Gamifying the Parky Petition

Help us get to 100,000 signatures

Right now, the Movers and Shakers are on a mission. We have until September 10th to get 100,000 signatures on our petition calling for better Parkinson’s care and thus trigger a Parliamentary debate and it is turning us into embarrassing people. At a party last night I found myself badgering people I had just met to scan a QR code on my phone taking them to the petition site where they could sign up. They did it but I could see the fear in their eyes.

Gillian Lacey-Solymar, far more brazen than me, got talking to 20 complete strangers on a train from Oxford to London and ended up with 20 signatures. And Nick “the judge” Mostyn has gone as far as to don a wetsuit and try windsurfing again in a stunt reminiscent of Ed Davey to promote the petition.

It is going well - over 42,000 signatures last time I looked - but not quite well enough. In the 92 days left until the deadline we need to get an average of 630 new signatures every day and while over the last fortnight we have achieved that several times - pushing up towards 1,000 on one occasion - there have been more days when we fell short.

But never fear, Mark Mardell has had a great idea, inspired by our experience in Brighton where we found that face-to-face encounters with people, even on a rainy day, were far more effective than online interactions. So Mark’s plan involves a competition - to use the jargon, he wants to gamify the petition mission by getting local Parkinson’s groups across the UK to compete to gather the most signatures. And there is a fabulous prize - the winning group will get a visit from the Movers and Shakers and we will make a podcast episode with them..

On our website Mark explains exactly how the competition will work, with the map on the petitions website showing how many signatures there have been in any one Parliamentary constituency. Right now, Bexhill and Battle is in the lead with 281 signatures - but that is only 0.315% of constituents so even a day of campaigning in an area with a low score could send it hurtling up the chart.

Who can beat Bexhill?

So, the race is on and anyone can take part - just signing the petition makes you part of it and you can check on the map to see how your area is doing. But if you are a member of a local Parkinson’s group we would love to hear from you about how you are doing and any events you have planned. You can leave a comment here or email us with “petition” in the subject line at feedback@moversandshakers.com.