Most formal/traditional/current education systems provide lessons with the view the learners at some stage will complete some kind of test to prove understanding, skills, knowledge etc
Life on the other hand, provides tests and it’s up to us to make sense of the lesson (with the opportunity to pass that knowledge, skills, understanding etc on in some way).
Because I didn’t know better, the social media training I’ve developed and delivered in the past takes this test-first approach. Providing a problem to solve and a reflective space to discuss the lessons learnt (sometimes after failure), meant highly engaged participants with fantastic feedback plus obvious learning outcomes.
Would be fun to reverse the current educational paradigm of teach, learn, test.
Then again, that’s just my opinion—say otherwise in the comments below.
“DK’s training not only opened up a new world of social media to us but motivated and empowered the young people participating to take action in their community with their new found tools.”
Netta Egoz, Project Coordinator—Otautahi Youth Council/ WE Care White Elephant Trust
The focus of the day was on several social media platforms as well as the strategic side of implementing their use. The following were the fundamentals (Golden Rule, Storytell, Digital Takeaways, Process):
If you’ve ever had the privilege of working with young people you will know of their quick adoption of these online platforms—the button theory in action—was a fun day.
It’s easy not to “be evil” when you’re ahead. But when you’re backed into a corner and your usual strategies aren’t working, it’s easy to get frustrated, scared, and angry, and throw previously held morals and standards out the window.
Google’s foray into social networking was late.
They knew this. The reversal of some of their key policies, touted as differentiators (such as now welcomes young people, when it said it wouldn’t and now it allows pseudonyms, sort of, when it said it wouldn’t), smacks as a little desperate along with the ‘Google+-button-creep’ into all of their other product lines.
So why are they going all in?
Maybe, it’s not to create hoards of long term users (especially when you take into consideration how users only spend 3 minutes on the site last January, compared to half of the same time for Pinterest users or 7.5 hours for Facebook maniacs) but more the fact that it simply increases their ability to productise your ongoing use of their other platforms:
Google scrambled to build Google+ because it watched Facebook and saw users were willing to volunteer biographical data to their social network, and that data is crucial to serving accurate ads users want to click.
The fact is we’ve all been scrapbooking for years.
Now we just aggregate digitally.
Faster.
Tidier.
With more people.
Over wider topics.
New is rarely something monumental but rather a quiet shift and addition. A gentle increase to the discourse. And by adding in multiples of time and people, it appears more than it is.
This is replicated in the (misplaced) discussion about social media and how it’s constantly changing and morphing, when it should be about the fundamental skills not the platforms themselves. Seeing it as not a mountain to climb but a wave to catch totally shifts the thinking and approach.
Steens Manuka Honey is the best tasting honey on the planet. Not only is it rich in medicinal properties (you can put this stuff on your wounds and it will aid recovery) but as a brand they also understand how to entice a customer.
Above is a little strip of card with a sealed packet of the delicious nectar on the reverse. Snap the strip in half and enjoy a sweet sample.
This for me is the correct definition and real-life use of the freemium model—leveraging the quality of the product through a sharable short-form handout.
This has parallels with social media, as every tweet, blog post, video vignette etc is a taster to the larger brand offer. A cheeky flavour to excite those to want more.
Done well, with grace and quality, it’s a simple and sure-fire way to build up a customer / consumer base who advocate you further by distributing your free little contributions.
Develop and dispense tasters.
Simple.
Big thanks to Dom who first gave me the honey strips and a jar to get my hooked. Further thanks to Sheryl for being a wonderful soul through our contact on Steens Facebook Page and for sending me more tasters—my colleagues are going to enjoy these and I’m sure will be converted into customers as well.
My current focus (apart from pooling together some fab speakers to share their knowledge) is on the experience and value the customer / member receives plus the why and what truth this project essentially serves.
This is what I’ve come up with:
This is for the project manager who needs to delight and astonish their bosses / colleagues in that important meeting.
This is for the conference organiser who has realised that titles and positions of authority does not equate to being a good public speaker.
This is for lecturers who want to engage the whole room, from the front-seat-swots to the back-of-the-room-hall-dwellers.
This is for the sales rep who is hungry to explore the power of telling stories and is craves some inspiration.
This is for the tired executive whose career needs new energy and vitality to project them forward in the looming performance review.
This is for those who can’t ever imagine speaking to a room of people (no matter how big or small) and have a positive impact.
This is for you.
It will exist to aid, challenge, enable, add, energise, delight, empower, sharpen, equip all newbies and old hands to be able to speak better.
the expanded use of links within tweets plus conversations which followed (probably a little due to the fact I set up open Google Docs so the audience could collaboratively take notes during the four main keynotes—can be found on the Learning@School blog)
the potential reach of the conversations (calculated by the TweetReach reports)
What did you take away from the infographic? Am I asking the wrong questions? What do you think of the results? Were you at the conference and tweeting out and if so how did it add to your experience of the event?
I’ve been talking to clients about them probably for about 4/5 years now as an opportunity to present statistical related material in a much more engaging and ultimately shareable way. Think annual/quarterly reports, market/customer research, sector analysis etc
Now get the research/numbers peeps in your organisation to talk to your design team so together they can create some gorgeous infographic offerings. Failing that, take the initiative and impress your boss by doing one yourself—there’s quite a few how-to’s on the web like this, that, and thus (don’t forget to come back and leave a comment sharing what you’ve done).
Have I made you a fan of infographics? What ones have you seen which you want to share? Leave a comment you lovely readers you.
