Making people and ideas findable
Forum Contest Winners
We decided on the spur of the moment the other day to launch a contest in our forum. We wanted to see who could create the best conversations. Read details here.
First of all, let me say thank you to everyone who posted forum threads and participated in these great discussions. My hope in running this contest is that we would see some great conversations emerge and some new folks joining the fray. Mission accomplished.
Now...to pick a winner was nearly impossible. There were several excellent discussions. I think we can learn a lot by looking at these threads. So before I list prize winners, I thought I'd take a second to note the characteristics of the most popular threads:
1. Strong question - the top forum threads used the "discussion title" to offer a clear an provocative quesiton to the community. Your question becomes a headline for your thread...don't bury it inside your post...as Smoosiers scan the forum, they're looking for headlines that catch their eyes. Many of the threads might have generated more replies had they written a stronger headline / question.
2. Brief but useful description - all of the top thread posters offered information in the body of their posts. It's one thing to post a question, and another to also provide a bit of context to help the reader understand what you're asking and how they might reply. It also helps to go ahead and answer the question yourself - even though you asked it - to get the conversation started.
3. Key contributors - All of the top posts benefited from contirubtions make by the community. One person posted a research article which served to shed line on the dialogue. Another thread saw a contributor add a link to an online quiz. This pretty much became the focus of the dialogue from that point on. Both Chris and Dick did a great job here.
4. Participation by moderator / originator - In most cases where a thread takes off you'll see the original poster staying involved in the dialogue. The poster can endorse the key contributors...and we saw this...where the poster praised a contributor, and others went along and took the discussion down a new path as a result. The posters also did a good job praising folks who exhibited mature behavior...acknowledging when they were mistaken, etc.
5. Creativity - One of the hardest things to do is to anticipate what people want to talk about. So don't be afraid to post a thread on any topic you really want to talk about. And you can do it in creative ways...Nicki's thread did a great job of this.
6. Post on other people's threads - Even when you want people to post on your thread, you should also take the time to read and join in other people's discussions. The more visibible you are in the community, the more folks learn your personality, and the more likely they'll be attracted to participating in your threads.
7. Link to outside resources - If there is an article, or a video or a photo or a blog that will help readers get into the mindset and encourage them to reply, the you should offer that link. Sometimes people don't post because they feel under informed and don't want to look silly. So offer 3rd party perspective and give readers a chance to come up to speed.
8. It's not about you - While all of the threads focus on topics of interest to the posters, the best ones focus on topics that have broad interest. Hence the popularity of political threads. But just becaues two political posts won this competition doesn't mean that's all we want talk about on SI. One of the most popluar blog posts ever was Kyle Lacy's definition of the word blog.
And the winners are:
First place: This was literally a toss up. I won't bore you with the various ways we evaluated...so I'll just skip to the bottom line...we decided the only way to be fair in this would be to make it a three-way tie first. The original first place prize was $100. With three winners, we decided to sweeten the pot a little bit. Nicki Laycoax , Chris Flenner and Dick Troll will each receive $50 and a Smaller Indiana T-Shirt.
Rounding out the top 5: Marla Murasko and Doug Vann will each receive SI T shirts for their winning efforts.
I've made these 5 posts the featured posts on the home page today.
So, should we do more contests like this?
We thought this was pretty fun, and we were glad to see so many folks get involved. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this contest, and ideas for other ways to improve the quality of life and fun on SI.
Add a Comment
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Comment by Pat Coyle on April 12, 2009 at 8:29am - I'm right with you on this, Dick. I hope this contest will inspire Smoosiers along the lines you describe.
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Comment by John R.(Dick) Troll on April 11, 2009 at 11:49pm -
Everyone- by way of Pat
I am of two minds about forum topic slams on SI. Am I grateful for the depth and breadth of the responses to my post? You bet. But I purposely chose a provacative topic and tarted up the headline in an effort to win the competiton.
Truth be known the postings that sought our views on gay marriage and the usefulness of networking make better use of our collective brain cells. There is and always will be a certain red meat quality to political back and forth.
What am I saying? Let's do whatever it takes to get the most number of people to offer their thoughts on the full array of issues that we all confront. And most importantly, let us treat each other's views, and thus each other, with respect and gentleness.
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Comment by Darrell Day on April 11, 2009 at 9:06pm - I enjoyed the opportunity and received a nice comment about my post. It helped me connect to someone new. I like ALL of the ideas mentioned and look forward to further discussions.
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Comment by Michael R. on April 11, 2009 at 7:44pm - So much for creativity.
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Comment by Hazel "The Queen" Walker on April 11, 2009 at 5:16pm - Great Job Winners!
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Comment by Nicki Laycoax on April 11, 2009 at 5:01pm - Oh sweet! I just got back from the kids' birthday skating party. What a surprise!!! Thanks Pat. This was fun, and I definitely think it's a great idea to do regularly.
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Comment by Linda J Ranger on April 11, 2009 at 4:37pm -
I agree with Ann that the Forum questions seemed to disappear on some of the topics during the contest time. It would be nice if the forum questions could be shown on the larger screen or double rows so as to not miss any of the topics especially during a contest.
It was fun to keep track of the the answers from the various individuals. Do it again.
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Comment by John Karamanski on April 11, 2009 at 4:25pm - very engaging idea..please continue...this is precisely the forum/format to do this in...
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Comment by Marita Topmiller on April 11, 2009 at 3:50pm - Good idea. Keep it up. It might stimulate more involvement. Thanks, Pat.
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Comment by Marla Murasko on April 11, 2009 at 3:42pm -
Thanks Pat, this was a great idea, and thanks for the tshirt. I enjoyed this opportunity to meet other people and I appreciate the comments and the honesty of the people that responded. It was a question that came up in my mind as I just got done watching a few interviews on the news about these types of heartwarming stories.
Few suggestions for future contests. Maybe you can run them as follows:
- one time you run it as an open forum question as you just did
- then the next contest could be run regarding specific topics. For example, you have people post any question re: education, or the economy. The responses and conversations that take place will be around a specific topic and can potentially form some business relationships.
- then again the next time do it as an open forum.
Just to keep things light and interesting.
Thanks again, great idea!
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1. Please use your real name (first and last) when you sign up, or we cannot open your account
2. Please do not use logos or commercial images for your profile photo
3. Events should be posted in the events calendar
4. You can post pretty much anything you want on your own personal page (self promotion, etc), and you can change the style of your personal profile page to reflect your corporate identification if you so choose.
5. Please keep all comments civil and polite. It's OK to feel strongly about a subject, and it's OK to be critical of ideas, but please refrain from personal attacks of any kind.
If you witness or experience any issues, please contact admin@smallerindiana.com and we will look into the matter.
6. Smaller Indiana is supported by its members, and by corporate sponsors. If you're interested in learning more about sponsorship, please call Pat Coyle at 317 332 7878.
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