Future Contest Concepts

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
As I work with potential sponsors for future contests -- and listen to members about their ideas for the contests -- I wanted to get things rolling again for April.

I have received some promotional materials from Festool to use in FOG contests.  I'd like to use some of those materials for our next contest.  Specifically, I would like to award limited-edition Festool "Rotex" watches to the winners.

Here's a photo of the watch:

My general idea for the contest is to award Rotex Watches to three winners.  I'd like to have one winner in each of these three forum areas:

• Member Projects
• Festool Jigs, Inventions, Tool Enhancements
• Festool How To...

Those are the general area.  But I want to come up with an original theme, something fun, with an interesting twist that inspires people.

Between now and April 1, I'd like to hear from members.  What particular theme would you like to see for April?

Thanks everyone,
Matthew

 

[Pete Pedisich]

Matthew,

How about a recycling theme? I thought Frank Pellow's amazing childrens log building kit made from fence boards!

I always like to see anything made of wood reused, restored, or r-anything rather than discared to be sent to a landfill.

-Pete

 

[peter halle]

Matthew,

Suggestions:

1.  Project costing less than $50 - spurs creativity and frugalness
2.  Outdoor project - Spring / summer - wash away the winter blues
3.  Project to be given away - better to give than to receive - unless it is a forum prize
4.  Project inspired by a posting here on the forum - has to detail the posting and why it inspired along with the postings about the project.

Peter

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
Thank you Pete and Peter for some great ideas.  I actually like all of them, so maybe it's a good thing we can do three prizes this month!

My goal is to keep the rules of the contest simple, so it is the projects -- and discussions about the projects -- that take center stage.  Your ideas are good for that!

Let's keep this conversation going for April's themes.

Stay in touch,
Matthew

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Matthew,

For the April 2009 Contest Theme: Win a Festool Watch, my initial reaction is to key on the obvious.  Since these are Rotex watches, this month's contest could be based on use of a Rotex sander.  Determination of a winner could be unusual uses of a Rotex sander.  Or use of a Rotex sander as the primary or only tool to make a project (e.g. starting with rough wood and shaping and finishing it using only a Rotex).  Or to the person who provides the best photo essay, i.e. the "Rotex Reference Book" describing and illustrating how to use a Rotex sander for myriad uses and projects, e.g. ranging from hogging down and shaping/sculping [rough] wood and plastics to applying wax finishes on wood, polishing out a piano grade finish, and refinishing and polishing motor vehicles and plastics.

Dave R.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Dave,
Excellent idea!  We've certainly seen a lot of great posts on the Rotex in particular, and it is one of the star tools in Festool's lineup.  I guess that's why it has its own watch, after all!

Of course, this idea would mean we move beyond the three specific boards I mentioned.  We'd pull posts out the general discussion area, which is fine with me.  Definitely, something different.

Maybe we could find the three most interesting uses of a Rotex sander, wherever they happen to be posted in the forum?

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[Bill Wyko]

IMHO we should expand the contest to include the gallery. 1, because it took me a day to make mine and I don't have another one to move it. ;D And 2 it'll get more people to expand their search of this fine site. Get everyone to use the site to its fullest.  ;D ;D ;D

 

[nclemmons]

If the prize is a watch, tie into a theme around time...

- jigs that save time
- projects you can do in four hours or less
- workshop clock designs
- timesaving tips for getting the most out of festool tools
- timeless designs that you can give to your heirs

etc...

neil

 

[Matthew Schenker]

IMHO we should expand the contest to include the gallery. 1, because it took me a day to make mine and I don't have another one to move it. ;D And 2 it'll get more people to expand their search of this fine site. Get everyone to use the site to its fullest.  ;D ;D ;D

For a long time, I've wanted to use the Gallery in a more integrative way for the forum.  It's a tremendous resource, full of great photos of Festool tools, information, and project photos.

For now, it's been a resource for members to keep albums of photos, which they can easily use in their forum posts.

But perhaps using the Gallery in this month's contest might bring some more deserved attention to it.

If the prize is a watch, tie into a theme around time...

- jigs that save time
- projects you can do in four hours or less
- workshop clock designs
- timesaving tips for getting the most out of festool tools
- timeless designs that you can give to your heirs

OK, let's think about that.  Maybe combine this with Dave Ronyak's suggestions and have a "Rotex and Time" theme?

Thanks for the ideas

Stay in touch
Matthew

 

[Bill Wyko]

I will say one thing I will say, the ROS 150 does save time. Try sanding Bubinga any other way.

 

[Bill Wyko]

How about a how 2 contest that includes the gallery and the use of the ROS 150?

 

[Frank Pellow]

I like Mattehws suggestion of three categories, that is:

Member Projects
Festool Jigs, Inventions, Tool Enhancements
Festool How To...

with the winner of each getting a watch.

As far as picking the winner, I like what we did in January with nominations, then a vote, then the Domiator.  I would limit the Dominator selection to the top 5 in each category.

 

[Bill Wyko]

If the prize is a watch, tie into a theme around time...

- jigs that save time
- projects you can do in four hours or less
- workshop clock designs
- timesaving tips for getting the most out of festool tools
- timeless designs that you can give to your heirs

etc...

How about projects that took for ever to get done. ;D
neil

 

[Frank Pellow]

How about projects that took for ever to get done.
neil

I can do better than that.  How about projects that are taking forever and are still not done?  ;D  People with such projects are in greater need of the prize.

 

[Bill Wyko]

You'll have a hard time beating me. I've been building my LOML's jewelry box for over a year now. :-\

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
Thanks everyone for all your great suggestions!  I am going to hold onto them and use them in future contests.

For this month, since the prize is a Rotex, I wanted to have it be themed on something related to the watch.  So the way I'd like to do the contest in April is to have people nominate their favorite posts that have the following themes:

1. Projects that use the Rotex (RO 150 or RO 125) a lot or in special ways.
2. Projects that save time using any Festool tool.

The projects can be nominated from the following three boards:
Member Projects
Festool Jigs, Inventions, Tool Enhancements
Festool How To...

All the nominations will be collected together.  We'll use the "Dominator" to choose a winner from among the top 10 candidates.

To keep things ordered, I've renamed this current discussion "Future Contest Concepts," and created a new discussion specifically for the April contest.

You can find the new discussion here -----> April 2009 Contest

Thanks again everyone, and I look forward to seeing the nominations.

Stay in touch,
Matthew

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Good Morning,
I've been working behind the scenes to develop a new concepts for "contests."  The old concept of competing and winning prizes seems to have run its course, as the April contest proved (hardly anyone participated).

Watch this area for new ideas!

To start off, this section has been renamed "Fun, Games,  Diversions..." and I've added a new description to better illustrate what will be happening here.

In general, we won't be awarding prizes for the contests any more.  There will still be a contest area, as I think that model does have a lot of potential to create new material in the forum.  However, the contests will simply be fun, engaging discussions, where the "prize" is knowledge and the fun of being involved.

This will make more sense very soon!

In the meantime, I would really like to hear from all members about your ideas for future contests (ones that don't involve prizes).

Thanks everyone,
Matthew

 

[butzla]

Matthew,  I'm not so sure the old contest format has run it's course.    I'm thinking that it was the rotex watch prize.  Jeanne from Tools Plus was giving away one of those a week in a random drawing and in the past, the contests have been for tools with sometimes 4 times the value.  Don't get me wrong,  I won one of Jeanne's watches and absolutely love it.  I wear it everyday.  I think maybe people were holding out on nominating projects for prizes with a higher value.  Am I alone here?

 

[rnt80]

Matthew,  I'm not so sure the old contest format has run it's course.    I'm thinking that it was the rotex watch prize.  Jeanne from Tools Plus was giving away one of those a week in a random drawing and in the past, the contests have been for tools with sometimes 4 times the value.  Don't get me wrong,  I won one of Jeanne's watches and absolutely love it.  I wear it everyday.  I think maybe people were holding out on nominating projects for prizes with a higher value.   Am I alone here?

My thoughts exactly.  I'm not holding anything back but I don't think the watch holds quite as much allure as some of the past prizes.  If the issue is that there aren't any dealers willing to donate bigger prizes then that's an entirely different issue.

 

[AlexThePalex]

The old concept of competing and winning prizes seems to have run its course, as the April contest proved (hardly anyone participated).

I think you're drawing an incorrect conclusion. I know I certainly didn't feel much for putting up a project to win a watch, and then know that project wouldn't be illegible anymore for more serious prices. Even more because I never wear a watch anyway.

Not that I have high hopes anyway on winning anything with my amateur a** amongst all these highly skilled big budget pro's here. I don't have that much projects to share anyway. Having $100 for wood would be a big project for me, unlike the pro's here who use 1000's of dollars in wood and just bill the client for it. So if I had a nice project, I would safe it for a chance to win a nice tool, but not for a watch, sorry. And perhaps I'm not the only one to think along these lines.