Final Exam - Martha's COIN 72

Question 1

Case:  There is a target market of 20 students in our COIN 72.  All were a potential audience for your Exec Summary posting in Discussions during Wk 12, and all were available to read/post their comments to your thread to keep it going and to earn points (for themselves and for YOU when you responded) since Everybody logged in.

A.  How successful were you in capturing your target market and inviting them to participate in your thread so that you could earn more income (points) when you responded to them? (define 'successful')

Initially, I thought I was not so successful with the sharing of my Executive Summary - I didn't get much feedback that addresses the needs that I have with this project. But then I realized, I actually DID get several responses, and there are several bits of information I received that will be useful. And I did engage the interest of several people - 5 (including the teacher) out of 20 ain't bad! On the other hand, this question is a reminder that I never actually thought about the need to capture the attention of my target market! And that, in and of itself, is an important lesson! Ideally, a successful response would have been have my questions answered, some useful suggestions made, and to simply get feedback on how others perceive this project. All in all, I think I got that. So - success!

B.  What is your percentage response from other Classmates to your posting?  (go back and look at your thread, count the Classmates who posted to you, divide by 20 to get your percentage of success rate.  

The percentage of response to my posting was 5/20x100 = 1/4x100 = 25%. For someone who expects anything under 100 to be inadequate, this is less than expected. And, in comparison to an "average" of 50%, this is still not good. However, when one compares it with, say, the number of emails that are actually opened, as discovered in a 2007 study by Bronto.com, that was only 23.6% (p. 534). And, for one last comparison, if you analyze how students responded through-out the quarter, using figures selected on March 5, there were 392 discussion postings. Of these, removing the top and the bottom (0 for student x and 97 for instructor Mimi) and myself, there were 243 responses by 19 individuals, averaging 13 posts per person. If you divide 243 by 13, you get a value of 5%. So, each person only responded 5% of the time. Humm - not sure what this tells us, but 25% is better than 5%!

C.  How many postings did YOU make in your own blog?  Why/why not?

I responded only once, but with specific response to the 3 preceding commentators. Why? I wanted to thank them for taking the time to read my summary, and for making helpful suggestions. It made me feel good to hear from them, and I learned something!

I could have/should have responded to the 4th student, but didn't. Why not? I felt I had made enough postings, and a response was not really needed - some of her points were the same others mentioned, and suggestions were ones I had already considered. In hindsight, this was a mistake! The student presented a well-though-out plan Executive Summary of her own, and I could have learned from her! Also, she rarely made comments in class, and got little feedback from others - my response might have meant something to her. On second thought, she DID post a lot during class (24 compared to an average of 13), and I simply "missed the boat"...

D.  What did you do to format your Exec Summary sharing nicely, to add visual elements, or use other content techniques we studied in this class?

I did not do anything to format my presentation - I did not divide anything, I did not use headlines, and I failed to follow the cardinal rules for blogging - simplicity, scannability, and sharpness (p. 585)! My writing is too complex, and i used too many technical terms. The paragraphs were too long, I could have used bulleted points, and I did not quickly get to the point! I could have used images, to emphasize points, and to give the eyes a break. In short, I blew it! I didn't use any font variation, or other styling such as color to make it more interesting. Also, comparing the summary to Book 1 Chapter 5's guidelines on "Creating Exceptional Copy", there again I failed to measure up.

E.   What did you do to 'drum up additional business' in your posting to get them to contribute more...

I did not go after what I really wanted, and I could have learned so much more if I had.

F.  Explain and tell what you would do 'the next time around' ...

I would definitely remember how important it is to present something that is visually interesting, as well as factually accurate! And I would remember that the important thing is to generate a dialog between the customer and myself - I cannot find out what they want, and I cannot get my needs met, without engaging in one-to-one conversation.