KickstarterForum.org

So - here's my wacky plan, bear with my preamble...

I'm on the board of a non-profit called the Group Pattern Language Project, and our core product is Group Works - a deck of cards used to deeply analyze and design group processes for best effect.

Now, crowdfunding is a fantastic case of group process in all its glory and challenge - large numbers of people, distributed across wide distances connected together through an interweaving network of face-to-face, interest based and general social networks.

Group Works is a passion of mine - I've traveled up and down the West Coast with our team teaching folks how to use Group Works and documenting how it gets used to best effect. We've seen or heard of it being used for everything from training of corrections officers to transforming a city workforce's group culture to designing and building a bridge.

Group Works is open source and totally free. If you decide you want to download a deck you can, from http://bit.ly/GWDownload1

Or you can buy one for $35. We've found this model to be effective, and I love the philosophy behind open source. You can make a living giving away cool stuff that benefits the world.

So here's my plan, and here's my ask.

THE PLAN:
On November 20th when our campaign launches, I'll be launching a thread here at at kickstarterforum.org, and each day I'll post another one of our Group Works Patterns and discuss how it's relevant to running a Kickstarter Campaign. The advice will be based on the research we've been doing for our Connection Deck campaign, and collected together in easily digestible format. In short: It'll be tried and true advice, not just stuff I'm making up as someone who hasn't yet run their campaign.

THE ASK:
If you are interested in finding out more, respond here, and I'll announce here on Nov 20th that we're starting the thread. If you find the thread interesting and worthwhile let me know. Then, support our Connection Deck campaign by doing any of the following:
- Tweet info about it out to your network

-Pledge $1 to Connection Deck (if you feel like giving $1000, we won't stop you)

- Check our blog at website (bit.ly/ConnectionDeckBlog1) or Kool Projects Page (http://bit.ly/CDKoolProject1 and follow us, share posts you're interested in, or leave comments and questions (we'll respond quickly to any questions).

- Like our Facebook Page (http://bit.ly/CDFaceBook1)

- Tell all the parents, teachers etc. that you know who you think might like Connection Deck to check it out and spread the word!

- You get the idea

The card you see at the top of this post is one of the 91 Group Works Cards. Connection Deck will be a similar product, but geared towards parents, educators and those who work with children. We believe in Group Works and Connection Deck, and I hope you'll check 'em out.

It's a day early, but I'm stoked, so am starting in on our Group Works based thoughts on running a successful Kickstarter Campaign. Each day we'll post one card, and begin some discussion around how that pattern is relevant to the work we're all engaged in.

As I write this I'm on the train up from Eugene after an exquisite week teaching Group Works with the core team, and am feeling inspired to change the format here a little. Rather than just collecting advice that any of you can find with a bit of research, I'm going to post a different Card each day, and a few reflections on the deeper ways that card relates. I'd welcome anyone chipping in, or adding resources they think are relevant, but I'll stick with the part about joyful and productive group dynamics, as that's my specialty.

Today: Emergence.


This is part of the end goal of the campaign, which is a good piece to keep in focus.
In short, you want the campaign to take on a life of its own. Any of the truly stellar successes out there broke out of the linear payoffs for the work their creators put into the campaign, and caught fire in the imagination of the backers.

For many of us, the trick is staying open to what emerges. We work our networks, we contact what seem to be the appropriate press, we have a sense of who our strong supporters will be, but it's easy to get stuck pushing harder into whatever approach we're taking instead of taking stock of where the best impact is happening and embracing the inherently collective nature of what we're doing. The goal is to enable self-organization of your supporters, and once you have a solid following of folks who are connecting with what you're doing use your energy to best effect to help sustain and inform the way they engage.

Any time we're dealing with complexity theory (which every campaign is), the two most important things are the starting conditions and the pattern set in place as they unfold.

An example: If your starting conditions are having a few people mildly interested in the project and your pattern moving forward is to spread awareness "shallow and far" about your work, what emerges is close to linear: a certain percentage of those who see your material decide to purchase. Media buys, google ads, and hawking your project in the street will produce proportional results to the energy you put in.

A linear campaign can be successful, but is exhausting, as all the work rests squarely on your shoulders.

If you get a bit of traction with the press and that coverage leads to more supporters and more coverage, that lets you get geometric expansion, which puts your energy to better use with better results.

But let's talk about the holy grail: Exponential growth.

If you start with a small group of dedicated supporters who get what your project is about and believe in your vision, and your pattern moving forward is to work with them to help others catch fire with the vision of your project, your pattern becomes exponential. Each new person committed to your project succeeding is another person working hard to make that happen. This is what everyone shoots for, this is why you need your tribe. You then have to support that group's organic growth, and give them the tools and structure they need to continue feeding the project, without trying to exert too much control.

So, my question to you is this:
What are the important factors in the initial conditions, and what is the pattern that you set to bring exponential growth to your support base? What are the ways you help that support base help you most effectively?

I'll leave off there as I don't know what the appetite is for these sort of musings in this environment, but if folks seem interested I'll continue. Next Card: Purpose.

(Incidentally, I'm happy to field any questions or talk about anything relating to each of these patterns underneath the main post about them. Today's learning so far (other than that bit.ly links can be harder to paste properly with than I would've thought) around Emergence have been amazing as we do our pre-launch reach out to friends and family.

This is a pretty cool idea! I'll share this thread in my next newsletter.

Very cool! If there's anything I can do to make it more appropriate content over there, let me know!
Mmm.... crowd sourcey crowd fundey goodness.

Today's Pattern: Purpose


There are a few key elements to consider around Purpose relating to our campaigns.

First get clear on why you're doing the project at all and make that crystal clear to your potential backers. Chances are if you've put time and effort into your project and product, you're excited about it. Chances are if people can see that you're excited about the project (not the prospect of money), they'll get more excited too. Help them understand what it is that's exciting about it.

Then get clear on why you're doing a Kickstarter campaign. There's intertwining reasons, but try to figure out what the combination is. Getting the money to launch? Spreading the word about your project? Building a community? Changing your life direction and work?

This one's vital for success: Understanding the big "p" Purpose in your potential backers' lives, so you can find the right people and connect with them. Find out where the people who share your goals congregate, and how to talk to them in a way that connects with that Purpose. We've still got a long way to go, but on our first day our biggest pledges have been from the people who we know are passionate about the same things as us (positive family relationships, more enlivening educational options, artistic creativity).

I'll keep this one brief as I have to go hit our networks again, but I'll leave off with the final sentence from the card above:

"When we're connected with genuine purpose, energy flows and things happen."

I'm looking forward to continuing this series. It's been a great day on the campaign, less one for getting pure backer numbers and more one for doing some deep one on one session with folks who have a huge interest in Connection Deck.

Tonight though, I'm going to have to postpone for a day - I present tomorrow at a Forum on a related topic: I'll be using the Group Works deck to analyze what makes Cohousing a unique community arrangement. Should be fun. But lots of prep to do before bed.

I'm choosing today's Pattern based on what our team is doing tonight: Reflection / Action Cycle



Especially early in the campaign, the urge can be there to simply push, push, push.

We're still burning through our Facebook contacts (making sure to individualize our messages so people know we are reaching out to THEM, not simply spamming them), email lists, personal blogs etc, and prepping for Monday's press releases, follow-up calls and blogger / tweeter push. But tonight and tomorrow afternoon we're slowing down and taking stock of things.

Flailing wildly in every direction isn't useful, and Following the Energy (which we'll discuss another day) is great. But time for Reflection is key. We're updating our contact spreadsheet, making sure we're not just listing who we've contacted, but:
- which of our team has the best connection with them
- why we think they'd beinterested
- what relevant affinity groups they are part of (parent, teacher, homeschooler, child counselor, art fan, game fan, etc)
- what the response has been like (level of enthusiasm, willingness to share the news, expressed interest in helping, etc.)
- Response time (did this person jump as soon as we told them about it, or was there a long delay before response)

This gives us a great cross-referenceable document in our strategy sessions so we can see where we're getting the most traction, hone our tactics and messaging so that we're improving who we're approaching and how, and look for likely next steps, such as workshops or other ways to engage folks.

Then tomorrow we meet, do a little brainstorming of our next possible steps, prioritize, and update our calendars so we know who's working on the campaign when.

It's tiring grunt-work (and anyone who has tools to recommend to ease the process we're all ears!), but work with a huge payoff. The last thing you want to do is drop the ball on someone who is an eager advocate for your project, and simply not get back to them because you were busy chasing smaller fish!

More could be said, but it's back to the spreadsheet for me!

Hi Folks,

I love putting these out, but we're not getting much traction (no likes, FB, comments or pledges) so I'll keep checking in and joining the conversation in kickstarterforum.org, but will posptone this series for now.
If folks are interested in this series let us know (ideally through a $1 pledge) and we'll resume it. I think you'd like the one on "Mapping & Measurement"