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I want to thank you all for all of your hard work in putting this together. And you are still working on it and polishing up the fine points for the next hostesses. Wow!! You all are amazing!!
I was happy to have participated in this, my very first VSN. On a personal level, I will be much more organized next time and read up on the clues of what to have around beforehand. My stamping room looks like a tornado came through it It sure was fun even though I didn't complete all of the challenges. I'm a bit on the pokey side.
Thanks again to all of the tireless hostesses and everyone else on site who helped to get this running so well for us! I'm looking forward to the next one!
Best,
Joanne
__________________ This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Well, unfortunately I didn't get my craft area organized well enough for me to participate in VSN (in fact I destroyed it while trying to organize it - but that's a whole different Oprah). BUT, I did log onto SCS both Friday and Saturday and watched the fun happen. I have to say I am BUMMED that I didn't participate and I LOVED the surprises! The "Pre-Party" on Friday was awesome and the surprise challenges on Saturday were a blast to watch.
I would have to agree with the idea of announcing winners later - maybe 7:00 pm on Tuesday or even the following Friday (7:00 pm CST is 5:00 pm PST/8:00 pm EST - so not too late, after most get off work, dinner & kids settled, etc etc etc)
Otherwise, I love everything else about VSN - surprises (loved those Tracy!!!!), prizes (the last two VSN Coordinators can vouch for me - I contributed :cool: for prizes and postage and both times I haven't even been able to participate - my own problem though) and the new techniques & ideas generated. What better way to get the creative juices flowing again!
I urge everyone involved to keep up the awesome work on VSN!!! We love it!
I'm going to make a list only because it's easier to read ;)
1. My first suggestion is a consistent time frame between challenges. Even the bonuses would be nice to come at a regularly posted time. Even when I chose not to do a challenge, it's OK to wait for the next one. I have other things to do... put stamps away, chat with stampers, comment on cards, take care of my son's needs, give my DH a hug, etc KWIM? It's a lot of hours to never stop stamping.
2. Less challenges... maybe. But I think the consistent time frame would eliminate the overload feeling.
3. Instead of prizes, have RAKS sent to the winners by the hostesses.
4. More time for judging and commenting for the people's choice award. Maybe even have the hostess choose 3-5 cards to compete for the people's choice award. It would draw more views and comments if there was a special judging thread. I suggest this only because it can be overwhelming to have only 2 or 3 hours to comment on over a 1000 cards before the judges start their judging. If you go to church, you can't even have an effect on the outcome of people's choice award. I hope this made sense!
5. One main thread for the current VSN - To get information from the coordinator, update the original post with hostesses, schedules, shopping lists, addresses if there are going to be prizes, secret reveal dates, any changes in rules, etc... all on the same thread in the first post.
I hope this helped and wasn't negative in anyway. I didn't realize people were complaining. Maybe the unavoidable computer difficulties made small issues just seem bigger and if it unfortuantely wasn't a difficulty with the computer, poeple wouldn't have even thought to complain because it would have been easier to handle maybe? Just a guess!
I told you I would be back! LOL! I thought of a couple more...
People's Choice Award - it's really hard to do this by the number of comments posted no matter how long you give for comments. In fact this could actually hinder the number of comments posted if people see it as "voting". For example if there are a couple of cards I really love and want to win I may refrain from voting on cards I like but not as much as my "winners" - KWIM? What if we had a "committiee" of sorts for each challenge to pick the People's Choice? Maybe 20 or 25 people for each category - could be people who were unable to play VSN, or people who just didn't get to that Challenge. I'd have to think through the details some more, but I'm sure it could work.
Peanut Gallery Awards - we want to encourage a ton of comments - right? What if we had some sort of Peanut Gallery Awards for giving comments - even if you don't upload for VSN you could play. Maybe 2 different start times (to help make it fair for time zones) on Monday afternoon/evening - the first 5 people to post 30 comments (of at least 3 words each) on VSN uploads and report back to the Peanut Gallery thread win a prize (have to be on the honor system of course).
Hey, those are some cool ideas. You have your thinking cap on late at night. I guess it's not after midnight in California! I need to go to bed!
Wow...it was an incredibly fun night!!! This was my first ever VSN, but you can count on me being there from now on! I was amazed at how much hard work Tracy and all the hostesses put into this event. Thank you so much!!!
I have absolutely no complaints. The only thing that was a challenge for me was keeping up with the challenges. I really feel that was just me, trying to get the flow of how the evening goes. Next time I will be more prepared now that I know what to expect
I would agree with what a lot of the above posters said, in that the winners should be posted on Monday. That way we have the entire day Sunday to comment and leave praise. Plus it will relief some of the stress from the hostesses.
Like I said I have no complaints...I thought it was fabulous!!!
__________________
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Just earned Alaska 2/27/10!!
I didn't realize people were complaining. Maybe the unavoidable computer difficulties made small issues just seem bigger and if it unfortuantely wasn't a difficulty with the computer, poeple wouldn't have even thought to complain because it would have been easier to handle maybe? Just a guess!
I think Jen is right on with this. The computer issues (out of everyone's control) probably magnified any other little issues people had.
I also agree on consistent time frames - I really like 45 minutes.
I would like to say that I liked having so many challanges....that way i could choose the ones i had time for Or if i didn't have something needed there were other ones.
I will agree that we should announce winners sometime monday....Or even 48 hours after the upload deadline....(in JANVSN it would have been tuesday at noon) that way hostesses have enough time to review all of the uploads....especailly if 'real life' gets in the way. Also, it would give us time to review and comment on everyone elses work.
Also.....Why can't we have a VSN gallery seperated by events...(example: JANVSN, FEBVSN, MARVSN) that way we will have them all in one place.
Thanks for everyone's hard work and dedication to VSN!!!
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Hey gals...you all did great. I had a lot of fun and thought the challenges were a blast. I'm with the large contingent who believes we need more time to give feedback on all the fine work done on VSN...especially when the system is bogged down. I hardly had a chance to go through the challenges and see what everyone had done. I think the announcement of winners should go at least two full days beyond the VSN end (winners are posted no earlier than Monday night) so we can all enjoy each other's work and the Divas/coordinator aren't in panic mode.
I also agree that there's probably no reason to stress the coordinators out over all the prizes. I can honestly say that just being chosen a winner would be good enough for me. I think the suggestion about getting an RAK card from the hostess of the challenge is a good one. (And...yes...I would be willing to host and pony up three cards for my stamping buddies!)
Lastly, I got totally baffled by the naming of the challenges with all the suffix letters that are out of order (I'm fine with A-J...it's after that that my little blonde mind shuts down). I wanted to check out some of the challenges I missed (the bonus ones) and there was no easy way to look them up unless I went back through the forum and searched them out. It would be easier if I could just do a search in the gallery for JANVSN1-15 and pull up all the cards that way.
So...are you sorry you asked? ;)
__________________ Justine Queen of Ants in the Pants
I don't really stamp much. I'm just here for the company.
I only had one suggestion, and just found it in Jami's post. Staggering the uploads?? It was pretty stressful trying to upload Sat night, not being able to, giving up & going to bed, then to have the same issue sunday morning.
Other than that? No complaints here, I had a blast!!!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jus Colorado
...It would be easier if I could just do a search in the gallery for JANVSN1-15 and pull up all the cards that way...
Justine, If you do a search in the gallery for JANVSN* it will pull up all the cards. I'm not sure if you wanted to search for each individual challenge or see them all. The asterisk will grab them all. HTH!
ETA: If you find a card and you want to see the other entries for that challenge, simply click the challenge code found in the keywords field -- the result will be only cards for that challenge.
My biggest suggestion would be to lock the winner announcement forum so no one (except the VSN coordinator) can post until ALL the winners are announced. It was very difficult sifting through all the comments to find the winners of the different categories. And PLEASE use the NAME of the Challenge in the announcement as well as the VSN code.
I have to agree that we don't need "decoys" on the shopping list. While I had everything and didn't spend any money, I would have been pretty upset if I had.
I agree with the winner announcement being on Monday, so that we have all day Sunday to post comments.
I liked the Friday night "surprises" That was fun, and really got into the mood for VSN.
I think the number of challenges was great! I only did 5, but that's cool. The idea is for it to be a challenge! There's nothing to say I won't go back and do the other ones "just for fun!"
I do agree that the naming of the challenges needs to be changed! It's very confusing to have VSNX come before VSNC ! I like the numbering idea and then VSNBONUS1 etc...
I like having the prizes, it gives an extra incentive to do your best in the time allowed.
While I know the server issues we're no one's fault, it was very frustrating at times. I hope all that can be smoothed out before the next VSN. I know Daven and the crew were working hard to get everything up and running
I especially like the idea of having until Monday night to post the winners. Then it is not too far after VSN and gives the Coordinator and Hostesses Sunday evening and Monday daytime to get the winners lists completed.
I love the idea of a "leftovers" day!
I, too, think 45 minutes is a good time frame to allow for a challenge. To me, that is part of the fun - what can you do with this challenge in 45 minutes?
I really like the idea of a People's Choice Committee. I was worried about having a People's Choice category because if people knew ahead of time they may try to fix the votes for their cards. KWIM? Ask their friends to "vote" for them so they can win. So a committee would solve that problem.
I can see how having the challenges numbered would be an easier way for everyone to know what the current challenge is. That is a good suggestion, also.
I am happy to see that everyone is participating in this thread nicely! It was a lot of fun to host a challenge this time around!
Almost forgot! I really like the idea of having the thread announcing the winners locked until they are all posted. This way they winners would be at the top of the thread and easier to find.
Oh! One suggestion I thought of, but Jenn might step on me! (she totally could you know, I'm not that tall!)
How about having a sub-forum of VSN for the current VSN in progress? I really liked how the challenges became a sticky and had the green arrow icon to point them out so they were easier to find. But I wondered if this would work. The main VSN chat thread, master list, and all the challenges would be posted in the sub-forum to help keep old VSN threads from popping up.
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Hi! This was my first VSN, too! I LOVED it! The things that puzzled me:
Too many stickys at the top of the forum. Could they be taken down before the VSN starts and replaced afterwards or something? I'm talking about "What is VSN?" and "Call for Prizes for VSN". DURING actual VSN these are kind of moot anyway and they are taking up screen space so you have to keep on scrolling down to find out what is current and where the new things are posted. For me, this would we a great visual helper.
Server issues caused us problems and so we couldn't get in until 3:30 and then had 15 min. to start the first challenge and then they posted the 3:30 one and then the 4:00 one and we didn't even start on them. Well, we went on the honor system and I allowed myself 45 min. from when I first read about and started a challenge, right? If I couldn't start the 3:30 challenge until 5:30, then I just went until 6:15 as my cut-off for that one. Is that "legal" and how the rest of you were doing it? We kept getting kicked off so much and even staying up until 1:45, I couldn't get things done. So, I did 2 challenges the next morn. when my kids were at Sunday School. I got my things uploaded by 12:00 noon (though just barely), and never spent more than 45 min. on any particular challenge, so that is OK, right? Those that are suggesting cut-offs for when you can post things and voting in a staggered manner are assuming that no one has server issues and is locked out of the forum and gallery for hours. I don't think it would be feasible to institute such rules. I like the uploading cutoff how it is - with perhaps an extension if there are huge server issues. So, I guess I'm also in favor of a few less challenges, which would make things easier on the human players and perhaps the servers, too!
I like the prizes. Keep the prizes. I will be willing to donate prizes next time.
I do agree with what others have said about posting winners later, just make it an understood ahead of time rule. I also like the People's Choice winners coming later, but I guess I'm wondering if they are/will be judged by just looking at the number of comments posted, or truly looking at the comments and seeing which are separate comments about the artwork. My point is that sometimes people are using the comments fields like a forum and posting questions and answers and jokes and goofy stuff, which is really fun, but not a direct comment to the artwork being presented and they would probably be the winner on sheer volume of comments, but is that the point of a People's Choice?
My one other thing is kind of a pet-peeve...when people were posting simultaneosly to the winners being posted, they were quoting the previous winner posting in its entirety to say "thank you for picking me" and then the forum got pages and pages long and we had to wade through all of those repeats looking for the true winners. Could people quote and then edit the list or just state "thanks for choosing me the winner of JANVSNZ - Creative color choices. I am so honored!" It would make the forum SO MUCH easier to read and find the info that people are desperate to find - the winners in the other categories! Maybe if there was even another thread called "The Podium" or something where people could post their comments and thank-yous seperate from the posting of the winners it wouldn't be so annoying.
OK, I'll bet you're really sorry that you asked me & my big mouth! I was very excited about most everything and worked through the frustrations. Look forward to an even better time in the next VSN!
I want to shout out a huge THANK YOU to everyone who posted suggestions about improving VSN! I truly appreciate it! All suggestions will be considered.
I thought it was great there was a scrapbook challenge on Friday! I wasn't able to participate on Sat. so having the Friday challenges were great and having one be a scrapbook challenge was even better. I vote for at least one scrapbook challenge at the next VSN!
Also, my qualm about the People's Choice Award is that I want the newbies who stuck out their necks and did a card (maybe at their first VSN or their first upload ever) to get some "way to go" comments. I would hate for their cards to get no comments because people are only commenting on the few that they liked best. Maybe the Commitee idea would help solve this or maybe like some people suggested, eliminate the prizes or have each hostess just pick one random participant to get the prize instead of judging.
Thanks to everyone who works hard to make VSN fun!
Anita
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cardsbyanita
Also, my qualm about the People's Choice Award is that I want the newbies who stuck out their necks and did a card (maybe at their first VSN or their first upload ever) to get some "way to go" comments. I would hate for their cards to get no comments because people are only commenting on the few that they liked best. Maybe the Commitee idea would help solve this or maybe like some people suggested, eliminate the prizes or have each hostess just pick one random participant to get the prize instead of judging.
Anita -- I agree! I do think, however, that if the voting deadline is move there will be much more time to comment on everyone's cards! Everyone loves validation and praise!
Wow what an awesome VSN we had!!! With me not being able to participate in November and none in December, I needed a VSN like this to whip me back into shape....Thanks againTracy for doing such a wonderful job!!!
Suggestions:
I realy like Jens idea about the hostess's sending RAK's or home made prizes to the winners, that way, you could have more winners and If someone won in more than one category, then they deserve to get more than one RAK!!! I really like this idea. Plus it takes the pressure off of the Coordinator(s) if you don't get enought mulah ($$$) to pay for postage or prizes. If I were a hostess, I would be willing to make 5-10 hostess prizes!! How fun would that be, plus more hostess involvement!!! And Hostess' could announce their own winners!!
Along the "winners" lines I think that posting the winners either all at once on the same thread would be less confusing. Or maybe the hostess can edit their original Challenge thread and add the winners at the bottom of that post. That way you know exactly what challenge it is and who won
I also like the idea of doing only the 45 minute challenge and none inbetween. Gets too confusing and I felt really rushed at times. maybe a Halftime bonus would be good?
As for announcing the winners...if they are to be announced on Monday morning the Hostess' will still have to get them in on Sunday night because there are those of us who work outside of the home and will not be at home on Monday morning......I am not so patient so I like the winners announced Sunday night, but maybe a little earlier....
Any way it is done, I will still play and have a blast!! Thanks for asking our opinion!!!
Almost forgot! I really like the idea of having the thread announcing the winners locked until they are all posted. This way they winners would be at the top of the thread and easier to find.
Oh! One suggestion I thought of, but Jenn might step on me! (she totally could you know, I'm not that tall!)
How about having a sub-forum of VSN for the current VSN in progress? I really liked how the challenges became a sticky and had the green arrow icon to point them out so they were easier to find. But I wondered if this would work. The main VSN chat thread, master list, and all the challenges would be posted in the sub-forum to help keep old VSN threads from popping up.
Oh! I love the sub-forum for the current VSN! Way easier to keep track of current stuff and no accidental old threads getting dragged in!
Wow what an awesome VSN we had!!! With me not being able to participate in November and none in December, I needed a VSN like this to whip me back into shape....Thanks againTracy for doing such a wonderful job!!!
Suggestions:
I realy like Jens idea about the hostess's sending RAK's or home made prizes to the winners, that way, you could have more winners and If someone won in more than one category, then they deserve to get more than one RAK!!! I really like this idea. Plus it takes the pressure off of the Coordinator(s) if you don't get enought mulah ($$$) to pay for postage or prizes. If I were a hostess, I would be willing to make 5-10 hostess prizes!! How fun would that be, plus more hostess involvement!!! And Hostess' could announce their own winners!!
Along the "winners" lines I think that posting the winners either all at once on the same thread would be less confusing. Or maybe the hostess can edit their original Challenge thread and add the winners at the bottom of that post. That way you know exactly what challenge it is and who won
I also like the idea of doing only the 45 minute challenge and none inbetween. Gets too confusing and I felt really rushed at times. maybe a Halftime bonus would be good?
As for announcing the winners...if they are to be announced on Monday morning the Hostess' will still have to get them in on Sunday night because there are those of us who work outside of the home and will not be at home on Monday morning......I am not so patient so I like the winners announced Sunday night, but maybe a little earlier....
Any way it is done, I will still play and have a blast!! Thanks for asking our opinion!!!
Hugs,
Karrie
One more suggestion:
Maybe have a designated gallery for all the winners. We could upload photos as normal and then the "powers at be" move the photos to the Winners Gallery (on Monday of course, so they don't have to do it on their day off). This way there is a shocase of winners!! Kind of like a winners circle....That would be recongnition enough for me not to have prizes too! Just a suggestion.
Hugs,
Karrie
Well, I haven't made it through all of these, but so far I agree with all the suggestions. Love the gallery idea and the new thread idea. Also love the RAK prize idea.
The only thing I had a hard time with was checking the winners. got a little confusing with all the quoting and such. It took me almost 2 days to figure out I was a runner up in a category just because I didn't see it. So a closed list would be super nice!
1. About prizes. I really don't think they are necessary BUT recognition is. I like the idea about a winner's circle area and hostess RAKs. If you keep the prizes, I think that you will burn VSN out. The cost of postage (especially with the recent increase) is prohibitive in getting the prizes to the coordinator and then for her to get them mailed out. Coordinators shouldn't have to come up with money out of their pocket to do this volunteer job. I also don't want to see people getting tired of sending prizes. Maybe a special way to recognize the winners (like a link off the home page) or a VSN type DDD.
2. I personally would to see a few less challenges. If we are going to do this once a month, it shouldn't have to take 10 hours of our day (away from the family) to be successful. 6 to 10 challenges should be enough......we don't want to burn out our families. My husband almost dreads VSN because he knows I won't be around for him that day.
3. I think 45 minutes is great for the challenge. The first VSN I did, I did all 12 challenges and it took me three hours to upload (with all the detail info). I was up until the wee hours of the morning trying to upload before the noon Sunday deadline. I had to do them that night instead of in the morning because of church. January's VSN started earlier in the day (hooray!) and it made it easier to get to bed at a decent hour (Pacific time). We might be able to start it a little earlier to help the east coasters. Maybe it isn't an issue with some of you but my computer is on a different floor than my stamp room and scanning and uploading cannot be done while I stamp.
3. I totally agree that the winner announcement should be later in the week. I could tell that Tracy and Montigg were really stressed out trying to get the winner info out in a timely manner. Delaying the announcement would at least give them time to do it without stressing and tiring out. That doesn't mean that the judging should be done later......just the announcements.
4. The numbering and/or lettering of the challenges wasn't challenging to me at all. Anyway you do it is fine as long as you are consistent with the name/numbering when announcing winners.
5. I like the idea of a people's choice crew. Frankly, I didn't have time to comment until late Sunday because I was too busy making and uploading cards myself.
6. I loved the Friday night challenges......spread out the stress a little. I was horribly sick last time and could only choose a couple of challenges and having some Friday night was super.
Maybe I think of more original ideas later!
__________________ Ann Here is my oily blog! CLICK HERE Certified Copic Instructor - Local ClassesI love cars, stamping and essential oils!
