Omaha By Design: Omaha, Only Better

by Ken Mayer

I spent a large part of my business career doing marketing research. I started asking questions around three years old and I’ve never stopped, so the analytic part was easy. But I never considered myself a natural at marketing.

Very few of us are really any good at figuring out what will work well for large numbers of people. We tend to see the world from our own vantage points – generationally, socially, economically and geographically.  So, most of us have trouble understanding why everybody doesn’t see things our way.

That’s why gathering input is so important. It’s also why the recent launch of the Pass the Potatoes web site is so encouraging. The interactive site gives users the opportunity to post ideas on the major topic areas being addressed by Environment Omaha. You can also suggest ways to improve on previously posted ideas and vote for your favorites.

Just as we do with our Place Games, this method makes the community the expert on those issues that most affect them. It’s important to note, however, that our workshops are a microcosm. The participants usually live in, and around, the public spaces we examine, often within walking distance. They come out to represent.

It’s an ideal situation, a luxury that professional researchers rarely enjoy. You see, the thing that gives the pros heartburn is representation. We are often responsible for researching and recommending actions that will consume lots of resources. If we collect and analyze data from a sample of people who are not representative of the group, things can go up in smoke, sometimes even our jobs.

A story with a couple of Nebraska connections illustrates what can happen. In 1896, a witness to a poll taken on a train of 23 riders reported 18 intended to vote for McKinley and 5 were for Bryan. At the next stop, among those who disembarked were the 5 Bryan sympathizers, who, it turns out, were observed to be handcuffed together, on their way to the county jail. Fortunately by the 1930s, a fellow named George Gallup would introduce more scientific methods of polling.

Despite the power and sophistication of modern poling, it’s still important to guard against the possibility that a small number of people who don’t represent the majority will hijack the process.

It seems to me that there a few things we can do to ensure that the ideas gathered and voted on through sites like Pass the Potatoes accurately represent. Here is what I think we can do:

• Weigh in. Submit well reasoned and insightful ideas. Unlike a live meeting, web-based idea generation allows for more thought. Enter your idea into your word processor, let it bake overnight, then come back and edit for maximum effect before you copy, paste and submit.
• Measure. It’s often easier to come up with ideas than to figure out whether the idea actually worked. Think about including a way to measure the success of your idea if it gets implemented.
• Go viral. Send a link to a friend, relative, neighbor or your whole address book, particularly if the recipients are older or younger than you are or live across town. Help mix up the ideas and get new and different perspectives.
• Examine results. Since Pass the Potatoes and similar sites gather some simple demographics, we should expect to see the results tabulated by things like age and geography. It will help us put things in perspective.

This is another great opportunity to improve our city, but it won’t work unless we represent.