Awards 2005 Summer Post-Awards Discussion

Shouldn't that hold true for all awards whether they are the official ones or the OC or Angst ones? I seem to remember the hosts of the last OC awards taking themselves out of the running since they were also counting votes. To make sure things are fair I would think that should hold true for any awards where the host is counting and running the show.

 

That makes sense, o_e. Otherwise it might be like giving yourself an award. The host/hostess should not be eligible for any awards. If we do the OC or any other awards, the host/hostess should remove themselves from contention in order to be fair.

 

I don't mind the idea of having the awards only once a year. And here's an idea to perhaps prevent stories being overlooked. About 2-3 weeks before the Awards, have a thread on each saga board where people could submit their story for consideration to be nominated. This would not be a nomination thread in itself, but say if you wrote a viggie back in February and the Awards are in August, then you could list a link to your story to remind people of it.

kayladie97 had a wonderful idea if we were to go to having the awards once a year. It would certainly help the nommers/voters in the process of nominating/voting for fics. It would also reduce the stress of looking through all of the pages of the boards.

My only concern with that is the traffic. Everyone and their mother is going to want someone to nominate their fic so a LOT of stories are going to be put on that thread. Would someone really want to look through all of the links? I think that is where the indexes come into play. My Mom (VaderLVR64) and I put together the indexes (she did most of the work ) so that others could look through them and see at a glance what fics were about, who they had in them, who wrote them, etc. But this system isn?t perfect as it can?t list what is eligible.

I think that kayladie had the great idea to put the index information in the thread, is that right? It?s just what I got from it.


Here's my suggestion to make the awards go by faster. Cut out the majority of the entertainment and contain it to four or five pieces per ceremony. Don't write long specific blurbs that go before each award about how the author tripped over Anakin on the way up to the stage. Maybe it's just me, but I really like the meat and potatoes "The X award goes to Y!" type of post. To me, all these expectations that the awards have to be something big and creative to be any good are only making it harder on the hosts to live up to expectations. I'd say that any awards that gives all the nominees, gives the winners soon after, and has a few bits of entertainment is a great show.

Great idea, NarundiJedi! I couldn?t agree more. I like them cut and dry. I rarely read that stuff anyway. I?m just too eager to see who won! If anyone actually does read them, my apologies, but I usually skip over them. In fact, I always do. It?s just too much for my little brain to handle.

JadeSolo What about combining the OC and Angst awards, and any other specific-category awards? Like have the regular awards during the spring, the OC/Angst/etc during fall. They could be spread over a weekend the same way the regular awards are, and since they're focused ceremonies, they'd might run shorter, too.

I like the regular awards being the only awards. To me it gives the regular awards more of an emphasis and makes the regular awards even more awe-inspiring. Having only the regular awards makes the award ceremony magical (corny, corny, corny) because it only comes twice a year. If awards are held every month, there?s no real reason to go to the awards at all. They?ve lost their flavor because they?re so run of the mill.

MiaTiska had some great ideas. If we do have an Exec. Producer, I think they should be someone who has at least hosted before, because they'll know so many more things to avoid or what to do better etc.

I completely agree.

or, what about having most of the preparation time be during Christmas break?

Hmmmm? Very good idea. I like that a lot because I rarely do anything during my break (it?s my time to be lazy and not think ) so I could get a lot done during that time. I can?t speak for everyone, obviously, but I think that quite a bit could get done during that period and then the awards could be posted later. The preparation is completed so the stress level is reduced.

Can we just keep the categories of the regular awards as they are, please?

I couldn?t agree more. They work FINE. If

 

Alright, I had this nice long four page answer typed out, but apparently, my computer sucks and refuses to let me post it. The long and short of it is that I have several things that I thought worked this go around, and I would like to see them repeated, and I saw several things that I thought could use some improvement.

Stuff that worked well: (IMO)

Typing up the ceremony ahead of time: Striker and I did this, and all we had to do day of the ceremony was copy-paste. Our only worry was that someone might hack into the forum where it was stored. Which means, no worries for us.

Making sure schedules are created: I had about six volunteers and organized them onto a schedule with specific instructions about what they were supposed to do. The schedules were flexible- able to be modified if something came up- and they made sure stuff was done when it was supposed to be done.

Seperate Forum: While it was difficult to ensure that people checked it regularly, having a seperate place where we could debate the merits or demerits of an idea worked out well. Besides, I was able to post the ceremony a full three or four days ahead of time, and no one could see it except Striker and me.

Cohosting: Wasn't as overwhelming as it might have been. Definitely good.

Vote Counting: I had the votes counted and confirmed rather quickly this time around, thanks to TKeira_Lea, who created an Excel document that kept track of everything for me. There was a small bit of confusion, but other than that, I had the votes counted within fifteen minutes of opening the last PM of votes on the last day.

The Stuff to Improve Or is under Discussion: (Again, IMO)

Definitions of Categories/Rules/Etc.- This is a pretty broad category, but basically, prior to the nomination period starting, I think that the hosts should have one thread where all the definitions of the categories, all the rules, all the dates, and all sorts of important information like that is spelled out for the users.

Organization- This ties to the stuff I said just above, but also, I would like to point out that awards are always going to feel a little rushed towards the end, if only because by that point the hosts will have been doing them for multiple hours, and they will want to do something new. And of course, we have the benefit of hindsight for all of these, so we have an advantage over people who were making snap judgments on the moment. Keep that in mind as you talk about stuff. (Also, VIPness or at least the mods posting for the hosts would be good too. Of course, extra work would be involved, but still. No blasted OPPM). I would also like to point out that most of the hosts were in different time zones from each other. Guess what that means? That means that it's going to take a while to get a consensus on issues, so often hosts found themselves making snap judgements. I know I did. This might lead to conflicting information (which it apparently did). So a spokesperson of sorts is most likely needed.

Eligibility- Leave it as it is. Even "as it is" is pretty darned complicated. Better-written people have said it better than I have, so go read what they wrote

Splitting or Combining the Awards into One- Two, IMO, is the perfect number. I think that more MTV style awards or OC awards or angst awards can be worked in at other times (like fall or spring), but I think two serious, mostly all-encompassing awards should occur each year. And splitting up the awards wouldn't be as much fun, IMO.

Timing- Not really sure what to say on this. RL issues come up. Often it seems like Murphy himself is organizing these. I would try to keep the awards around the same time, since it's seemed to work pretty well.

Eligibility of Volunteers- Since this seemed to become an issue, I'll add my two bits. Hosts are ineligible in the category they are hosting in. That usually means tha

 

When do the users start putting their name in for hosts? Who would they contact?

Length: Waiting 3 minutes before posting anything seemed like a good plan to me. I know some what more than that, but IMO, it gets to be a bit lengthy after 3 minutes.

Excerpts: I worked on excerpts for 2 eras and it wasn't easy. It took a lot of long and tedious work, but I think it's worth it end the end. A lot of people find it a useful tool and end up finding hidden treasures.

Lt_Jaina_Solo summed up pretty much everything I wanted to say.

 

For future hosts...

Typing up the ceremony before hand: We did this in Saga too. Then, all we had to do on the actual date of the awards was copy and paste. It was fabulous. I highly recommend it.

Having a positive attitude: People are going to do and say stupid things but it is still important to keep a positive attitude if you are going to be an awards host. People can tell if you are being positive or negative about it. So choose to be positive, because the awards are supposed to be fun. If you aren't positive about them, it brings down everyone.

Excerpts: Yes, they are tedious to code. They are also necessary and people like them. Find and Replace is your friend.

Don't Sweat the small stuff: Little annoyances are bound to come up. Things that offend your sensibilities but aren't a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Don't obsess over them. If you do, it can only lead to a bad attitude.

Ask for help: If you are having trouble, ask for help. That's what volunteers are for. Do what LJS said and make a schedule, and it will make things a lot more organized and efficient. Also, if you find yourself overwhelmed and feel that you can't do the job anymore, tell someone, and don't be afraid to step down. RL comes first, you have to remember that.

If I can think of any more advice I will post it later.

[edits]: I decided to add extra markup codes for emphasis.

 

Great advice JJSF!

 

JJSF, as always.