HELP ME! Town hall experiment and new tiers?
Added 2024-10-28 18:29:46 +0000 UTCI'm thinking of starting a Zoom "town hall" Patreon benefit, but I need your help to decide what it should look like!
First...
There's a new $25 tier, which is currently live. Right now, the stand out benefit is the merch. You receive a merch item every three months for a YEAR, starting AFTER you spend 3 months on the tier. after a year you no longer receive merch... It starts with a sticker, then a mug, then a t-shirt and another t-shirt. I put this here for anyone who can and wants to support the channel with a larger contribution.
Second and more importantly...
I really like discussing ideas and I think you guys are a super thoughtful audience. CJ the X has a Zoom Townhall thing on their Patreon, which sounds super interesting, though i've never attended. But I think the idea sounds really awesome. I'd like to do something like this but I need your help in understanding what you guys might like to get out of it.
HERE'S A CURRENT VISION BUT NOT DEFINITIVE SO DO NOT JOIN THE TIER THINKING THIS WILL BE THE BENEFIT: Right now, I'm imagining a monthly Zoom meeting where basically, I'd start with some kind of question/premise, probably related to what I'm working on for a video. For example, I'm thinking of doing an AI video, but since it's such a contentious topic for many, I'd want to hear a lot of different perspectives in a space where there isn't judgement. So I imagine I'd send out some relevant questions before-hand like "Is gen AI a net positive for society? Can genAI images be of positive artistic value?". Then I'd start the meeting presenting where I'm at at that point, but nothing definitive. All Patreon tiers would be welcome in the room to watch, and welcome to post in the chat. Once I'm done talking, I'd host a discussion with some leading discussion questions provided both by me and the audience. Here, the Patrons on the $25 dollar tier would be able to discuss freely with me and amongst themselves while I am contributing/hosting/moderating.
What do you guys think of something like this? What would you expect for higher-paying tiers to access versus the lower-paying tiers? In an ideal world I'd like for everyone to participate, but I need to make some compromises to make this, not only intellectually stimulating and community-building, but also a sustainable cost-to-benefit ratio. Transparently--I need money to survive, and I want to make Patreon tiers worth it for those who contribute! Would you join a $25 tier with this type of benefit (plus the merch benefit I talked about above)?
Comments
Oh yeah I could totally see the signing up aspect working for larger groups and just rotating between topics! I think I like that idea better than the random picking idea, because taking the AI topic example: one person might have more to say about the state of AI from a tech perspective, whereas someone else might have more to say about the impact of AI on their personal job or their interpersonal connections. If there's a large group, it could be helpful to have people sign up ahead of time for those sub-topics that they feel they might add more to.
Andrew Daunais
2024-10-29 18:10:27 +0000 UTCIf I could afford it I’d definitely get in on that, sounds like a really fun idea
Jesuis
2024-10-28 21:58:39 +0000 UTCThat's a fair point and would depend a lot on how many people join. If too many people join the $25 tier, I could see the time being budgeted. It wouldn't be the way you discussed where everyone individually has 5 minutes, but lets say I rotate the discussion where 6-10 different people are thrown into the ring every 20 minutes. It could be random or maybe I could have multiple sections with different sub-topics/questions, and people sign up before hand for certain questions? Maybe even the $25 tier could vote on these sub-topics? Lots of ideas and would definitely want to hear other's thoughts.
E
2024-10-28 21:43:18 +0000 UTCFinancially, it's not super feasible right now, but I do think it's a good idea. I would if I could!
Kuro
2024-10-28 19:56:06 +0000 UTCI could totally see a zoom town hall sort of thing with this community. I do feel like $25 tier sounds reasonable for getting to participate in the conversation (and for the merch benefits on top of that). I think the trickiest thing about it is the moderating part where everyone who wants to has the ability to speak. For example, someone is a $25 tier supporter, but they don't end up having time on the call to join in on the conversation because there's a lot of supporters that month or the people that spoke before had a lot to say. I could see that person feeling like "well I paid $25 but I only had the opportunity to listen, which is something I had the option to do at a lower tier." But I also don't think there should necessarily be a "okay everyone now has 5 minutes to speak their mind" kind of vibe haha I'm just kinda typing my thoughts right now cause I think the town hall sounds really cool and I'd love to see this community in live conversation! And I'm sure the logistics would probably just get more ironed out over time. All that to say I'm in favor of that tier and could see myself supporting it with the perks you've mentioned!
Andrew Daunais
2024-10-28 19:35:27 +0000 UTCI don't have the financial ability to support anyone at more than a $5 tier, but the town hall thing is the first benefit that's ever made me think, "Well... maybe... could I???" For whatever that's worth!
Leigh Hile
2024-10-28 18:51:15 +0000 UTCI would be interested in the Tier because it could give me an opportunity to communicate with a group of insightful people on topics of interest, and I don't have to come up with those topics myself. Have you considered a patreon discord forum for some tiers as well? Maybe there is one and I'm just out of the loop.
Zoe Gingrich
2024-10-28 18:33:57 +0000 UTC
