The Lottery Effect

The Lottery Effect

This is a guest post written by Mallory Gott MA, CAE, founder + creative director of G+A | An Experiential Design Firm. Mallory has traveled the globe designing amazing experiences for people from all walks of life and across a breadth of industries and specialties. From product and brand repositioning to customer acquisition to organizational cultural restructuring, she helps for-and non-profit clients apply G+A’s proprietary design thinking framework to discover solutions to their seemingly unsolvable problems.  

What would you do if you won the lottery?

The Lottery Effect 

Really, think about it.  What would you do if you learned that you had just won the jackpot, that you were a newly minted multimillionaire?  Most of us could rattle off a series of replies as if we’d been rehearsing them in the mirror each morning for decades.  “Quit my job, travel the world, hire a private chef.” The list could go on ad infinitum.

Now, consider how doing those things would make you feel. Quitting your job? Most likely, that would evoke feelings of freedom and/or cheerfulness.  Traveling the world? Adventurousness, excitement, or giddiness. Hiring a private chef? Calm and relaxation.  

Yes, each of the things we’d dream of doing were we to win the lottery, we dream of doing because we believe they produce for us highly desirable feelings: freedom, excitement, relaxation, etc.  This idea, that solving an unsolvable problem, i.e., winning the lottery, produces specific outcomes, i.e., hiring a private chef, which enables us to experience desired feelings (relaxation) is what we call The Lottery Effect.  Interestingly, The Lottery Effect is not just restricted to fantasizing about the mega millions.

As event creators, we often fall prey to The Lottery Effect. We set ourselves up for disappointment believing the false paradigm that only in solving an unsolvable problem can produce specific outcomes, which in turn evoke the “right” feelings both for attendees and ourselves.  

Without realizing it and even with the best intentions at heart, we design one directionally: solve first, feel next, operating at a disadvantage from the jump.

Case in point, we ask ourselves questions like, “How can I create a virtual event that meets attendees’ needs and successfully replaces a place-based conference?” Upon closer inspection, however, this seemingly innocuous question falls squarely into Lottery Effect territory, sounding, to our unconscious minds, something like this: 

“Once we can convince attendees that we’ve created a virtual event that will meet their needs and they believe will adequately replace our annual conference, we will achieve our registration goals, better satisfaction scores, and an improved bottom line, which will make us feel more secure, confident, and satisfied.” 

Notice any similarities? 

Winning the LotteryVirtual Event
Unsolvable ProblemOnce I win the lotteryOnce I convince attendees that we’ve created a virtual event that will meet their needs and that they believe adequately replaces our annual conference
OutcomesQuit my job
Travel the World
Hire a Private Chef
Ample registration
High attendee satisfaction
Increased revenue
Resultant FeelingsFreedom
Adventure
Relaxation
Confidence
Security
Satisfaction

The Lottery Effect: A W(ere)wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

Although the unsolvable problem questions that comprise the first portion of our Lottery Effect statements almost always seem important and worthwhile, they are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing, or, more accurately, werewolves in sheep’s clothing.  In reality, these seemingly crucial questions create an even more demanding series of implied requirements for success setting us on an extremely narrow path to victory.

When we begin with questions that so narrowly define success, we are forced to identify elusive answers to those questions, silver bullets if you will, as the only means by which we can generate outcomes that will enable us to experience desired feelings. Suddenly, the search for silver bullets, rather than the design of experiences that evoke universally recognizable feelings, drives everything we do. 

In the case of winning the lottery, the question “How do I win the lottery,” and the even more demanding requirements it implies (in order to win the lottery, I must identify the correct sequence of numbers from an enormous array of choices, pick the correct date on which to buy a ticket, and so on) may seem laughable, but when viewed through the lens of virtual event design, they are much more sobering for teams who hadn’t realized the sizeable, self-imposed roadblocks they are navigating. 

From the well-meaning question, “How do we convince attendees that we’ve created a virtual event that will meet their needs and they believe adequately replaces our annual conference,” springs forth a slew of nearly insurmountable, implied obstacles.  The question transforms into this unspoken statement:  

“In order to convince attendees that we’ve created a virtual event that will meet their needs and they believe adequately replaces our annual conference, we must:

  • Accurately identify and prioritize the needs of a wide variety of individuals;
  • Convince that same diverse group that we hold the monopoly on the definition of their needs and can simultaneously fulfill them via a single event;
  • Define “adequate replacement” for a divergent body of stakeholders and garner their universal acceptance of that definition; and 
  • Achieve attendance, revenue, and satisfaction goals.

Many groups never recognize how heavily implied, absolute truths such as these influence their evaluation and prioritization of the design of the million tiny touchpoints that create a virtual event experience.  They unknowingly dilute the potency of a feelings-led design approach, crippling their ability to create experiences which resonate with people on a much deeper level of emotions.   

“We’ve just got to get through this,” becomes a common refrain and rallying cry once the Lottery Effect has created its false binary, which tauntingly jeers, “discover the solution to your unsolvable problem by navigating a difficult obstacle course of implied demands in the hopes that people will connect with what you create…or fail.


The Lottery Effect: You’re Already a Winner

Fortunately, the Lottery Effect problem is far from unsolvable.  In fact, it only requires a paradigm inversion.  In place of a “solve first, feel next” approach, G+A’s 4D experiential design thinking framework employs our unique “feel first, solve next” approach.  What do feelings have to do with virtual event design?  The same thing they have to do with good design of any kind: universality.

When we begin with feelings first, the difficulty, struggle, confusion, and other commonly accepted ‘realities’ inherent to virtual event design fall away.  Why?  Because feelings are universally understood on a level that needs no definition for attendees or producers, effectively creating immediate success and rendering decision-making and evaluation effortless.  

Returning one last time to the quandary, “How do we convince attendees that we’ve created a virtual event that will meet their needs and  they believe adequately replaces our annual conference,” we can see how a feelings-led approach truly shines.

  • In place of trying to convince attendees, we can ask ourselves:
    • Are we confident in the program we’ve produced?
    • Are we confident in our messaging about the program, both tone and content?
    • Are we confident in the level of innovation our program includes?  
  • Instead of grappling with how best to meet attendees’ needs, we can ask ourselves: 
    • Are we secure in our approach to assessing those needs?
    • Are we secure in our efforts to address them?
    • Are we secure in our communication about what we’ve done and why? 
  • In lieu of hoping to create an adequate replacement for an annual conference, we can ask ourselves: 
    • Are we satisfied that we have designed a high-quality virtual event experience that can stand on its own two feet? 
    • Are we satisfied with the experience we created for ourselves as a team while we planned and produced the event?
    • Are we satisfied that we’ve done the best we could, no matter the monetary outcome?

If and when we respond to a feelings-led question in the negative, we need only ask simple follow-ups to regain our footing and move forward confidently: How can we evoke desired feelings as we design this touchpoint?  How can we once again feel first and solve next?   

To learn more about the power of a feelings-led approach to virtual event design, and for an overview of G+A’s 4-step experiential design thinking framework, join Mallory for CommPartners’ next webinar Virtual Event Design Gotcha Flummoxed? Stop Thinking, Start Feeling, Design Differently on 11/18 at 1 p.m. EDT.

Click here to receive experimental design updates and upcoming learning opportunities from G+A and CommPartners.  

Are you interested in receiving experimental design updates and upcoming learning opportunities from GA and CommPartners?
Learning Strategies for New Members: Onboarding

Learning Strategies for New Members: Onboarding

This is a guest post written by Tracy King, CAE. As CEO of InspirEd, Tracy King leverages her more than 20 years in workforce development consulting with organizations on education strategy and learning design. Tracy is the author of Competitive Advantage: Create Continuing Education that is Profitable, Sustainable and Impactful, and she advises on how to grow reliably profitable and sustainable continuing education programs that transform learners. Tracy specializes in the intersection of learning science and technology. She’s a thought leader, invited speaker, master learning designer and DELP Scholar. Her work has been featured on NBC, ABC, FOX, USA Today, The Star Tribune and hundreds of nationally-syndicated television, newspaper, and magazine outlets. Tracy is a contributor to Microlearning in the Digital Age: The Design and Delivery of Learning in Snippets forthcoming by Routledge, Taylor & Francis group.

Meeting this moment has inspired so many organizations to embrace virtual and digital learning to connect with members and constituents in new ways. While the appetite for innovation is whet, consider these ideas for attracting and engaging new members.

While the membership packet of old has seen several upgrades, now is the perfect time to leverage your LMS for exciting opportunities to connect new members to all you offer. Online member onboarding is timely not only for our current virtually mediated moment but popular with younger professionals who want to explore – and revisit – resources at their point of need. Live webinars are not typically the best format when Zoomed-out professionals are looking for excuses to decline screen meetings.

Consider creating a choose-your-own-adventure style onboarding in your LMS aligning your organization’s services with new members’ greatest needs. Steer clear of bullet-list descriptions and lengthy presentations and instead opt for mobile-friendly storytelling.  Collect brief member videos, each representing a constituency in your membership, as well as highlighting one key value proposition that tells the story of your association’s character and relevance. We really want our new members to see themselves in these stories, so they are inspired to engage. Next, present your benefits as answers to challenges, creating clear and clickable access to get started. Finally, showcase how new members can find a home within the network of professionals you represent. Consider how you can ensure a new member receives a personal, colleague-member outreach call or an invitation to a networking event, even if that’s a live chat in your LMS or texting with a Board Member within the first month of membership to welcome them to the community.

One more tip: Always recommend a next step. Each learning opportunity should end with a call to action to join you in another program.

 

 

Wins
  • Introduce your organization immediately upon member sign up – no waiting for the next webinar orientation presentation
  • Easily accessible point of need member resources giving new members a comfortable launch pad for exploring all you offer
  • A natural introduction to all the member-only goodies in your LMS

 

It doesn’t stop here. Tracy will be back next month with the next step in her learning strategies for new membership. Be sure to catch part two of this post next month, Learning Strategies for New Members: Microcredentialing. 

If you’re interested in transforming your learning design, contact Tracy at info@inspired-ed.com. If you’re interested in Elevate LMS or in onboarding strategies for Elevate LMS, contact Meghan Gowen at mgowen@commpartners.com.

2020 LMS Considerations: Blog Series

2020 LMS Considerations: Blog Series

We are now more than half-way through 2020, and this has been a year of adaptation and finding new ways to engage learners. At the start of this year, our CEO, Rich Finstein, published The Evolution of the Association LMS: 10 Considerations for 2020, a resource outlining how associations can ensure they are getting the most out of their LMS by increasing impact and reach in 2020. And now, in a time where membership is meeting and learning online more than ever, these ideas seem to speak louder.

We feel these topics can be explored further and are ideas that do not expire in 2020. In this series, we’re taking a deeper look into some of the tactics presented in this resource. Check back monthly for the remainder of the year to see which topic we’ll be covering next! First up, Community and Learning.

Take a look at Rich’s 10 Considerations for 2020 here if you haven’t already!

Why Your Organization Needs an LMS

Why Your Organization Needs an LMS

A Learning Management System, or LMS, is software designed for online training, tracking, and reporting that supports content creation and storage for continued learning. An LMS provides your organization or association an opportunity to create a learning community on an eLearning platform. Sound like something that would benefit your membership?

Knowing some advantages of an LMS can help your Development Team determine if an LMS is a right fit for your organization:

      • Create Customized Learning Paths: Create a customized learning journey for each of your members using curated content stored in your LMS. Each pathway can be adjusted as a member’s role within the organization grows and changes.
      • Avoid Skill Gaps: Skill gaps are the abilities a new hire might not bring to the table, but the position requires or would benefit from it. Offer training and courses to membership that creates a well-rounded professional and encourages continued learning.
      • Doubles as an Event Platform: An LMS can serve as an event platform. Host relevant webinars or a Town Hall once a month. Take it a step further and host your next conference virtually through your LMS.
      • Develop an On-Demand Learning Catalog: As your learning community grows, your resources will grow. All the content from previous events can be repurposed and reused. Upload podcasts, relevant media links, anything you think your learners will benefit from. Soon you will have a robust catalog of knowledge within your LMS to draw and learn from at any time.
      • Measure Performance: Track and report the performance of members to watch growth, target weak points, and acknowledge achievements.
      • Onboard Members: Create learning paths for membership onboarding, so each new member is familiar with organization culture and procedures.
      • Certification Opportunities: Allow members to keep up with professional certifications easily.
      • Reach Membership Virtually: For organizations with wide-spread membership, an LMS provides a way to reach each learner. An LMS prepares your organization for online learning.

When considering an LMS for your organization, do your research. Understand you are creating a knowledge community for your organization while reaching membership in a new way. To find out more about CommPartners’ LMS, Elevate, click here or contact Meghan Gowen, VP of Client Development at mgowen@commpartners.com.