Creating AEGEE Evangelists using the Hawthorne Effect

I was just thinking about how to transfer the knowledge from the book „Creating Customer Evangelists” into an NGO like AEGEE.

These are my ideas.

- the basic principle for companies is to find people that are interested in your product (High Involvement) and to involve / engage them into your marketing actions (Participation) to make them feel commitment and loyal towards your company
- the transfer to AEGEE would be to find people that are interested in:
o travelling & international exchange
o making friends all over Europe
o experiencing different cultures and getting to know other countries from inside
o getting organizing and socialising skills for their future life & career
o for people that are into business – to get some skills in the fields of PR, Leadership, Finance & Accounting, Fundraising / Networking, Public Speaking, IT…..
o getting involved in European politics & working on European Identity
o …..

and to give them the opportunity to get engaged in their favourite field – get some experience and to make them feel the AEGEE spirit. Once they are fully engaged they can tell their friends about the company / AEGEE and bring them in.

One of the underlying principles behind this process is the Hawthorne Effect. This is what Dr. Paul Marsden writes about it:

How to Influence People using the Hawthorne Effect

"If the psychology of the Hawthorne Effect all seems a bit abstract, try it for yourself and see how simple and powerful it is as an influence technique for getting what you want from someone. Just before asking someone for something, whether it’s a salary increase, a date or whatever, ask them their advice on something. It doesn’t matter what it is that you ask them their advice on; the important thing is to be seen to be listening to what they have to say, and to tell them you appreciate their opinion. Then, when they have finished giving you their advice, ask them for whatever it is you want from them. The chances are that your ‘research’ will have triggered the Hawthorne Effect and you will get what you want. By asking them for their opinion you will have not only created goodwill but also flattered their ego, and at a subconscious level they will feel indebted to you. This psychological indebtedness makes them significantly more likely to agree to whatever it is you are asking of them. By seeing the Hawthorne Effect in action as a very powerful influence technique, you will also know to watch out the next time someone asks you for your advice and then asks you for something! "

I also found two useful guides about "How to bind members to 
your Antenna"and  "How to promote AEGEE"- maybe this will help to understand the concept better.
 

AEGEE Advertising

Basic Advertising principles say – if you want to get the right people, you have to give them the right message and appeal to their values to get committed in whatever idea you are presenting to them.

For AEGEE this means – depending on which student groups you have as target groups, you have to use different messages to get them interested in joining and participating in this Student Organisation.

This means in practise:
- IT Students- appeal to their value of getting experience in the field of IT, having the opportunity to manage the IT Systems & Websites of the AEGEE local and meeting different people
- Business Students – opportunity to use and shape their skills in AEGEE projects, Networking with interesting people and preparing for their future career
- Politic Students – opportunity to experience European Identity, talk about politics, work on international relations
- Tourisms Studies – opportunity to travel, experience different cultures, getting to know different people from all over Europe
- Advanced students – opportunity to use their skills in practise (this is a general thing), teach other people – getting the skills as trainers, getting involved in seminars to get more experience and skills
- …

I think every AEGEE local should know about that fact to make their advertising more efficient and to appeal to the values of the students they are targeting.

Follow Up Negotiation Days in Poznan

I`m just back from my exiting trip through Poland. I visited the 4th edition of the Negoation Days, they provided me a lot of insights into myself and other people. For me it was especially interesting to combine my existing knowledge about NLP, Coaching and Negotiation with the knowledge of the trainers and participants and to work in international and diverse teams (as usual I was the only German / international participant at the workshops)

During the 3 days I attended the workshops about effective Teambuilding, Coaching and applied Negotiation Strategies, run by the trainers Clay Lowe, Peter Feeth and Chris Walker.
Also very interesting was the opening lecture which was run by the CEO of the Negotiation Academy Europe about “Strategies and Personality Types in Negotiation”.

There are also an interesting videos about the Leadership Seminar of Peter and Clay.

Negotiation Days in Poznan

I will go to the Negotiation Days in Poznan / Poland in 1 week. This training focuses upon bringing students and internation companies together to share some knowledge and provide effective coaching for the students.

The organizers of AEGEE Poznan told me, that their will be a variety of interesting companies and speakers, for example from Harvard Business School…

So if some of you are interested in these topics too – maybe we will see each other in Poznan.

Follow UP Mediation Training and Conflict Management Seminar

What I really liked about this seminar was the diversity of the participants and trainers. We were again around 30 young Europeans from UK to Azerbaijan and had a really great and interesting time while learning about European Identity, Mediation in Conflict Situations and Negotiation Techniques.

The main topic of the seminar was „All different – all equal“ – which was perfect, cause if you have 30 people from different countries you expect some conflicts, headed discussions and an exchange of a lot of ideas. I really liked it and can recommend it to everybody who wants to learn more about applied psychology, intercultural communication and team building. Let`s use the skills for the future.

You can visit the website at: http://www.mt.u2.pl/

Here is a short description of the seminar:
In the past years people in Europe had to experience that also in Europe conflicts can escalate and that Human Rights are not equally treated in every country. This seminar aims at bringing together young Europeans with different perspectives on conflicts and to educate them in mediating conflicts in order to strengthen a “peace network” that crosses religious, ethnic, and geographic boundaries. Thus they shall be able to take an active stand in defending human rights and contributing to a Europe that fulfils the slogan “united in diversity”.

Follow Up AEGEE TV Media School in Eindhoven

As you may have read, I participated at the AEGEE Media School organized by AEGEE TV and AEGEE Eindhoven. I have to say it was a really great event – thanks to all the organizers, trainers and participants.

The setting of European Students Week (which had over 320 students from all the world as participants) was perfect, cause we had a great training ground to practise our new movie making skills. The movies we made (around 20) should be soon at http://www.aegee.tv/ - they are really worth watching, this I can promise ;->.

As a result of the Project sessions we also came up with some future project ideas for AEGEE TV. The ideas were about improving the PR of AEGEE with movies, about Video Journalism and about an
AEGEE TV Summer University (you can download the notes about the ideas here).

I liked especially the idea about making a “corporate” AEGEE movie, that we can show to students (for getting them interested in AEGEE and recruiting them) and to companies (to promote AEGEE, it’s values and to raise funds).

All we would need for that would be:
1. a script & storyboard
- what things should be in the movie
- who should be in the movie
- how long should it be (3minutes?)
- what core messages should be conveyed (AEGEE USP)
2. a budget
3. a motivated team with time and proper equipment

Lets see what happens in the future with this ideas…

Communication of AEGEE Benefits to company’s

I just found a useful guide at the AEGEE.org site (in german) about how to fit the demands & needs of companies with the values & qualities of AEGEE.

The guide compares the values Procter & Gamble with the things we do in AEGEE – like intercultural exchange, active citizenship, doing a lot of international projects together….

Maybe it will useful for your local if you write fundraising proposals or for yourself if you are looking for a job. If you want to know what AEGEE is, take a look at this site or read this Article about AEGEE Stuttgart.

Maybe we can also make a movie about it and start working on a future AEGEE Blog…

Movie Making in the Netherlands

Right now I am at the AEGEE TV Media School in the Netherlands.

Here is the description of the event:
.......................................................
Well, if you ever wanted to learn how to make movies, then we have good news for you! AEGEE-Eindhoven in collaboration with AEGEE.tv organizes the next Media School!

We will teach you all the basics of movie-making - from script writing to camera handling and editing. We will provide you with all the necessary equipment as well.

After the training weekend you will spend another five days making your own movies during the biggest European student event in Europe, the European Week Eindhoven, where hundreds of European students (including YOU!) will have the time of their life.
.......................................................

Take a look at http://www.aegee.tue.nl/ms2007/ to see what we are doing there.

The Movies will be soon online at http://www.aegee.tv/.

PRESS II Follow Up - Next steps

The entry will be about the issues that we found about AEGEE.
It is a follow up of the discussions & mentor sessions we had during the Public Relations European School about how to improve AEGEE and bring it to the next level.

The basic idea is to start some projects about these issues in order to make AEGEE more successful as an NGO, more visible and stronger.

I added two documents about the SWOT Analyis that we did and my summary on (future) projects that we could start in order to improve AEGEE , make it more professional & efficient.

PR – the Art of getting Public Relations for free

I just read an interesting article about “Buzzworthy PR” in Connected Marketing. The author writes about the combination of PR and Word of mouth - the main idea of PR is not only free media exposure but also to get people talking positive about your brand.

If you are skilled in PR and Buzz marketing you can tailor the core messages of your brand in such a way, that people talk about it.

Graham Goodkind the author of this chapter writes:

“…what can you do as part of your marketing communications that will have at its core something that will spread through the media, get them excited and in turn have the power to break into the subject matter of the daily chitchat in the pub or around the water cooler? Doing this also forces you to go through some of the thought process needed to create a positive buzz dynamically and proactively for a brand, product or service…..”

What does this mean?

This means that PR can be a very powerful tool for companies and NGOs like AEGEE to get people talking about the brand, without having to pay for it.

If you want to know, why word of mouth (People talking positive about your brand) is so effective, check out the Article about “Net Promoter Score” in Harvard Business Manager and Dr. Paul Marsdens Article about Advocacy drives growth.

Public Relations European School II - PRESS 2 in Pecs

I just came back from the AEGEE Public Relations School in Pecs (Hungary).

All in All I have to say it was a great event, the local organizers from AEGEE Pecs did a great job as well as the trainers of AEGEE Academy.

The Training was a combination of theory lectures (I will put the PowerPoint slides with short explanations in my next Blog entry), workshops and case studies in international teams. My team, which worked on a detailed PR Strategy for the European Day of Languages, consisted of Ivan from Praha, Raluca from Bucharest and Maria from Kiev. Thanks to the team, it was great and efficient to work with you, let`s do it again.

Especially valuable for me were also the practical lessons we had:

- organizing and holding a Pressconferenz
- Dealing and networking with representatives of the media
- Visiting TV and radio stations to get an insight how they work
- Fundraising Negotiations with MOL – the biggest Hungarian Oil company
- Presentation of AEGEE in a School in Pecs
- Lobbying Night – approaching and networking with “VIPs” and “celebrities”
- The PR Café – where we talked about, how to combine our PR / Marketing knowledge with AEGEE
- Mentoring and Feedback from our high skilled trainers

I will follow up this Blog with some of my ideas on how to improve AEGEE (with Change Management and Brand Management strategies) and what we can do, to bring it to the next level.