Project14 Prizes

Hey javagoza ! I appreciate you highlighting this and I can definitely see the benefits to the shopping cart as a prize option. I'm sorry we've moved away from it, at least for now.

Although I'm a relatively recent addition to the team, my understanding is that fulfilling shopping cart arrangements was at least partly a manual process which is why  - with changes in the team underway -  it was decided to use other prizes.

That said, never say never. The team has settled down now and perhaps we will find a way to automate the process so we could potentially bring it back   Out of general curiosity, if you could not have a shopping cart, is there another prize that would definitely make you sign up for a competition?

Thanks for explaining. I've always enjoyed these challenges as a way to finish a project within a deadline and share my work. Any prize, like a gift card, is a nice bonus that helps me continue this hobby without spending too much. But the prize itself isn't the main reason I participate. I do feel a bit disappointed when I win something I can't use or give away, like that Apple watch I won in a design contest. It was hard to find someone who wanted it. In fact, it wasn't even good enough to use as a paperweight.

Never ever wanting to complain about free stuff, but the shopping cart had the advantage to order miscellaneous parts in advance for future E14 projects. For example, procuring board mounted terminal boards, sensors ( temperature, ToF, proximity,  gesture, IR, etc) , controllers ( a new Pico 2 for example), resistors, caps, fuses, LEDs & neopixels, atomisers, needed tooling replacements (solder, solder tips, flush cutters),  etc.      

I can appreciate it was work to manually enter the parts again from the Newark Shopping Cart and deal with shipping confirmations. Maybe Newark can create a marketing charge number for project winners so shopping carts could be processed online. 

The more stuff I had on hand provided more motivation to be creative and use it for doing projects.

One thing for constructive feedback, the spiders all sound really cool for halloween, but the competition is over in November, and it takes 4 weeks (or more) to have a project judged and announced, so those spiders will likely need to be snow spiders for December delivery  :-)  The Rpi5s are cool, hopefully with a power supply and hookup cables  :-) 

Like javagoza I feel that the fun part is participating, and the prizes are a really nice bonus.

I think shopping carts may have been started as a way to avoid duplication of items people already have, or giving things that people can’t use.

I’ve regularly used shopping cart selections for new projects I’ve shared here. I’ve also made a lot of use of things I didn’t know I needed until I was given it as a prize!

I’ve also noticed some people finding the shopping carts rather cumbersome, and the full Newark Farnell store can be overwhelming for anyone who doesn’t already have something in mind.

In terms of motivation, overall I think I’d be more motivated to join a competition where more smaller prizes or finisher gifts are awarded rather than one big grand prize, no matter whether it’s a predetermined thing or a shopping cart.

javagoza said:

Apple watch I won in a design contest. It was hard to find someone who wanted it. In fact, it wasn't even good enough to use as a paperweigh

That was always my concern when I saw prizes such as this.

I believe once we gave away a HTC Vive, and I thought "I love that as a prize, I could totally use it, but you really need a powerful PC to even use it and do we know the winner will have that?"

There were... some weird decisions made.

robogary said:

Maybe Newark can create a marketing charge number for project winners so shopping carts could be processed online. 

I can't go into a lot of detail on the process, but I can say that it needed a member of the team to be an intermediate stop-gap and what you're suggesting wouldn't be possible at present.

Though I always look for producing solutions.

robogary said:

One thing for constructive feedback, the spiders all sound really cool for halloween, but the competition is over in November, and it takes 4 weeks (or more) to have a project judged and announced, so those spiders will likely need to be snow spiders for December delivery  :-) 

There's always next year :D - I suggested we give away an advent calendar.

cstanton said:

some weird decisions made.

I imagine it must be hard figuring out what appeals to the community.

For example, I would not have much use for a $3,000 bench oscilloscope, so I’d be far more motivated by a $50 advent calendar   Or an element14 branded backpack! Those are awesome btw… also mine is still in great shape so I guess a new one as a prize wouldn’t motivate me anymore  

Right now I could use a new MacBook, but once I have upgraded I’d be good for several years, plus prizes like that seem to focus on base models, where I would need a16gb in order to really be able to use it fully.

So yeah, even just thinking of myself as one example it would be tricky.

But then maybe it works out well to motivate separate different groups of people for the different competitions?

I wrote this above comment before seeing the competition. I already have a start of a project in mind, so I’ll likely participate, but the prize kit, while very nice, isn’t a motivator, partly because I doubt I could win the one grand prize with so many far more talented people here.

I won HTC Vive so I can say :D I have powerful enough computer, but I have headaches from using for about longer than 15 minutes, so nowadays it is mostly used by my cousin. But it is used, it is not dust collector. She like it.

It is crazy that you can't find anybody interested in Apple products in family. In my family, after I gave away 2 iPads, Watch and long-term lend Macbook, there is queue for next Apple products and they are looking forward for my success in next competitions. Unlikely, after I switched jobs recently I no longer have much time for taking them at scale and likely will target only small competitions like Project14.