it together, and it sings of our place and our people and our land.

Our whole destination brand came directly from a session attended by people who live and work on the Tin Coast, who were asked what was important to them about their place. They told us to be sensitive and not over-sensationalise the place, be subtle, tell stories – lots of them – but using the‘words’ of the people who are born in and drawn to the place, help people to embrace and understand our culture; and most definitely protect our landscape so that we have a sustainable and thriving future.

The website was one of the things born of this wisdom. And you can browse it right here: Tin Coast website

We have wifi dark spots as do many rural communities – “wifi “not spots”” with one in ten residents not online. So we’ve done something about it and now have free wifi in a range of places, across St Just and Pendeen, and hugely useful apps for visitors and community alike to help them see and feel and sense our place in all its splendour.

The Wifi will be augmented with further data capturing technology in two formats – ‘Geosense’ and ‘Data Duopoly’. In due course, we’ll be able to measure footfall, see the movement of people around the Tin Coast, understand length of stays, where people are coming from, how many people are visiting and which areas they are visiting. All this helps us keep the place beautiful, and thriving, for visitor and community alike.

We’ve crafted new information boards, visitor information points, a visitor charter and a whole new network of visitor and community information about what to see and how to do it … including driving more slowly if required!

Sometimes people need reminding what passing places are for. So we reminded then. Nicely. Better for everyone!