Birthday Bash 2012!!

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mbroberg

IAP Activities Manager, Emeritus
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As of this post Birthday Bash 2012 is only a short, 336 days away. So while Birthday Bash 2011 is still a fresh (and hopefylly plesent) memory, I'd like to invite you to critique the whole experience. Give Bash 2011 some thought and then tell us what we did right or what we need to improve on.

Were there enough events?

Do you have any suggestions for future events?

Any events that we should do away with?

Any procedural changes we should consider?

The purpose of these questions are just to start you thinking. Please don't limit your feedback to only these topics. ANYTHING you would like to say about how to improve the Bash is welcome. If you don't want to criticise something here in public feel free to PM me or give me a call at 614-774-7676. The goal of every Bash is to hear a collective, "WOW!! This was the best Birthday Bash ever!!" So help us by telling us what we have to do in order to make it happen.

Thanks,
Mike
 
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ed4copies

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This is going to sound radical and possibly nasty. It is not meant to be either.

The bash may be too long. It starts out strong, then hits a "lull". Threads go onto the second and third pages and die. Regular business takes over the "prime spots" and the perception (I am told by others, I am constantly busy, so it ain't my feedback) is that there isn't much happening and little participation.

The event I watch carefully (trivia) has great participation at the beginning, then tails off. At the end we were under 100 each day, from a high of 130some, if I recall correctly.

Also, we added the bash events to the front page listing only during the last week. This did seem to spark more interest, but then the contests were also ending, so who knows which sparked what. I think the bash events should be among the threads that make the home page so it is more evident what is happening.

Last, the "magic team" concept worked beyond my wildest dreams--as far as I can see. We will learn more in the next two weeks, but it appears all the prizes were followed and awarded. Minimal problems and NO complaints from my TEAM MEMBERS---I want every one of them back next year!!!

That's my immediate feedback, probably more to come as the week develops.
 

kinggabby

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The only thing I would like to add .. If someone wins a certificate would be nice to know if S&H is included . That way that could clear any confusion.
 

ctubbs

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Murray, Kentucky
The primary change I see is the posting of the conditions and requirements for all pen and photo contest in early January if possible. That way most people would know the rules and what to prepare before the contest actually start. For the members with history on IAP, this info would be well known, but for new members which have never seen one of these GREAT BASHES all the contest rules were upon them before they had any idea of what type of pen or photo to work upon.

Otherwise, this was one heck of a party. I wish to thank each and everyone that worked so hard and tirelessly to make it a success. I wish to also thank all the vendors for their generosity in donating so many wonderful prizes that give the imputation to enter the contest. Great job all around. Oh, and least we forget, THANK YOU JEFF for starting and supporting this whole thing.
Charles
 

DurocShark

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Anaheim, CA
Honestly, it seemed like a lot of noise to me. Didn't feel like there was a clear focus. But my opinion is suspect, since this happened in an EXTREMELY busy time of the year for me both at home and at work. So I wasn't able to give it the attention it deserved.
 

ericw95

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Lakeville, Minnesota (MN), USA.
It didn't seem as cohesive as in past years. I did like having just one trivia meister for the entire contest. He may take some bashing due to the clarity of some of the questions but he seemed to be more accomodating of variations.

Since we have a forum for 'Other things we make', maybe we should have a contest around that forum.
 

ed4copies

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The only thing I would like to add .. If someone wins a certificate would be nice to know if S&H is included . That way that could clear any confusion.

This was a comment in the past, I thought the "Value of $25" was pretty clear. If you bought from that vendor, you would be charged the freight (which he pays to the delivery service, for you) and that is included in the $25, or you can pay the freight and get $25 worth of merchandise, this leaves the choice up to the recipient.
 

Sylvanite

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Hillsborough, North Carolina, USA.
First of all: WOW!! This was the best Birthday Bash ever!!

Secondly, I do have some ideas for consideration. I think it would be better if the various contests ran for different times. I think there'd me more interest if some of them ended on week 2, or week 3 - not all at the end of the month. That way, focus (and voting) could shift from contest to contest during the bash. Of course, this might mean earlier rule posting (somtime in January) so that people could prepare their entries.

Also, what is the general opinion about the anonymous entries done this year? Did it really help? I kind of missed seeing all the entries as they happened, and the buzz they created. I recognized several of the styles so I'm unconvinced that anonymity really worked. Same with the the poll results being hidden. I enjoyed watching the poll results change in previous years. Did hiding the results really accomplish anything?

In the photo contest, I might suggest a runoff vote between the individual category winners. I benefited from no runoff this year - but the results may have been different had the three category winners gone head-to-head.

Just my thoughts,
Eric
 

IPD_Mrs

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Zionsville, Indiana
We have been around for three of the last four bashes. For me this was one of the better ones and there are several reason.

Things seemed much more balanced out as you had a larger crew working and organizing. Things were not left to a couple of people. Those that had responsibilities did very well and in several cases went well beyond their original required task.

The crossword puzzles were new to us and was quite fun. They took some time to complete, but this year we made the time. We wanted to enjoy the bash so we put some of our day to day life on hold to participate. The fact the the one puzzle evolved into three says that there was a lot enjoyment had by all, and a bundle of work by Landon and Curtis. That was quite appreciated.

Trivia ran well and seemed to be on time every day if not early once or twice. That was great and the host (Chris) did it while enduring a cold. I think that the only way I could see to improve it would be to break it into four weeks and a different person being the host each week. I don't know if we can find the volunteers for it, but it might take the burden off of one person. The questions this time were somewhat easy, but they were good because it made you explore the forum. That was a big plus. Maybe an advance trivia during one week would be fun. Harder questions? I am not saying trivia was bad by any means just throwing out ideas as Ed mentioned there was a low in the middle.

It would also be nice to see photo and pen contests announced earlier with a little more information about break downs. I did not realize until the end there was sub-categories in the ugly pen contest. Also the poll results should be turned visible at the end of member voted contests.

The mug quality this year was great and I have reserved mine as my weekend coffee mug. Packaging was top notch and shipping was fast.

Auctions:
A couple of years ago we had some really crazy auctions. They were frustrating to me as the prices went way up there, but like one of this years every time you turned around something was added to the auction. It would be nice to see more auctions with some starting earlier in the month. They are fun to watch and some of the barkers are a hoot. Kind of gives a carnival feeling with folks egging everyone along.

All and all things were great. I only suggest these few things so that we can build on this years success.

Ed you did a good job this year. Not over the top and not annoying. Guess you must be slipping in your old age. :eek::biggrin:
 

arioux

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Terrebonne, Quebec, Canada.
I have a few complain:

The entry fee on the diffrent contest was a little high, specially with first place prize just around $100. You waited until the last day to make me win something (well 2 things). The trivia master was a little slow posting his question (i counted a least 5 days where he was 5 minutes late). Took me at least 5 minutes to unpack my mug with all the wraper and boxes and tape. The trivia gift where suppose to be $25. i got a $40. one (very bad budget management). Other than that, well you did ok.

Next year, i would expect you to understand that i have other thing to do than loose 5 minutes waiting for a trivia question. I expect to win in the first 5 days, respect your prize budget, do what ever you need to do but please..............................................................................................................
Keep the same great Bash team !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks gang hope to see you next year

P.S. If it can cheer up Curtis, altough i could'nt complete one, the crossword was the activity i appreciated the most. Great learning experience.
 

mbroberg

IAP Activities Manager, Emeritus
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Columbus, OH
We interupt the Bash feedback thread for a public service announcement.

Several positive comments have been received regarding the crossword puzzle. This was Landon's (Hunter-27) idea. The original plan was for one puzzle. The second and third were developed on the fly by Landon due to the favorable response. Curtis helped out a great deal by working cyber voodoo to get the formatting in which they were presented. I think they were a success and hopefully there will be more puzzles in the future.

While I'm at it, Ed (Ed4Copies) suggested and ran with the auctions. I guess he was feeling nostolgic, in that these auctions used to be somewhat common in days of yore, way prior to when I happened upon the IAP. Odds are we will be seeing more of those as well.

We now return to our regular scheduled critique. Please keep the :good: or :bad: feedback coming.

Thanks!
 

bbuis

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Zionsville, IN
There are a couple of things I would change.

Trivia. I think it would be more fair if someone wins they can't win again. I know a lot of people are going to argue this point but it would make the losers circle a little smaller and more obtainable for people that entered every single trivia question right or wrong .. but tried.

Contests. The rules for beginner contest was 6 months. To me this is not fair for a couple of reasons. I don't consider myself a beginner but I don't consider myself able to compete with the big dogs yet either. I think the contests would be better if it was like beginner, intermediate, advanced .. where the advanced would have to be something beyond a regular pen .. maybe segmenting and stuff. I can't do stuff like that so would not have stood a chance in the Most beautiful pen contest. Beginner wise .. I know I'm not a beginner but I am still learning and haven't been doing this for years as most of the other group had.

This was my first bash and I had a blast.
 

ldb2000

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Laurence Harbor, NJ, USA.
There are a couple of things I would change.

Trivia. I think it would be more fair if someone wins they can't win again. I know a lot of people are going to argue this point but it would make the losers circle a little smaller and more obtainable for people that entered every single trivia question right or wrong .. but tried.

Contests. The rules for beginner contest was 6 months. To me this is not fair for a couple of reasons. I don't consider myself a beginner but I don't consider myself able to compete with the big dogs yet either. I think the contests would be better if it was like beginner, intermediate, advanced .. where the advanced would have to be something beyond a regular pen .. maybe segmenting and stuff. I can't do stuff like that so would not have stood a chance in the Most beautiful pen contest. Beginner wise .. I know I'm not a beginner but I am still learning and haven't been doing this for years as most of the other group had.

This was my first bash and I had a blast.


This is a question I agonized over for quite awhile . Where do you draw the line ? We did have 3 levels of competition in the pen contests , there was the beginners contest and that was with the 6 month rule to keep it as fair to the newbies as possible , there was the beautiful pen contest for the general membership and there was the modified cigar and the freestyle contests for the advanced penmakers .
If the beginners contest was open to lets say people who have been on the site or turning for a year then people like Dennis (Soligen) (he has only been turning since last April) and several others would have been eligible to compete in the beginners contest and as seen with his win in the modified cigar contest , he would have blown away all the other beginners . That would obviously would not have been fair to the real newbies . With the 6 month rule we got a good cross section of the real newbies and had a pretty level playing field .
I know that 6 months is an arbitrary number but with the knowledge that is freely available around here by 6 months you should be able to hold your own against the general membership . The line had to be drawn somewhere and 6 months seemed to be a good place to draw it . If I was wrong , say so and next year can be set up differently , but remember then you might be going up against people like Soligen and wiset1 and others of that ability .

Edit;
By the way , the winner of the beginners contest turned his first anything on 11/6/10 , only 3 short months ago .
 
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Phunky_2003

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Bonham Texas
I just read this post after a long bad day, so I will wait until I am thinking more clearly.

Just some thoughts about the trivia and only numbers really

Ed there were 2907 entries total for the trivia. You being a numbers guru thought you might like that bit of info.

BBuis - Dont quote me on this but I believe there was only one repeat trivia winner. I could be wrong.

This was my first year doing the trivia and while I had a blast doing it, there was some kinks that needed to be ironed out, hopefully it will go smoother next year. That being said, there were complaints but no real issues. Most were with the clarity of the question.
 

micharms

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Port Elgin, Ontario, Canada.
Sorry if I spoiled someone's fun but as far as I know I was the only repeat trivia winner. I thought long and hard after winning the first time about whether it was right or not to continue participating. I reread the rules a couple of times then I decided that the odds were against my winning a second time and so continued to submit my answers. I guess I should have just played along in the background.

The Bash was great and I enjoyed my small role in helping things to run smoothly and will volunteer again.

Michael
 

G1Pens

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This was my first year, so I don't have anything to compare it to. I just know that I really enjoyed everything about it. I participated in as much as possible adn had a blast with it all. I thought everything ran smoothly from my point of view. I have complaints about the trivia at all. I like the fact that you can win multiple times. It seemed to me that the number of participants in the trivia never changed much, which leads me to believe that a core group was playing every day. I would like to see more participation, but you can't force people to complete. I'm new and I think I only missed one answer. If I can find the answers, anyone else should be able to as well.

The puzzles were hard..very hard...maybe a little too hard. I liked the second one, based on user names. Even though I didn't finish it, I made an atttempt and learned something about some of the members and IAP in the process. I think the puzzles could have been a little easier. Maybe have progressively harder puzzles.

I agree that there was a bit of a lull in the middle of the month. I'm not sure what would change that. Maybe stagger the various pen making/photography competitions throughout the month, so that winners are announced at the end of each week instead of a big flurry at the end. Of course that would mean that some contests would need to be announced and rules published in January so that members could have entries ready earlier in the month. Personally I think all the entries should be "hidden" until judging. I think that way no one is discouraged becasue they see something they percieve as better than what they have. I would then have judges select the top 5. Let members vote on those for 4-5 days and then announce the winners (1-3).

Just some thoughts.

If you did it exactly the same it would still be great and I would still participate as much as I could. I have no complaints.
 

ed4copies

Local Chapter Manager
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Two years ago, one member won three times.

I really always thought people played for the fun of playing, and the "comments" that accompany the "daily group".

Maybe the prizes are more of a "draw" than I thought. The participation did "fall off" at the end of the month and the trivia questions were certainly NOT that hard.

Couple things the general membership should know:
First, this thread and any others like it will be reviewed by the "bash committee" next year, around November. Then, as the bash gets closer, changes are discussed and made as the chairmen see fit, in consultation with the committee.

Second, you can BE ON the bash committee---particularly those who believe there are important changes that should be made----you just have to volunteer and be willing to spend the hours required.

The proper contact to get on the committee is Mbroberrg.
Don't be shy-----Jump in!!!!
 
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omb76

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Cartersville, GA
This was the first bash that I was able to participate in and had a great time. The trivia was a lot of fun as it allowed me to participate in something everyday and added a little excitement in the afternoon to see if I had won. I think that once someone wins that they should not be able to enter again, not a big deal really, but just my thought.

I think that the pen contests should be tweaked a little. The 6 month beginners one seems appropriate as does the freestyle and modified contests. I would rework the beautiful pen contest so that it is only made with "standard" materials, nothing that you cast yourself, or any segmenting. I don't have (and probably a lot of others don't either) the equipment to cast anything so that automatically puts me at a disadvantage and segmenting is another learned talent that can be showcased in it's own contest. Considering that all the winners were either a segmented or cast pen, I think that 2 new contests for casting and segmenting would be great additions.

The photography entries were one of my favorite things to see, but I guess I didn't understand the contest because what I saw didn't jive with what I thought they should be. But then maybe I just didn't read them well enough.

The crossword puzzles were a lot of fun, for some reason though the second one about IAP members didn't sit well with me, not sure why. It seemed like all the "cool kids" had the spotlight on them. I had my fill of that in school.

I think Ed had mentioned putting all the contests and announcements on the front page so they would get noticed more, but I think that would be a mistake. I think a lot of other posts would be smothered by the bash posts and there would be a lot less interaction with non-bash posts. It's very easy to check the bash forum to see what's going on.

This is what I can think of for now...

All in all I think this years bash was great fun and am looking forward to 2012!! Thanks for all your hard work! :highfive:
 

G1Pens

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I think Ed had mentioned putting all the contests and announcements on the front page so they would get noticed more, but I think that would be a mistake. I think a lot of other posts would be smothered by the bash posts and there would be a lot less interaction with non-bash posts. It's very easy to check the bash forum to see what's going on.

I agree on that. I like the separate Bash pages.
 

soligen

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Concerning the trivia... I loved it.

And Ed, I dont think the drop off was as bad as you think. I dropped out after I won, and I'm sure others did too, but I still followed it in the background. Assuming 15 - 20 of the winners dropped out, then the shrinkage is not as much as it seems.

(Nothing against micharms, I just made a different choice)
 

ed4copies

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Concerning the trivia... I loved it.

And Ed, I dont think the drop off was as bad as you think. I dropped out after I won, and I'm sure others did too, but I still followed it in the background. Assuming 15 - 20 of the winners dropped out, then the shrinkage is not as much as it seems.

(Nothing against micharms, I just made a different choice)


THANK YOU,
DENNIS
:bananen_smilies051::bananen_smilies051:

That is an angle I had not even considered. And it makes me feel MUCH better!!
 

philb

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Midlands, United Kingdom.
Hi,

My 4th Bash this year and have to say it was one of the better ones!

Really like the new crossword puzzles, gave something different and somewhat harder than normal Daily trivia! Thought the Trivia was very well ran, on time a lot more than I'd previously noticed!

One of my favourites this year was the 'Weekly Wood ID'. Seemed to keep people interested throughout the Bash, as it had four separate competitions through the Bash it kept people coming back!
Maybe this could be adopted for some of the other comps, or something similar like fortnightly comps, so as one finishes one starts?

Other than that everything for me was great! Vendors offered exceptional discounts and prizes and many generous members also put up a lot of awesome donations. More than I ever remember at previous Bashes.

More of the same for me for 2012!

PHIL
 

kinggabby

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Oklahoma
The only thing I would like to add .. If someone wins a certificate would be nice to know if S&H is included . That way that could clear any confusion.

This was a comment in the past, I thought the "Value of $25" was pretty clear. If you bought from that vendor, you would be charged the freight (which he pays to the delivery service, for you) and that is included in the $25, or you can pay the freight and get $25 worth of merchandise, this leaves the choice up to the recipient.
I am sorry. I did not know I have never won was ever given a certificate for anything so I had no clue. I now know for the future. Thank you for explaining it to me in a kind manner. I know it is hard to show gentleness in text form. Everyone has been great. Thank you.
Dave Griffee
 

ctubbs

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Concerning the trivia... I loved it.

And Ed, I dont think the drop off was as bad as you think. I dropped out after I won, and I'm sure others did too, but I still followed it in the background. Assuming 15 - 20 of the winners dropped out, then the shrinkage is not as much as it seems.

(Nothing against micharms, I just made a different choice)

Something really werid happened this year, I won in trivia and like soligen, I played along quietly without entering the drawings afterward. My choice and I see nothing wrong with it happening the other way. I do agree that participation most likely did not drop off near as much as you believe Ed due to many not playing after winning.

I believe that the Trivia was handled as well as it could be. There were many good prizes available and from what I hear, the awards shipping was handled without much static. The fewer rules for the Trivia, the better. There is no way to cover all the possibilities with rules, we just have to understand that there will always be a way to improve or restrict. The entire Bash seems to have gone off with many hitches. Ed, you and the entire committee deserve our thanks.
Charles
 

MesquiteMan

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The crossword puzzles were a lot of fun, for some reason though the second one about IAP members didn't sit well with me, not sure why. It seemed like all the "cool kids" had the spotlight on them. I had my fill of that in school.

I actually came up with the crossword puzzle and I assure you, it was not intended to be for the "cool kids"! They way I came up with it was to pull up the member's list. I then sorted it based on post count with the highest post count at the top. I then randomly opened various profiles and looked for things that would be interesting for the puzzle. I choose folks with high post counts since I figured they had been around a while and more people would be likely to be able to guess who they were. I guess, naturally, if you have a high post count then you are more well known since you are more involved with IAP and therefore may be perceived as being more "cool". I did not just pic the first 50, I actually went through about the first 20 PAGES of members (top 600 posters). No preference was given to anyone except the management team. Everyone on the management team was included and most of their clues related to their management duties. I did this because I wanted folks to get to know the management team a little better.
 

mbroberg

IAP Activities Manager, Emeritus
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Several positive comments have been received regarding the crossword puzzle. This was Landon's (Hunter-27) idea. The original plan was for one puzzle. The second and third were developed on the fly by Landon due to the favorable response. Curtis helped out a great deal by working cyber voodoo to get the formatting in which they were presented.

I actually came up with the crossword puzzle ..........


My apologies. Credit should go where credit is due. I thought Landon came up with all the puzzles. I thought they were all allot of fun!! Thanks guys!!!
 

MesquiteMan

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No apology necessary. I did not want any credit for it since the crossword idea was all Landon's. I just had that idea and presented it to him and he liked it. I desire no credit!
 

soligen

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I believe that the Trivia was handled as well as it could be. There were many good prizes available and from what I hear, the awards shipping was handled without much static. Charles

Another comment about the prizes ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. As a first time basher (hehe) I was astounded at the quantity and quality of the prizes available. I mean... 28 daily prizes worth $25 or more. The donation drawing prizes had my jaw on the floor. Then 3 prizes for each contest. Mind boggling.
 

ed4copies

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I believe that the Trivia was handled as well as it could be. There were many good prizes available and from what I hear, the awards shipping was handled without much static. Charles

Another comment about the prizes ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. As a first time basher (hehe) I was astounded at the quantity and quality of the prizes available. I mean... 28 daily prizes worth $25 or more. The donation drawing prizes had my jaw on the floor. Then 3 prizes for each contest. Mind boggling.

Actually, there were two a day, 56.

Andrew (Maxwell_Smart007) does an AMAZING job!!! There were about 125 prizes this year and Andrew got NEARLY ALL of them!!!
 

randywa

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I loved the trivia ( currently suffering from withdrawal symptoms). The puzzles were great too. But maybe one of the major contests per week?
 

omb76

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The crossword puzzles were a lot of fun, for some reason though the second one about IAP members didn't sit well with me, not sure why. It seemed like all the "cool kids" had the spotlight on them. I had my fill of that in school.

I actually came up with the crossword puzzle and I assure you, it was not intended to be for the "cool kids"! They way I came up with it was to pull up the member's list. I then sorted it based on post count with the highest post count at the top. I then randomly opened various profiles and looked for things that would be interesting for the puzzle. I choose folks with high post counts since I figured they had been around a while and more people would be likely to be able to guess who they were. I guess, naturally, if you have a high post count then you are more well known since you are more involved with IAP and therefore may be perceived as being more "cool". I did not just pic the first 50, I actually went through about the first 20 PAGES of members (top 600 posters). No preference was given to anyone except the management team. Everyone on the management team was included and most of their clues related to their management duties. I did this because I wanted folks to get to know the management team a little better.

I know that was the intention it was just how I perceived it.
 

witz1976

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Jun 28, 2009
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Bucksport, Maine, USA
#1 Excellent job to the Bash Committee!! You guys pulled off another great Bash!!

#2 I agree that perhaps to keep the interest alive lets have a pen contest a week rather than start them all at once and end them all at the end of the month. Also putting out the rules in Jan would be nice too...but perhaps only for the contests in the first 2 weeks.

#3 Concerning this years beautiful pen contest, there was previous mention about limiting this contest to no segmentation or casting. I am on the fence about this decision, not because I did a segmented pen. But I think this could be a good time to expand your pen making skills. By the way, that was my first segmented pen. Not hard just pieces of wood cut on a 45 deg angle with aluminum pieces all epoxied together. Without question the pens selected as finalists were indeed beautiful pens, however they all were either a cast or segmented. Sure people can go out and buy a feather blank or even segmented blanks, however it would have been nice to see a plain pretty resin or wood pen. I am not criticizing the judges as it was a difficult challenge, but this is just an observation.

#4 the Prizes were AWESOME this year, thank you to all who contributed.
 

toddlajoie

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Location
Feeding Hills MA
I mainly participated in the trivia contest (I was in the featured pen contest, but I didn't have to do anything for that, it was automatic), as Feb is a horribly busy time for me and I was not able to produce anything for the other contests (in fact, I don't think I even did one complete pen in the month...), nor have time for the things like the crossword and Wood ID, which I'm really bad at. I REALLY wanted to take a crack at the edible pen, but just could not take the time to do what I wanted... I would have loved to try some of the other challenges, but it was not the time for me to try something new...

Birthday Bashes being what they are, it is unlikely it will be moved to another month. So all I can do is hope that I can free up some time next time around.

I did enjoy seeing the participation by others, and as far as I'm concerned, it was incredibly enjoyable. It also seemed to have something for everyone. The trivia was a nice little 10 to 60 minute diversion, that was often all I had time for, and there were plenty of challenges for those who had the time to try something new (or strange, or revolting...)

I'm also grateful for all the organizers who did all that work, I would not feel right to ask for anything other than whatever they are willing to organize. So in the end, GOOD JOB ONE AND ALL!!! If I can help next year, let me know!!
 

Brooks803

Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
5,632
Location
Aiken, South Carolina
I have some mixed emotions about this year's bash. This was my second one and I tried to participate as much this year as last. I do think this year ran very smoothly (big thank you to all the helpers in the background!). The prizes were out of this world! Richard at R&B Crafts put this year's prizes at a whole new level! Sadly I didn't win a thing but I still have a shot at the losers competition like last year. This year I did notice the lull in the middle of the month, it might be that most of the pen making competitions ended around that time and everyone was waiting for the voting to begin. I do think we need to add some extra competitions to possibly spread things out a bit more. Segmenting and Casting seem to be the popular choices for this. I'm not saying keep these aspects out of other competitions but have the more complex go into their own contest. The worst part of the bash was navigating the main thread page. There were TONS of stickys and the other pages seemed to get lost easily. A possible solution would be to give each contest it's own sub category off the main thread page to try and sort everything out and declutter the main thread. All in all I had a great time, learned alot, and really need to brainstorm some ideas for next year. BIG THANK YOU TO ALL WHO WERE INVOLVED:highfive:
 

hunter-27

Passed Away Aug 14, 2013
In Memoriam
Joined
Oct 17, 2007
Messages
4,608
Location
Chadron, Ne, USA.
But maybe one of the major contests per week?
Problem I see with this is, if it is a major contest, it needs more time to complete and the ones started later in the month would get a shortened period for completion. No we could certainly start earlier and end in FEB, or start in FEB and end later but that I feel would just make it seem "drug out" to much. I had the crossword puzzle idea shortly after last years Bash concluded. I started working on the original puzzle months before the this years Bash started. Doing a second puzzle was my idea based on feedback post from the first one. Curtis stepped out of his "technical stuff" role he had been helping me with and gave the idea (and created) the "Members Puzzle" (puzzle #2). He also put up the prize for that puzzle because it was not on the list to even be a contest. This was not a "takeover" on his part. He presented me with the idea, and how could I not agree, it was a great idea. After this puzzle, there seemed to be a great deal of excitement around this "new" Bash contest, so.......... What the heck I'll put together another one. Upon checking with the "Prize Patrol", wow, a couple great prizes had not been allocated to anything so I was able to assign these to the 3rd (2nd unplanned) puzzle of the month. To shorten this up (well kinda) :eek:, I put Curtis back to work (ya, like he ever really quit working) on the tech side of it. It was a tiny bit later than planned but another puzzle was put out there. Now don't get me wrong, I was glad to do it as the "majority" seemed to enjoy them so far. While the puzzles were (I hope this makes sense) Not easy to make hard :question:, I gathered all the info and put it in a challenging form. :devil: This was all done on the fly to get more activity into the later days of the Bash. My point to all of this you ask? There are thousands of members out there. This means there are most likely 10's of thousands of good ideas out there. If you think you have one of those ideas for making the later days more exciting or eventful, by all means get in touch with our Activities Manager (Mike) and let him here it. If you don't feel comfortable with Mike (ya not everyone thinks he is a cudley teddy bear):biggrin::wink:, then PM one of the other Bash planners including myself and let us help see about implementing that idea next year.
 
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mbroberg

IAP Activities Manager, Emeritus
Joined
Mar 9, 2009
Messages
5,954
Location
Columbus, OH
Hey WAHTTAYAMEAN! I guess I"ll have to post a new avitar!

images
 
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