My First Pitch to More Than Person Over the Age of 12. What a rush!
In fine company last night among QuantumWhisper, SoleiraSun, SolidWild at Montreal NEWTECH's Demo Night.
Just demo!
-- Jason Calacanis, TechCrunch50 2009 Twetailer semi-finalist demo.
In 140 characters, or, less
Twetailer: Brokering Consumer Demand with local Retailers' available Supply - via tweets, for f(r)ee, or, Reverse Retailing.
Rehearsed version
Live version
Last night I presented the slides & recordings as above but did the audio part live. Technically, I had 10 minutes - 5 for demo & 5 for Q&A. I actually consumed 7 minutes, leaving on 3 for Q&A.
Here's the Q&A (paraphrased):
Q. Do you have any retailers signed up?
A. That's the stage we're at right now. We actually have one, my Volkswagen dealer Volkswagen Des Sources. GregVW thinks its great for used cars!
Q. Is it fully functional?
A. Yes! The recorded demo part was just to make sure we didn't run into any timing issues. We also weren't sure about Internet access here - which as it turns out, there's none. But Yes, it's fully functional. You can even do you own demo by sending "d twetailer what-are-you-buying #demo" and a robot will play the Sales Associate role. If you want, try sending "d twetailer used vw 2010 #demo" and Greg may even play along too.
Big Thanks!
Many thanks to Montreal NewTech, Felipe Coimbra for all his time, twitter apps & organization savy and the sponsors Bolidea and 63 Squares - Web Technologies and Marketing Collective.
See you at the NewTech Series: Pitch, Thu 2010-04-15 6pm.
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My First Cold Call Demo Pitch and Are All Retail Sales Associates Like This?
Man I told you... my day is, I come to work, I get paid, I go home. You think I want to do this all my life?
- Retailer Sales Associate (Let's call him Trevor)
Like I care?
Background
Over the past few posts, I've spent some time describing my Social Software in Schools project, which has been an absolute blast & has yeilded some surprising results. (But that'll be another post.) However, I also spend my time on my true start-up - twetailer. Without going into much detail here, I'll just put things in context by defining it as:
Twetailer: Brokering Consumer Demand with local Retailers' available Supply - via tweets, for f(r)ee.
Prior to heading off to pitch a potential business partner, I decided to try out my routine on an unsuspecting Retail Sales Associate who I thought fit our personna - young, tech savy, looking for an easier way to get things done. My pitch demos how consumers Google for product reviews, make a decision, then search for a local retailer to make the sale. Part of the demo, demonstrates how local business directories / search engines were failing local retailers, thereby creating greater barriers for entry (sales) to their stores - partly due to their antiquated taxonomy/categories.
The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
My Story
I approached Trevor - an unoccupied Carl's Cameras Sales Associate, as opposed to, the older gentleman behind the cash register making sales. I introduced myself as being part of an Internet start-up company offering a free search service that matches consumers ready to purchase products with local retailers ready to make sales - all via Tweets/text messages. While Trevor didn't use Twitter (too young), he was willing to listen, so I opened my MacBook & started my Keynote presentation. I went through all the slides/videos & stopped at the demo part to elaborate. Trevor was engaged! He had questions & thought it was "really cool". He thought searching Yellow Pages for "cameras" locally was useless but did accept there may not be many alternatives, even after I demoed Google Maps local search. He wasn't surprised to see Carl's Cameras not among the initial Yellow Pages search results & conceded that no one walks into the store asking for "digital image processing equipment" - Carl's Cameras taxonomy & there's no way anyone in the store could change that. He loved the idea of "social tagging" Demand & Supply in the language (terminology) of the consumers' & retailers' & thought it was very practical.
However, here's how the conversation continued;
Me: "Would you use Twetailer to help you close sales?"
Trevor: No. It's not like I'm going to work here the rest of my life. My day is, I come in, I go home, I get paid."
Me: But you could just sit down in the back room, have a coffee & make sales? Do you text message?
Trevor: True dat. Yah of course I text.
Me: Do you have unlimited text messaging?
Trevor: Yah, for sure. But I'm not going to use my phone for work & Carl's Cameras is not going to give me a phone to text.
Me: Carl's Cameras doesn't have to give you a phone to text. Especially, if you've already got unlimited texting. Tell me, if a friend texted you & said he knows someone looking for a nikon d5000, do you have any in the store, would you text back? Wouldn't you text "Yes, tell them to come see me."?
Trevor: True dat... of course I would.
Me: So what's the difference with Twetailer?
Trevor: I guess nothing. But my day is, I come here, I work, I go home, I get paid. You know... you should really speak to Carl's Cameras' Regional Sales Manager. He's a really nice guy & he's gonna love this thing. He could probably get all the stores to use it. (He then went to get me the contact info.)
Me: Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it. Take care.
I then glanced over to the cash, where the elder gentleman was eavesdropping from all the time, waited to see if he had anything to add & then left.
Following Up
In the days that followed, I tried on several occassions to contact the Regional Sales Manager. The phone number Trevor gave me was also listed on the web site. Yet everytime I called, the phone system went on & on about the office hours & no matter what options I chose, no matter what day, no matter what time, I always ended back at the beginning. For the record "Carl's Cameras" is my alias for a national retailer!
Moving forward
A few days later, I demo'ed to Kevin Makice - author of Twitter API: Up and Running - O'Reilly Media. He had a funny/sad take on this story. His theory is that small/medium sized retailers - the Mom & Pop stores, are so busy treading water, that they can't imagine stopping for 5 minutes to try something new, simply on the hope that it can change their world. This would be especially true, for a technology they don't get - like Twitter/ text messaging.
Ironic, eh?
Unfortunately, the irony of the situation, is that text messaging/tweets empowers these retailers to get back in the digital age. There's no need for static brochure-ware web sites - which they may have missed, or, are out-dated. There's no need for online e-commerce shopping cart sites - which they probably can't afford, or, could never see any return-on-investment. There's no need for anything more that an old mobile phone that can text message & someone to push those little buttons.
All they need is someone like Trevor to give a damm. Someone who would probably love the excuse to text at work. Someone who would probably find it easier than answering the phone.
Lessons Learned
Next time, I'm going to demo someone on commission 
Reflection
Have you had a similar experience? Is this a generational thing, or, simply a management issue?
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Apparently, it’s much simpler to use Social Software than explain it
Some of us folks in the social software field need to take a lesson from 11 year-olds & Steve Jobs.
Apple Specialists are at the heart of our reputation for extraordinary customer service. You love people. Have an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Apple. And can translate technology-speak into everyday language. You’re ready to not just serve up information, but also inspire the next generation of Mac, iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV fans.
- Job posting for an Apple (Store) Specialist & the Steve Jobs philosphy of why a customer should care
In my previous post - Early social software adopters eager for extra homework, I bragged about how quickly and effortlessly Sara's Grade 6 class not just adopted, but embraced their new social software site. But this week, was about The Project & actually working in their Deliverables - modifying Cynapse's Best Practices Guide For Elementary School Students.
I don't get "getting feedback on interim deliverables"
Mayby you can shorten the text to make it seem less,... daunting.
i don't get it ????????????
What does surfacing and interim mean?
I guess it makes sense, but 1/4 of your day is a pretty long time - 3-4 hours' worth!
What does fragmented mean?
What is RSS?
What's IDC?
What's 2.0 enterprises?
Kids usually don't care about publishing!
2.0?????????????
What is tacit knowledge
-- from Collaboration - What is it and Why is it needed ?
what does infrastructure mean?
What is this adopting, exactly?
What's facilitate and aggregate.
well what are we talking about?
-- from Driving Adoption
Can you reply to their comments, like an Apple Store Specialist - translating technology-speak into everyday language 11 and 12 year-olds can understand?
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Early social software adopters eager for extra homework
I never thought assigning homework would be so easy but, this is social software in elementary schools.
... a simple process: find leaders (the heretics who are doing things differently and making change), and then amplify their work, give them a platform, and help them find followers-and things get better. They always get better.
Who wants more homework?
Previously in There are no screw-ups, just Versions, I primed Sara's elementary school classmates on how to give their own Lunch & Learn. Since then, I prepared the initial wiki page content for their project assignments.
While I have provided face-to-face training in the past and even hundreds of techies via e-learning (onilne realtime education), I have never experienced so much energy in a classroom. And what's even more amazing to witness is, it's not not bound to the 40 minute lunch-time session we share. Sara's classmates are contributing to their Cynapse site. While they help with homework and contribute fave songs, movies, books, etc., their blogs, wikis & threaded comments are the best. They're just playing around and naturally having fun!
It was that easy: "... amplify their work, give them a platform, and help them find followers-and things get better. They always get better." So I never handed out their project assignments. They volunteered and even complained that some had more features to cover than they did. Life is good - so far.
I've offered my help for any questions they have - provided the questions are posted on the site for others to benefit. I've also offered to help them - as best as I can, in creating video blogs (vlogs), recorded how-to interviews, presentations and recorded demos. These would all be "nice-to-haves". The only "need-to-have" is the updated wiki page deliverables - Cynapse's Best Practices Guide for Elementary School Students.
Help your friends out by posting questions/comments on their assigned wiki pages - before their Lunch & Learn date and I'm sure they'll help you out with yours!
-- my $0.02 (CAD)
The first update after school was this Beatles song. Check back next week to see how they start delivering.
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There are no screw-ups, just Versions
Cynapse's Version control alleviates collaboration and adoption fear factor - at least among 11 and 12 year-olds.
My last post - Kicking off social software in Sara’s elementary school illustrated how Six Graders - 11 & 12 year-olds, were quick to adopt social software in their elementary school. Now that they had some fun over the holidays, the real work needs to start.
In order to make myself perfectly clear, I created an internal wiki page for them called The Project's 5 Ws. Basically, the students had already agreed to:
The Deliverable is the modified version of Cynapse's Best Practices Guide, entitled Cynapse's Best Practices Guide for Elementary School Students. The Students will work in teams and collaborate on modifying the existing content to suit their own scenarios / use cases / user stories, so that other students can benefit from their experiences and ease their adoption of social software.
Deliver The Deliverable within 3 months & their elementary school will continue offering the social software service.
While I've only presented 3 Lunch & Learns so far, I fully intend to retire in the very near future. While I do love presenting, demoing & fielding their questions, or, concerns, I think it's time for them to step-up & take over. There are 13 features - like blogs, wikis, calendar events, status logs, etc. for the students to document. I explained the concept & values of Agile self-organized teams & gave them until next week to decide which features they want to adopt ownership for. So next week should be my last official Lunch & Learn. From then on, the students will take turns presenting, demoing & fielding their own questions, or, concerns.
In addition, I asked them to start blogging about their everyday experiences, including those using/adopting Cynapse's cyn.in social software. The more content they contribute, the easier it will be for everyone to succeed.
In conclusion, I gave them a very quick introduction into Cynapse's content management - wiki editing & version control. I meant to record my demo but unfortunately, didn't have the connector for my laptop, so I used the teacher's laptop instead - which didn't have Jing - screen recording software, installed. I suggested it would be a nice surprise if we were able to deliver less-than-5-minutes How-To videos - like the one above & offered to help them out.
What do think? Will this small group of 11 and 12-year-olds succeed?
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Real early adopter
A guest post by my 8 year-old son Alex, who loves movies, thinks kids should give ratings & just wants to blog.
Just one post
A lot of people have blogs. But most people don't.I think you should. Even if you only have one post in you.
Having a blog is pretty daunting, especially if you don't like blank paper and are the sort of person that hates falling behind. I can imagine that the idea of posting 50 or 300 times a year is a little bit nuts for many people.
But what if there's just one thing you need to say, but you can say it clearly and well and in a way that hasn't been said before? What if you've got one great blog post inside of you, and, even better, you're willing to update that post as you learn more and gain more insight?
An entire post about a certain kind of fossil. Or the misuse of a certain word. Or about a key difference between two kinds of bluetooth...
Why not?
Not only does Alex love movies, but he wants to Produce them one day, despite the fact that none of us are all too clear on what that actually means. Nonetheless, he felt left out by Sara having edu.cyn.in (see Kicking off social software in Sara’s elementary school) to play in and really wanted to get something off his chest.
In the interest of full-disclosure, Sara says she only typed it for him and helped switch a word, or, two around. I helped with the Wordpress formatting. Aside from that, the content is all Alex's. Here is Alex's guest blog post...
Scary: 
I guess you all know the story Alice in Wonderland. But maybe you didn’t know that Tim Burton and Disney invite you to their new sequel to Alice in Wonderland. The new sequel of Alice in Wonderland is very different from the old version. Instead of following the White Rabbit, Alice’s boyfriend asks her to marry him. Worried, Alice runs off into the woods and falls into a rabbit hole. in the rabbit hole, she sees a bottle that has a label reading ‘Drink Me’ but when she drinks it, she shrinks. Then she opens a door that leads her to the mysterious and mad world of Wonderland. There she finds The Mad Hatter, the Chester Cat and worst of them all, the red Queen. The Mad Hatter recognizes Alice for she has been here before as a child, everyone else in Wonderland recognizes Alice. The Mad Hatter calls out Alice’s name, but his rabbit friend does not believe that it is really her. The Mad Hatter recalls that since Alice was gone, the red Queen took over Wonderland. Alice tries to help The Mad Hatter.
To find out more, you’ll just have to watch this psychotic movie in 3d that comes out March 5, 2010 starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen, or, watch this video.
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Kicking off social software in Sara’s elementary school
Emerging Early Adopters: With only 10 min demo, 11 & 12 year-olds pounce on social software in their elementary school.
Social media tools enable them to be connected, extend their outreach, and ensure that all members can have a voice within the tribe.
-- Seth Godin, Tribes Q&A
edu.
Given my previous post on Max, I was a bit delayed in getting edu.cyn.in - Cynpase 's cyn.in Software as a Service, launched. However, since my Update on pitching social software to Sara’s elementary school post, we did manage to sign-up 34 members - exactly half of which were parents. (This also helps support the grassroots approach to social software adoption.)
On one of the last days before school broke for the holidays, I was left with only ten minutes of demo time. So I decided to quickly peruse the site structure which has a Space for the elementary school and sub-Spaces for the Students and another for the teachers and parents. I explained to the students that parents & teachers can view, but not write, in their Student Space, so they need to be sure that whatever they post is appropriate. Furthermore, they can't even view what's in the teachers' & parents' Spaces. However, everyone can post (read/write) in the Home and their school Space. Basically, the students are allowed to write whatever their conscience allows for.
edu.cyn.in Statistics - General
Having explained the Big Brother philosophy and with precious little time remaining, I gave them a quick tour on how to navigate the site & then showed them Cynapse's Status Logs. This is almost the equivalent of Twitter except:
- there is no Following, so there's no need to Follow whoever is in fashion
- the messages are threaded, which allows members to Comment on a specific Status message, as well as, Reply to those comments.
My only objective was to enable the kids to stay connected during their holiday break. Once back, I'd go into more detail about the different features and then get The Project - referred to back in my Update on pitching social software to Sara’s elementary school, underway.
edu.cyn.in Statistics - Contributors
We're now at the end of the holiday break, and some of the kids are well beyond Status Logs. It's also interesting to note, that these early adopters - 11 and 12 year-old kids, are following the same patterns as their elders. Back in an earlier post - How to be a hero with stuff like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, delicious, wikis and more, under Step 4: Getting Viral, I refered to Rubicon Consulting & Online Communities and Their Impact on Business: Ignore at Your Peril, where they found 10% of the community members contribute 80% of the content. These Most Frequent Contributors (MFCs) are second to word of mouth when it comes to influencing others. Which is the basis for my grassroots approach to social software adoption.
edu.cyn.in Statistics - Commenters
Out of the 34 signed-up members, 50% (17) are parents - none of whom, aside from myself, have contributed any content yet. Of the remaining 17 students, nine (9) have contributed. So with an introduction of less than a total of 60 minutes spread over two weeks, the student-MFC numbers (over 26%) better those in the above study of 10%. And that's over the holiday break!
My guess, and hope, is that once school starts up again this week, and I start my usually Monday Lunch & Learn sessions the following week, that even more of the students will be contributing content. Once I layout the The Project Plan and dates, I'll have the students present their own Lunch & Learns about their adopted Features. As their knowledge increases, my guess is their adoption will increase with it. As the student adoption rate increases, my guesss is that the parents and teachers will follow shortly after.
What kind of social software adoption rates have you experienced? Are they better/worse/in line with the MFC study?
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Max
(Updated on 2009-12-01)
Max Milstein Born: 1924-01-01 Died: 2009-11-20
Max
My father - Max, has been in a long-term care facility - Maimonides, for the last 7 years suffering from a form of Dementia - Lewy Body Disease. On Monday November 9, 2009, after spending the last two weeks in Emergency at the Jewish General Hospital suffering from pnemonia, he returned to Maimonides where he has now entered the end of life cycle.
To the best of our knowledge, the Comfort Care he is receiving will only sustain him for a few days.
Throughout the years, both Sara(11), Alex(7) and my wife Anna have visited my father almost on a weekly basis. The last time they saw him - three weeks ago, he did not look well. However, since his return to Maimonides, he not only looks much better, he's also more comfortable & peaceful - which is the only goal we have.
On Tuesday, November 10, 2009, we picked the kids up from school and explained that we were going to visit Zadie (grandfather) so they could see for themselves how much better he looked than the last time they saw him. We also rationalized Curative versu Palliative Care as;
We don't want Zadie to get sick before he dies. We are trying our best to make sure he doesn't get pneumonia again, or, any other kind of infection. Even though Zadie has been sick for so many years, he was - all things considered, always comfortable and well cared for. And when it's time, we would just like him to be comfortable, fall asleep and not wake up.
For all the pamphlets, books, posts and web sites you may read, for all the doctors, nurse, orderlies, care givers, friends and families you may consult, here is my contribution. From Max's bedside, or from home, I'm trying to journalize the experience, in 140 characters, or, less with one, or, two daily updates.
Feel free to follow along and share http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23max+%23dementia. With the link open, you always click your browser's Refresh button to catch-up on the latest Twitter updates.
Maybe this is part of Twitter's monetization strategy - which would be a good one. Nonetheless, I copied my updates in my FriendFeed channel.
November 9
Spending first night of "comfort care" at my father's #max bedside at end of #dementia http://myloc.me/1qq0m
studies show that patients on palliative care often live longer, are happier and families have time to say good bye http://bit.ly/2hVEsq
November 10
#max fave was soaking up the Florida rays, so played ocean surf mp3 & opened bottle of tanning oil. Quiet night. #dementia
About to pickup Sara (11), Alex(7) & wife Anna to visit my father #max while he's still comfy. #dementia
Having my wife Anna & the kids Sara (11) & Alex(7) visit my father #max to say their goodbyes went incredibly well for everyone #dementia
ComfortCareDay1. Brother's turn to relieve mother & stay bedside with father #max tonight.Still on 6hr Tylenol,occass 2mg Morphine #dementia
November 11
ComfortCareDay2 morning report: #max needed 2mg Morphine during night. We may have to start giving it every 4hours sometime today. #dementia
Rationalized Curative vs Palliative Care to Sara(11) & Alex(7) as; "We want Zadie (#max) to not get sick (like...) before he dies" #dementia
ComfortCareDay2 nighttime: #max started on 2mg Morphine every 4hours & oxygen today. He had a lot of visitors & is sleeping now #dementia
November 12
ComfortCareDay3 morning: #max didn't have as restful night as I would've imagined but better now. Guess we'll have to up morphine #dementia
ComfortCareDay3 evening: #max had better day than last evening. My fault
I should've raised his head.Good day for visitors:-) #dementia
November 13
ComfortCareDay4 morning: #max had a bad night again coughing/choking & needed extra shot of Morphine. Hoping day will be easier #dementia
ComfortCareDay4: had to give #max something to dry up fluids to stop choking. His breathing is now about half normal rate. #dementia
ComfortCareDay4 night: #max had to have morphine upped to .3mg every 4 hrs but resting comfortably now. Getting Robinul too #dementia
November 14
ComfortCareDay5 early: tough night 4 #max. Robinul isn't helping, trying Scopolamine in 3hours. Morphine 2b upped to .4mg #dementia
ComfortCareDay5 early: oxygen & puffer helped #max a little but hoping Scopolamine will bring relief. Just got .4mg Morphine #dementia
ComfortCareDay5 evening: #max is comfy. Scopolamine beakthru not needed yet. Robinul working with .5mg Morphine #dementia
November 15
ComfortCareDay6 morning: #max had a relaxed night. Scopolamine beakthru needed 1x, Robinul, .5mg Morphine & combivent working #dementia
November 16
ComfortCareDay7 morning: Very very quiet night for #max. We're just sticking to the routine. Week has been full of family/friends #dementia
ComfortCareDay7 afternoon: stopped robinul & opted for only regular doses of scopolamine. #max is very very quiet. #dementia
ComfortCareDay7 evening: all this robinul, scopolamine & combi-vent yet congestion is always problem. But #max is resting again. #dementia
November 17
ComfortCareDay8 morning: A record for #max: 12 hours with no _indication_ of any congestion or pain! #dementia
RT @4Gma: Having a sad moment... #dementia. There's a Jewish expression Yasher Koach -- `you should have strength'. I think that says it all
ComfortCareDay8 night: After 21 comfy hrs #Max has 6 hours of coughing/Apnea ~20 seconds no breathing. Just got .2+.5mg morphine #dementia
November 18
ComfortCareDay9 morning: After 9 days of no food or fluid, #Max gets some breathing relief from oxygen #dementia
ComfortCareDay9 morning: Overnight nurse helps #Max by suctioning water out of lungs & pledges to us he'll die with dignity #dementia
ComfortCareDay9: Day Dr upped morphine to .6, scopolamine & robinul for #Max (breathing heavy) & left orders for Plan B. #dementia
ComfortCareDay9 evening: Meds stopping #Max from coughing but still has a little gurgling. Breathing heavy/steady last 10hrs. #dementia
November 19
ComfortCareDay10 Morning: #Max had an uneventful & restful night. Nonetheless, his breathing is weaker & a little erratic. #dementia
November 20
ComfortCareDay11 Morning: With shorter & shorter breaths, #Max passed away peacefully with dignity & family by his side. #dementia
ComfortCareDay11: please help me immortilize #Max at http://stevenmilstein.com/2009... & leave a comment. #dementia
November 21
#max Funeral Info: http://www.paperman.com/cgi-bin... #dementia
ComfortCareDay11: Sorry!!! WordPress Comments now working. Please try again for #max http://stevenmilstein.com/2009... #dementia
Thanks for the RT @aboutdignity regarding my father #Max http://twitter.com/stevenm... #dementia
@ElderCareRN my heartfelt condolence re: your father. #Max was in long-term care for 7 years. Lewy Body Disease caused awful hallucinations
Obituary
MILSTEIN, MAX. On Friday, November 20, 2009. Beloved husband of Frances. Devoted father and father-in-law of Elaine and Alan Sims, Steven and Anna Maria, Alan and Resa Milstein. Cherished Zaidie of Benjamin, Sara and Alex, Samara and Danielle. Dear brother of the late Hymie Milstein, and brother-in-law of Mort and the late Vivian Braunstein. Max will be sadly missed by all who knew him. Funeral service from Paperman & Sons, 3888 Jean Talon St. W., on Sunday, November 22 at 2 p.m. Burial at the Beth Israel Congregation Section, Kehal Israel Cemetery, D.D.O. Shiva Sunday through Thursday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. daily. Donations in his memory may be made to the Maimonides Hospital Foundation, (514) 483-2121, ext. 2207.
When the funeral service has ended, the mourners come forward to fill the grave. Symbolically, this gives the mourners closure as they observe the grave being filled in. One custom is for people present at the funeral to take a spade or shovel, held pointing down instead of up, to show the antithesis of death to life ... to throw three shovelfuls of dirt into the grave.
-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bereavement_in_Judaism#Burial
Taking hold of the shovel, the feel & sound of the dirt and the sound of the dirt hitting the coffin. That's Closure.
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Update on pitching social software to Sara’s elementary school
Sara's teacher - Mr. N. was kind enough to schedule 90 minutes last Friday afternoon for me to pitch social software to her Grade 6 class.
No battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy.
-- Field Marshall Helmuth Carl Bernard von Moltke
My original intent was to play a couple of music videos I mashed-up to see how familiar the students already were with services like Facebook & MSN. Unfortunately, as I plugged the external speakers into my 6 year-old Dell laptop, something went pop & then all we heard was nothing but snap & crackle.
I should have known better than try to resolve the situation. Mr. N. jumped right in with a little discussion on the pros & cons of things like Facebook & MSN. But as Sara gave me her "Daddy...?" look, I figured it was time to move on and demo the mini-site I set up the night before.
I started off logged into the site with Sara's credentials & displayed the day's Calendar Event. I toured the bullet items and the Video Gallery - like YouTube, I wanted to show. I clicked on Sara's Profile page to draw the analogy to Facebook. I showed them the Image Gallery with a few pictures Sara took at their last 3-day field trip & mentioned Flickr. I showed them Status messages & Discussions - sort of like MSN, GTalk, Twitter, Facebook, myspace, gmail, hotmail, etc. Then there was the shared Bookmarks like delicious and digg.
In the end, I never needed the videos. For the most part, the kids were very much tuned into the virtues of social software. If anything, they just didn't know that that's what it was called.
For myself, I learned that more than half the kids were already on Facebook & avid MSN users. In fact, the Facebook users were also well aware of the fact they are "ineligible" to register but lied about their birthdays as a work around. MSN doesn't challenge anyone on registration but it's buried somewhere in the Terms & Conditions that a "Child" must have the permission of a parent, or, guardian - which seemed to bother some of the kids on MSN.
For those, not registered with Facebook, many were very quick to say they didn't want to lie about their age - Sara included. In addition, I also found out that some felt the peer pressure to be on Facebook.
So that's what we offered the Grade 6 class. All the social software capabilities they want in the privacy and safety of their own school. I pointed out that at recess time, the school doesn't send them out to the public parks to play. They go out to their gated schoolyard where there's school staff to monitor them. And on some occasions, they get together with other schools to play soccer, or, football. So this was going to be exactly along the same thinking - just virtual.
While I wasn't able to play any videos for the kids, I did cover the material the old fashioned way. I explained to them the deal in the making - described in my previous post The Start-Up Chronicles: Chapter 2. Who, Part 4, under "Who's in for a little extra-curricular activity?".
In the end, both Mr. N. & I concluded that there is certainly a desire and need for us to bring social software into the school. In the fact the interest level seemed so high, that Mr. N. offered to integrate the social software activity into his curriculum and even dedicate Friday afternoons for me to mentor the kids - given enough parents grant their permission.
Permission Slip and all the parents/guardians have been directed here to permit, or, not permit their child to participate in the social software activity.
The Start-Up Chronicles: Chapter 2. Who, Part 4
Partnering, building communities and pitching social software to Sara's elementary school.
Cut win-win deals. A partnership seldom takes place between equals. As a result, the more powerful side is tempted to squeeze the other party. The weaker side, for its part, will begrudgingly accept such deals and try to get what it can. Bad idea. Bad karma. Bad practicality. If the partnership is a win-lose deal, it will blow up because concrete walls and barbed wire cannot hold a partnership together. Only mutually beneficial results can. In the long, the bitter seed of resentment planted at the start of a partnership will grow into a giant, destructive weed.
-- The Art of Partnering, Guy Kawasaki
A couple of posts ago, I wrote about building communities to help drive my start-up's outside-in software development and my working relationship with the good folks at Cynapse. And while my last post was - for the most part, about getting to be a TechCrunch50's semi-finalist, I did end with my desire to sow the social software seeds in my daughter Sara's elementary school.
As a passionate software entrepreneur and social software evangelist, it breaks my heart when Sara tells me she's bored learning how to use Word and Excel in Computer class. Now please don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining about her teacher - a fine and qualified professional. I'm not complaining about the curriculum, nor about the state of our education system. In no way would I ever expect the school to provide social software education. But nothing says that I can't.
So I approached the school and offered just that. I prepared a marked-up version of Cynapse's Flash marketing material & evangelized the virtues of, not only the mechanics of learning social software but the life lessons - I truly believe, it can teach the kids.
Our 30 minute meeting became an hour and a half and ended with a few action items:
- The school would have to agree to a trial period with the understanding that, if successful, they would continue the program.
- Cynapse would have to agree to barter three months of free hosting in return for a modified version of their Best Practices Guide for Elementary School Students.
- The students would have to volunteer for the extra-curricular activity and agree to collaborate on the Guide. Delivery of the Guide deems success.
Since the meeting, the school has delivered on Action Item #1. In addition, Cynapse has delivered on Action Item #2. So later this week, I'll be presenting my offer to Sara's Grade 6.
I've since elaborated on my initial presentation by incorporating some keywords mentioned during our meeting and added the narration. But after playing it back for Sara, she thought it may be "too much" and I should try to be more funny.
The problem was, I tried to create something that would appeal to too many audiences - students, school staff and maybe even parents. So in the interest of outside-in development, I created two more videos which have passed the Sara Test. Once, approved by her teacher, I'll start with those & save the one above - hopefully, for another time.
Please feel free to share any thoughts, or, experience around social software in schools.
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