Seminar - Tutor/Mentor Connection2024-03-29T06:55:09Zhttp://tutormentorconnection.ning.com/forum/topics/seminar-1?groupUrl=cktmc&feed=yes&xn_auth=noThe Seminar that Rack attende…tag:tutormentorconnection.ning.com,2009-02-05:783429:Comment:51902009-02-05T15:16:26.000ZDaniel Bassillhttp://tutormentorconnection.ning.com/profile/tutormentor
The Seminar that Rack attended was hosted by Metrist Partners, led by Avery Cohen.<br />
<br />
Avery and Ken Novak, another member of Metrist Partners, have been involved with the Tutor/Mentor Connection since 1998 when they helped create a zip code map to search for tutor/mentor programs in different parts of the city. Ken Novak and Dan Bassill worked together at Montgomery Ward between 1980 and 1990.<br />
<br />
The meeting the Rack refers to was the result of Dan reading an article that Avery had posted about the…
The Seminar that Rack attended was hosted by Metrist Partners, led by Avery Cohen.<br />
<br />
Avery and Ken Novak, another member of Metrist Partners, have been involved with the Tutor/Mentor Connection since 1998 when they helped create a zip code map to search for tutor/mentor programs in different parts of the city. Ken Novak and Dan Bassill worked together at Montgomery Ward between 1980 and 1990.<br />
<br />
The meeting the Rack refers to was the result of Dan reading an article that Avery had posted about the Obama Campaign's use of the Internet. Below I've posted the article to share with you and T/MC readers:<br />
<b><br />
Innovation and the Obama Campaign -- Notes from the MIT Enterprise Forum</b><br />
Chicago, Jan 13, 2008, by Avery J. Cohen<br />
<br />
by Avery J. Cohen, <a href="http://www.metristpartners.com">www.metristpartners.com</a><br />
<br />
The MIT Enterprise Forum meeting on January 13 offered two views of<br />
"Innovation and the 2008 Presidential Campaign". Former Obama Campaign<br />
Chief Technology Officer, Kevin Malover, provided the insider's view, while<br />
Steve Rhodes of the Beachwood Reporter provided an unvarnished, sometimes<br />
cynical, reporter's view of the campaign innovations.<br />
<br />
Malover was quick to attribute the true innovation of the Obama Campaign to<br />
the New Media group, which did not report in to the Technology group. He<br />
spoke instead about the innovative leadership of the Obama campaign.<br />
"Campaigns are start-ups. The move quickly and last for a limited<br />
duration." The Obama campaign approached Malover, wanting to run the<br />
campaign "like a business."<br />
<br />
>From the start, the campaign established a collaborative "low drama" work<br />
environment. Malover was asked to create an infrastructure that included<br />
things that one would normally do in business, but were new to politics.<br />
For example, everyone would have a Blackberry. They also wanted to leverage<br />
online tools: social networking, collaborative platforms, video streaming,<br />
and text messaging.<br />
<br />
Malover joined the campaign in February, 2007. They had a month to launch<br />
the social networking platform with solid, scalable email capabilities and<br />
to assemble a team that could expand their ability to grow at the needed<br />
pace. Their success was beyond anything they could have planned for, and<br />
they were able to keep operations running without significant service<br />
failures.<br />
<br />
Steve Rhodes followed the Obama campaign for his online publication, the<br />
Beachwood Reporter, as well as other well-established, more traditional<br />
media publications. He complemented the campaign for delivering a "solid<br />
brand" with "remarkable consistency." There was "no sense of zig-zagging."<br />
He observed that Obama's New Media team "used technology to get closer to<br />
'the customer'".<br />
<br />
Rhodes said that so many web sites end up creating a barrier to the<br />
candidates, while the Obama campaign created the feel that "it's 1 a.m. and<br />
David Plouffe is sending me an email!" They were masters of both the medium<br />
and the message. They used celebrity, media, and advertising to counter any<br />
negative coverage.<br />
<br />
More importantly, they conveyed the sense that "this is your campaign,"<br />
with promotions like "we're going to pick five people to have dinner with<br />
Barack" and allowing supporters to publish dissenting opinions on the Obama<br />
web site's forums. But to Rhodes, this was a "false sense of inclusion."<br />
The Obama campaign talked about "the cynical way Washington insiders sliced<br />
and diced" the electorate, but, Rhodes pointed out, that's exactly what the<br />
Obama campaign did! That's what all politicians do. He gave the example<br />
that Jesse Jackson Jr. has a "war room" in his basement.<br />
<br />
Rhodes' opinion was that, ultimately, the Obama campaign didn't transform<br />
politics or the process, but did apply an innovative use of technology.<br />
<br />
Our research at Metrist Partners into how the Obama campaign used new media<br />
showed many lessons that will be used by candidates for a long time to<br />
come, and can be used by businesses as well.<br />
<br />
As Rhodes observed, the Obama campaign delivered a consistent brand message<br />
and brand experience. The vision for Obama's online campaign can be<br />
expressed as: "Connect with our people and get them to talk to others."<br />
This simple and well-defined vision turned out to be essential to the<br />
success of the campaign. Chicago-based analyst Nate Silver of<br />
FiveThirtyEight.com wrote that for the presidential race, "each 10-point<br />
advantage in contact rate translated into a 3-point gain in the popular<br />
vote...."<br />
<br />
In a way, Rhodes was correct. The strategy followed by the new media team,<br />
as described by Chris Hughes, Facebook co-Founder and member of the Obama<br />
campaign leadership team, "When computer applications really take off, they<br />
take something people have always done and just make it easier for them to<br />
do it, and maybe bigger."<br />
<br />
We describe the campaign's online strategy as "Motivate people and give<br />
them the tools to easily take action." Email was the backbone of the<br />
campaign, providing regular contact between supporters and the campaign.<br />
The emails helped to define the candidate, circulated talking points,<br />
invited participation and donations, followed the news cycle and fought<br />
back quickly against disinformation. It was through the emails that the<br />
Obama campaign did the most to make people feel that they were part of the<br />
campaign..<br />
<br />
The Obama web site functioned as the community center, writ large. The new<br />
media team effectively utilized social media, search, blogs and public<br />
relations. They innovated in the use of mobile text messaging. The "Get Out<br />
the Vote" tools on the Obama web site put hundreds of thousands of people<br />
into action on behalf of the brand while a room full of people did the web<br />
analytics work needed to make a campaign of this scale succeed.<br />
<br />
While Rhodes' cynicism may be well-founded, his concern that the campaign<br />
was not as innovative or authentic as they are generally credited is, in<br />
our opinion, misplaced. The Obama leadership approached the campaign with<br />
clarity of vision and mission and executed flawlessly. Malover's technology<br />
team (and his successors) were nimble in providing an infrastructure that<br />
supported this level of innovation. But it was Obama's new media team that<br />
delivered the "Obama brand experience". Good ideas are one thing. Great<br />
execution creates legends.<br />
<br />
---------------------<br />
Avery J. Cohen<br />
Principal<br />
Metrist Partners<br />
<a href="http://www.Metrist.com">http://www.Metrist.com</a><br />
phone: 847.926.8280<br />
cell: 708.602.3945