Okay I lied...the real wrap up :)

Today I completed my TED talk...and I think it went well :)
To decipher my presentation I'm going to do this as logically as I can...and how everyone else said they were going about it. Also, I'm going about this as what I think I did,  so if I grade myself too easily or harshly it's just because I'm sure my perception is kind of foggy.

Requirements:-       Four to Five Minutes. - I believe I did this. When I practiced at home it was 4:56 nearly every time, so it should have been for the actual presentation.
-       Visual component
o      PPT, Prezi, other?- Yes
o      Creative and supplemental.  You drive the presentation, not the visual. - I tried to keep my powerpoint as simple as possible without being boring. Some pictures helped drive my message, but I think I did as well.
-       Content:o      Inspire through your passion- Hard to say as the one speaking, but I was passionate about my subject so...yes
o      Show your product- Yes
o      Explain your process- Yes
o      What is your purpose?  What should your audience take away from your project?- This should have been clear, I tried for a distinct message about the idea of hiding and how it can be associated with cowardice but cowardice isn't always a bad thing so...yes
-       Organization: hook, transitions, logical order, effective conclusion- Yes
Delivery: refined, poised, and enthusiastic- Yes I hope so :)

The TED Commandments:
-        Dream big. Strive to create the best talk you have ever given. Reveal something never seen before. Do something the audience will remember forever. Share an idea that could change the world.This was one of the best talks I have given. I'm not sure the audience will remember it forever, but I think my idea was original and different.
-        Show us the real you. Share your passions, your dreams ... and also your fears. Be vulnerable. Speak of failure as well as success.I do think I accomplished this.
-        Make the complex plain. Don't try to dazzle intellectually. Don't speak in abstractions. Explain! Give examples. Tell stories. Be specific.Yes
-        Connect with people's emotions. Make us laugh! Make us cry!I did hear laughter throughout my talk...not so much sobbing. This is an area I can always improve on.
-        Don't flaunt your ego. Don't boast. It's the surest way to switch everyone off.I hope I didn't do this! I do not think I did , yes.
-        No selling from the stage! Unless we have specifically asked you to, do not talk about your company or organization. And don't even think about pitching your products or services or asking for funding from stage.This was tricky for me as my whole project was a public service campaign. To discuss my work, the product had to be shown. I did not ask people to be a part of it, so I do not think this was a problem.
-        Feel free to comment on other speakers' talks, to praise or to criticize. Controversy energizes! Enthusiastic endorsement is powerful!This I did not think I did enough. I couldn't figure out how to incorporate it so this is an area to improve in.
-        Don't read your talk. Notes are fine. But if the choice is between reading or rambling, then read!This I definitely can improve on. I have this nervous habit of looking down at my notes even when I know what comes next.
-        End your talk on time. Doing otherwise is to steal time from the people that follow you. We won't allow it.Yes.
-       Rehearse your talk in front of a trusted friend ... for timing, for clarity, for impactYes

Overall I would give myself a 27 or 28 out of 30...maybe if I'm feeling extra generous a 29. I worked really hard on this presentation and I hope it showed. I really tried my best to tackle the TED commandments and show my passion through my talk.

Wrap Up

My final post. What to say in this final blog? What message do I want to leave?

I want to I look back on the experience and tell you what I wish I did. Well I can do that in one sentence. I wish I had the ability to make my campaign more successful, to have applied more of my knowledge.

Do I thank you for helping enhance the page one last time? Or do I thank you for not telling anyone it was me? Really though, thank you for both.

Do I request that you still not tell anyone it was me? Because I would like to continue the page. So, thanks in advance for that.

Do I confess that this project was difficult for me? It was so different then anything else I ever did, but I enjoyed it.  I learned a lot, not just about public service campaigns, but about not procrastinating until the day before I had to turn in my project because it was all a process. It was rough at the beginningI managed.

I want to let you know that I'm at 189 friends and about 70 compliments were received. I'm considering my page a success.

I want to let you know that I created the advertisements I wanted to create, but only the virtual ad was able to be seen by the public. This I consider a failure. While I learned a lot and constructed educated ads and that was successful, the campaign itself was not. Below are some of my creations. They had consistency, and pop. Also, the commercial was quick, to the point, and directed towards my audience of high schoolers.

The Newspaper Ad:

Commercial:

Poster:

Virtual Ad: 

Hope you enjoyed them! Thanks again for the support!

The Campaign

While there is a bit of progress with the page itself, nothing interesting enough to post. What I would like is I taught myself how to plan a public service campaign, which I guess I haven't really discussed much yet.

 So if you look to a few posts ago, I listed a few of the resources I've been using to learn how to plan a public service campaign. Some of the most effective stuff I learned came from simple pages that just explain why certain aspects of advertising are more effective. However, the most interesting stuff involved just the defining and explanation of different campaigns. Such as the difference between individual behavior change and public will change. I knew that for what I was advertising, I needed to apply a little of both. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. There's so many other things I was able to discover. the only problem?

 

 A lot of what I needed to accomplish relied on others. My commercial I said was to air? Well it was supposed to, but was never added to the WTV timeline. If I were to do this again I would definitely do things earlier and more persistently. Also, in order to put up posters I know I would need to discuss with Mrs. Fields. I had interacted with her about a whole lot of other stuff really recently so I didn't feel comfortable asking her once more, (I did email her though).

Although the knowledge I gained wasn't all applied and tested, I did learn a whole bunch. Not much else occurred. I did include a few virtual ads that I was able to detect as successful :)

 OH! I decided to create a collage of the compliments I've received to help campaign. This way students not involved can see what is happening, this is what I'm asking Mrs. Fields about.

 Just thought I would fill you in on that! Any ideas or questions?

clip-2013-03-19 19;10;15 from Chloe Becker on Vimeo.

So close..yet so far

AHH! So close to the end! Alright, I'm going to keep this short and sweet.

Campaign wise:
A commercial will be airing tomorrow (hopefully) that has been created based on research.
I will continue to virtually advertise
I will be putting up flyers in the coming week

Progress wise:
I'm only at 166 friends. Which when I think about it isn't too terrible. I mean the account has been up for less then 2 months, and I've been trying my best not to friend people. Hopefully when the commercial airs and flyers are up I will progress even more!

FAQS:
I've been asked a few questions so I'm just going to lay them out here for you.
Q: "Chloe, why did you filter my compliment?"
A: Alright, there's a couple reasons for this. Sometimes compliments can be between friends, which is great...except this is anonymous. I really don't want something that is meant to be good, to be misinterpreted. Also, if it's inappropriate it gets vetoed. Finally, if someone is not friends with me, they won't be able to see it, which kind of ruins the point. these compliments aren't filtered...rather set aside until my request to the complimentee is accepted.

Q: "Chloe, why don't you just friend people to move along the process?"
A: I'm trying to keep this as a public service campaign in order to follow the guidelines of the genius project. trust me, I would love to friend them all and be done with it. But I first need to learn the skills of campaigning.

Okay...I thought there were more questions but I think thats it. My bad.

Anyway, that's all I got for right now. More to come when I struggle to perfect my TED talk.

Oh! I meant to say. I wanted to thank everyone in these classes for helping me out. The best kind of advertising is word of mouth, or in this case word of posts. Without the first few from this class, nothing would've spiraled. Also, it is much appreciated that you kept your mouths shut about it being me!

Resources I've Used

Online:
http://www.techniqueprint.co.uk/blog/creating-a-successful-poster-marketing-campaign-from-concept-to-printing/ - Campaign strategies
http://directory.leadmaverick.com/Kid-Club-Marketing/ProvidenceNew-BedfordFall-River/RI/10/2559/index.aspx - high school advertising
Presentations:
Public Communication Campaigns- Rasha Salama 
*the specifics of different campaigns
Books:
Online Communication and Social Networking- Jim Whiting
Lead Now or Step Aside! Jack Canfield

A Process...

Week 4... not the best. Not the best in improvement. Not the best time to start my advertisements because of Wissahickon's musical Jekyll and Hyde taking up some precious time that otherwise woud have been dedicated to getting the word out, and not the best in development. Here's what the page is looking like right now.

Just a snippet of what I've been posting

The virtual advertisement I sent out this week. It had nine shares and did help increase the amount of friend requests I received so I think it worked well! I'm hoping to put tangible advertisement that resemble this one in mailboxes for homerooms. This way I have a new approach to my campaign and can see which is more effective.

Up to 149 friends. Not exactly what I was hoping for. I thought that just by seeing the posts more would be involved, but the campaign is going to need to be successful to increase the amount of people participating. 

A lot of you have given me the suggestion of creating a legitimate Facebook advertisement. I looked into this and found that it is very costly, so it's been vetoed. Also, many of you had concerns of it being stuck within the gifted class. I'm happy to say it has started to expand. More upperclassmen have caught wind of the page and so have some people outside of the gifted program. This is thanks to some of you for helping out by expanding who you're complimenting. So, thanks again for your help! 

On a random note, I got a really nice message from someone who submitted a compliment, and have posted it below.

This just made me feel like the project was going in the right direction. I don't know the person who sent this to me but they've embraced the idea. After getting this I can answer another one of your questions and say that yeah, I think I'm going to continue the page once this project is over.

Blogs I'm Following

Week 3:
Will http://learning-woodworking.blogspot.com/
Kara http://karaspicture.blogspot.com/ 
Carolyn http://ccphotograph.blogspot.com/
Nicole http://radishgrowinggenius.blogspot.com/

Bumpy Roads

Already done the third week, huh? Well I think I'm pretty much on track. My page is created, I'm at a whopping 102 friends and have received 10 compliments. Unfortunately, most of these have been from the gifted class, but the help is much appreciated :)

          No advertisements have been sent out seeing as I've not yet hit week 4. I love one of the ideas of creating a Facebook advertisement and am going to attempt to pull one together. Seeing as no one really knows it exists yet, the progress I've made was sort of surprising. Of those 97 friends I mentioned earlier, 39 were requested, one of which was denied considering it was a student's grandmother.

       Some problems I've met...

1) If someone isn't friends with the account, they can't see the post so some can't be posted-- probably should've anticipated this...

2) Some "compliments" are jokes between friends. If the joke isn't clearly something kind between the people, I can't post it. The whole point is to try and counteract cyber-bullying without lecturing my peers on a subject we all have beaten to its death. If a post is borderline "complimentary," I'm forced to decide if it's appropriate

3) Keeping this as a "secret identity" is a whole a lot harder then I suspected. Some people that have messaged me have asked who I am. I respond by explaining that I am trying to stay anonymous, except of course for this class.

Going from that, I have to ask you a favor. Please try and protect this project. If I'm not anonymous to the people outside of this class, the page will not be as beneficial. Please do your best to keep the fact the I am Wissahickon Compliments in the class. Thank you!

 
     Some problems I'm going to meet...

1) By advertising in school, I'm realizing it may give people a weird feeling of Wissahickon compliments being a school issued page...which in a way I guess it is. Either way, I'm thinking of making the advertisements more virtual by putting it through Facebook and if they are ineffective sending it out to direct people.

2) Participation from upper class-men. Who knows if they're going to be into this page?

3)  People might get annoyed with me flooding their newfeeds with compliments about people they may not even know. The first post received over 20 likes and the more that were posted the more the responses to them went down. I need to figure out how to prevent people from getting bored.

Anticipating these situations might let me ignore them but whatcha gonna do? I'm obviously going to face some issues no matter how I try to prevent them.

After all that what do you need to know? Well... I'm satisfied with my progress.


   
   
     
           

A Passion?

Passions. In the first week of every new school year classes ask you to pinpoint one activity as what you find the most interesting and why it makes you special. My response varies from a standard “I don’t know” to a casual “I’ll pass”. Just my luck when the question resurrected in the middle of the year. I’ve been able to skid by without giving a direct answer but a seven week assignment is a little much to invest my time into for a fake passion. I tried to think of the basics like dance and piano but the activities gave me little desire to improve immensely. Then I reached a point in decision making where there is really only one thing left to do... I asked my mom. She told me that the only time she ever really saw me have real energy for something is when I’m trying to make a change. This really got me nowhere. I’ve raised money in the past and planned fundraisers so I wasn’t about to delve so deeply into something I already had. But, then I realized that the charitable work I’ve never hit is the type for the emotional aspect of helping people out. I have never created something that makes someone feel like they have the ability and are in the position to do the same for someone else. I wanted to campaign a pay it forward (http://www.payitforwardfoundation.org/). Though I have put much thought into it, I have found it is would be nearly impossible to track the actions if it was done throughout the school. So, I will produce the pay it forward on Facebook as a way to counteract cyber-bullying. A new Facebook account called "Wissahickon Compliments" will be created and people can message in something positive about a friend or someone they think needs it, anonymously, and it will be posted by the account. If someone writes about you, you write about someone else, portraying the pay it forward. What I will really be teaching myself is how to campaign this in and out of school and learn how to motivate people intrinsically to get involved. In the end, I hope to reach a point where almost every member of Wissahickon High School is friends with the account on Facebook and every participant has been written about and has sent out a message. I was also contemplating asking teachers if they think they saw a change in certain student's moods and feelings towards school. Just an idea.
            Now that you know, you have to keep it in the gifted classes that the account was created by me. Knowing who’s behind the account ruins it a little bit, sorry. Anyway...Friend me!

How to reach my goal:

Weeks 1, 2, and 3- create the account and see how the school responds to the idea. Watch for who sends in messages and who receives them. Learn who embraces the idea and who to target a campaign towards

Week 4- Create a campaign. Send out virtual posters, physically try and convince people to get involved, and other means of connecting to the teenage mind.

Week 5- Watch for changes from the campaign. Were more people involved? Were different groups of people interspersing? Maybe interview some teachers to see if the virtual positivity transferred to the real world.

Week 6- Compile the data. Find every compliment sent in and analyze who sent it in, if the person "paid it forward" and maybe even make a collage of the messages to hang up in the school.