Future Contest Concepts

[Dave Ronyak]

I add my voice to those who do not think the traditional contest concept has run its course.  The opportunity to win a Festool will always draw the attention of participants on FOG who believe they have a chance to win.  But to me a watch is not nearly as big a draw to participate as the chance to win a Festool woodworking tool.  I also want to assure all members they do have a chance to win.  I was certainly surprised when I won, and very much enjoy using the ETS 150/3 sander and supplies donated by Bob Marino.  I think fondly of FOG and Bob every time I use that tool.  (Thanks, again, Bob!)  I hope to post on my latest project (granite topped coffee table) soon.

Dave R.

 

[JeromeM]

I add my voice to those who do not think the traditional contest concept has run its course.  The opportunity to win a Festool will always draw the attention of participants on FOG who believe they have a chance to win.  But to me a watch is not nearly as big a draw to participate as the chance to win a Festool woodworking tool.  Dave R.

I'm with you on this one though I don't have a project to put forward right now, also I have both a Festool watch and a Festool Panda. May be a systainer wine cooler would be tempting

 

[dirtydeeds]

a german wine cooler?  you dont have to know anything about wine

EXCEPT

it will be very technical, very correct and hence

................... very expensive

 

[JeromeM]

a german wine cooler?  you dont have to know anything about wine

EXCEPT

it will be very technical, very correct and hence

................... very expensive

Also have 8x the preservative content of any other.

 

[dirtydeeds]

i need preserving  ;D

but 8 times.................

thats debatable

 

[AlexThePalex]

Uhm, germans and wine don't mix. Better make it a cooled home tap with built in beer keg. 

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Hello Everyone,
I've thought about this a lot before responding.

The contests take a huge amount of behind-the-scenes coordination, and I have successfully worked to get a lot of great prizes offered here.  But it's possible, in a monthly contest, that any given prize won't be as good as a previous month, or a following month.

By the way, I actually thought that people would be interested in winning a watch!

There are sponsors who are ready to offer prizes for future contests, so it's not a question of a lack of prizes.  And it's not a sign of any loss of support from Festool: our agreement was always that Festool would give the contests a boost for six months, then let others take the ball.

My concept for the contests (which I have always tried to express) was to not make them become a whole separate effort.  That's why I tried to have a system where we didn't post special projects just for the contests, but instead considered materials already posted in the forum boards.  The goal is to have people post great projects and ideas for the sake of the ideas.  Winning a contest was meant to be a great additional benefit.

Now, if people are calculating which contests to be part of based on which prize they think might is better or worse, and perhaps holding off on posting their projects based on that feeling, that gives credence to my initial thought that the concept has run its course.  Again, the contests were meant to encourage posting, not make people calculate when they post.

My guess is, if we had contests that just engaged people in the ideas -- without necessarily trying to take something tangible away -- we might get closer to the real goals I had in mind.

Another consideration: some people feel they have no chance of winning the contests because their skills are not high enough.  I never meant for that to be a factor here!

I'm proud of the contests (except for a couple of publicly challenging situations), and will always look at them as a great part of the story of this forum.  But maybe it's time to try something else?

As always, I am interested in hearing what people have to say.

Thanks,
Matthew

 

[butzla]

Matthew,  With all due respect, you are missing the point.  It's not that people are holding off posting projects, it's that people are not quick to nominate their projects for a given prize.

 

[Daviddubya]

Please consider changing from a contest format to a drawing.  You could create a thread that announces the prize and a deadline for joining the drawing.  Anyone that posts in that thread is in the drawing.  The drawing can be open to registered members and/or to FOG Supporters.  I suspect with a drawing format, you will get more participation.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

Matthew,  With all due respect, you are missing the point.  It's not that people are holding off posting projects, it's that people are not quick to nominate their projects for a given prize.

I was talking about two different kinds of holding off that might occur:
1. Members limiting their project postings because of the contests.
2. Members limiting their involvement in the contests themselves because of considerations about the value of the prize.

In this latest situation, we had the second scenario.

As I mentioned, a lot of administrative work goes into making these contests happen, so I need to make sure the goals of the contests continue to be clear.

Please consider changing from a contest format to a drawing.  You could create a thread that announces the prize and a deadline for joining the drawing.  Anyone that posts in that thread is in the drawing.  The drawing can be open to registered members and/or to FOG Supporters.  I suspect with a drawing format, you will get more participation.

I've always imagined the contests as a way of encouraging more posts in the main areas of the forum, rather than posting just for the sake of the contest itself.  That's my reason for the new concept I am proposing: it fuses good posting with the contest itself.

But as I always say, I am open to hearing from members on how to do what we do here!

Thanks for the feedback.  It really helps.

Stay in touch,
Matthew

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Please consider changing from a contest format to a drawing.  You could create a thread that announces the prize and a deadline for joining the drawing.  Anyone that posts in that thread is in the drawing.  The drawing can be open to registered members and/or to FOG Supporters.  I suspect with a drawing format, you will get more participation.

I like Daviddubya's drawing concept, but wonder: Will reposting of older posts [of projects, jigs, methods of work, etc.] make them eligible in the latest drawing?  Or will it be one opportunity only?  I'm not sure this issue was fully addressed even under the old contest "rules"; the only thing clear to me was that a previous winner was no longer eligible for another prize [at least for the winning entry], which certainly makes sense to me.

Dave R.

 

[Matthew Schenker]

...Will reposting of older posts [of projects, jigs, methods of work, etc.] make them eligible in the latest drawing?  Or will it be one opportunity only?  I'm not sure this issue was fully addressed even under the old contest "rules"; the only thing clear to me was that a previous winner was no longer eligible for another prize [at least for the winning entry], which certainly makes sense to me.

I'm not sure what you mean by "reposting of older posts."  The way the contests were always run, you did not have to repost anything.  It has always been an essential part of the contests that existing posts were automatically eligible.

Can you explain what you mean better, to make sure I can give a better answer?

Yes, a project that already won a contest was no longer eligible for a future contest.  But the person who posted can win more than once.

Thanks,
Matthew