Strike while the iron is hot

For your next presentation, consider using this tactic to keep people involved with LEARN NC.

On Tuesday, Emily and I presented some LEARN NC resources to Wake County middle and high school teachers. They were a receptive bunch, and our resources went over well. In addition to handing out flyers and lanyards, we passed around an email sign-up sheet so people could sign up for email updates (we put our names and email addresses on the sheet so they could see how to fill out the form, as well as so they could see our email addresses). They could choose to receive updates for general LEARN NC news, as well as professional development updates. After the presentation, we sent an email listing links to all the resources we talked about (Digital Textbook, standard course of study, Instructify, PD) plus a few we didn’t have time for (DiscoverNC, The First Year, Ed Reference).

If you’re underwhelmed by our strategy, I don’t blame you. A clipboard and a pen (even a snazzy LEARN NC pen) are as low-tech as it gets. Besides, folks can sign up for email updates very easily from the LEARN NC website. So why bother?

In my opinion, when asking people to take action, no matter how simple it is, your odds of success are inversely proportional to the number of barriers in their way. While someone can easily go to the site and sign up, they can just as easily decide to check their email instead. Or maybe they’ll visit the site and forget to sign up. Or they can’t find the email updates link (I confess I often miss things right in front of me). Or maybe all the enthusiasm they built up during the presentation has been overwhelmed by test scores, grading and lunch duty. Putting a sign-up sheet and pen in their hands right there and then removes all potential distractions or avenues for procrastination. If they’re not interested, they pass the clipboard along, no harm done. If they are interested, they sign up, and we don’t have to worry that any potential LEARNatics slid off the hook.

Further, sending a follow-up email gives them a direct line to the people they talked to, in case they have questions or ideas. Sure, we had business cards ready during the presentation. But are you more likely to type in the email address of a speaker who gave out a business card, or hit “reply” to an email from the friendly presenter who reminded you of the URL to that neat Digital Textbook project?

In case you’re wondering, we got 23 signatures — roughly one-third of the attendees — all but two of whom signed up for both general updates and professional development updates. I honestly don’t know if that’s a lot, but I’d bet you 11 American dollars that’s at least double what we would have gotten had we just asked them to sign up at the website later.

It’s possible, of course, that all of these folks will unsubscribe once they get their first email from us. It’s also possible — even likely — that at least a few will forward some of the information on to a friend who they think could benefit from it. Remember, each person we speak to is a potential LEARN NC evangelist, and I’m all for making it as easy as possible for them to spread the word to their friends. For them to do that, though, they first have to be excited about what we do. And if they’re new to LEARN NC, the time when they’re most excited is moments after we’ve just shown them all the great stuff we can do. Why risk letting that enthusiasm fade away? Sign them up on the spot so we can keep them in the loop.