New Competition?

[Seb]

Guys, what are you thoughts on us running a new competition? Same idea as last time - one post one ticket.

Bearing in mind the experience we had last time, what are your thoughts on the following:

> Within a certain timeframe (say a month), every post made on our forums gets you one entry into a prize draw. At the end of that set period, one ticket is randomly drawn and the poster wins a prize.
> I'd be adding a 'thanks' system, maybe where every 'thanks' gets you an additional 2 entries. Does that sound OK? I'm not too keen on having a 'reputation' system.
> Prizes. What could it be? Should be something exciting.

For those not in the know, last year (to launch the forums) we ran a competition for a 32" High Def television. The competition was won by WebsiteHandyman.

[marksweb]

Sounds like I'll have to start posting!!

picking a prize would be tough... I'd say - an Amazon Voucher!

[Seb]

Amazon Voucher doesn't conjure up that image of excitement though. What about something like a track day at Silverstone.

[weaselandalf]

I think a focus on useful posts would be good, rather than letting the forums fill up with junk. What about a few collaborative stickies everyone could work on, maybe on security useful tips etc.?

As for prizes, vouchers are good, sometimes it's nice to be surprised. Maybe a booby prize for the month's most useless post might be fun as well

[Chrissy Poo]

OOOOOOOO YES!!!!

I tried so hard last time but missed out on the new TV.

Will be trying even harder this time. Track day sounds good.

[ChemicalKicks]

Don't do a competition based on postcount, far better to think of what it is you want to achieve as a result of the competition and then decide how you can measure it. If you put the thought in at the start then the response you get will have thought put into it.

[weaselandalf]

Originally Posted by ChemicalKicks

Don't do a competition based on postcount, far better to think of what it is you want to achieve as a result of the competition and then decide how you can measure it. If you put the thought in at the start then the response you get will have thought put into it.

I agree, that's why I think a focus on setting up useful information in stickies or a 'help a million newbies' campaign might be good..

[Seb]

Thanks. I'll take those points into consideration.

[Chris]

What about an iPad (even though I don't get what they're for!)

[weaselandalf]

Originally Posted by Chris

What about an iPad (even though I don't get what they're for!)

They're quite clearly for annoying people... ..and I want one.