Webinar Recording: How To Write a Winning RoadTest Application.

I tried it myself. For a brief moment there was one slide but a moment later, after the page loaded, I presume, the video appeared.

It worked for me:

https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-88517?et=watches.email.document_comment#comment-148408

saw nothing but a blank screen, even after refreshing the page.

Hi rscasny

The system you have developed looks pretty fair to me.

Its awesome that new road-testers are being given a good chance.

Regards,

Dave,

Good comment.

Let me see what I can do.

Randall

A very useful overview of what is expected from the applicant.

Just a thought, would it perhaps be helpful for both sides to pre-format the enrolment form with the five main sections mentioned e.g.:

1. Motivation
2. Knowledge
3. Plan
4. Availability
5. Commitment

?

Basically it would help guide new applicants through the processes as well as hopefully help reviewers receive the application in a more standardised format.

Thanks for the useful information
I enrolled to a roadtest only once and I admit that probably my presentation wasn't the best, now I know what to do if I will apply again for something else.

It's always interesting to know what happens behind the scene.

Thanks for the comment.

At this point, I'm not planning to do a webinar on writing a roadtest review. I agree with you: there's a lot of information and examples. Just paging through the most current reviews gives a clear indication of how to write a review. Plus, I'm not seeing much of a problem with review writing. Many are better than I expected. In the past year, I really only was unhappy with 2 reviews: not what they concluded, but both seemed to be cut short and were the result of our follow ups in getting the review. I'd like to make it clear to anyone reading this comment: I understand that things come up in your lives that prevent you from devoting the time for the review at one time or another. Just communicate with me or my assistant Dan and tell us when we can expect it.

As for the poor video quality. This comment has come up before. It is my understanding that it has something to do with the Jive platform that is being corrected. I don't know the details but I will try to find out and post it.

Randall

Thanks rscasny for the recording - a good webinar to skim through, even for the experienced RoadTester just to make sure they weren't selling themselves short and missing out on key details. Or in my case, at least it reaffirms that when I did my last application, I didn't make any major mistakes ...

Here's hoping that more future RoadTest applications are complete, fully detailed and competitive. Maybe it will help nip the "one sentence" applications in the bud and make the job of selection easier for everyone. I know the allure of free stuff leads to a lot of "thoughtless" entries, so hopefully this might deter some of them. Also good to see new RoadTesters being given a chance as well.

Although, I will echo mcb1's comments in regards to the video being quite heavily compressed and low resolution. The audio was also somewhat low quality but (at least) comprehensible.

As for a webinar about writing better RoadTest reviews - I wouldn't say I'm opposed to one, although I think that there are a lot of variables involved including the type of item and the sort of tests/data that you might want to present. Some like to go into details, others tend to only focus on what they consider "distinguishing". Some like to do things progressively and do things in pieces, while I prefer to do things in one big chunk once I'm satisfied I've got everything together. Some things lend themselves nicely to video, others are better as photos/screenshots. Some people don't like writing at all and just want to talk to a camera. Others might be more involved challenges which span a long time, but have guided timings for blog posts. I think there was a doc about this, but I think maybe it would be nice to clarify expectations and acknowledge the differences in style (and perhaps provide guidance as to preferences). Maybe also a little information as to what you'd expect covered regardless of the review product (e.g. a short background on the whole item, maybe a little about the competitors/options considered, items in the box, set-up, etc).

- Gough

Good to see what goes on behind the scenes.

I can't believe some of the applications.

Unfortunately the timing of these never seem to suit this end of the world, or my work schedule and I'd love to see the Webinar recording improved.

They are either too small or fuzzy.

The inability to see the questions is also offputting, but I appreciate that it is provided for thse that can't attend.

Mark

All products have an associated learning curve. If we know nothing about them, the learning phase may take more effort, but all products are designed to be used and there is always help available to learn how to use them. The story of how you learn about a product and its usage can be a very interesting one to include in a road test review. Stretching our capabilities is an excellent approach - even when we don't entirely succeed, we learn and get better at it.