The second pillar of a strong community is a deep base of experienced members. When we start off with anything we tend to simple concepts and be black and white about things because we really don’t understand the subject deeply. It is the experienced people that understand the nuances and are able to help our perspective so we understand the reasons and can make our own judgements. Experienced members anchor the community and take us forward in rational steps. They temper flashy trends and can see through simple hype.

I do want to mention that all experience is not the same. For example: some keepers have been doing the same thing for ten years while another may have been experimenting with different techniques for ten years. Both have value as long as they speak to what they know and do not over extend. Being an expert in one aspect does not make you an expert in all facets of husbandry. Knowing the difference is critical for your experience to be relevant. And to our poor newcomers who are just trying to piece together this husbandry puzzle which has blow up in proportion compared to what they were told at the pet store, there are many levels of experts and I am sorry that the loudest ones aren’t always the truly experienced ones. It is too easy to get your first chameleon, be enthusiastic enough to memorize and repeat all the talking point until you are the go to person for information. You may be surprised that you can get a social media expert badge in about three to six months. I know you can’t research every name that pops up on your screen giving you advice with 100% confidence. The only way to sort it all out is with time. Just give yourself that time to learn the lay of the land before you pledge allegiance to one thought process or another.

So shouldn’t our pool of experienced people simply grow as the community gets older? Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.  There is significant attrition just because of…well, life.

Add to this that being active generally brings conflict. There is always someone who wants to challenge the big gun or be the only voice. So if you are the experienced person in the room you are the target. This is, again, just how humans work. And this is tiring. So they fade away and their experience is lost. Add to this the ability to memorize all the talking points and then have a three month old member of the community be listened to as a reliable source and there isn’t much incentive for the experienced person to duke it out.

Podcasting is one way to leapfrog this. On this podcast, I have specifically sought out experts around the world to come on. By listening to their interview you can extract the benefit they offer. Their experience can be recorded and referenced by anyone who wants to graduate from memorized talking points.

And that is why I work so hard on how I explain things. When people make their way to the digital doors of the Chameleon Academy I don’t want them to memorize the care summaries. I want them to understand why it is all being said.  And herein lies an aspect of my growth as a chameleon community educator. How well I communicate is just as important as the information I am communicating.  It is a challenge to condense a multi-facetted natural phenomena of which we have 25% understand of into a one sentence package with an infographic picture.

How well I communicate is just as important as the information I am communicating. 

Now, a note for the experienced community. I get that you don’t have the time to jump into the chaos that is social media.

The absolute best way to communicate your experience is by example. Show pictures of your set-ups and your animals thriving. Show breeding success and share what you are doing regardless of what the admins or loudest voices are saying and don’t worry about the incorrect sound bites bouncing around. The proof is in the life quality of your reptiles. You may not change the people who are trying to be in charge, but those who see what you are doing will approach you and ask you questions. And that is the most effective use of your limited time. It means you will only be talking to the people who want to listen.