I'll just leave this here: http://coinabul.com/index.php/promotions
Nice posters! I might print some and put up around town 
Topic: Sales Pitch: Promoting and Explaining Bitcoins to outsiders ? (Read 1375 times)
I'll just leave this here: http://coinabul.com/index.php/promotions
Nice posters! I might print some and put up around town
I'll just leave this here: http://coinabul.com/index.php/promotions
Better dont show them recent charts 
What charts? 
Seriously though, the recent drop doesn't affect my confidence in Bitcoin at all, actually happy it's going down so I can pick up some cheap coins.
Better dont show them recent charts
I tell them: Buy some now for $10 and in a few years they will probably be worth x10 times that... + you can re-invest BTC easily at modest rate of 1% a week or more.
A lot of people that used to ignore me when I talked about Bitcoin took notice when I showed them a Casascius coin. One guy even said something like, "oh, wow, so those things you're always talking about are real." I'm a little bewildered at their reasoning, so don't ask me to explain it...
I tend to mention it to merchants sometimes. Usually in the form of "So when are you going to start accepting Bitcoin for payments". Since they've never heard of it, if they ask I'll mention the lack of percentage-based fees.
I also like to mention how nobody can tax my bitcoins, and no force can steal them from me. I also like to mention that I "may or may not control any bitcoins". Also important is to note that when I ask someone to send funds to a bitcoin address, that they can never really be sure I even control that bitcoin address, and for all they know it could belong to alqueda (or archive.org)
Sometimes they'll say "If that's true then government will just ban it". To which I usually lol and say "I'd like the see them try, I seriously cannot wait to see the court case that tries to pin a sent or received bitcoin payment to a physical person and how funny that trial will be".
As far as explaining it to outsiders, I dont really try to bother anymore. They're not really interested in how it works, they are just trying to confirm their suspicions that it "cannot work" or that it "is a scam of somekind". I'll gently lead them down the road to understanding if they are truly interested. The main key concept to me in making it easier to understand is to introduce it from the point of view of the distributed public ledger (shared transaction repository) and how everything flows from that. If they can understand that aspect, it may spur them to ask further relevant questions that can be answered in terms of what they already understand about their world. (Rules for radicals, speaking to peoples experience, you first have to get a handle on where your audience is at conceptually).
I also like to mention how nobody can tax my bitcoins, and no force can steal them from me. I also like to mention that I "may or may not control any bitcoins". Also important is to note that when I ask someone to send funds to a bitcoin address, that they can never really be sure I even control that bitcoin address, and for all they know it could belong to alqueda (or archive.org)
Sometimes they'll say "If that's true then government will just ban it". To which I usually lol and say "I'd like the see them try, I seriously cannot wait to see the court case that tries to pin a sent or received bitcoin payment to a physical person and how funny that trial will be".
As far as explaining it to outsiders, I dont really try to bother anymore. They're not really interested in how it works, they are just trying to confirm their suspicions that it "cannot work" or that it "is a scam of somekind". I'll gently lead them down the road to understanding if they are truly interested. The main key concept to me in making it easier to understand is to introduce it from the point of view of the distributed public ledger (shared transaction repository) and how everything flows from that. If they can understand that aspect, it may spur them to ask further relevant questions that can be answered in terms of what they already understand about their world. (Rules for radicals, speaking to peoples experience, you first have to get a handle on where your audience is at conceptually).
You have to show it to them.
To some extend I agree but after showing they usually expect some short extra push.
I have been using the first one for past few weeks sins I'm trying to convince people to let me install specific hardware in to there space. Just showing and not explaining what said hardware does will not pull them over.
The second one I used on my dad, who has absolutely no technical/economical interest but has a strong believe in liberties and a free market (at least to some degree
). He currently is working on a bitcoin related project with me so it must have hit the spot.So yha not talking about randomly pushing people to use it, that never works, but about 'Sales pitch' to people that have a interest in what you are doing before you even mention bitccoins.
Just stop trying so hard.
Don't:
Throw away bitcoins and say "please take these, I'm begging you!!" It's dumb.
Make pamphlets without a clear MONEY-MAKING objective. People need to see how you're planning to get rich (or at least make your favourite charity more rich), or they will think it's either a scam or you're retarded (see how neither option really helps your case?).
Do:
Be greedy. Ask for payments in bitcoins. Refuse to do the dishes unless your mum deposits more bitcoins to your address.
Start a super-secret club, where only proven Bitcoin enthusiasts are allowed.
If outsiders are curious, they will ask questions.
Have you ever tried waking someone in the early morning when they're still fast asleep and get shitty at you?? Well duh!!! It's exactly the same!
Don't:
Throw away bitcoins and say "please take these, I'm begging you!!" It's dumb.
Make pamphlets without a clear MONEY-MAKING objective. People need to see how you're planning to get rich (or at least make your favourite charity more rich), or they will think it's either a scam or you're retarded (see how neither option really helps your case?).
Do:
Be greedy. Ask for payments in bitcoins. Refuse to do the dishes unless your mum deposits more bitcoins to your address.
Start a super-secret club, where only proven Bitcoin enthusiasts are allowed.
If outsiders are curious, they will ask questions.
Have you ever tried waking someone in the early morning when they're still fast asleep and get shitty at you?? Well duh!!! It's exactly the same!
Explaining bitcoin to people, doesnt work. You have to show it to them.
When you tell people all that stuff all they hear is blah-blah-blah. People today are so cynical they wouldn't know a good new technology until it is processed, sugar coated, and advertised on television. Don't bother explaining Bitcoin to morons. Use the technical terminology so kids will have a chance to make their parents look stupid.
I would love to see small messages you use to promote and/or explain what bitcoins are and why the system is so amazing. Let me start it off with my two favorite promotional explenations ...
=> My first refrence is a adjusted version of a talk given by Yochai Benkler of Harvard Law School . This talk was not related to bitcoins but my mind linked it to the possibilities of bidcoins and it stuck. I think the best audience for this is business people and people with interest in markets and economics.
=> The second reference I would pick is from Rick Falkvinge of the Pirate party. The text below is a adjusted and compressed version of a talk he gave at the bitcoin conference in Europe. This one probably best kept for a more progressive and open public: friends, parents, geeks ...
So what do u use to pull outsiders over the bridge ?
=> My first refrence is a adjusted version of a talk given by Yochai Benkler of Harvard Law School . This talk was not related to bitcoins but my mind linked it to the possibilities of bidcoins and it stuck. I think the best audience for this is business people and people with interest in markets and economics.
Quote
For the first time in hundreds of years we can freely perform and confirm reliable transactions without the expenses created by large institutions. This allows us to let more of our money work for us and less to cover the expenses associated with the institutions we used to use.
With bitcoins we hold in our hands the tools we need to break the link between a expensive institutions and the needs of people and corporations alike. With the tools at hand, we no longer need to rely on these institutions to perform and confirm long distance transactions and we no longer need to pay the cost associated with the institutions that have been doing this up till now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iffW_GWBQIU (Start: 47 Min, Quote: 50,04Min)
With bitcoins we hold in our hands the tools we need to break the link between a expensive institutions and the needs of people and corporations alike. With the tools at hand, we no longer need to rely on these institutions to perform and confirm long distance transactions and we no longer need to pay the cost associated with the institutions that have been doing this up till now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iffW_GWBQIU (Start: 47 Min, Quote: 50,04Min)
=> The second reference I would pick is from Rick Falkvinge of the Pirate party. The text below is a adjusted and compressed version of a talk he gave at the bitcoin conference in Europe. This one probably best kept for a more progressive and open public: friends, parents, geeks ...
Quote
For thousands of years there have been gate keepers that protect the status quo in our society, these gate keepers have come and gone as time passed on. In our current age we can find them in large institutions that not only handle interaction between humans but also regulate and limit them.
The function of a so called gate keeper is to controlling the flow of information and goods between the people. The general public usually looks at gate keeper as a obstacle they need to avoid or try to get around, the gate keepers them selfs usually believes the majority of humans are unable to decide what is best for them and that they are there to protect the best interest of all.
Usually this concept of gate keepers collides with the needs of both the people and the free market, they need 3 very basic things from a service, they need it to be cheap, fast and flexible. If a service provided by a gate keeper can be improved on at least two of these points it has a high chance of failing in the future.
A break down of gate keepers that have or are falling:
Spreading information and goods:
- Postal Service are expensive and slow > E-mail is cheap and fast
- Retail Stores are expensive and limiting > Online Shops are cheap and flexible.
Protecting information and goods:
- Copyright is expensive and limiting > Copyleft is Free and Flexible
Informing about events and goods:
- News - expensive, slow and limiting > Blogs, Youtube - Free and Fast and Flexible
Value of information and goods:
- Banks - expensive, slow and limiting > Bitcoins – Free, Fast and Flexible
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjmuPqkVwWc&feature=relmfu
The function of a so called gate keeper is to controlling the flow of information and goods between the people. The general public usually looks at gate keeper as a obstacle they need to avoid or try to get around, the gate keepers them selfs usually believes the majority of humans are unable to decide what is best for them and that they are there to protect the best interest of all.
Usually this concept of gate keepers collides with the needs of both the people and the free market, they need 3 very basic things from a service, they need it to be cheap, fast and flexible. If a service provided by a gate keeper can be improved on at least two of these points it has a high chance of failing in the future.
A break down of gate keepers that have or are falling:
Spreading information and goods:
- Postal Service are expensive and slow > E-mail is cheap and fast
- Retail Stores are expensive and limiting > Online Shops are cheap and flexible.
Protecting information and goods:
- Copyright is expensive and limiting > Copyleft is Free and Flexible
Informing about events and goods:
- News - expensive, slow and limiting > Blogs, Youtube - Free and Fast and Flexible
Value of information and goods:
- Banks - expensive, slow and limiting > Bitcoins – Free, Fast and Flexible
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjmuPqkVwWc&feature=relmfu
So what do u use to pull outsiders over the bridge ?
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