Whether you are a cake artist or a member of government the word, collaboration ,should mean the same thing, “working with others to do a task and to achieve shared goals.” Wiki
For those of us in the cake world it has come to symbolize working with our peers and mentors to create edible showpieces under the same theme. Once made, we obsess over if its good enough or if people will “like” it. We take a million photographs of whatever it is we’ve made and then keep those photos hidden away until the “reveal” day.
So, what happens between that magical day that someone asks you to be in their collaboration and the reveal day? Let’s take a look at this year's World AIDS Day collaboration and my process for “making it happen”.
In April of this year I decided I wanted to do a collaboration for a cause and being in the medical field I had always wanted to find a positive way to honor World AIDS DAY. At that time, Dec 1st 2015 was nine months away, plenty of time to find members and get things done. Most collaborations stay in the 20-50 member range but I had it in my head that I was going to go big! I had been a member of
others collaborations and had learned a little bit along the way so I started asking my cake friends and they probably regret it now but they said, “yes”.
Next up, you need somewhere to go. An online “coffee shop” for everyone to mingle and go over ideas. I set up a private Facebook group page and Invited them on over. Things I wanted to have in the group page:
1. inspiration photos based on your theme
2. a post or file of the rules and guidelines for caky submissions
3. a due date
4. a post letting everyone introduce themselves and tag their page
5. info on where they will send things like; the final photo, profile picture, bio (do you want to set up and email account, dropbox, or Google folder) Most importantly I needed to have help. Not only with behind the scenes “blah” stuff but active, in the group fun stuff as well. Members don’t have to be there (though they did said yes in the first place so you hope they would stick it out as much as possible) and they are participating at cost to them.
Thus, It is my thought that I wanted to make it as pleasant and easy as possible so all they have to do is hang out in the “coffee shop” and create. For World AIDS Day I have Louise, who for nine months did daily spotlights and weekend questions to keep everyone active in the group and learning about each other; Sam who helped members find inspiration photos and offered encouragement to our novice members; and Cathy who, in the last few
weeks, has helped me touch base with members who had become quiet and our cheerleader to make it to the finish line.
Finally, you need a place to reveal all of this hard work. I’ve seen both facebook pages and website pages. Along with slideshows and videos. You just have to decide what is best for your group. Then on reveal day you need to decide on a time to push that “publish” button that best works for you and your members. Being an international collaboration definitely makes that a challenge. For us Nov 30th at 6pm US Central time worked because for those on the other side of the globe it would be mid morning on Dec 1st already. Not much you can do after that but sit back and enjoy the newsfeeds.
Zawadi
The making of a Collaboration
Zawadi Parizek takes us behind the scenes at BeTeamRED
.