  Contests & Activities
This week: Edited by: Sarah Rae  
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The contests and activities on this site are constantly changing! Almost every day there is something new and exciting to view and participate in. The ideas are endless. Some succeed, some manage to get along, while others, unfortunately, are left behind and forgotten. My goal as your Contest & Activity newsletter editor is to provide each of you with the tools it takes to create a great success.
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The How, What, When, and Why's of Changes
A little over a year ago, I was hosting a contest for campfires. It was a great idea, I thought, seeing as nobody else was running a contest for campfires at the time. I set up a fair amount of prizes, including an wardicon for the winning campfire. I created a pretty image to decorate and advertise my contest. I set a 3 month deadline to give me plenty of time to advertise the contest and get a fair amount of prizes.
About 2 months into the contest, I had only 3 entries and not enough gift points to fund the contest. Regretfully, I had to close my contest. Dutifully, I emailed the five contestants to inform them of the change and took the contest down. Unfortunately, a typo in an email address left one contestant out of the loop who attempted to track down my contest to learn why the results hadn't come out yet and were most upset to find it missing. Which brings me to my topic: Sometimes we all have to make changes or even cancel our contest or activity. It happens to the best of contest/activity hosts, but to be counted among them, you need to be responsible for the changes you make and courteous to those who have entered already.
Making Changes:
Once you have decided a change is needed, do all you can to make the minimal amount of changes. Change only what is necessary and only change it as much as it is necessary. Your participants will appreciate it and be much more willing to accept the change. When the change is made, do everything you can to inform your participants and anyone who might have had their eye on the contest or activity. This can include a post in the forum explaining the change, highlighting the change in the rules with the bold tag or a change in color, a change in the brief description, or any combination of these.
A few things to keep in mind: If you charged an entry fee, be sure to offer participants an opportunity for a refund if they do not like the changes you made. Likewise, if you have made a change in entry fees, do not ask previous participants to pay the increase unless it is absolutely necessary. If your contest or activity required submissions, it is your responsibility to make sure their submissions still follow the new guidelines. If you find one that does not, contact the member to explain the changes and ask them to make the appropriate. Offer compensation if they changes are too large to make (as in, you pay them a "thank you for entering" fee if their entry cannot change to meet your new rules).
Do not make changes less than a week before the deadline.
Extending the Deadline:
The most common change made is extending the deadline. Contest and activity hosts often times feel the lack of participants in their contest is because it wasn't open long enough to generate enough interest. Sometimes this is true, sometimes this is not. If you are going to extend the deadline to allow for more particpants, make sure you follow the rules for making changes (above). When choosing a new deadline, make sure it is within reasonable time from the original deadline, a month would be the maximum. If the new deadline approaches and you find yourself still wanting for participants, do not extend the deadline once again. One extension for the deadline is the maximum.
Perhaps the best way to avoid disappointment in the number of entrants is to keep your expectations low. Do not host a contest expecting 50 people to immediately jump up to participate. Most contests can average only 5-10 participants. Be fair to your participants. Just because others did not join doesn't mean they should be penalized for showing an early interest. Showing disregard for your current participants, in hopes for future ones, will discourage them from entering anything you host again.
Cancelling:
It happens to the best of us. Life gets in the way, gift points dwindle to nothing by carelesness, or there really are few (3 or less) participants (While the latter should not be the only reason for cancelling a activity/contest, it can be the deciding factor). When you do decide to cancel your activity or contest, follow the rules for making changes. Inform your participants as soon as possible. If at all possible, take what gift points you can spare and offer each participant a consolation prize as a thank you for their participation. Do not delete the contest or activity right away. Leave it up so people who had considered participating can find it and see that it is cancelled.
Above all, you must remember that a successful contest or activity host is not one who has the most participants or the largest gift points prizes or the most buzz around the site. To be a successful contest or activity host, even if you have to cancel in the end, all you have to do is be thoughtful and courteous to your participants.
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Contests & Activities: December 21, 2005 Issue [#778]
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