87 replies to this topic

[kismet]

If we started out at this pace we would have been at 4'000 now! This shows how important planning prior to events is, but the battle is not lost yet, Top 5 should be doable.

[brokenportal]

http://community.mem...#msg14000005885

Here is a link to a "discussion board" at the American Express members project site. It looks like it is just pasting the comments from the project into it but Im not sure.

In any case, when I went there, Undergraduates Fighting Age Related Diseases was in the top ten there, and it was the only one with over a thousand entries. This may help us stick out to the board of advisors. So if you can, if you think its a good idea then go in there and show support for the project through optimistic discussion. Try to word things persuasively and in ways that may cater to the personalities of the board of advisors at AMEX.

Through checking out the projects that won last year it looks like one from each catagory won. If anybody checks into that can you see if that is the case? That might be a problem. We might then have to beat out the first place team with over 4000 votes, because they are in the health catagory too. Although, we can definently do that if we work at it.

There are some familiar names there. Sanjay Gupta is on the board. That name is familiar, is it just from CNN or has that guy been at some of these conferences or something too? It may be worth checking into the web sites of some of the advisors too. Like Edward Skloot, from the center for strategic philanthropy. It may also help us just in general, for other stuff too. Im going to watch all the bios there tomorrow. There is a bio video link next to each advisor.

Is everybody still in? Im going to be doing this again tomorrow, at least 400 more invites. We could pretty conceivably hit 4 or 5 thousand. If ten more people pull ten more strings they may have access to we definently can.

[JMorgan]

I wonder if we can't team up with some of our competition. Find a cause that we think is a decent one, contact them and agree to help each other. We nominate their cause and in exchange, they nominate ours. It could help bump us over 2000.

I imagine this strategy is quite common.

[Shannon Vyff]

One does not have to be a U.S. citizen, or even an American Express Card Holder to vote, I've found that many thought that to be the case with some lists I shared with, so you may want to point that out to people you share with.

[dnamechanic]

From the Most Nominated List, a snapshot of the competition.

Up today, to number 22 from yesterdays ranking of 25.

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Edited by dnamechanic, 30 August 2008 - 01:57 PM.

[brokenportal]

How does that equation go, something like, ten percent more effort will double productivity over time? That comes into effect here I think. We have to keep the pace up or we will stay at 22. If we slow down by ten percent we might drop off the list. If we speed up by ten percent we may make it to the top 10.

If we add ten more recruiters however, which we have our fingers crossed for, we will probably make it into the top 5 or even be number 1.

Jmorgan,
How do we team up with the competition? Great idea, did you contact any of them? Let us know what your strategy is and how it works. Im going to run out of people to recruit tonight or tomorrow and I will be trying that.

Also, be sure to explain the cause in new ways so people there may pick up on it through that wording at the AMEX discussion board. Chatting in there keeps us near the top of the discussion board and will raise visibility. We are still at the top of it with nearly 2000 responses there, whereas the other ones around it all have like 200 or 500.

Edited by brokenportal, 29 August 2008 - 05:27 PM.

[dnamechanic]

Because of the nature and urgency of the AMEX project we are holding another special meeting today in the ustream for the Undergrad Initiative.

Will be there at 4:00 PM CST, only a few minutes from now.
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MFURI-AMEX Initiative (Goal =2,000)

Progress to Goal - 1,671

RRT Countdown - 37

Image from: American Express - Members Projects

[JMorgan]

How do we team up with the competition?

I see there's a comments page on each cause. That will do, but it's not ideal. Is there a way to message someone who submitted a cause? (Picking a cause that is NOT also in the health category would be the best.) From there, it's just a matter of "Send word to your people to nominate our cause and we'll do the same." If even a few hundred people from each cause did this, it would greatly improve both our chances.

[dnamechanic]

From the Most Nominated List, a snapshot of the competition.

Holding at number 22 .

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Closely related issues are being discussed in the AMEX Emergency thread.

Edited by dnamechanic, 30 August 2008 - 02:37 PM.

[brokenportal]

The ice cream one passed us a few days ago, and the teen driver safety one is catching up to us. Are we really going to let that happen?

Im going to go print out some flyers for it today. My printer is out of ink so Im going to go to the library.

I finished up commenting every single person on my myspace friends list yesterday. I started commenting other projects at ammex. Go do that and keep mentioning undergrad. Say they should get their research done using undergrads too. You know, the top project only has 14 comments. I think we may be the most popular one with like 800 and some. I will also be continuing to use new and innovative ideas for getting nominations today, has anybody got any more new good workable ideas? We'll be meeting at 4.

Edited by brokenportal, 30 August 2008 - 04:44 PM.

[dnamechanic]

The ice cream ... Are we really going to let that happen?

That would be a cold ....

..Well.

Im going to go print out some flyers for it today.

Will provide printed instructions to people in neighborhood that do not frequently use computer.

has anybody got any more new good workable ideas? We'll be meeting at 4.

Meeting here at Ustream.
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MFURI-AMEX Initiative (Original Goal =2,000)

Time to scuttle this goal and move on up. (see discussion here)

Progress to Goal - 1,820

RRT Countdown - 20

Image from: American Express - Members Projects

Edited by dnamechanic, 30 August 2008 - 06:27 PM.

[brokenportal]

Isnt scuttling destroying your ship to avoid it from being taken by the enemy? Maybe your saying buy an old ship, write imminst, amex and stuff on the side and donate it for scuttle practice, theyll put that on the news, good idea.

The meeting is starting soon. Maybe you all thought this already, but it just dawned on me that parkinsons alzheimers etc.. groups around the net, msn, myspace, will have passionate die hards in them, lets find them. They will help us with this for sure. Each one we contact I bet you will bring in around 100 nominations a day. And there are at least 20 I know I can find myself.

[brokenportal]

I started in on emails today. What is your stratagy? What Im doing is taking a generic letter about the amex project, asking them to send out bulletins and put it on their page and stuff, and then going and copying another address from a site, like the NIA, parkinsons sites etc.. and then hitting the back button on the email from the last one and pasting it right in there and sending it. Im doing that rather than compiling them in microsoft word and sending out bulk emails because it may seem less impersonal by doing it this way. Any ideas on this stuff? What strategy are you taking today?

Edited by brokenportal, 31 August 2008 - 05:36 PM.

[AgeVivo]

1944 nominations; goal:>=2000. One day left. Vote now!
Again if you haven't voted yet and feel like doing it, here is a detailed procedure to vote:

1. http://www.membersproject.com/project/view/BVVE2C
"Nominate this project"

2.a. If you are not an American Express Card Member:
- Click on "Guest Members Log In" in the upper right corner of the page. Then click on "Guest Members Sign Up Here" at the bottom of the next page.
-- or --
2.b. If you are an American Express Card Member:
- Click on "Cardmembers Log In" on the right side of the page. If you don't already have a login account, click on "Create a Log In" on the next page.

3. Complete the registration form; you will then be issued your login ID.

4. Once you are logged into the Members Project, you can either
- a) enter "Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease" in Search, or
- b) click on "Health" then "Diseases and Disorders" at the bottom right of the page, and scroll down to "Undergrads Fighting Age Related Disease".

5. Click on the project name, and then click on the "Nominate this Project" button. Finally, click on "Post Your Comments" at the bottom of the screen, since discussion board activity counts favorably as a factor towards nomination of the top 25 projects.*

((PS: The widget on http://fightard.org is not working anymore))

[dnamechanic]

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MFURI-AMEX Initiative (Original Goal =2,000)

Full speed ahead! (see discussion here.)

Progress to Goal - 1,981

RRT Countdown - 2

Image from: American Express - Members Projects

[dnamechanic]

Number 22

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Closely related issues are being discussed in the AMEX Emergency thread.

[Johan]

We now have 2,017 nominations, and we still have nearly 34 hours left to get even more nominations!
I'm not able to promote this much myself, but I just want to say that everyone who promoted (and still promotes) this project is doing a great job. Keep it up!

Edited by Johan, 31 August 2008 - 05:33 PM.

[brokenportal]

We will continue to need recruiting all day long because unfortunately there is still a great chance that we could be bumped out of the top 25. This is the time that projects below the line are going to make their last push to make the cut.

[kevin]

We will continue to need recruiting all day long because unfortunately there is still a great chance that we could be bumped out of the top 25. This is the time that projects below the line are going to make their last push to make the cut.

Thanks all for everything! I've been monitoring the Project Members site and it has not been performing very well and has been hard to connect to so I hope it hasn't prevented too many people from voting. We've been holding our own quite well with approximately the same distance between 20 and the 18th spot as we all march forward with similar trajectories. We can't guarantee it, but it it looks like we're going to be in the top 25. I've started a thread for the next phase so we can discuss things in one place over there.. THANKS

http://www.imminst.o...o...c=24074&hl=

Kevin

[modelcadet]

I'm going to talk to the owner of the store I work at about negotiating a deal with American Express. Think about other ways we can make this profitable for American Express. If we turn a little of our delightfully impressive flashmob-of-awesome towards sending them some cash, we might be able to get noticed. Plus, we reward this type of marketing. It's working hella well for Google. Let's make it work for American Express!

[dnamechanic]

Two thousand, one hundred, and sixty-five (2,165) ...

..........

have said

"Yes"

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.. MFURI-AMEX Initiative (Original Goal =2,000)

.. Progress to Goal - 2,165

...With 10 hours remaining:

.....RRT Countdown = 0

Image from: American Express - Members Projects

[kevin]

I'm going to talk to the owner of the store I work at about negotiating a deal with American Express. Think about other ways we can make this profitable for American Express. If we turn a little of our delightfully impressive flashmob-of-awesome towards sending them some cash, we might be able to get noticed. Plus, we reward this type of marketing. It's working hella well for Google. Let's make it work for American Express!

Hi modelcadet,

Interesting idea.. can you propose it at

http://www.imminst.o...mp;#entry260752

Additionally, until I determine if these threads are searchable, for planning and strategy purposes I would like to keep a low profile on our discussions so let's try to refer to the effort as "Members Project" and leave the Am*x word out of the conversation for the moment.

KP

[AgeVivo]

not sure i understand.. now that we got our objective (2000+) what are the chances for the project to be funded?
PS: i learned too late that it was not only for american residents; had i known we would have had at least 100 people more

[Da55id]

not sure i understand.. now that we got our objective (2000+) what are the chances for the project to be funded?
PS: i learned too late that it was not only for american residents; had i known we would have had at least 100 people more

Actually, please definitely go ahead and vote. Anyone can vote during the first round (this round) so, Please! go ahead and get your 100 folks to vote within the next 4 hours!! And yes, we'd like fries with that :-)


Thanks,
Dave

[kevin]

not sure i understand.. now that we got our objective (2000+) what are the chances for the project to be funded?
PS: i learned too late that it was not only for american residents; had i known we would have had at least 100 people more

Actually, please definitely go ahead and vote. Anyone can vote during the first round (this round) so, Please! go ahead and get your 100 folks to vote within the next 4 hours!! And yes, we'd like fries with that :-)


Thanks,
Dave

Absolutely, please do give it that final push and thanks!

kevin

[Mind]

2198 nominations was the final tally, according to the AMEX website.

[brokenportal]

What a releif. Although the top 25 are ultimately decided on by their advisory board too. Very subjective rules for spending their money they have there.

Discussing in the boards and researching the advisory panel is going to be key I think. Kelsey and crew are developing some official marketing stuff for the second round, from what I gather, so stay tuned. Lets get a list lined up for who is in to help for the second round. Let us know in the 2.0 thread about this, and Ill be sending out pms to people who were helping this last round, inquiring as to who is in to help again.

Kevin has a great kiosk idea we should get in on. If you guys want to talk about this during part of tomorrows meeting then lets plan for that.

[AgeVivo]

[I propose to buy ufard.org as soon as somehow here says he thinks it is a good thing to do.

I propose that you not. It's waaayy too close to UFARDed...

Slightly better would be FightARD which sounds like an order shouted by a Cockney sergeant.

so i made http://www.fightard.org , i was told that the content is what we need but that the domain name sucks because it lasts with "ard". any better name? fightingundergrads.org, amexufardmp, or maybe savelives, or something,... project undergrads saving lives?