Best Practice - Preparation for a Collaboration (Detailed)

Create a communication plan

Define the audience to include in the collaboration. Key attributes:

• Plan for a minimum of 15 respondents, more is better and the collaboration can include thousands of participants
• Participants should have the knowledge to provide ideas and insights relevant to the prompts
• The audience should represent a diverse set of views who will contribute different ideas to the collaboration

Identify materials that should be included for participant reference and review, if any. For example:

• Your Mission, Vision, Values or similar statements
• Full Description of current Goals, Objectives, and Measures
• Operating Plan from prior period
• Any other information that will provide context for participants to understand and provide feedback during the collaboration

Create a Communication Plan to Encourage Participation

• Craft a compelling message to encourage participation
  • Each collaboration has an Introduction you can reference for suggested language
  • Echo this message throughout the collaboration
  • A minimal communication plan will include:
    • Invitation
    • Reminder
    • Results presentation
• Decide to use a seamless link, generate unique URLs, or track participation through an account
  • For all Free Trial collaboration, use a single seamless link (also called a magic link) for collaboration
  • Paid subscribers who are well versed in mail merge could choose to create a unique URL per participant to track participation
  • Paid subscriptions can consider using participant accounts, which require more preparation but also enable participant tracking other features
• Plan outreach method, especially how to make the URL available
  • An email including the URL to the collaboration is typical. Having it sent from, or with a signature from, an executive or other well-known personality is advised
  • The URL can be posted just as any other URL. Consider website banners, Slack messages, or any messaging tool used by the team.
  • Take advantage of meetings, newsletters, and any other events to promote participation
• Reminder message should echo the Invitation
  • Echo the compelling message from the Invitation
  • Add a message like, "If you have not participated, please do so now. For those that have already participated, please jump back into the collaboration to submit new ideas or review ideas submitted by others."
  • Your Reminder could include some preliminary results or new ideas from the Summary tab with a message to encourage participants to return to the collaboration