I try to e-mail my class once a week to keep them curious and coming back to the site. I had an idea at 3:30 this AM that I thought might garner some interest and wanted to tell ya'll about it for your sites.

I used the Survey Maker to set up a photo contest. I asked the class in an e-mail to submit their Christmas photos by a certain date. Then I'll open it up for voting for their favorite until a certain date. I'll add answers in the Survey Maker titled Photo #1, Photo #2, etc. That way they can see the numbered photos at the top and then click on the corresponding number below. As an added incentive, I told them the winner would win a $50 gift card.

Let's hope they respond. Check out my site and see what you think!

Hi! How did you get the bulletin board on your home page? I'd love to use that. Thanks. Tam

Bonnie, I must say that your site is one of the most colorful, creative ones that I have seen! I, too, would love to know where you got the bulletin board! I LOVE your idea of the photo contest. Good luck with it and let us know what becomes of it!! Great site! Bonita

Thanks guys for checking it out. I just put a notice of the photo contest on my home page and I think it looks pretty cute! The bulletin board was mostly stolen from the Class Creator Home Page. I just found a corkboard background, opened it in Publisher and manipulated other photos on top of it. Really easy to do. I stole their "Bulletin Board" sign by doing a screen save with jing and cropping it. Same thing with the white sheet outlined in blue. Let me know if I can help.

Whoa..you are way advanced for me..but thanks...I DID make a few Pear Tree greetings though...those are hilarious!!! Thanks again and good luck with your contest! Bonita

Okay... So, I "borrowed" your photo contest idea. It's such a FANTASTIC idea to bring more traffic to the site and motivate everyone to have fun! Thank you sooooooooo MUCH for the idea! I'm anxious to see the pictures people submit to me!

Please check out my site and let me know what you think!

Wishes to YOU!

You did a great job putting that up!! (Your whole site looks good) Got me considering it....Good luck and I can hardly wait to see the results...Be sure and keep us posted...Bonita....

Thanks Vanessa and Bonita. Feel free to take anything you want off my site. Let me know if I can help. Vanessa, let me know how your's goes! Love the picture that you posted!

It has been really fun doing the Photo Contest. Of course I've bugged everybody to death with periodic reminders about how time is running out and so far, I have 11 pictures and promises of more. I will open it up for voting on the 11th.

It is amazing to me how many people visit the site EVERY DAY to see what's new. Some I think come every day to play on the "Recess" page. I'll let ya'll know what the final outcome is.

Thank you for your vote(s) of confidence! My site has truly become a labor of love! As much as the almuni enjoy it, I don't think they can appreciate the hard work and dedication the way we (the creators) do! All of us know just how much time we spend on this, and supporting each other is so important and encouraging!

I will let you know how the photo contest goes. I just started it one day ago. I have NOT received any entries yet. I have two contests actually though. One is for photos from High School and one is photos from growing up in the 80's. People have logged on since my email promoting the contest, so I am HOPING to get a few entries soon!

By the way... Is there a way to make my Photo Contest page "private?" I do not wish for it to accessed by the general public.

THANKS AGAIN FOR THE IDEA! Everyone on this site is so awesome! Especially the creators of Class Creator!

Wishes!
-Vanessa

How are you funding the contest(s)?

Vanessa Rappolt wrote:

Click on Edit Site Pages, and put a checkbox in the Password column next to your Photo Contest page.

The photo contest prizes are coming out of my own pocket in a way. My bank has a program in which you are rewarded points for every dollar you spend using your debit card. The points become redeemable for gift cards. So, technically it's not truly coming out of my pocket.

While I wish there was another way, right now this is the best I can do. I need to rally my class so we can begin fund raising for our venue deposit. I'm hoping this will spark some excitment and interest!

BRAD! Thanks! If the password option were a snake it would have bit me! Hee, hee...

That is what I thought. I was wondering if you had a secret angel out there, that my fly my way.

Brad Switzer wrote:

Another way to make a page private is to make the page a "Survey" page. Even if the page is a survey, it doesn't need any actual questions, but it can have displayable content. This is how I make my "What's New" page private for only classmates to view. It doesn't really have any questions, but only classmates can view surveys.

Thanks for tips regarding page privacy! I feel better now that some of my pages are no longer viewable by the general public.

I'm hoping to get some photo entries this week!!! I'll let ya'll know how it goes! I hope that this helps to bring more traffic to the site and start a "buzz" about our reunion! I only have 38 people registered with 131 more to go! *sigh* Thank God I started early!!!!!

Wishes to everyone!
-Vanessa

Bonita Lyon wrote:

Here's an update regarding the photo contest I started. The deadline for photos is Friday, February 13th. So far I have had ZERO entries. I have been promoting it and even have fabulous prizes of Visa gift cards! *sigh* NOT ONE photo has been submitted yet!

However, the brighter side to this is that since started the Photo Contest; I have had 8 new profiles created! Woo-hoo!!!

I guess you gotta take what you can get, huh?

That's great Vanessa. We take sign ups anyway we can get them. So far, I have 24 entries in my Photo Contest and it ends on the 10th. I'll start a "countdown" e-mail probably tonight. I'm thrilled there has been that much interest. My prize is also out of pocket but it's worth it to get people in the habit of checking the site.

Good luck with your contest, let us know how it goes!

LOVE THE PHOTO CONTEST IDEA!
AND YOUR HOMEPAGE IS WOW!!!!!! MAKES MINE SEEM SOOOOOO BORING GREAT WORK! KIM MEEHAN LINDSEY

Thanks for the kind words Kim. You've got a great start on your site and it will build with time. I'm down to 2 days on my Contest and then I open it up for voting. It will be interesting to see how many actually vote! Have fun with your site.

Drum roll please.....I had "34" entries in my photo contest and the voting ended at midnight. I have awarded the prize to the winning photo which you can see on my Home page. This has been a great way to get classmates to your site, if not submitting pictures then to see what photos have been submitted. And I even picked up 2 new classmates. Looks like a lot of people are dropping by daily just to see what is going on and after 3 times of doing that, it becomes a habit which is good for the site.

Vanessa, or anybody else, how did you make out with yours?

Bonnie Andrian wrote:

Wow! You had a great response to your contest! I'm JEALOUS!

So far, I've had only 2 entries. However, my deadline is still three weeks away. People are chatting about the contest a bit on Facebook, but are slow-go when it comes to pulling out photos and scanning them.

My Photo Contest has two catagories and two prizes. One is for the best 80's photo, and one is for the best photo from our HS days.

Funny thing... I did start a page for alumni who married each other. Posting wedding pictures of what we are calling, "INBRED FALCONS." It's HILARIOUS!

That's a start Vanessa. You'll probably get a rush at the last minute. I would blast the class about a week before the deadline to let them know it's coming, and then again 2 days before the deadline. I also put a notice on the top of my Home page and counted down the days, 5 days left, 4 days left, etc. Good luck with your contest!

I really like your web site =) Lots of cool interactive things for the classmates to keep wanting to come back too very smart with the photo contest & guessing who the little kid in the pic is ..... I love all your ideas

~christine marie

[quote="Bonnie Andrian"]Drum roll please.....I had "34" entries in my photo contest and the voting ended at midnight. I have awarded the prize to the winning photo which you can see on my Home page. This has been a great way to get classmates to your site, if not submitting pictures then to see what photos have been submitted. And I even picked up 2 new classmates. Looks like a lot of people are dropping by daily just to see what is going on and after 3 times of doing that, it becomes a habit which is good for the site.

that is completely awesome

~christine marie

Thanks so much Christine. I try to put things out there that get classmates to communicate with each other. The photo contest was fun, I'll definitely do that again. I had more people visiting the site on the day the contest ended than at any other time. I need to think of a way to pay for it though. Out of pocket is not fun!

I can help you with that =) Give me a day or two and I will have something for you to look at to help out with funding alumni activities & contests =)

~christine marie

Where did you get that rotating cube and how do you make it? It's cool!
Sue

Hi Sue. Glad you like my site. Isn't this fun? I got the cube at http://www.magicwidgets.com/picture-cube/ Just upload your photos and grab the code.

Just a suggestion. If you move Upcoming Birthdays and This Day in History to the right side, your page would balance better. And if you put your paragraphs with the yellow background in a table, you could square up the colored background instead of having it end with the sentence.

Good luck with your site.

PS Just noticed that your Wylie works at the college where one of our classmates is President