Teddy Talk: Creating, Collecting, and Connecting by Mindy Kinsey. Featured in Teddy Bear and Friends September/October 2006.

The 1980s were the heyday of teddy bear shows. Teddy bear artistry was new and experimental, so artists got a charge out of being with others who shared their passion. Many collectors had yet to bring their bears out of the closet, so they needed - and enjoyed - assurance that it was OK to be a grown-up who still liked teddies. Although the shows were few and far between, as were the artists and collectors who attended them, when a show did take place, it was a raucous party of sharing, shopping, swapping techniques and teddies, and talking for hours about the collectible that had captured their minds, hearts, hands, and wallets of this group of outwardly sane adults.

Over the past year and a half, the party has been quietly (at first) resurrected in an unlikely place: a little corner of the Internet called Teddy Talk.

Founded by Kjeld Enevoldsen, owner and president of Intercal Trading Group, Teddy Talk began as the forum segment of Intercal's Web site. "I wanted to see if we couldn't create an entity to try to breathe a little new life into the teddy bear community, as I felt it was badly needed," says Kjeld (pronounced "Kel"). "A place where everybody could meet: artists, collectors, show promoters...to kick new ideas around in a reasonably 'neutral' setting." Kjeld contacted a computer guru, Quy Ton, and talked two artists, Sue Ann Holcomb and Shelli Heinemann, into serving as "Help Advisors." Teddy Talk was off and running.

"The idea was to create something new and lively that would be different from anything else out there on the Web in almost every way," says Shelli. The help advisors are one of the differences. In addition to Shelli and Sue Ann, the help advisor team includes Judi Paul, Diane "Dilu" Lundgren, Christine Pike, Neysa Phillippi, and Dale Junker. As active participants in the forum, they spur discussion, answer questions, comment on photos, help "newbies," brainstorm site expansion, and delicately ensure that participants mind their manners. Says Shelli, "When I came on board with Sue Ann and we had talks with Kjeld and Quy about the tone and feel of the forum, I think it was decided pretty early on - but not necessarily with explicit language - that we wanted the site to be about camaraderie and respect and sharing, and that we, as advisors, would model that for the readership."

The help advisors also model enthusiasm. The site automatically counts each member's posts, and the advisors are well into the thousands. (Shelli notes that it helps to be a fast typist.) The advisors bought an advertisement to promote the site, designed T-shirts, and spread the word about the site with flyers on their tables at shows, e-mail invitations at the Web sites they visit, notes to their collectors, and banner ads on their own Web sites. It's working; Teddy Talk garnered more than 550 members in its first year, and they posted close to 100,000 messages. "Teddy Talk is growing by leaps and bounds," says Kjeld. "Every so often, I enjoy taking a look at our user list, available in the index bar just below the masthead. It is amazing to see how many nations (flags) are represented on Teddy Talk...I can proudly say that I think our best advertising tool is word of mouth and a bunch of wonderful Teddy Talkers."

In addition, the help advisors are constantly thinking of ways to update, improve, and organize the site. With input from the advisors, Teddy Talk has evolved from a chat-oriented site to a multi-faceted community with a vendor area (no sales take place on the site; interested collectors contact artists), showcase of new designs, library of information about everything from "accessories" to "Web sites," live reporting, photos of users and a map of their locations, and even a chart of birthdays. Shelli has helped create the graphics and slogan ("Creating, Collecting, Connecting") and designed avatars for members. "The help advisors have been indispensable in helping us at Intercal to put together Teddy Talk from the bottom up," says Kjeld. "You're literally looking at thousands of man hours by a bunch of great volunteers. If you look at the Teddy Talk team, I hope that you'll see a group of young and not so young (me!) people possessing a lot of different skills, backgrounds, temperaments, and personalities. In a nutshell, that's the real strength of Teddy Talk."

Everyone agrees, however, that it wouldn't have been possible without Quy Ton, who Sue Ann Holcomb calls "the magic man." She says, "After all of us hash and rehash, Quy will implement the technology that makes the idea a reality." The other help advisors cite Quy's organization of the reference library, thumbnail photos on the marketplace and showcase, and his easy method of uploading photos as proof of his skills. "It's so easy to navigate here that the most techno-klutzy amongst us can usually succeed," says Dilu Lundgren. "Quy is behind the technology, and without him, we'd be using feathers from Sue Ann's roosters to scribble out our messages. He is always ready to help anyone with a technical question, and he is behind almost all the ideas regarding font, colors, smiley faces..."

The photo uploading is particularly important because, as Quy says, "The No.1 rule on Teddy Talk is pictures, pictures, pictures." The site is laden with photos, ranging from new bear designs to shots from shows, with the occasional newborn kitten making an appearence, too. Shelli Heinemann explains that one of the things that makes Teddy Talk unique is "the ability for members to post JPGs directly from their hard drive, without the need for image hosting elsewhere on the Web. This is a significant point; it's very confusing, if you don't have experience in doing this, to figure out how to post an image, where to post an image...and then how to refer to it elsewhere on the Web, like in a forum such as Teddy Talk. The direct-from-hard drive upload capabilities here are outstanding and something I've not only seen at other teddy bear sites but anywhere else on the Web, either. It's truly unique and makes our photo-rich environment possible."

Easy photo uploading allows the Teddy Talk team to design areas for showcasing new designs and bears for sale, photos of members, and "live reports" from teddy bears shows. Kjeld is particularly proud of the live reports. "I think it is so neat that...you can sit in a hotel room with your computer and literally 'beam' your report to other teddy bear lovers all over the world," he says. "But let's not forget the human interest stories that are also possible in live reporting." His favorite to date, "dancing among the cows," is a story Judi Paul posted about making teddy bears on a working dairy farm.

Such silliness does creep in. One member, says Judi, created pictorial "parties" for the forum."She cut and pasted faces, all of the Teddy Talkers who had photos in the gallery, to bodies dancing and drinking, doing the conga line...It was hilarious!"

Dilu adds, "You never know what is going to come out of someone's fingertips, and the faster we type, the more likely we are to get off track and down those funny roads." Those roads have included ideas for new sections in the forum and advice on every sort of bear-making, business-running, modern life-related situation, but also discussions of zits and how to control them, marmite vs. vegemite, needlefelting shed animal fur, and the pros and cons of men wearing Speedos.

"We do tend to get off the teddy bear topic." admits Judi, "but the readers really seem to create a bond with sharing anything from recipes to house construction to our pets dying."

Agrees Dilu, "We are really simple souls here, finding joy in the simple things - friends and accomplishments. I kind of think that this is what makes Teddy Talk work."

"We all have the same goal here," she continues, "that it be a place of sharing, and friendship, and support. 'Creating, Collecting, and Connecting' really is our motto, our watchword, and we honestly believe it. It's like one huge, delightfully dysfunctional, but terribly talented family - gotta love 'em to pieces. And I feel very lucky to be part of the family."

Says Kjeld, "Through forward thinking and, above all, team work, I think we have managed to invent a friendly, but also a workable and informative, forum."

"I really love the fact that so many members come from other countries!" says Sue Ann. "We learn each other's fun speech peculiarities and customs, about different foods, see beautiful homes, gardens, and scenery from across the world - how exiciting is that?!"

Concludes Judi, "I have 'met' so many people and have so many connections all over the world. This place is my daily life-blood. I love it here."



Reprinted with permission from Mindy Kinsey.