Well, the on-line application went live about three minutes ago. Bodybuilder Hubby's contest is officially open for competitors.
I'll admit that for some reason I'm feeling a little nervous. I've spent the morning feeling frantic, alternately trying to go over the last-minute checklist for the application and updating the contest website with the new info and links while also trying to keep my kids well enough entertained that they'd give me more than two minutes at a time to concentrate on what I was doing. Thank goodness for Netflix Instant Streaming and endless episodes of "Go, Diego, Go!"
But now the application is live. We'll have a pretty good idea soon if all the work we've put in will pay off. And, really, there's no doubt in my mind that it will.
This year's contest will be the best one yet. Hopefully it will also have a record number of competitors. We're ready.
Time to start working on t-shirt designs...
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
On-line Application
Bodybuilder Hubby's bodybuilding contest has had an on-line application for the last couple of years. Through a form on the website, the competitor's information was e-mailed to us, but the information wasn't saved in a database or anything like that. So we'd copy and paste from the e-mail into Excel so we could sort and organize and make the forms and labels we needed.
But there were lots of problems. If a competitor skipped a question, a line would be missing from his/her data, which threw off the rows in Excel. A minor thing, but a major pain. The most commonly skipped question was "T-shirt Size" which is why this year's competitors will discover that the new application for this year won't even allow them to submit the application without answering that question.
We're trying something new with this year's application that gives us nice options like required answers. It will save Bodybuilder Hubby and me approximately thirty kajillion hours of copying, pasting, sorting and error-correcting. It should also cut down on mistakes; with the new application, the only way a competitor's name will end up spelled incorrectly on the program is if the competitor spells his or her own name wrong on the application. Which I have seen happen, actually.
The new on-line application will have lots of advantages for the competitors, too. It will allow them to create a password so that they can come back and make changes to their application anytime before the contest. For example, if a bodybuilder wants to change weight classes, he or she can re-open his/her application and make the change. I expect the most changes will be made to the Competitor Bios, the information that the MC will read at the evening show as each competitor is introduced. In past years Bodybuilder Hubby would get lots of e-mails right before the contest because a competitor would realize he/she forgot to include a "thank you" in the bio to a trainer or a spouse or something like that. Now the competitors can change the bios themselves as often as they want right up until a day or two before the contest, when I'll be printing everything out for the MC to read.
I think it will really be a good thing for everybody, easier for everybody.
Now we just need to get it live, which could happen as early as this week! Bodybuilder Hubby's been getting lots of questions about when the application will be available. I think the background work on it will be done today. I'm looking forward to seeing how many competitors we'll have this year. Last year's total was 106. Think we'll get more this year?
But there were lots of problems. If a competitor skipped a question, a line would be missing from his/her data, which threw off the rows in Excel. A minor thing, but a major pain. The most commonly skipped question was "T-shirt Size" which is why this year's competitors will discover that the new application for this year won't even allow them to submit the application without answering that question.
We're trying something new with this year's application that gives us nice options like required answers. It will save Bodybuilder Hubby and me approximately thirty kajillion hours of copying, pasting, sorting and error-correcting. It should also cut down on mistakes; with the new application, the only way a competitor's name will end up spelled incorrectly on the program is if the competitor spells his or her own name wrong on the application. Which I have seen happen, actually.
The new on-line application will have lots of advantages for the competitors, too. It will allow them to create a password so that they can come back and make changes to their application anytime before the contest. For example, if a bodybuilder wants to change weight classes, he or she can re-open his/her application and make the change. I expect the most changes will be made to the Competitor Bios, the information that the MC will read at the evening show as each competitor is introduced. In past years Bodybuilder Hubby would get lots of e-mails right before the contest because a competitor would realize he/she forgot to include a "thank you" in the bio to a trainer or a spouse or something like that. Now the competitors can change the bios themselves as often as they want right up until a day or two before the contest, when I'll be printing everything out for the MC to read.
I think it will really be a good thing for everybody, easier for everybody.
Now we just need to get it live, which could happen as early as this week! Bodybuilder Hubby's been getting lots of questions about when the application will be available. I think the background work on it will be done today. I'm looking forward to seeing how many competitors we'll have this year. Last year's total was 106. Think we'll get more this year?
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Whistle While I Work...
For the last two weeks I've been working on a reorganization of the website for Bodybuilder Hubby's bodybuilding contest (http://www.ngaidaho.com/). There's a new division being added ("Bikini" - more on that later) and a few other changes that I wanted to have finished before the on-line application goes live. Which should happen the middle of next week. Hopefully.
A friend suggested that I start keeping track of the hours that I spend working on various stuff for Bodybuilder Hubby's contest and small business. I'm the webmaster, copy writer, copy editor, graphic designer, social media manager, and random task completer for both.
I often think I should make up some business cards with that listed as my job title.
Since I started keeping track 11 days ago, I've put in 26 hours on the contest website (and 7 more on the contest itself). I don't know if that sounds like much, but consider that the vast majority of that time has been at night after our kids are asleep.
Last night I got to see snow falling outside my office window at 1am, because I happened to still be working there at the time.
Also last night, and for reasons I cannot explain (I blame sleep deprivation), I ended up picking "High School Musical" to listen to on Netflix Instant Streaming to help me stay awake while I worked. I haven't been able to get those songs out of my head all day. It's making me a little crazy.
But now it's done. The updated website is live, and I've corrected all of the errors that I found. I'm sure there will be other things - a misspelled word here or a funky graphic there, but hopefully not. It just looks so unprofessional to see spelling and grammar errors on a business website. According to me, a former classroom teacher.
I'm hoping to get some feedback, but really what I think will happen is that no one will notice. People will get on the site, they'll quickly and easily find what they need, and they won't think any more of it. I think that's good web design, when it just works and makes sense to most people. (There are always those few...)
But I'm pleased with it, and already planning the next revision...
A friend suggested that I start keeping track of the hours that I spend working on various stuff for Bodybuilder Hubby's contest and small business. I'm the webmaster, copy writer, copy editor, graphic designer, social media manager, and random task completer for both.
I often think I should make up some business cards with that listed as my job title.
Since I started keeping track 11 days ago, I've put in 26 hours on the contest website (and 7 more on the contest itself). I don't know if that sounds like much, but consider that the vast majority of that time has been at night after our kids are asleep.
Last night I got to see snow falling outside my office window at 1am, because I happened to still be working there at the time.
Also last night, and for reasons I cannot explain (I blame sleep deprivation), I ended up picking "High School Musical" to listen to on Netflix Instant Streaming to help me stay awake while I worked. I haven't been able to get those songs out of my head all day. It's making me a little crazy.
But now it's done. The updated website is live, and I've corrected all of the errors that I found. I'm sure there will be other things - a misspelled word here or a funky graphic there, but hopefully not. It just looks so unprofessional to see spelling and grammar errors on a business website. According to me, a former classroom teacher.
I'm hoping to get some feedback, but really what I think will happen is that no one will notice. People will get on the site, they'll quickly and easily find what they need, and they won't think any more of it. I think that's good web design, when it just works and makes sense to most people. (There are always those few...)
But I'm pleased with it, and already planning the next revision...
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