Running head: TWITCH PROJECT PLAN 1

Instructional Design Project Plan for Twitch Charity Stream Webinar

Erica McCarthy

Post University
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Instructional Design Project Plan for Twitch Charity Stream Webinar

Fundraising for charity is something with which many people have experience. Most

often, the types of events that are run to raise money are in-person types of events; whether that

is a road race, a sporting event, an auction, or gala event, people are familiar with fundraising in

this way. However, the live-streaming community found on platforms such as Twitch or Mixer is

another way to fundraise. Twitch, for example, sees an average of 15 million daily active users –

people who spend at least an hour watching other people play video games (MediaKix Team,

2018). The opportunity here is in how to teach streamers how to raise money on Twitch, given

that there is not the native, in-person integration that so many other charity events have.

Stakeholders

Teaching streamers how to run charity events would also include many moving parts.

These stakeholders include the project manager/instructional designer. Ideally, these two roles

would be fulfilled by the same person. Additionally, stakeholders would include both small

streamers who have run small events, as well as large streamers who have been part of larger

events – splitting the streaming community into two separate stakeholders here is vital, as

someone who has been part of large events, or someone who routinely brings in over 3000

viewers will, by default, have a different experience from a smaller streamers. Charities

themselves should also be stakeholders, as they know specifically what they looking for, what

they need, and the types of promotional materials they could include. Tiltify is a fundraising

platform that provides live, interactive technology that engages viewers to donate to the cause.

Through both traditional fundraising and modern digital live stream engagement, Tiltify has

allowed organizations to expand audience reach while protecting donors as well (Tiltify, 2018).

As such, Tiltify (or representatives therein) should be included in the stakeholder conversation).
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Graphic designers and video editors would be involved in talking about what goes into designing

promotional material. As with anything involving technology or computers, IT specialists

(especially those with gaming and streaming backgrounds) would be required to help explain

back-end problems that could arise during a stream. Many live streaming platforms, like other

types of websites, have Terms of Service that cannot be violated, regardless of the reasons for the

violation. Involving representatives from these platforms would be beneficial for all. Finally,

nothing would be possible without viewership. The viewers would be the people donating

money, so it would be imperative to know what viewers would want to see from a charity event.

Technology

As the conversation revolves around the use of live streaming platforms to raise money

for charity, technology will be, by definition, part of this project, simply because this is going to

be including various aspects of live-streaming video games. Various technology will include not

just the tools required to live stream, but also videos from streamers and the instructional design

component as well.

The live-streaming community found on platforms such as Twitch or Mixer is a robust

way to fundraise for various charities; however, these communities are mostly untapped

potential. Twitch, for example, sees an average of 15 million daily active users – people who

spend at least an hour watching other people play video games (MediaKix Team, 2018). The goal

of this project is to teach video game streamers how to raise money on Twitch or other live

streaming platforms, by Q2 2019, with no fiscal budget required. The viewership on Twitch and

other live streaming platforms is remarkably large and remains a relatively untapped resource for

charity fundraising, so the opportunity to tap this resource remains a large one.
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Cost-Benefit Analysis

Tangible benefits to this project remain to be seen. It is difficult to ascertain how much

money a particular charity event will bring in, regardless of whether one is discussing a

traditional charity event or a live stream. This is not a project in which one will see immediate

results. However, two intangible benefits are very important. First, there is the benefit to the

streamers themselves in the knowledge they will gain from this. Second, there is the benefit to

the various charities in the funds raised for them through this relatively untapped population.

Cost-wise, this project is projected to cost nothing monetarily (though it is possible that

there will be a minor cost for video editing software, depending). The main cost here will be in

labor hours for the various participants. It is estimated that this project will cost roughly 250

labor hours across the board. This includes the various video interviews, estimated time of

completion for the surveys, as well as video editing. The greatest labor cost will be in video

editing, as that is the most intensive part of this project.

Project Scope

The major project activities will be surveys, video interviews, and video editing. Initially,

this was thought to be a mini-webinar of sorts, but as the project has continued, it is more likely

to be a full video posted on YouTube and possibly used down the road as a panel for TwitchCon

2020. For the immediate future, this project will not include anything that requires synchronous

communication, so there will not be anything resembling a live question and answer portion once

the webinar/video is completed.

The requirements of this project include having the right technology to edit the videos

and the time to complete everything. The estimated project completion date is early Q2 2019 –

April 30, 2019. This is set to coincide with the lead up to Stack Up’s 2019 May Call to Arms.
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With that in mind, the first milestone – completion of all the surveys sent out – should be March

7, 2019. This gives enough time to schedule and conduct the various video interviews that need

to be completed. The second milestone of March 20, 2019 is for the completion of those video

interviews. The next milestone of April 4, 2019 is for the editing of the video interviews into

shorter pieces that can be included in the overall project. By April 17, 2019, the project

manager/instructional designer should have the topics and script written up, and the lecture/video

recorded. Finally, by April 30, 2019, all videos should be edited into one large one that can be

distributed on YouTube and among various streamers within the community. The project work

breakdown structure can be found in Table 1. There is no real impact to late delivery, as

streamers can always raise money; however, leading this into the May Call to Arms allows for

more potential fundraising for Stack Up’s mission.

Components

In regards to choosing components for a project management plan, the project manager

needs to differentiate between what is important in the project and what is not. Many projects

include budgets, risk assessments, and quality management plans because those are vital to the

final product. For this project, however, that is not the case. Here, the focus is on managing

people and communication between those people.

Stakeholder Analysis

One required component of the Twitch Charity Webinar project is a stakeholder analysis.

Not all stakeholders are created equal; some will need to be fully engaged throughout the entire

process, while others just need to be included in particular communications regarding their role

in the project, rather than the project as a whole. Thompson (n.d.) recommends utilizing a grid

for the purposes of splitting stakeholders into four groups: high power, highly interested people
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(who should be managed closely and kept satisfied throughout); high power, less interested

people (who should have enough work to keep them satisfied, but not overly bombarded); low

power, highly interested people (those who should be kept informed); and low power, less

interested people (those who should be monitored but not overly communicated with). Smith

(2000) also utilizes this method in regards to identifying stakeholders interests, impact levels,

and priorities; this is vital in project management because not meeting the needs of just one

influential and powerful stakeholder at a vital time risks ruining the entire project. Table 2 shows

the stakeholder analysis for the Twitch Charity Webinar project. For this project, while some

stakeholders have a higher level of influence than others, every stakeholder is required to make

the project work. Because the vast majority of the Twitch Charity webinar is dependent upon

others’ opinions and experiences regarding what has worked for them (and more importantly,

what did not work for them), it is vital that their voices are included.

Communication Plan

According to Cox (2009) (and common sense), communication is an absolute

requirement if a project is to be successful. Planning how the team will communicate means

including processes for collecting, retrieving, and disseminating important project information.

There are a few essential components to an effective communications plan, including who needs

what information, when they need that information, and who is responsible for giving that

information (Cox, 2009). Figure 2.1 in Russell (2015) shows another novel way to break down a

communication plan called a scope diagram – this is a handy way to break down both tasks and

the communication that should go between stakeholders and the project manager (McCarthy,

2019).
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Some of the common challenges faced by ID project managers can include perception,

culture, timing, and silence, among others. The biggest challenges facing this project will likely

include perception and silence. It is easy, especially across non-verbal communication, to be

misunderstood or misinterpreted. Silence will be another challenge – many of the tasks for these

stakeholders do not require constant contact with the project manager, so it is possible that those

tasks could fall through the cracks. The best way to overcome these challenges is to ensure that

written communications are clear and concise and to set up timelines and milestones for

checking in with stakeholders regularly. This is where having a solid communication plan in

place is required. Project managers need to design the best approach to use with their

stakeholders. As discussed above, not meeting the needs of one important stakeholder could

derail an entire project. Utilizing the stakeholder analysis gives the project manager the ability to

“ensure the efficient use of effort to communicate and manage their expectations” (Project

Management Institute (PMI), 2013, p. 396). Table 3 showcases the communication plan for this

project.

Project Schedule

As with anything, a schedule is vital to ensure that a project stays on track and is not

delivered late. This is where many projects can get off track, especially when numerous changes

occur and require time and labor to fix. According to Russell (2015), there are three things that

can drive a product schedule – tasks, people, and time/dates. For the Twitch Charity Webinar, as

previously mentioned, some basic milestones have been established. The end date for the project

deliverable is in early Q2 2019 – roughly around April 30, 2019. That is the date by which the

final video should be able to be uploaded onto YouTube and distributed to various streamers

within the community. The full schedule can be viewed in Table 4, with dates that each milestone
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should begin and should be completed by. While this project schedule is linear, with each task

unable to begin until the prior one has finished, that is not an accurate assessment of this project.

Certainly, there are possibilities (especially early on in the project) for certain things to be

completed concurrently. For example, while the schedule allows for approximately two weeks to

complete the surveys, it’s possible that one stakeholder or another may finish those earlier,

allowing for their video interview to be completed earlier, allowing for their video to be edited

earlier. However, the schedule in Table 4 allows for a full picture on the date by which each task

should be completed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the streaming community is large enough that, to ignore the vast numbers

of people who could (and likely would) donate money to various causes is counterintuitive.

Teaching members of the streaming community how to raise money for these causes would

increase not only viewership for those streamers (which is in the back of every streamer’s mind)

but also the funds for the charities themselves. This project will benefit both the streaming

community, as well as charity fundraising, for the better across the board.
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References

Cox, D. M. (2009). Project Management Skills for Instructional Designers: A Practical Guide.

New York: iUniverse, Inc.

McCarthy, E. (2019). EDU627 Blog Post #3, or "How to herd cats.". Retrieved from A

Bombshell's Guide to Education:

https://bombshelleducation.wordpress.com/2019/02/10/edu627-blog-post-3-or-how-to-

herd-cats/

MediaKix Team. (2018). The Top 10 Twitch Stats that Marketers Must Know. Retrieved from

MediaKix: http://mediakix.com/2017/02/top-twitch-statistics-live-streaming-game-

platform/#gs.55ZyYggr

Project Management Institute (PMI). (2013). A guide to the project management body of

knowledge (PMBOK Guide) (5th ed.). Newtown Square, PA: Project Management

Institute, Inc.

Smith, L. W. (2000). Stakeholder analysis: a pivotal practice of successful projects. Project

Management Institute Annual Seminars & Symposium. Newtown Square, PA: Project

Management Institute. Retrieved from https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/stakeholder-

analysis-pivotal-practice-projects-8905

Tiltify. (2018). Tiltify's New Twitch Extension Makes Streaming for Charity Easier Than Ever.

PR Newswire. Retrieved from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tiltifys-new-

twitch-extension-makes-streaming-for-charity-easier-than-ever-300738210.html
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Tables

Table 1: Project Work Breakdown Structure

Project: Charity Stream Webinar
Name: Erica McCarthy

ID LEVEL 1 TASK LEVEL 2 TASK LEVEL 3 TASK RESOURCE

1 Surveys
1.1 How many surveys req'd Project Manager
1.2 Design separate surveys PM
Decide on deadlines for
1.3 surveys PM
1.4 Distribute surveys PM
1.4.1 Complete survey by deadline Small Streamer
1.4.2 Complete survey by deadline Large Streamer
1.4.3 Complete survey by deadline Viewer
1.4.4 Complete survey by deadline Graphic Designer
1.4.5 Complete survey by deadline IT Specialist
2 Interviews
2.1 Tiltify
Acquire contact info for someone for
2.1.1 video chat/interview PM
2.1.2 Speak to Tiltify re: why use them PM/Tiltify
2.1.3 Set appt w/contact re: interview PM/T
2.1.4 Conduct video chat/interview PM/T
Edit video chat/interview into one
2.1.5 video Video Editor
2.2 Small Streamers
2.2.1 Analyze data from surveys PM
2.2.2 Schedule follow up video calls PM
2.2.3 Conduct follow up video call PM/SmSt
Edit video chat/interview into one
2.2.4 video VE
2.3 Large Streamer
2.3.1 Analyze data from surveys PM
2.3.2 Schedule follow up video calls PM
2.3.3 Conduct follow up video call PM/LgSt
Edit video chat/interview into one
2.3.4 video VE
2.4 Viewers
2.4.1 Analyze data from surveys PM
2.4.2 Schedule follow up video calls PM
2.4.3 Conduct follow up video call PM/V
Edit video chat/interview into one
2.4.4 video VE
2.5 Graphic Designer
2.5.1 Analyze data from surveys PM
2.5.2 Schedule follow up video calls PM
2.5.3 Conduct follow up video call PM/GD
Edit video chat/interview into one
2.5.4 video VE
2.6 IT
2.6.1 Analyze data from surveys PM
2.6.2 Schedule follow up video calls PM
2.6.3 Conduct follow up video call PM/IT
Edit video chat/interview into one
2.6.4 video VE
3 Curriculum
3.1 Decide what to talk about PM
3.1.1 Outline order of topics PM
3.1.2 Write up ideas for script PM
Record lecture type pieces re: each
3.1.3 topic PM/Instructional Designer
4 Design Elements
4.1 Edit all videos into one VE
4.2 Design overlay GD
4.3 Place overlay onto videos GD/VE
5 Resources

Figure out resources to include

5.1 at end of video/webinar PM
Edit in resources VE
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Table 2

Stakeholder Analysis

Twitch Charity Event

Project Name Date
Webinar
Project Manager Erica McCarthy

Ability to
Unaware, Resistant, Level of Influence What is the risk if this
Stakeholder Name or Group Internal or External Impact What is needed from
Neutral, Supportive, or (1-5, with 5 being stakeholder is not engaged?
Name. Stakeholder Resources this stakeholder?
Leading? the lowest) (add to risk plan)
(1-5)

Organization,
Project Manager/Instructional The entire project goes
Internal Leading 1 1 communication, patience,
Designer sideways
flexibility
Lack of understanding
regarding small streamers'
Small Streamers Both Supportive-Neutral 2 3 Time, interview, survey experiences in
running/participating in
charity events
Lack of understanding of
larger streamers' experiences
Large Streamers External Supportive-Neutral 2 2 Time, interview, survey
in running/participating in
charity events
Lack of knowledge of what
Charity (for this project, the given they need, how they run,
External Supportive 3 3 Time, interview, survey
charity is Stack Up) what they give their
streamers, etc.
Lack of knowledge regarding
Tiltify External Unaware 3 3 Time, interview, survey who they are, how they work,
why use them
Time, interview, survey, The entire project goes
Graphic Designer Internal Supportive 2 1
designs sideways
Time, interview, survey,
The entire project goes
Video Editor Internal Supportive 2 1 designs, editing,
sideways
software
The entire project goes
IT Specialist(s) Internal Supportive 2 1 Time, interview, survey
sideways
Lack of understanding about
how ToS affects charity
Twitch/Mixer reps External Unaware 4 4 Time, interview, survey projects; not a huge issue,
but some missing knowledge
here
The entire project goes
Viewers Both Supportive-Neutral 5 1 Time, interview, survey
sideways

This table shows the stakeholder analysis. Evident within is the fact that, while not all

stakeholders are created equal, they are all vital to the project moving forward.
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Table 3

Communication Plan
Stakeholder Information Needs Frequency Medium
 Communications from all Weekly/as Discord (has both
PM/ID other stakeholders, problems chat and video
including deadlines, issues, arise conferencing
and changes to the plan functionality)
 Survey deadlines Bi-monthly, Discord
Small streamers  Video chat appointment as needed
time
 Survey deadlines Bi-monthly, Discord
Large streamers  Video chat appointment as needed
time
 Survey deadlines Bi-monthly, Discord
Stack Up  Video chat appointment as needed
time
 Survey deadlines Bi-monthly, Discord
Tiltify  Video chat appointment as needed
time
 Survey deadlines Bi-monthly, Discord
Graphic Designer  Video chat appointment as needed
times
 Design features/issues
 Survey deadlines Weekly Discord/in-house
Video Editor  Video chat appointment meetings
times
 Deadlines for videos and
any re-dos
 Changes in the plan
 Survey deadlines Weekly Discord/in-house
IT Specialist  Video chat appointment meetings
time
 Issues that come up re: IT
 Survey deadlines Bi-monthly, Discord
Twitch/Mixer Reps  Video chat appointment as needed
time
 Survey deadlines Bi-monthly, Discord
Viewers (non-  Video chat appointment as needed
streamers) time

This communication plan describes our strategy for keeping the project’s stakeholders

sufficiently informed to avoid any disappointment regarding cost, schedule, or quality goals.
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Table 4

Project Schedule

ACTIVITY START END NOTES

Make sure to include question re: best
Project Start/Surveys Designed 2/20/2019 2/22/2019
date/time for follow up conversation
Surveys Sent Out 2/23/2019 3/7/2019
Make sure verify appointment for follow up
Surveys Returned/Calls Scheduled 3/8/2019 3/11/2019
conversation
All Video Calls Completed 3/12/2019 3/20/2019
All Videos Edited Into Individuals 3/21/2019 4/3/2019
Order of Topics For Main Video 4/4/2019 4/6/2019
Script for Topics Written 4/7/2019 4/9/2019
Lecture/Video recorded by ID 4/10/2019 4/17/2019
All Videos Edited Into One 4/18/2019 4/29/2019
Video should be uploaded onto YouTube and
Project End 04/30/2019
distributed to streamers by this date.