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Paul JanowitzCEO, icanmakeitbetter.com09.08.11

3CMA Annual Conference 2011

Benefits and Pitfalls of Crowdsourcing Community Involvement

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Government is changing

All change begins with ideas, and ideas change everything

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• "Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that - counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

"Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans."Robert F. Kennedy

Real needs, Real results

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• You tripled your staff – with no increase in costs

• Saw the forest and trees• Got hundreds of new ideas to solve your most

pressing problems• Empowered your community to solve

problems• Engaged employees and citizens

What If…

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IF Is Here

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IF Is Here

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IF Is Here

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• Some ideas are better than others.

The Wisdom of Crowds?

Photos from Ideo: Thoughtless Acts

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“The Customer Is the Company”• In June of 2008 Inc. published an article about Threadless entitled “

The Customer Is the Company”. • What does this mean for decision making, and market research? Isn’t this

Gov2.0?

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Published Response

• “You can call it crowdsourcing or customer-driven design, but what Threadless does is essentially market research. I think of Threadless's user base as one large consumer panel…The rise of Threadless does not mean the end of market research but a transformation in the way companies implement it. That's what's changing.”

• Knowledge by itself is not power, knowing what to do with it is.

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Velocity – Knowledge + Direction

• Have an open mind– But not so open your mind falls out

• Engagement and crowdsourcing does not diminish the need for government, processes or vetting

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The Problem with Bad Questions

• "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.“ Henry Ford• Follow-up question that should be

asked: why faster, where to, who else is on the horse?

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The Right Way to Engage

• Have a plan• Have a campaign• The goal is to generate MORE ideas and

inspiration – fire starters• Test, change, be open• Ignore the technology…sort of• Intelligently moderate and source crowd

intelligence for better decisions YOU make

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What Not To Do

• This is not a short-cut• Look for winners and losers – instead look for

inspiration• Assume the energy crisis is solved• Spend as little as possible• Spend as much as possible• Create a new department

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We’re here to help you. Please contact me directly with any questions regarding our platform or to get your innovation community started.

Paul JanowitzCEO and Founderpaul@icanmakeitbetter.com512.498.3830 x101

icanmakeitbetter.comInnovation + Research. Made Simple

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