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Essay:Conservapedia Elevator Story (view source)
Revision as of 15:34, December 29, 2008
, 15:34, December 29, 2008no edit summary
The ''Conservapedia Elevator Story'' is a brief, focused summary of what this project is about and why it matters, which can be told to someone in about 30 seconds. The concept of an "elevator story" comes from the field of business communications, where the importance of being able to effectively market yourself, a project or an idea in the time it takes to ride an elevator with someone is a competitive advantage.
The ''Conservapedia Elevator Story'' is a brief, focused summary of what this project is about and why it matters, which can be told to someone in about 30 seconds. The concept of an "elevator story" comes from the field of business communications, where the importance of being able to effectively market yourself, a project or an idea in the time it takes to ride an elevator with someone is a competitive advantage.
==Background==
The purpose of developing a "Conservapedia Elevator Story" is to provide a tight, focused message about what this project does and the need(s) it meets in a way that allows it to be described to others easily and effectively in casual conversation.
The purpose of developing a "Conservapedia Elevator Story" is to provide a tight, focused message about what this project does and the need(s) it meets in a way that allows it to be described to others easily and effectively in casual conversation.
The typical example would be finding yourself in a conversation with someone at work, after church or at a party, and an opportunity comes up to mention Conservapedia. The "Conservapedia Elevator Story" helps answer the "What is Conservapedia?" question without having to be too long-winded.
The typical example would be finding yourself in a conversation with someone at work, after church or at a party, and an opportunity comes up to mention Conservapedia. The "Conservapedia Elevator Story" helps answer the "What is Conservapedia?" question without having to be too long-winded.
==Approach==
One approach to crafting this message is to follow a "Screenplay Method", as suggested in an article by Brian Freeman and Sean Mcdonnell.<ref>http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2002/11/11/smallb2.html</ref> This approach is based on a good story having four key elements:
One approach to crafting this message is to follow a "Screenplay Method", as suggested in an article by Brian Freeman and Sean Mcdonnell.<ref>http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2002/11/11/smallb2.html</ref> This approach is based on a good story having four key elements:
*Resolution: How is the conflict or problem resolved?
*Resolution: How is the conflict or problem resolved?
*Outcome: How is life different as a result?
*Outcome: How is life different as a result?
This approach has the advantage of not just explaining what Conservapedia is about, but more importantly, why it's important and how it can help people. That is the key to getting the word out about this site.
==Working Draft==
===Guidelines===
The text below is a proposed, working draft for a Conservapedia Elevator Story. All Conservapedia editors are invited to revise and improve it, but edit conflicts need to be worked out constructively on the Talk page.
===Working Draft===
"The Internet offers many online references for encyclopedic content like Wikipedia, and countless blogs for essay and opinion pieces. Despite all the options available, none were really filling the need for offering trustworthy, family-friendly content that reflected the conservative views and values important to many people. Conservapedia was started as an academic project to meet the online-reference need, but it's grown to provide an important voice for conservatives worldwide on the issues that matter to us."
==Related Proposal==
The inspiration for this project came from a Conservapedia News Story posted in December 20087, which described a proposed "Conservative Elevator Story" that could be used in focusing people on the 2010 election cycle. While the purpose of this page was to develop a story for ''Conservapedia'' itself, it would also be a worthwhile project to develop a distinct, Conservapedia-sponsored "Conservative Elevator Story" that captures the conservative message from the perspective of this site (as opposed to telling the story of this site itself).