Cornstalks Demo Night: MindMixer demo by Nick Bowden (Video)

MindMixer co-founder and CEO Nick Bowden presented his company’s product, an idea-generation and concept-prioritization solution for city leaders, elected officials, stakeholder groups and professional organizations. MindMixer aims to create a kind of virtual town hall, eliminating some of the pitfalls of its brick and mortar brethren. Unlike traditional town hall meetings, where a small but…

(Left, Nick Bowden of MindMixer, photo from mindmixer.com)

This is the second post in an eight-post series recapping the demonstrations that took place at Thursday’s Cornstalks Demo Night. To learn more about the event, see our post, “Cornstalks ‘Demo Night’ happening next Thursday, March 31.”

MindMixer co-founder and CEO Nick Bowden presented his company’s product, an idea-generation and concept-prioritization solution for city leaders, elected officials, stakeholder groups and professional organizations.

MindMixer aims to create a kind of virtual town hall, eliminating some of the pitfalls of its brick and mortar brethren. Unlike traditional town hall meetings, where a small but vocal minority can drown out others and where apathy can keep people away, MindMixer uses websites to engage large numbers of people and give them all equal voice via an approval-driven suggestion system.

A few highlights from Bowden’s presentation:

  • MindMixer generates conversation by organizing discussions into topic areas, which narrow the focus for users, making it easier for them to chime in. “If you ask people for ideas it’s tough,” Bowden said. “But if you give direction and simplify topic area, they’ll often come up with quite a few ideas.”
  • People can comment only after registering for a MindMixer account, thus eliminating the potential for what Bowden called “a bulletin board atmosphere.” A user’s reputation is on the line, and that transparency helps keeps the discourse civil.
  • Once ideas are suggested, their merit is judged by other posters. Playing on the idea of a typical town hall meeting, MindMixer enables users to “second” ideas that they like. To encourage participation, MindMixer gives points to users that second ideas and to the users whose ideas they second.
  • With MindMixer, civic participation is incentivized. Users are rewarded for point accumulation, and they’re able to suggest how and where they want to redeem those points — Bowden proposed, for example, a certificate to eCreamery. If that suggestion generated enough support, MindMixer would reach out to eCreamery to make arrangements for point redemption.
  • Bowden closed with what he called “a shameless pitch” but something that’s certainly of interest to Omaha residents: MindMixer is launching a new page, engageomaha.com, on April 15 that offers a forum for discussion of the city budget. 

For Bowden’s complete presentation, view the video below.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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