*Design Competition* Your Best Dozen Roses - Discussion

[CHR]

Each of the top twelve can download this nifty badge and place it on their websites. You might want to consider displaying it on a page with your arrangement.

A big thanks to Heather, felicityflowers, for creating the badge! :yourock:

 

[CHR]

There were many people who voted for me immediately after I posted my picture. ALL of those votes got removed for being too early, but many of them never came back to re-vote. I ASKED them to repost the votes that had been taken away from me.

I see nothing wrong with that. BJ did have a lot of remarks posted prior to the start date. All were removed to begin the competition with a clean slate. Asking members to repost them surely seems legit.

Your design was neither the best nor most popular according to the voters. Dazeal's was.

The late votes, which came in before the midnight deadline, were all from professional florists - registered FC members - and pushed the egg design into the #1 popularity spot. Dazeal (Mr. Text Message) received the highest average score - but as I said.... we have a dozen winners.

Let me just say add that more than one member was out recruiting votes.

No system is perfect and this was a learning experience for all of us.

Back in my competition days, I used to scope out the room and pick the work spot and display spot with the best lighting. I knew 1) the mechanics were easier to see when creating the design and 2) a well-lit spot makes a competition piece stand out from the others.

Nothing wrong with competitive strategies - although in the case of our competition, I'd liked to have seen more members spread their love around and vote/rate more pieces. Some of the competitors said very nices things (and bestowed kind ratings) on other designs - and actually helped their competition. That's what I call community spirit.

 

[RWK]

As someone who is an award-winning designer myself, member in good standing of AIFD, and someone who has judged quite a number of competitions, in light of the exchange between RC and BJ, I need to express something.

In most every competition I have judged over the years, invariably, one or more of the competitors came away with what I can best describe as a sour reaction to the results of the competition. I have always strived to keep my judging and evaluation as honest and as above board as I possibly can.

It truly bothers me when I am faced with that sour reaction and I try my level best to endeavor to explain the process that we use and go through in order to determine a winner.

Since I have been a member of Flowerchat, this is the first design competition that I have seen here and the thing to remember with this......there are always mistakes that happen with the first time something is done. The next competition that comes up will no doubt be handled differently as the things learned in this competition will be noted and used in the next one.

I try to be respectful of both RC and BJ as I admire them both. RC for his business knowledge and BJ for his artistry, and vice-versa.

 

[Victoria]

This is better than a Survivor (tv show) tribal council meeting, where's the popcorn? :ssmoke

:yourock: Thanks for the giggle...

V

 

[Palms]

actually i thought we were all friends and that the competition was not that fierce, obviously i was wrong. Sorry but i would never dream of asking someone to vote on me. If i wanted feedback on a design i would make it and then personally ask for critique. (outside of the forum of competition.)

I am a business women and agree that at times we need to be ruthless but i would not say that this was one of these times, otherwise imo it becomes a popularity contest.

I personally joined in for fun.... If it means that much to win then what can i say???

 

[SpringCity]

Congrats to the top 12!
I'm ready for the next one and I don't think anyone cheated on this one. It was fun for me and I got a lot out of the experience.

 

[RC in Dayton and Cincinnati]

Rick,

No sour grapes here. I thought the contest was fun. I was just pointing out what I considered a cheater. It made no bearing on my arrangement's score either way, but it degraded the competition into a popularity contest in my opinion.

But opinions differ. CHR compares campaigning for votes to picking better lighting, and I compare it to bribing the judges. Picking good lighting is fair play, but I hope we all agree bribing judges isn't, even though bribery is probably not stated in the rules of most competitions.

Now, just for debate for those who think campaigning for a particular person or arrangement is fair play, how about campaigning against a particular person or arrangement? Fair play or not?


RC

 

[Victoria]

It was a great contest. No one's life is in the balance, there isn't a million dollars waiting to be divied up. People participated either as designers or voters or both. Lessons were learned, a path was opened for people who had never participated in a contest. Well done Cathy and all participants. Shall we leave it at that?

V

 

[marigold]

It was a great contest. No one's life is in the balance, there isn't a million dollars waiting to be divied up. People participated either as designers or voters or both. Lessons were learned, a path was opened for people who had never participated in a contest. Well done Cathy and all participants. Shall we leave it at that?

V

Yes, please.

 

[felicityflowers]

Cathy,

Just a suggestion but, you may want to start a new thread to pull out the top 12 announcement and the badge for the winners.

:>

 

[RWK]

Rick,

No sour grapes here. I thought the contest was fun. I was just pointing out what I considered a cheater. It made no bearing on my arrangement's score either way, but it degraded the competition into a popularity contest in my opinion.

But opinions differ. CHR compares campaigning for votes to picking better lighting, and I compare it to bribing the judges. Picking good lighting is fair play, but I hope we all agree bribing judges isn't, even though bribery is probably not stated in the rules of most competitions.

Now, just for debate for those who think campaigning for a particular person or arrangement is fair play, how about campaigning against a particular person or arrangement? Fair play or not?


RC

To be totally honest, perhaps it is based in the way I was brought up, but even considering such a thing as you mention......I could not conceive of trying such a thing......speaking for me and me alone......such a thing would be so far out of the realm of fair play that it is almost a thought alien to me.

 

[aileen_c]

I have a suggestion. How about the photos submitted to Cathy, then when it's the voting period they are put into a poll thread. People can vote on the poll according to the # on the photo. If they'd like to they can leave a comment about a particular design posted to the thread. no one will know who did what, there won't be a misguided voting process-meaning some get votes others don't simply because we didn't realize a lack of voting meant no points. How does that sound?

 

[Twila]

Here's my two cents worth:

I am AIFD certified, but I have never judged professionally as many others here have. I don't consider myself a flower expert or a flower snob (as many AIFD designers have been called). I sell plenty of Carnations and Babies Breath!! I can do very creative bouquets but I also sell lots of Wire Service Arrangements. I don't go to the yearly AIFD Symposiums. I wouldn't consider myself one of the "Popular" members of the AIFD "Club". But that's ok cuz, I have always been able to hold my own in most crowds. I feel pretty comfortable with most people...AIFD or not. Initials don't make the person: the designer or the business person (I think I'm pretty successful at both).

Tracy's previous post requesting clarification on rule #5 prompted me to make an observation on this rule. Since the winner is determined by the highest point total and not the average rating, abstaining (not voting) on an entry is pretty much like voting a zero on it. Even a low rating like a 5 will help a contestant more than no vote at all.

So what I'm saying is that every vote counts favorably, even if it isn't a 9 or 10.

Darrell's comments here struck a cord with me. Until I read his words, I really hadn't thought of it like that at all. In all honesty, I wasn't sure that I was even going to vote on any of the arrangements until a couple people pm'd me and asked me to critique their bouquets.

The point that I'm trying to make is that, I was both honored and surprised to be asked for my opinion. But because of Darrell's comment, I took the time (and it took plenty of time) to critique each and every bouquet that was entered. I didn't look at it as a vote necessarily (even tho that was what it was). I gave my honest thoughts of each design-hopefully with tact and educated reasoning. I'm sure that we all have a difference of opinion. That is one of the good as well as the bad things of design.

I tried to be as honest as I could regardless of who the designer was. I'm sure that there were some people who gave higher (or lower scores) to certain people just because of who they were. In my opinion, that was not what this was about. I guess if it was only about winning-then yes it was about the total score points. But from the pre-questions and the pm's about the critiques, I felt most who had enterred truly wanted to know how they could better their trade. That was why I took so long with my critiques.

Even tho I did not personally enter the contest, I really enjoyed the designs and responses that were posted. I too learned right along with everyone else. I got several ideas that I will be able to sell in my store. I hope that we will be able to do some other types of these in the future. Perhaps for those non-designers: a Marketing Contest; best marketing idea. How about that one Cathy?

 

[Connie]

I was also PM'd by more than one person about voting and commenting. Though surprised by the tactic (for want of a better word) I took it as a reminder that I had missed some designs, and I really was trying to comment on each one, but ran out of time.

This was a great contest, and I hope there will be more of them.

 

[Victoria]

I was also PM'd by more than one person about voting and commenting. Though surprised by the tactic (for want of a better word) I took it as a reminder that I had missed some designs, and I really was trying to comment on each one, but ran out of time.

This was a great contest, and I hope there will be more of them.

All but one of the PM's for me were thank you notes. I appreciated that by the way. Saying thank you sometimes feels like a lost art.

V

 

[Connie]

All but one of the PM's for me were thank you notes. I appreciated that by the way. Saying thank you sometimes feels like a lost art.

V

Nope! No thank you notes to me!

 

[SpringCity]

I have received some thank you's for voting but being on vacation couldn't sit there on my iphone and pm everyone who voted. I just want to thank them here, I do appreciate all the commments.

One thing I thought of.... there is a reason, for example on the Flowers& Design contest that Shannon entered, that the entries were anonymous.

Most of the problems people are talking about here would be eliminated if the designs were judged based solely on the photo, without considering who made it. The comments/judges could be non-anonymous if that would make sense.

 

[DeeDee]

Like everyone else I thoroughly enjoyed the competition, and I think that is one thing that we all agree on, at the end of the day Im sure we all got votes from people we know just because they know us, apart from me though cause I only have one friend :rofl:, and probably some voted on other designs too where they may not have bothered voting at all if the competition wasnt brought to their attention, thats what I think anyway:>

 

[theRKF]

I think the point that all the pro-anonymous design commenters are missing is that submitting a design to an anonymous competition doesn't prevent someone from quietly "letting it be known" which item is their's.

Personally, I'm quite happy with knowing the designer while evaluating the design. It lets me see more of their personality and learn more about the person - which is of value long past the competition.

Ryan

 

[RC in Dayton and Cincinnati]

I think the point that all the pro-anonymous design commenters are missing is that submitting a design to an anonymous competition doesn't prevent someone from quietly "letting it be known" which item is their's.

Personally, I'm quite happy with knowing the designer while evaluating the design. It lets me see more of their personality and learn more about the person - which is of value long past the competition.

Ryan

Ryan,

Are you suggesting "SOMEONE" might do whatever it would take to win?lollol

That's why cage fighting is my favorite competition to watch. In the end you usually can tell without a doubt who won.

RC