Tuesday 25 August 2015

A Little Empathy Goes a Long Way: Miami Device Conference

Miami Device PD Crowdfund
As I was involved with the #Get2ISTE initiative, I have been watching the Miami Device campaign with interest. I notice that the goal fund has not moved much and that, as with ISTE contributions, most of the donors are fellow educators... a group who already contribute £7 billion of unpaid over time a year in the UK and in the US educators spend $400 on school supplies out of their own money.

Can Crowdfunding Pay for Educators PD? 
I also suggested prior to ISTE that the concept of Crowdfunding paying for educators PD is far from a viable idea, and that a little sales hustle was required: Get2ISTE2016 Ways to Get Support During ISTE2015

I have done something that I don't do too often these days, I've just sent a mass update out. The group I sent this to are education suppliers and the aim of the update is in the hope of helping both groups suppliers and educators by detailing some of my experiences.

What will the result of this be? Probably a whole bunch of bouncebacks and a handful of unsubscribes... But that's kind of OK because;

1) I have some sales experience so am used to the rejection, and

2) If the information is unwelcome it might facilitate some discussions about sales in EdTech, both the importance of sales, and to discuss why cold calling is dead and/or to demonstrate that the communications we send out we see as useful and informative, but the information we receive we can tend to see as junk mail.

So whether a welcome update... or junk mail where people request to be unsubscribed, hopefully there will be some useful outcomes either way.  
Dear Vendor

You may recall that I emailed details about #Get2ISTE after Kharima Richards asked if I’d share details of her cause. It was great to see Kharima feature in the #ISTE keynote in her #Get2ISTE T-shirt. 

I notice that Miami Device has organized something similar to this, and are looking to raise $6,000 to get 10 educators to the event.

Out with a few unsubscribes there wasn’t a huge reaction from suppliers regarding this alternative form of support for educators prior to ISTE, despite the interest from educators with this. I wondered if highlighting my experiences with alternative approaches might be of some benefit to educators who are looking for support, as well as for suppliers.

Its 12 months since I wrote a post in support of EdShelf, an experience that has led to the development of a variety of new skills and opportunities for me. I have taken a moment to detail what these opportunities are, and how they came about: EdShelf 12 Months Later – A Little Empathy Goes a Long Way.

In the event that any suppliers find this post or my experiences of any value, I would welcome them to contribute to Miami Device’s crowdfund Campaign.

Alternatively, if this update is in no way informative, it might be worth taking a moment to consider some recent posts from Intercom and EdWeek.
Intercom specializes on Customer Communications and, as far as I can see the communication from educators on the kind of conference support they’re looking for appears to me to be quite clear. 


As always, I hope you have found this update useful. If there is anything I can do to assist you with any of your current projects please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Kind Regards

William

Website:              http://www.Tech-Stories.co.uk
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http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/william-jenkins/27/555/169/
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Blog:                    http://edutechstories.blogspot.co.uk/

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