Whether you're running a pilot among a few co-workers or launching your site inside your company, here are a few things to keep in mind to make your launch as successful as possible.

• Pre-Launch "Learning Session": When we work with clients on full-service pilots, we always recommend conducting live 45-minute  "learning sessions" prior to launching the application, which include:
  • An introduction to crowdsourced forecasting
  • Why the company is piloting this method and benefits it hopes to achieve
  • Demo of the application 
  • Q&A
  Ideally, these sessions are kicked off by the project sponsor, and they should serve as visible advocates throughout the pilot to promote employee participation and the value to the business. If a live "learning session" is not possible, record a webinar, so people who can't make it can still see a demo. Contact us for a quote if you would like us to facilitate webinars and provide template communications. 

• Recruit Celebrities: Who do a lot of people in your group or company know well inside the company? Likely senior leadership, but are there any other "thought leaders" lots of people respect? Invite them to participate in the pilot and also ask if they'd be willing to tweet, email, or blog about it internally too. These people will bring credibility to the pilot and its results.

• Define success factors: At the end of the pilot, what does success look like? Is it getting at least 50% of the people to participate? Is it making an accurate prediction? Articulating these success factors up front will give you some metrics to focus on for your pilot and will also help you make the business case for continuing beyond the pilot.

• Know your areas for forecasting and publish new questions weekly: Remember that one of the critical pieces to maintaining employee participation (and thus ensuring you get good forecasts) is to generate the right questions that matter most to the business. Know in advance the kinds of topic areas in which you want to forecast, solicit questions that matter to leaders, and ensure you are generating new questions that get published weekly. We've seen from past experience that this is the best cadence for keeping people active on the application.