Focus on a Topic

It’s difficult for Ask the Audience to succeed when it’s open to any general question. Forums with a very broad focus confuse the audience; they don’t know what type of questions to ask. They also fail to sustain interest or capture the attention of experts. A very general application of Ask the Audience may start strong, but it will eventually run out of steam. This is not surprising as it’s similar to our experience with general, ongoing Innovation Central events.


Recruit a Team

Just like Innovation Central events, an Ask the Audience forum should have a sponsor, day-to- day manager, and expert participants. This team is essential to getting the program off the ground and demonstrating the value to the audience:

  • Sponsor – vocal champion of the forum, encourages adoption, recognizes valuable participants
  • Manager – administers the forum, recruits experts and configures their email notifications, encourages usage, cultivates the desired behaviors
  • Experts – promptly answer all questions, promotes the process

Plan the Launch

Ask the Audience benefits from a coordinated launch and awareness campaign. Introduce the process to the community and help them understand how it will benefit them.

Example Questions and Answers

There is a certain learning curve to understanding the most effective ways to effectively structure questions and answers. People need to understand how to best word their questions in order to get valuable answers and avoid launching a general discussion.

Seed your forums with high-quality questions and answers before you launch. This will make the audience comfortable and also gives them as examples of well-formed questions and answers.


Emails Drive Adoption

The emails that alert people to new questions are vital for driving participation. Encourage people to creae subscriptions and also prompt question owners to socialize their question via Send a Link. Expect that people will only participate when they are alerted to a question by email – don’t expect them to proactively come and browse for questions to answer.


Question Asking Tips

To increase the chances of a question getting answered, follow these tips:

  • Do Your Homework – Search the site for your question. It’s possible someone has already asked the same or a similar question. Information from their question may help make your own question more specific.

  • Be Specific – Vague questions will get vague answers. To improve your chances of getting high quality answers, make sure your question is specific and provides the details required for people to fully understand it.

  • Be Patient – Sometimes it will take time for people to find an answer to your question. If people are viewing your question but not providing answers, you may need to add more information via comments. You can also send your question directly to friends and co- workers who might be able to help.

Plan for Answers via Email

Sometimes people reply to an email notification with the answer to a question. You should have a process in place for entering email replies into the system.


Recognize Valuable Participants

Recognize audience members and valuable questions from Ask the Audience, just like you do with Innovation Central challenges.