Youth pen contests opinions wanted! II

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mredburn

mredburn

IAP Activities Manager
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As the contests are now winding down im looking for your opinion on the contests. This Thread is open to discussion for anything that you think affects the quality of the competitions for both the kids who enter it, to the members who watch it.

Im looking for feed back on

Timing, We will have one with the bash but June is 4 month later and August is 6 months Is it better to have the contest in August? Does it make a difference.

Did you like the posting of the Young boys and girls identities and pictures with the pens they made or should I just post the pens.

DId making a young man/ young lady as well as the "Best Pen" make the contest better?

Should the age groups be broken down even further?


What would make this even better?

All thoughts and comments appreciated
 
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Thought you did a great job, as far as timing, I know the kids are just out of school and alot of times gone from the house. I know I would prefer later in the year.
 
My opinion is that you did a wonderful job in running this contest.
If you want to break the ages down some more......that would be fine. I personally would like to see the top age to 18.
The pictures of the kids making the pens and the other pictures are priceless. Keep them comming.
If you have enough prizes to break down the contests even more.....then by all mean, do so. It was interesting to see what each child liked to make. I didn't expect some of the ideas from such young and talented kids here. And the stories from the parent made the pens even more special.

Keep up the great work Kids.
 
I think you did a great job running the contests. It was fantastic to recognize the young turners. Their pictures and the recognition they received will go along way to encouraging them to continue to develop their skills and the time spent in the shop with their parents is a great time not soon to be forgotten. Keep it up.
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Everyday I'm vertical is a great day
 
Mike,

You have done a great job running these contests. I appreciate the additional opportunities it gives me to do some things with my kids.
June or August doesn't make a difference to us, I prefer June but either month works.
The only issue with age groups would be to try to include a few more years in the older group to even out the number of contestants.
I liked the division between boys and girls - it gives them each a better chance at recognition - which might encourage them to want to do more in the workshop.
Definitely keep the pics of the kids - at least for the summer version.
I like the shorter voting periods for this last round - by the time a week had passed with the previous vote at least one of my kids had forgotten about it.

I don't have any brilliant ideas as to what could make this better.

Thanks,
Dave
 
One group had 3 and the other had over a dozen, like someone said maybe up the age limit a little. Hats off to the venders/members/etc for the prizes, so there can be so many prizes given.

Like Dave said the shorter voting period IMO is better. In the first round how many votes were tallied in the last 3 days or so?

I think a personalized "certificate" would be a nice touch. It can be sent through email, parents print it out, go to dollar store and get a frame. Have the founder of IAP sign it, then put the achievment unique to each pen. "Most beautiful pink acrylic pen" "Best use of a resin pen" "Best use of a snake skin blank".

But that is small stuff. Excellent contest.
 
I think the contest was great. I think the certificate idea would be cool too.

I think opening it to up to 18 might be fine. I wouldn't push the date to August though as the kids are getting ready for school and during the summer, it's tough to get the kids to do inside activities...
 
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The older age group can be opened up to accommodate more ages, They may have less entries because at this age they are more involved in other things. Jobs, sports etc,
 
Mike,
The big thing to remember is you are running the contest, and I don't think anyone has any real issue how it was done over time. Some of it was trial and success (don't think there was a real error). But you stepped up, got the donations, ran the contest, set the guildlines.

I think across the board everyone has 99% positive to say, and 1% to adjust (ie age, shorter voting period).

Once again thanks.
 
edicehouse said:
Mike,
The big thing to remember is you are running the contest, and I don't think anyone has any real issue how it was done over time. Some of it was trial and success (don't think there was a real error). But you stepped up, got the donations, ran the contest, set the guildlines.

I think across the board everyone has 99% positive to say, and 1% to adjust (ie age, shorter voting period).

Once again thanks.
Click to expand...


Ed,

Sorry to disagree, but even in the 1% (at least my comment) it was a positive on how Mike pulled this contest off. He asked what could be done differently, I believe in feedback if asked for.

Mike
 
I appreciate the "thanks" although the real thank you is on the faces of the kids in the pictures. Im looking to tweak that 1% ifif possible. I realize that The time frame will never be right for everyone all the time, but there may be a consensus on when is the optimum time. I know that participation at any time over the summer is hit or miss. I also didnt have much lead time to prepare people for the coming competition.
I thought about a 10 and under age group but then I would have to eliminate the boy/girl separate contests. Right now with this contest and the last one in the bash the age has not really made a big difference. Katie is 8 josh is 9 and Olivia is 6. At least one of the current contenders in the Young Man competition is 8 or younger.

I really enjoy this program as much or more than anything else I do here On IAP.
 
A big round of applause to you sir for running this contest! I have enjoyed seeing all the wonderful young turners and their masterpieces. I think the breakdown of categories worked well to keep the enthusiasm alive with these young turners. And the pictures, keep them! I'm not sure which I enjoyed more, the pens or the smiling faces.
 
Thank you Mike for taking the time to run this contest. I can imagine it takes a lot more work to pull this off than we realize. I think the contest was great! My kids love entering their pens in the youth contests. I will say the shorter voting time kept their attention more but whatever you decide is fine with us. Thanks again!
 
Please feel free to PM me or email me your opinions,or thoughts if you dont care to post them here. I wont feel hurt or bad if you have a complaint or just dont want to get grief from someone else for your opinion.
 
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