Brainstorming: How to get the word out about LDing and DreamViews???

[Shift]

The purpose of this thread is for everyone to share and discuss ideas on presenting the idea of lucid dreaming and DreamViews to your community and the world. How can we go about recruiting new members, spreading the knowledge of lucid dreaming, all that good stuff?

So please, post any ideas that you have, even if they are far-fetched or impossible. Let's just try to get some creativity flowing, get thoughts or concerns out there, and see if we can find something to work with. If a specific idea has a lot of support, we can have it split into a new thread for discussion and implementation.

[slayer]

Well, that buisness card thing could work...

I suggest if you print off business cards for DreamViews that you put them in like popular books like Twilight or something.

[DarkLucideity]

Oh, that reminds me. I wanted to go around asking people "How would you like to learn to control your dreams?" and "How would you like to be able to have any experience you can possibly imagine, without much effort?" to see how differently they react to both.

[Licity]

If there is someone with skill in video editing, perhaps a viral video of some sort? It could use effects to show off the kinds of thing a lucid dream can be used for.

Business cards would be great, especially in popular fiction like slayer said.

Start pushing around the forum to get users to advertise DV on social networking sites.

As silly as it may sound, make a cardboard sign with the URL and bring it to a televised sporting event. If the sign stands out, it shouldn't be too hard to get a camera on you during a break in play. Even if not broadcast, just having it on a screen in the stadium immediately targets all those people looking at it.

[Shift]

In addition to printing little lucid dreaming business cards (http://dreamviews.com/community/showthread.php?t=7876) with DV and some information on them and then leaving them in interesting locations where they're likely to be read (planes/airports, restaurants/menus, waiting rooms, bookstores, windshields, birthday cards at the store, the mailboxes with slots at apartment complexes, school/gym lockers, etc.), I also had this expensive and impossible idea:

One or a series of short videos, which could be kept on sites like youtube.
Here are the basics as written in an MSN conversation:

It kind of formed in my head like the preview to a movie. It could be a guy sleeping in bed, and a voice would say "THIS" and then an alarm goes off, and he's all miserable and wakes up. Then it would say, "IS JACK" or whoever. And then it goes through this series of clips showing how miserable his life is or whatever. His dog shits on the floor and his wife is fat and ugly and his car breaks down on the way to work and it starts raining as he hops a bus and when he gets there his boss yells at him and his computer won't work so he sits there for hours messing with it and then he goes home and looks in the mirror and is a little fat and balding and is miserable and goes to sleep.

And then he wakes up and he's lucid, so he makes his dog clean the house and his wife is some super sexy person and he has a Lamborghini and drives to work, looks up at the building, rolls his eyes, walks in the front door and ends up at the beach. There's a door on a beach (like that scene in Beetlejuice) and he lays down in a hammock and smiles.

Although at some point he could be looking in a mirror and like adjusting his body to make it awesome. Maybe he could go into work and upstairs and throw his boss across the room and then walk into a bathroom, make himself good looking, open the toilet stall and have it lead to the beach... something really crazy and awesome. Anyway at the very end it would have his alarm clock go off and he'd be smiling as he turned it off.

But then I thought, wouldn't it be awesome if there were a series of them, for every stereotype... teenage girls, teenage guys, older people, whatever. There could even be nightmare ones where people are smashing their nightmares hahaha It could show a funeral and all these depressed people, and then someone in their dreams hugging the person who died.

[Shift]

Damn, awesome, in the time it took me to copy/paste we already have some neat ideas :D Keep 'em coming guys :) Even if they are impossible, post anyway and see if you can inspire someone else!

[dreamingofdreaming]

SHIFT, I really really like your mini-series idea. It would be great if they all followed the similar theme yet with, like you said, different stereotypical characters. I love it.

On a side note, a cheap, quick, easy way to get dreamviews out is simply writing it EVERYWHERE. Write it on your restaurant meal bills, stalls of bathrooms (err I mean, vandalism is BAD), leave notes in books, write on money bills; something simple like "Are you dreaming? www.dreamviews.com". Also, everyone should buy a shirt/bag/sweatshirt (http://www.dreamviews.com/community/showthread.php?t=70090&highlight=dreamviews+merchandise) with the DV logo :P

[Banana]

id buy a DV shirt

this is a good design i found in a thread awhile ago

http://droidz.org/share/12115/1248126580.png

[Shift]

Could randomly go through your phonebook like a telemarketer and tell people you are conducting a survey for psychology course, ask them if they'd be willing to answer some questions, ask if they've ever had a dream where they knew they were dreaming, ever woken up and found yourself paralyzed, ever had recurring nightmares that they wanted to conquer, etc. etc. and eventually lead into: this is what lucid dreaming is, did you know these facts, blah blah if you want to know more here is a website set up by a student (technically not a lie...)

[Banana]

no one listens to telemarketers except retards or people playing a prank

sorry but its true

i like the business cards and the shirt ideas

[slayer]

Ok I really love that TV commerical thing.

[Shift]

You wouldn't be a telemarketer, though. You'd be a student conducting a survey and asking a few questions and the people who seem interested may end up engaging in a conversation about LDing with you. Think of it as Omegle but IRL, since I know that's what you're all about.

I may actually do this and ask real questions and write down answers.

Almost everyone likes the commercial thingy, but it just seems so impossible to do :( Anyone have a film crew?

[DarkLucideity]

Anyone have a film crew?

I have a phone camera and microsoft paint. Will that do?

[mrdeano]

With Vistaprint.co.uk you can order 250 free business cards.

[Banana]

Commercial = Win(if we can do it)
Cards = Win
Shirts = Win(hot topic?)
Telemarketer = i dont think it would work as well as the above^

I dont have a film crew but im sure someone will be willing to do it

[Shift]

I dont have a film crew but im sure someone will be willing to do it

It would have to be REALLY well done to be interesting and convincing to the average viewer. I almost think that if it were mistaken for a movie preview that would be ideal.

Something like this VzFpg271sm8. That could practically be one all on its own. That is the quality and sort of style I think any 'commercials' ought to be. I mean obviously not that impressive in terms of quality and effects, but as close as possible with what we've got.

[Banana]

i printed out like 6 buisiness cards

i could hand them out to either people at school, or my aunts friends(they are into that kind of stuff) or just random people

we could get someone with a green screen to do a video for us and we could put it on the internet or put it on TV(if possible)

[DarkLucideity]

My favorite way of telling people about lucid dreaming goes something like this: "Have you ever had one of those dreams where you know you're dreaming?" If they say "yeah!" go on like "Aren't they awesome? You can do anything you want!" if not, say "I've had some, they're awesome. You can do anything you want!" then maybe talk about what's possible as they get excited about the idea. Then tell them about how it's possible to have many lucid dreams with some practice and how real they are. If they're interested, go in more detail about induction methods, and link them to some tutorials. If they're not interested or lose interest, then they're not worth it. "You can experience anything you can imagine!" "Nah."

Also, make sure to mention all the scientific research so they don't think of it as "new-agey"

The most important thing is not to overwhelm them. It's "knowing you're dreaming," not "knowing you're dreaming and WILD and DILD and SP and you need to work on your dream recall try autosuggestion light switches dont work and LDing is difficult and you have to do this dont forget to stay conscious lucidity lol"

[Banana]

some people i tell say theyve never had them and they think im lying.

theni link them to the DJ page

then they believe me

[Shift]

Every single psychology book in a college bookstore.
Get some studious people into it, maybe influence some people to do research?

[slayer]

That video was pretty cool...

[Black_Eagle]

Answer me this: Why do we want to go around advertising dreamviews?

[Shift]

Why wouldn't you want DV advertised? As long as it's to the 'right' crowd (and yes this is up to individual interpretation), what's wrong with advertising it?

The best part is, you can take responsibility with these fun ideas and apply them to whatever crowd you prefer.

[Banana]

nothing, thats what


Now i think it would be great to spread the word.

it could help plenty of people

[zeldafreak]

I could maybe spread some words around at my college when school starts. We could tell people with certin problems about it. Ex. "Hey "insert freinds name here" I do know that you are trying to (get over fear, stop (insert name of drug here)). I think you might like Lucid dreaming." "It's where you controll your dreams you can do anything your mind desires, I even know about this really good site that could help you out" you can guess how the rest of the conversation generally goes.;)

[ClouD]

With Vistaprint.co.uk you can order 250 free business cards.

Vistaprint is great, I'm going to order the 500 premium cards soon once I finish a DV card design.

[hellohihello]

I don't want this going mainstream, I feel special v.v


Anyways, didn't someone say they found a dreamviews card in a book at the library? Seems like it was working.

[DarkLucideity]

I don't want this going mainstream, I feel special v.v

It probably won't, considering how people usually don't get interested in LDing when they hear about it. Then again, if it somehow becomes "cool" to lucid dream, we're all fucked.

[hellohihello]

It probably won't, considering how people usually don't get interested in LDing when they hear about it. Then again, if it somehow becomes "cool" to lucid dream, we're all fucked.

No we can rise to the top of the social ladders and command everyone and you copied my pokemonz avatar :( It's okay though, I love Bidoof.

anyways, back to the topic. We could always do the "adopt-a-highway" thing :D

[DarkLucideity]

you copied my pokemonz avatar :(

I did not! I found it on an awesome website and wanted it as an avatar. Hmph!

[Shift]

The desire to be a beautiful unique snowflake is quite possibly the stupidest excuse I've heard yet to keep lucid dreaming 'a secret'. Please only respond to this thread with serious suggestions, and keep pokemon out of it.

[DarkLucideity]

The desire to be a beautiful unique snowflake is quite possibly the stupidest excuse I've heard yet to keep lucid dreaming 'a secret'. Please only respond to this thread with serious suggestions, and keep pokemon out of it.

If I'm included in that, to extend my point and quote myself,

I hope lucid dreaming doesn't get mainstream. You can see that by how non-mainstream it already is. It would get fucked up somehow. Who knows how? Maybe everyone would do it wrong and spread misinformation about how to LD, maybe laws would be passed about it, maybe people would just be pricks about it, maybe it would be talked about so much it gets annoying as fuck. I don't think people are ready for lucid dreaming yet. They should get the rest of their shit together before trying something like LDing.

EDIT: God, can you imagine what the "new age" people would do to LDing?! They're the ones that made dream interpretation so "out there" in the first place! Not only that, what if some people conclude that if they can have any experience they want, life doesn't matter so much anyway? Why work, if I can get just enough to get by and sleep? Then the economy would be fucked!

All in all, I don't think most people would be able to appreciate lucid dreaming anyway. They'd use it for the fun experiences, flying, but nothing more. Not as a tool or to learn about oneself at all. Sure the fun is great, but it's nice when LDing is more meaningful.

But it's not like I'm against spreading the word about lucid dreaming. Just lucid dreaming being mainstream and popular.
Real life doesn't have dream guides. Even if every single person logged onto DV, we wouldn't have enough skilled people to answer their questions. Just read a few pages of comments on videos like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llw717IARpQ and you might see my point. Even the video itself is wrong at some points (no pain in dreams?).

"Pretend you're spinning in circles? Thinking about spinning in cicrcles will wake me up cause I'll be awake enough to remember that and to even do that! STUPID!"

"i cant dream how do you dream also wen i get dreams i always think its real"

"Your reflection can be veeeery scary and you can wake up or have a false awakening.. but i dont think you will ever think about mirrors in LDs"

Well most of the comments are dream experiences...
A lot of the people are naturals but that probably doesn't mean they can explain how they do it.

[Creation X]

Print out posters and laminate them. Then go put them up in Libraries, Schools, grocery stores.

^ That's what I plan on doing. Whipping up some sick photoshop chit and bringing in the crowd :)

[[SomeGuy]]

I do not want to become Twitter, and lose that bond that the active members have.

[Phrisco]

Hah. I was just thinking. We should do the business cards. On my own time I'll print them out and go all across America and just leave them in conveinient stores or other places I go to.

[zeldafreak]

I just thought of something. I do not want everyone to know about this site because if they do people will be posting left and right, and the secound you post something it would already be pages away just like when you are trying to sugest a myth to the Mythbusters, you can't because your post in one day will already be like 10 pages away if this site gets too pouplar we will not be able to get our posts read unless someone looks at every single post every day. (ranting is fun:D)

[[SomeGuy]]

Or we will slowly decay into non-anon /b/.

[Man of Steel]

For my part, I just realized I still haven't posted here.

I leave origami with the URL to DV at restaurants, and every telemarketer call I get, I try and get them interested in LDing. It's worked on a few. I also use Omegle frequently, only telling those conversational partners that seem intelligent enough to make good additions to the community, of course.

I might try this idea of printing up posters/flyers, that sounds good.

[Walms]

Oh doing what you did right here would work, posting in longues where you get more views lol
That and I'm trying to get DV at the news and want to start clubs of LD in school to see how it goes <.<

[DarkLucideity]

That and I'm trying to get DV at the news

Steal a car and go on a pedestrian killing rampage, then when you're questioned, tell them that you thought it was a dream, and how interested you are in lucid dreaming/about all your friends on dreamviews.

Hey, you want it on the news, that's a quick solution!

[Walms]

But we want people to like it, not to hate it lol
So better safe than sorry <.<

[Busher94]

I don't know how this stuff really works, and to be honest I dunno if someone already suggested this as I didn't read all the thread :lol: , but is there a way to put an advertisement up on Facebook? or maybe make a you tube video advertisement for the site?

[Busher94]

I just found an add for it on youtube... it had only about 500 views though probably because it had few tags. and the title said Lucid dreaming Dream views. I think more people would watch it if the title was -how to have lucid dreams- or something.

[Sesquipedalian]

I was thinking that DV should put an ad on a popular website with dramatic facts (1/3 of your life is missing! Do the impossible! Remember details from YEARS ago!) and link them here with incentive. (Find out how with DreamViews.com! Over 20,000 members strong... Nothing to lose, everything to gain!)

DV could also advertise on public transportation. There are millions in the US alone that use it, so why not take advantage?

[DarkLucideity]

Advertising costs money that DV doesn't have. Also, I'm very likely to ignore ads and if I saw an ad for something related to dreaming I'd dismiss it as new age crap.

[Sesquipedalian]

If I'm not mistaken, DV is actually a business, right?

Also, I'm pretty sure that according to mainstream populous, LD'ing IS new age crap. It's up there with hypnosis, bineural beats and things like that. (funny thing is, hypnosis and bineural beats actually work)

It's been drilled into the minds of millions that dreams should not be messed with, and it's been assumed that anything that seems "out there" is fake. (for instance, ~20% of US citizens seriously believe that we have not been to the moon)

[Universal Mind]

Call big time radio talk shows and talk about lucid dreaming. Then ease into mentioning "Dream Views on the internet". If you dive right into talking about "DreamViews.com", you will sound like an advertiser and it will get bleeped out, most likely. Coast to Coast would be an awesome show to mention it on, if you can ever get on the show. I have gotten on it twice, but there was a guest host both times. It was back when Art Bell was the main host, and I was never able to get on when he was in the studio. But people did it all the time.

Also, start threads about lucid dreaming on major web sites, particularly psychology, philosophy, and mysticism sites. In your original post, provide a link to this site. Try not to come across as a spammer. Doing this will be very effective.

[Black_Eagle]

It's one thing to get the word out about lucid dreaming, but getting the word out about DV would cause lots more people to come to DV thus changing the community for better or for worse. Personally, I don't see any reason why DV should change. It has sustained growth and the community is fine.

[[SomeGuy]]

I share Bleagle's view. Why do we need the DV community to be bigger? It's not like you get any more profit. You get money from these advertisments everywhere. People don't pay to sign up. If people hear about LD'ing and they want to try it, they can search it up and find us. If we just get giant, nobody will know anyone and it will become a Twitter deal. It's going to suck.

[dreamingofdreaming]

Good points guys. I never really thought about DV becoming TOO big, but I can see how that could become a problem. However, I still like the idea of spreading the word about DV and lucid dreaming in general. Perhaps the membership process could be more strict, like mods would have to approve each "applicant" first, or any interested person would have to fill out a questionair or something.

Also, Iv'e noticed there are hundreds of members here who havn't been active for 2+ years. I think a project staff should work on is deleting any accounts that have been inactive for a certain amount of time; I'm sure this has already been discussed ;)

[Supernova]

I'm with BE, DV is growing, and having a community that's so big that nobody knows anyone else would suck.

and every telemarketer call I get, I try and get them interested in LDing.

This, on the other hand, sounds pretty neat :lol: How did you get that to work?

[[SomeGuy]]

Good points guys. I never really thought about DV becoming TOO big, but I can see how that could become a problem. However, I still like the idea of spreading the word about DV and lucid dreaming in general. Perhaps the membership process could be more strict, like mods would have to approve each "applicant" first, or any interested person would have to fill out a questionair or something.

Also, Iv'e noticed there are hundreds of members here who havn't been active for 2+ years. I think a project staff should work on is deleting any accounts that have been inactive for a certain amount of time; I'm sure this has already been discussed ;)
Well you can't just delete accounts. What if they want to come back?

When DV gets big, we will lose the sense of family here because nobody knows each other. You'll never see my posts because all the other posts drown me out. Same with everyone else.

[dreamingofdreaming]

Well, chances are if they haven't been back in 2+ years they probably won't or they have surely forgotten their login info. If they really want to come back, they can re-register. I just think the amount of unactive members is excessive.

I also think that DV can grow big and still have a community feel. It's up to the present community to make sure that happens ;)

[DarkLucideity]

Well, chances are if they haven't been back in 2+ years they probably won't or they have surely forgotten their login info. If they really want to come back, they can re-register. I just think the amount of unactive members is excessive.

Better - only delete accounts that have under a certain amount of posts, along with inactivity. You probably wouldn't want to delete the account of someone who has 1500 posts but has been inactive for 2 years.

[[SomeGuy]]

Well, chances are if they haven't been back in 2+ years they probably won't or they have surely forgotten their login info. If they really want to come back, they can re-register. I just think the amount of unactive members is excessive.

I also think that DV can grow big and still have a community feel. It's up to the present community to make sure that happens ;)

Better - only delete accounts that have under a certain amount of posts, along with inactivity. You probably wouldn't want to delete the account of someone who has 1500 posts but has been inactive for 2 years.
Well that makes more sense.

[no-Name]

Better - only delete accounts that have under a certain amount of posts, along with inactivity. You probably wouldn't want to delete the account of someone who has 1500 posts but has been inactive for 2 years.

Members with less than 3 posts make up over half our userbase.
I'm pretty against this idea.

[[SomeGuy]]

A number of how many people are here is different from the actual amount. But, it's still pointless to delete them. They don't take up much space.

[dreamingofdreaming]

Fair enough.

I just love cleaning up and/or purging things; makes everything run smoother :P

[[SomeGuy]]

You like purging things?

Well, anyway: I really am against mainstream advertisment. Maybe on other forumsyou are on, tell them, but other than that, no.

[dreamingofdreaming]

Assume: Makes an ass out of u and me

Yeah tacky ads are tacky. There are several better suggestions of getting the word out on here that don't involve big multi-media advertising.