During this week of Thanksgiving (and in the spirit of giving thanks), I wanted to share with you one of the most important conversations from the 2016 hivio audio future festival. If you’re a radio broadcaster, this will change the way you view contesting forever. Ryan Cummins is the Co-Founder/Co-CEO of Omaze, a cause marketplace that raises money and awareness for charity by offering the chance to win once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Many of my clients know I’m a huge fan o

As part of hivio, the audio future festival, I’m producing a free t-shirt for all who attend. My instructions to the designers were to represent the power of audio – the theme of the event. I took the leading ideas and did a poll for folks who were interested in hivio, and that poll had some clear results. This was the winner: And this design was the runner-up. The final decision, of course, was mine. So now I’m going to tell you why I picked the runner-up over the “winner.”

Are you doing contests all wrong? Why yes, I think so. Seth Godin makes a point about the wrong questions to ask before crowdfunding, but they also turn out to be the wrong questions to ask before we expect anything from an audience. He writes: A friend explained to me all the reasons for her upcoming Kickstarter campaign. The machine she wanted to buy was sorely needed, it would increase her productivity and also make her day significantly easier–it made perfect business sen