Town Hall Meeting Notes
Yesterday for 2 hours we had a private EzineArticles Town Hall teleconference about which features our authors liked or disliked, which ones they want to see added, etc. We took about 7 pages of notes and appreciated everyone who attended.
Two things I can share from the event:
1) Even our most engaged authors are not fully educated on everything that we can or are doing for them now. Many times an author would make a suggestion and we’d show them that the feature they are asking for already exists. This tells me that we need to do more author education.
2) That the greater good that comes from increasing distribution of articles still far out weighs the negatives of those who abuse reprint rights / rules. I had made the suggestion that we should try to control or lessen the reprint rights in an effort to get a grip on the distribution so that only highly relevant sites could reprint relevant articles instead of crap sites reprinting quality articles, but the consensus is that authors are getting more value from increased distribution than the risk of bad-reputation sites using the content with or without proper attribution.
Some asked me privately if this event was worth it to us to host or not…(because it was not a teleclass, but rather an interactive teleconference focused on Q&A only about features & benefits discussion) and when I went to bed last night, I realized that among the many insights gained from the town hall conference –> we reached a pivot point distinction from the call that will make an incredible difference over the next 2 years for everyone involved in this project.
If you were part of this small town hall meeting (less than 100 in attendance), thanks for being part of this event!
UPDATED: Read what Paulette Ensign wrote in her blog: Asking Your Customers to Be Your Focus Group
Chris, it sounds like those two hours and the others to make it happen were well spent. A special new members section would be a plus for all. As an internet newbie I have discovered many benefits of EzineArticles membership by accident. Like many others, I was focused on submitting my content here and elsewhere. It was at least 3 months before I began discriminating with submissions. It was only when I checked your bio, I realized your articles should have been the first I read on site or from site. I have no doubt the vast majority of MEMBERS have yet to discover even half what I have because of the focus on numbers and personal web site traffic. But I, for one, am very excited to learn about what you are willing to share.
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