How I met Your Awesomeness: #EdTechChat & ClassDojo

I have highlighted it many times in my blog, but as I seem to be picking up a new readers, please allow me to restate:

#EdTechChat Rocks!

Where Good Ideas Come From... Why EdTechChat, of course!

I realise that this comment might upset or offend some of my other EdChatMod friends, so I better have a pretty solid argument to back this up... And OH BOY DO I! Almost every idea that I am currently working on has some basis in this amazing chat with these amazing people!

For the purposes of brevity  (Hoy! I heard that! "Bloggers" who write long posts have feelings too you know! Anyway... stop interrupting, I'm trying to spin a yarn here!), I'll focus on how recent "Good Ideas" came from EdTechChat.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...

Educators Selling EdTech at EdTechChat

See that list of startups that I like and am happy to do work for, just because I like them...Want to know a secret? Want to know where some of that intuition comes from? Listening to educators!

I joined the opening night of EdTechChat back on 22nd April 2013 and after the 5th week, I got a glimpse of the future... Educators are going to be selling good EdTech themselves.

The Inbound Marketers are 100% correct, cold calling will be dead soon. 

Check Out the Bottom Tweet! "I'm a Salesman... Get me out of here!"
It was during this session the idea of #StartupEduChat came to me

After 5 weeks I downloaded all the Tweets to see how many companies were mentioned. 

40 Companies were mentioned and praised some 4-500 times during this time 

Big Data Tweet Reports
I wanted to see how commonplace this was so went to work again in the hope of "Showing my Friendship First" to both EdChat moderators and suppliers.

I downloaded the Tweets for this same 6 week period with the intention of showing both moderators and companies any trends that I found, but ended up abandoning the task... it was too big. I think there were 200,000 Tweets and 26,000 participants.

In July I did the same with ISTE Tweets and this is where I saw the changes in conferences as well. Myself and fellow data nut Scott Traylor (@360KID), who tried to figure out ways to easier download and interrogate data to identify trends etc. One thing that Scott did identify was that some 30%+ of Tweets were sales based, and that not all delegate comments were positive about vendors methods.

While I left this idea for another day (As I am not a developer), Scott has continued to explore ('Cause he's a smarty pants, who obviously stuck in at schools and can code ;)) and produces sweet tweet report and publishes them on #TweetReport, and I went on to support Nurph because of the potential to collate and curate EdChat Tweets into a central repository.   

From ISTE or Bust... to #Get2ISTE

Then last year in the final chat before ISTE the EdTechChat crew were discussing plans for Tweetups etc and Alex Podchaski (@ajpodchaski; EdChat: Erm, well, Duh! Lol #EdTechChat) said he wasn't going, and I asked why not. The reason was due to costs.

That was it! I put my sales hat on and Tweeted out something like "Any suppliers want to get Alex to ISTE," but to no avail. 

Here's to the crazy one's, the lone nuts who get the party started, but...
Kids hitchhiking isn't safe, tell your teacher to use Pledge Cents instead. 

This actually upset me a great deal, and made me quite angry (As you can tell from the start of #EdChatMod: ISTE or Bust), because if everyone learned as much as I did, then the value is incalculable. Sharing resources, sharing best practice, sharing crazy ideas. preventing burn out.

But I didn't calculate the incalculable I worked out the hourly rate. What ever way you look at I think the tone of my initial post demonstrates my outrage at this. I can't wait until we have a;

No Teacher Left Behind 

So a lot of what people have been discussing recently has been a result of #EdTechChat

• EdTech services being adopted without any sales calls
• Helping to demonstrate what a great data rich source that EdChats are
• Seeing that educator/EdTech supplier relations could be better
• That hard working EdChat Moderators who spend so much time on their chats can miss out on ISTE Tweet ups due to costs.

So that's why #EdTechChat is at the heart of my Twitter experiences. I have not joined the chat for a few months, and here's is why: The chat has given me a back log of ideas that I am researching and working on.

The first year and a half has given me THE BEST possible road map of "Where the puck will land" as Wayne Gretzky would say...And I can guarantee you that it's The Road Less Travelled... And EdTechChat has made all the difference. I am not attending many chats because, as Susan Cain would put it, I have 

"Gone to the wilderness. like Buddha (Erm, well... maybe not that part?), have your own revelations. I'm not saying that we all have to now go off and build our own cabins in the woods and never talk to each other again, but I am saying that we could all stand to unplug and get inside our own heads a little more often" Power of the Introverts, Ted Talk 

During the 1st year anniversary of #EdTechChat I noticed a DM from Sharon LePage Plante (@iplante, who has the best blog post ever: What if SatChat Started a School), to see if I could join their Google Hangout Session. I was so honoured to be asked to jump on, and was the only person with a commercial background on the panel. I will never take the educator communities hospitality like this for granted! I am so grateful for the time they spend indulging me with my crazy ideas, and random tweets and blog posts.

Education suppliers, if you listen to the education community and have a genuine desire to collaborate with them, they will welcome you with open arms. That has certainly been my experiences, and I'm not the only one.

Suppliers check out what is being said about @PledgeCents and #Get2ISTE

ClassDojo

During those first 5 weeks of EdTechChat and curating 6 weeks worth of chat data, while the intended research was never finished, there was one company that stood out and there are no prizes for guessing who it is, I'm afraid.

 

Founded in 2011 universally loved by educators, a phenomenal rate of growth, the founders are amongst Forbes' "Top 30 under 30 in Education," all this and only ever spent $5,000 on Marketing, check out this article One Billion Points for Class Dojo, which is 100% proof of Product-Market Fit transforming a startups trajectory. 

"Many startups never achieve the elusive "Product-Market Fit." Once found, Product-Market Fit transforms a startups trajectory. Before a company finds Product-Market Fit, nearly everything the company does (or should do) is about the search for product market fit. After the company finds it, everything is about scaling: ramping up operations to accommodate a rising number of users."

And guess what, they are Twitter chat addicts! Not only are they constantly asked to guest moderate chats, but they are always more than happy to oblige. In addition to this they have not one, not two... but three EdChats they host themselves DojoChat, DojoChatEU, DojoChatANZ

I have written 4 or 5 posts in support of ClassDojo and the guys know that there is a standing offer of me helping out any time they like... But I think they'll be OK without me because they have the very best sales team on the job: Educators and an army of evangilists and fans. ClassDojo, the Apple of EdTech? Discuss.

How I Met Your Awesomeness: Pledge Cents

I have a list of startups that I really like. I like them either because of the culture or because of the problem they are trying to solve. I have never spoken to most of these companies and most don't know that I like them.

These companies also don't know that I put a lot of time into exploring some ideas, and carry out some due diligence to see if these ideas are viable and would definitely be of value to them... before I get in touch with them.

The research for some of these ideas can take months, but the research around why I like the startup might appear to be arbitrary, it's an "at a glance" first impression.

Why on earth would anyone have this weird approach? I hear you ask. It's a story about the able Vs the incompetent. This post is about how I found out that Pledge Cents was in the "Able" camp.

Able EdTech Vs Incompetent
In Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" (Yes I know, the Marmite of literature, you either love it or hate it) which;

"Chronicles the struggles of the innovative architect Howard Roark in his effort to achieve success on his own terms"

A contract for an affordable housing project, Corlandt, comes up and Roark is the only person who can do it on budget... But isn't exactly what you'd call "A people person," unlike his charasmatic and popular former classmate. Here's the conversation between Roark and Keating;

Roark: I like to receive money for my work. But I can pass that up this time. I like to have people know my work is done by me. But I can pass that up. I like to have tenants made happy by my work. But that doesn't matter too much. The only thing that matters, my goal, my reward, my beginning, my end is the work itself. My work done my way. There's nothing in the world you can offer me, except this. Offer me this and you can have anything I've got to give. My work done my way. That's the only way I function.

...I'll design Corlandt. You'll put your name on it. You'll keep all the fees. But you'll guarentee that it will be built exactly as I design it... And this will be very difficult, because it's such a large project. Most particularly because it's a government project. There will be so many people involved, each with authority, each wanting to exercise it in some way or another. You'll have to battle hard. You will have to have the courage of my convictions.

You'll have to devise you're own way of accomplishing this. You'll have to... fight every bureaucrat that comes along every 5 minutes for the next year or more.

Keating: Everybody would say you're a fool... Everybody would say I'm getting everything"

Roark: "You'll get everything society can give a man. You'll keep all the money. You'll take any fame or honour anyone might want to grant. You'll accept gratitude as the tenants might feel"

Keating: "You're getting more than I am, Howard"

Roark: "Peter, you understand that?"

Keating: "Yes"

"This is my idea of co-operation, by the way. You'll handle the people. I'll do the building. We'll each do the job we know best, as honestly as we can." 

I would rather work on EdTech that works and delivers value for free than bring bad products into the classroom. However, my experience prevents me getting paid employment with the good products; and wanting to do things, not so much on "My own terms," but a refusal to do things on terms that involve ineffective products and use methods that annoy educators.

One of my faviourite quotes in The Fountainhead is when we are introduced to Roarks best friend, Mike, who accompanies our hero on his journey. A journey that's made difficult because Roark refuses to compromise his integrity. Mike is introduced to us in this way;

"He worshipped expertness of any kind. He loved his work passionately and had no tolerance for anything save for other single-track devotions. He was a master in his own field and felt no sympathy except for mastery. His view of the world was simple: there were the able and there were the incompetent; he was not concerned with the latter.

I've been paid for selling EdTech that, while it was not incompetent in itself, the CEO and the culture he established was... and products that started out as being promising, followed the leaders example. Would you believe that one of these startups was developing desktop apps before Apple was? #MissedOpportunity.

After spending 13 years at 2 startups that failed to live up to their potential, am I careful not to waste my time on poor, or "samey" products.I was unhappy with the culture, product and sales methods (But there are not TOO many EdTech companies that have a "No poor products. No bad culture. No cold calling" policy you know). There are some, but they were out of reach given my experience.

While I was aware of "InBound Marketing," "Social Selling" and "Community Management" I didn't have any skills AT ALL in these areas... never mind being competent enough to attract the attention of the best suppliers.

Show Your Friendship First
I read a BRILLIANT article by Dave Kerpen called "Always Show Your Friendship First," this was soon followed by one of my faviourite books "Give and Take" by Adam Grant, where I found out about Adam Rifkind (@IfindKarma) and how The Worlds Best Networker Makes Introductions

I was hooked! So hooked that I tried it! The first attempt failed miserably "Collaboration in Edu: How can I help you Acheive Your Goals," another idea where the timing wasn't right... But it sure does look promising now! In fact I hope that the timing is perfect! So perfect that educators will maybe help @PledgeCents "Cross the Chasm" by 8pm tonight after #EdTechBridge.

Nothing is impossible!
Educators rallied round to #SavedShelf

I have "Shown my Friendship first" with supporting #UKFEChat, #EdTechBridge, curating EdChat Information, supporting EdShelf and Nurph, I asked if they wanted some help, they accepted and we collaborated for a while. Despite not making any money with any of this, I have been very well rewarded all the same.

So I would rather work for free for companies that I can see the value in. I want to be associated with the able. Not the incompetent.

So what's my criteria for the able? I am in the Peter Drucker and Bill Aulet camp that Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast.

People in this camp think that a great team with a bad product is better than a great product with a bad team. The bad team will squander any advantage they have and, at the same time, the great team will very quickly realise that their product is bad and address whatever needs fixed.

How I met Your Awesome: Pledge Cents   
I've known about Pledge Cents for a while and do you know what clinched it for me? Do you know what put them on my radar? This video was all the research I did initially to decide "I like these guys," and liked them enough to put 2 months of work in without the company knowing.

Watch the video and see if you can see what I saw:

Spot the Difference? What makes this video different from other EdTech orgs?

Did you spot it? Yes? No? Need a clue? Whose pitching the company? Not the CEO like some EdTech companies. The founders are nowhere to be seen!

The kids are front and center! For the entire duration of the video! That says something about the culture of the organisation (ie We're here for the kids, these are our users). That and, for me, there was something genuine about the story, it was created with passion... But that was just a hunch, I just had a fuzzy feeling (How unbusiness like, fuzzy feelings?!).

Meeting Across a Crowded Chat
The co-founder of Pledge Cents, Andyshea Saberioon (@AndysheaSabco), was in attendance at #EdTechBridge's #SXSWEdu 1st anniversary celebrations and, I did something I don't usually do... I broke my cover early and I tweeted out something like

 "Oh hey there, I've spotted an area where you guys might be able to fulfil a need"

Andyshea was intrigued to know more, I told him that it would be months before the due diligence was finished and before the project would be ready to be tested or rolled out. But he asked if we could arrange a skype call anyway.

We had a discussion and I told him what I was up to, how I hoped to help, and gave some timescales (ie Months and months of research away?!).

The Kind of Culture that Give you Goosebumps!

I also found out a little bit about Pledge Cents, here's two things that excited me... SO MUCH!

1) The company spent 8 months working on the initial pilot before scaling and getting more schools signed up. ie They made sure that the product worked, debugged any issues and got educator feedback before deciding to grow. How important is this?

"Many startups never achieve the elusive "Product-Market Fit." Once found, Product-Market Fit transforms a startups trajectory. Before a company finds Product-Market Fit, nearly everything the company does (or should do) is about the search for product market fit. After the company finds it, everything is about scaling: ramping up operations to accomodate a rising number of users."
 
“Most entrepreneurs start with a thesis and believe that if they build X, then Y will happen. More often than not, their thesis is incorrect. The best thing tech suppliers can do during the planning stages is to work closely with potential customers in their target market” David Feinleib

Growing before you have found product market fit is a recipe for DISASTER!

Here is some advice on this, all of which is included in my

"EdTech Report: Developing Relations and Delivering Value"

(This is not my advice but taking Bill Aulet, Geoffrey Moore, Davd Feinleib and Doug Edward advice from their books and applying it to UK Further Education)

• "You cannot fake “product-market fit”. To be successful suppliers have to build something people want…and supply products that match expectations. If a product seems undifferentiated people will simply go for the lowest price" David Feinleib
• "Many start-ups ramp up sales before the product is ready. Some spend too much time on technology. Others build without getting customer feedback" David Feinleib
• The number-one cause of start-up failure is premature scaling” Start-up Genome Project

When I spoke to Andyshea you could tell they had done their due diligence because he had an answer for every "Ah, but... What if" question I could throw at him.

Holy Cow Batman! KIPP Advise You?!
My number one all time best piece of advice about what technology in education should do is from KIPP Co-Founder, Mike Feinberg;

"Great teaching and more of it"

Technology should either free up educators time with admin etc so they can be in the classroom for longer, or it should facilitate students to learn outside of the classroom.

BAM! That definition nails it! Can you tell that someone with this view of technology advises Pledge Cents?

How much time can, could, would and is (Try saying that fast) saved if a students educator isn't worrying about having the funds available... whether for little bits and bobs for an extra-curricular activity or something bigger? What about the nervous energy that this service could remove worrying about budgets... it gives individual educators control over classroom finances where, previously, they had none.

So when this idea of thanking EdChat Moderators for their time and brands supporting EdChatMods with ISTE costs to a crowdfunding model, as far as I was concerned, there was only one company to get in touch with!

#EdTechBridge: You have the Power to Change the EdTech World... You Really Do.

Tonight EdTechBridge will dictate whether we decide to:
 Stay with "What is" or Choose to go with "What Could Be"

There is one extremely important thing when trying to get buy in and momentum for any product or idea: "Social Proof"

"No leader can hope to persuade, regularly and single handedly, all the members of the group. A forceful leader can reasonably expect, however, to persuade some sizable portion of group members. Then the raw information that a substantial number of group members has been convinced can, by itself, convince the rest. Thus the most influential leaders are those who know how to arrange group conditions to allow the principle of social proof to work maximally in their favour" Robert Cialdini

This post is again my attempt to "Take the raw information" to see if I can convince "A substantial number of group members, so that the people who like this share the post with their PLN and turn tonight's chat into a party not just a handful of crazy people chatting about unrealistic ideas (No offence meant about the chat, but a reference to the "Lone Nuts" in the video below).

I have spent 3 years being a "Lone Nut," and it's not a great place to be. I've worked at two struggling startups, one of which saw 20 dedicated hard working members of staff, including myself lose their jobs, because the CEO demonstrated poor leadership (Which saw the company go through Jim Collins "5 stages of decline).

Pledge to Join Us... You Know it Makes Cents!
So that's me done. That's why I think that Pledge Cents is awesome and deserves some support. Now, if I have done any kind of job of telling a compelling story then tonight, I hope you will do a couple of favours for EdTechBridge, EdChat moderators and a fantastic startup;

1) Tell everyone to join #EdTechBridge... and by everyone in your network I mean everyone! educators, suppliers, parents, students, your gran and the dog!

2) Open a Pledge Cents account www.pledgecents.com/signup

3) Create a campign to thank someone who has gone above and beyond, by all means EdChat Moderators so we can get them to ISTE, but anyone else as well.

Or, if you are reading this after tonight's chat, check the Chat Archive, and follow the chat at #Get2ISTE

If you can do this and turn this particular EdChat and the general chatter on Twitter from a few "Lone Nuts," to everyone discussing it I guarentee there will be changes with Edu/EdTech relations, as well as in a number of others ways.

Don't believe me? OK, let's do it another way... For the sake of a RT and 1hr 10min of your time  (1 hour for the chat, 10 mins to open a Pledge Cents account and a Thank You campaign), what have you got to lose.

Here's what could happen? It could do the same as the best EdTech does;

"Great Teaching and more of it"

Because you doing this will save educators and Pledge cents on some unnecessary time being wasted by removing the need to make and received sales calls. This will leave both our educators and Pledge Cents staff to get on with the great work that they do. I'm sure that's something we can all get behind... Less sales calls. And it just might make one of Andyshea's advisers day ;).

Do you think you could help a startup grow so fast that they never need to make a sales call to you? Don't believe that it's possible? It's already happened once... Let's build on Nikki Robertson's work and do it again. Let's get the PledgeCents & "ISTE, not bust" party started.

Geoffrey Moore is author of "Crossing the Chasm" and this video highlights very well what impact "Social Proof" can have with getting the party started

Let's get the party started! #EdTechBridge 7pm. RSVP with a RT

Oh, and by the way, as for "Showing your friendship first" do you think I might be in a better position to get advice from Mike Feinberg in the future?

Do you think I'm in a more "Able" position to work with any companies with a "No bad culture, and No cold calling" policy? Do yourself a favour... and do someone else a "5min Favour"

A Pledge: Get Nikki To ISTE (#GetNikki2ISTE)

NB For those of you who have been following this ongoing discussion on my blog and are not in the mood for another essay, and want the short version please see: You Are Invited to Change EdTech… Like Nikki Robertson Did 

The interest in finding support for EdChat Moderators, podcasters and other educators who host weekly/monthly sessions and share best practice, has been extremely well received by all stakeholders. This is my fourth, final and, in my opinion, the most compelling argument in favour of this idea.

With four posts on the same topic it might seem to some educators that I am trying to force this idea a little now. This is not the case. I have listened to the educators in my PLN and any educators who come back to me with feedback. All input has been positive so I've continued to explore the idea.

But this idea is unchanged from 10 months ago, when I first suggested it. The only thing that is different is that "Group conditions has put 'social proof' in favour of the idea," which translates as Nikki's work was unobjectionable. Last year the detractors were the most vocal group, this time the proponents have been more prominent... So what now?.

It is time to ask, is this just "An interesting idea" but not interesting enough to do anything about? Do we leave it to others to explore? Just be an impartial observer and see what happens? Or does everyone pitch in and help out? Would you get involved if it only took you 5 mins to make a big difference? Here's my last and best attempt at;

"Taking the raw information to see if a substantial number of group members can be convinced enough to take action" Robert Cialdini

While I have continued to explore this, am actually impartial either way, I have a ton of other ideas to explore... and this one has already failed the stress test once before. Will it again? It's over to others after this post:

Feedback

All feedback has been positive about the idea. However, I have heard some examples that makes the original proposal ie brands that educators like supporting educators financially so they can go to ISTE, problematic. Here are three examples.

Nikki
Nikki Robertson (@NikkiDRobertson; EdChat: #TLChat) helped a startup who had no presence within the education community to become well known because she liked the services so much. Her evangelising was so effective that the organisation just might never need a sales person in education, as a result.

However, this is a startup she helped so may not be in a position to cover the costs. Nikki has had such a big impact on me that I simply must #GetNikki2ISTE, but I'm not even a startup... still trying to iterating my way to "Product Market Fit" (2 years and counting. Sigh). So I need some alternative options.

Louise

Louise Morgan (@MrsMorgansClass; EdChat: 2ndChat) has also demo'd products for startups and, while she thought that getting costs to ISTE covered by these companies was a good idea, she did not feel that any one of them had the money to pay $1-2,000. Oh! The life of a startup founder!

An Amazing Global Edu Race: Get Craig to ISTE

The solution I thought up for this has its origins as a throw away comment that turned into a "Big Audacious Goal" of getting a Moderator who is based in Singapore to ISTE (See An Amazing Global Edu Race: Get Craig to ISTE).

It turns out that this solution could also work for Nikki, Louise and any educator who did't like the idea of involving brands. Let's just do some crowd funding for these hard working moderators! This way anyone can contribute any amount: EdChat Participants and regulars, brands, schools contributing PD budgets, Superintendents to thank educators for going above and beyond.

On Pledge Cents website they say they are "An Educators quick and easy solution to classroom funding" sounds ideal for this kind of thing... and, just like Nikki did with Nurph, educators would be helping a startup.

But there is a huge barrier with this entire concept, the recipient most probably wouldn't open an account. They won't ask for, or accept, help. So what do we do? Give up? Have this sales person force the issue further? Nope, I think I'll take ISTE keynote speaker, Adam Bellow's advice;

"Acknowledge these are challenges and then see them as opportunities... that's what a Start up would do. It's a challenge... and we're going to over come it. 

And here's how... because we can continue to build the world that we want and we need, because nothing is impossible. Adam Bellow. ISTE2013 Keynote

Problem: Educators are "Selfless Givers" and don't like asking for help.

Solution: The people they support in chats also happen to be "selfless givers"

Both will want to collect on behalf of the other person and, if it can't be resolved, there may be a "Selfless Giver Stand Off" Stalemate! So we simply give any money generated to the moderators' class. 

We can Continue to Build the World we Want

Adam Bellow's keynote invited you to change the world. Well I want to see a world with decent EdTech in our classrooms. I want a world where educators spend less time on pointless calls for tech that clearly isn't fit for purpose, as it has to be "Sold" not "Bought"

I have a reasonable idea on how to do this, but it will involve a world that sees suppliers and educators on the same side! I also want educators to help with the sales efforts of companies who do great work, and sales people to be valued collaborators... And when I watched ISTE two years ago I was told nothing is impossible.

Selfless Givers

Selfless givers don't ask for help, they can be unlikely to accept help when it's offered, they prefer to constantly play the role of the "giver." Obviously this is commendable... but it can also be lead to burnout. Does anyone who has been to ISTE think that this would be a potential cure for this? A chance to recharge the batteries and get energised by spending time with like minded people?

Moderators may like the sound of an "ISTE not bust" idea, and may even recommend other moderators to try it, but if my hunch is right... few will instigate this themselves.

So, as a salesman, what do I do? Look to remove the objection. How?

Simply bypass the decision maker and make the appeal to other selfless giver's in their PLN and present the idea to them instead! But how do I reach them? Cold Calling? Nah! It's too annoying and time consuming, and I wouldn't be able to find the "early adopters"?

Social Proof

This is my 4th post on this idea so I'm starting to feel meddlesome, and it's becoming time consuming too! I write about these crazy ideas, but I don't actually expect anyone to take them seriously! So I am now behind schedule with my crazy idea quota! Thanks a lot Nikki! Giving me all this extra work!

Lol ;)

OK, so what's the difference between this idea 10 months ago and today? Only one thing, other people got behind it. Nikki might not realise this but, by removing every objection possible, she "arranged group conditions" to a favour position.

"No leader can hope to persuade, regularly and single handedly, all the members of the group. A forceful leader can reasonably expect, however, to persuade some sizable portion of group members. Then the raw information that a substantial number of group members has been convinced can, by itself, convince the rest. Thus the most influential leaders are those who know how to arrange group conditions to allow the principle of social proof to work maximally in their favour" Robert Cialdini

Nikki did all the selling while I sat back and relaxed until the "raw information" was there, then I tried "to convince a substantial number of people" with the best "value proposition" possible (And it sure did beat cold calling! I had my feet on the desk while Nikki was out pounding the pavement).

Now, can we arrange "group conditions" for a second time so every moderator gets behind this? That's some "ask" you know! They are just too selfless. But, hang on a minute... what if, what if... We wrote to moderators and reminded them of the early says of their chat? And if that doesn't work, we can send a note to the chat regulars.

Dear Moderator,

Do you remember those early days of the chat? Remember how it was just 3 of you chatting amongst yourselves for an hour every week? It felt like pulling teeth some days, didn't it?

Can you imagine how much worse those lonely chats would have been without those "First Followers" who, Geoffrey Moore would argue, is just as important as you were with gaining momentum. We get an idea of this via the fact that almost 100 EdChats have been abandoned... Could this have been your chat without him/her?

EdChat Moderators where would you're chat be without that loyal, invaluable 1st Follower?
Arrange a Pledge Cents account for them to go to ISTE if you don't want to

How about you subscribe to this idea, but let one of your first follower(s) go to ISTE? Yes? No? OK, Plan B.

Dear EdChat Regular

I have a bit of a challenge, your moderator(s) has/have selflessly given up their time each week/month to help support their community. The time and value of what they do cannot be underestimated, here are two examples, one around impact and one regarding the value of the free time they give up over the course of the year.

Twitter EdChat Sessions - Chat or Change?

EdChat Moderator: ISTE or Bust

We'd like to reward your moderator for their hard work by contributing towards their trip to ISTE. We would also like him/her to be there so we can help drive the Connected Educator agenda forward by getting as many EdChat Moderators in the same place as the same time, for an EdChatMod Tweetup, where we will share best practice, lessons learnt over the last 12 months and discuss some ideas for the year ahead.

However... We understand that costs are an issue for some moderators, and they are so selfless that they would rather stay at home, than explore some interesting ideas to help raise the funds to get them here. So I was wondering if you might help us out with...

A Pledge to do us a "5 Minute Favour" 

We would appreciate it if you could open a Pledge Cents account (If you don't already have one... I know a lot of educators do), and open an campaign to send your moderator to ISTE...then share this with other regulars of the chat (Might want to do this without your moderator knowing, it's an #ISTE2015Pledge black op).

We have no idea if this will or won't work but, if it does there may be a chance that your moderator won't accept the funds raised for ISTE. In that case we will;

1) Ask the Moderator if he/she would like to nominate co-Moderators or regular participant

2) If neither accept any funds for an ISTE trip any money raised will be donated to the moderator(s) class(es)

I wanted to find a way of acknowledging EdChat moderators contribution... but I'm a rubbish salesperson! An educator has outshone me with her sales ability recently... So I thought you might be able to help we with this sales challenge too.

Oh and, just like Nikki did, if you were able to do this favour, you would also be helping a startup, who has been doing good work, to reach more educators too... Do you feel like helping Pledge Cents in the same way Nikki helped Nurph?

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EdTechBridge Favour
Mr Isaacs, I wonder if I might be able to ask yet another favour. I would like to see if this crowd funding idea can get Nikki to ISTE. 

I'm not an educator so I would not be able to open a Pledge Cents account for her, please could you do this and, as you have connections within education and education suppliers, any chance you could raise awareness by making people aware of a #GetNikki2ISTE hastag that I've used when sharing this post?

I know that educators were extremely generous to EdShelf when Alicia Lenoard put in an "ask"... So I hope your EdTech supplier contacts will be equally as supportive with this. 

Also, I am not sure how convincing an argument I've put forward for individual chats to get behind this.Therefore, maybe you could organise a second Pledge Cents account, and collect money for some sort of #ISTE2015Pledge fund centrally. This way you could share any contributions raised with any moderators who are struggling with the costs?

You're Invited to Change the World

I wasn't at ISTE13 but I was mesmorised by Adam Bellow's Keynote, were you there? No? Couldn't afford it, huh? Can you imagine being there live? The energy? Wow!

Well I've done all I can with all this ISTE fund thing, I've put my best sales argument forward for why it's a good idea and have tried to address any objections. I've used all the wiley sales psychology I know.

So, if these selfless giving educators still don't want any help to get to ISTE, maybe the timing just isn't right. Did I mention I was quite patient and won't force any ideas? As I've mentioned, this is the 4th ISTE post now and that feels to me like I'm being a bit of a "pushy salesman".

So, I've one last thing to do. I am going to exercise some poor social media etiquette by "hashtag bombing" some EdChats, with a sales Tweet to see if EdChat regulars will get behind this. Then I'm off to focus on some of other crazy ideas, one of which involves some research and transcribing Adams Bellow's ISTE Keynote. Want to compare what I have transcribed so far, then compare it with what I have done to get support for this idea?

"There's an army here... The people in your social networks and your personal networks will be your allies" Let's take a risk and use some humour here, shall we? 

1297 Fighting Educator:"This is our army, to join it you must be a teacher"

Rebellious Salesman:"I give homage to students and "Common Cents", and if this is your army, why does it go"

1297 Fighting Educator: We didn't come to EdChats to talk to sales people

1297 Fighting Educator: "Go home you only care about pounds and pennies!"

Rebellious Salesman: "Sons of EdChats... I am a salesman!

1297 Fighting Educator: "Salesmen are smooth and smarmy"

Rebellious Salesman: "Yes I've heard, and pockets commission in the $100s, and if he were here he could sell Pearsons PARCC tests to you! I AM A SALESMAN! And I see a whole army of educators here on Twitter, will you help?

Nothing is impossible. Know where to ask for help, go to that personal learning network. Nikki Robertson has signposted how much of the impossible, is now possible. I've asked for help to build on this.

...over the last few days hopefully you've been able to meet, greet and grow those networks of people. Not if you were not there because you couldn't afford it, you didn't... 

Listen to people who not only agree with you but challenge you as well. I challenge you to come back with any objections you have about any of these posts or this idea.

Because I think that personal learning networks are great that way, you can accomplish anything. If you don't know how to do something at your school, Tweet it out, ask for help. I did but they didn't help!

Tom Whiby says that 200,000 people are on Twitter, active educators, so that's a lot of people, guys. (*Sound of Calculator* $10 X 200,000/ ISTE Costs = WOW!) 

There's power and safety in numbers ... you can tweet almost to anybody, but get out of the echo chamber, we have to leave the echo chamber we can't just talk to ourselves we need to collaborate. (CooWee... Over here, no we're infectious, we're just sales people)

In the real world cheating is called collaboration...You are only as valuable as the people you are connected to. What will we do with this potential, the we, the us. (Right all you lovely educator connections... How valuable are ya? Let's see the colour of your money! What? You're educators and you've no money? Well what value is that to a greedy commission obsessed salesman? ;) Could you reach out to any suppliers who have got loads of money