Learn how to run an effective competition
No matter how great an idea is, raising awareness, excitement, and funding for a new project is difficult. Whether it be a new approach to an old policy problem or a whole new scientific discipline, it can be hard to know how to break through. There might be a lot of interested parties and stakeholders who would benefit, but people’s attention is scattered and finite, and it can be difficult to bring people together and get them focused on a single idea. This is where competitions can be a game changer.
Asking groups to compete for a prize creates immediate incentives, focuses attention, puts concrete deadlines in place, and allows you to control the framework and demonstrate the value of your idea or framework. Competitions can be a great way to bring exposure, create momentum, and support great ideas that might otherwise lack a natural venue.
The Learning Agency team recently worked on a competition for education technology companies to help produce the next generation of edtech tools to help students learn better. The competition centered around the growing field of learning engineering, an approach to edtech that creates feedback loops between learning science research and edtech development by turning platforms into data-rich research environments. The result is vitally important knowledge about how students learn, as well as better — and continuously improving — tools for students.
The competition garnered over 900 entries and a diverse group of 18 winners was ultimately selected. It’s created new momentum, and a second competition is already in the works.
Meanwhile, we wanted to share a bit about what we learned from running the competition.
Here are four tips for making competitions like this run smoothly and help you achieve your organizational goals.
Competitions can be a great way to bring exposure, create momentum, and support great ideas that might otherwise lack a natural venue.
1. Make the Goals and the Rules Crystal Clear
The entries will only help meet the competition’s goals if potential entrants clearly know what is expected. Don’t cut corners on creating the criteria and rubric for judging the competition.
In the Tools Competition, we were focused on helping facilitate tools that accorded with learning engineering principles. This meant the platforms had to include features that facilitated learning science research, including creating easy-to-use data-collection and analysis tools for researchers.
We spent a lot of time designing the goals, eligibility requirements, and evaluation requirements to make sure they were clear and consistent across all our competition materials. Where possible, be as specific as possible with concrete goals and numbers.
It’s also vital that the competition rules — or terms and conditions — are transparent and fair. The advice of an attorney familiar with the competition is critical. The rules should also be flexible to allow you to adjust the timeline or manage unforeseen circumstances.
We spent a lot of time designing the goals, eligibility requirements, and evaluation requirements to make sure they were clear and consistent across all our competition materials.
2. Take Recruitment Seriously
Once your rules are set, the next step is to get the opportunity in front of the right competitors. Your strategy should be as targeted as possible here to recruit high-quality entries.
So, rather than just advertising the competition as widely as possible through social media, consider targeting particular industry groups, popular message boards in your target area, or social networks of people working in the area. You should also reach out to individual influencers in the field directly. A single prominent voice can go a long way in amplifying your competition in the right circles.
Because most participants won’t submit their entries until the days before the competition closes, it’s best to set up alternative ways to gauge interest in the competition. There are a few different ways you can do this: through an eligibility quiz that tells potential applicants whether they qualify, through live events like a webinar or FAQ on the competition, or simply through an email newsletter sign-up. This can give you a sense of how many and what kinds of entries to expect on the competition’s close date, and it gives you time to make recruiting adjustments if, for example, the competition needs more entrants or more diversity.
Once you have a list of interested parties, make sure you’re communicating and supporting their applications throughout the process. Include ample reminders of deadlines and other relevant dates in their inboxes; consider hosting networking or informational events; provide entrants clear ways to reach out with questions and concerns. This kind of active and responsive recruitment can establish community among relevant parties that will last after the competition is over, and open up new opportunities for everyone.
Because most participants won’t submit their entries until the days before the competition closes, it’s best to set up alternative ways to gauge interest in the competition.
3. Create a Detailed and Balanced Evaluation System
The most important thing when it comes to evaluating your entries is expertise. Your evaluators should be well-versed in the ins-and-outs of the discipline. And don’t shy away from bringing in additional specialized experts to evaluate individual parts of proposals if those submissions call for particular regional, technical, or historical perspectives.
It’s also vital to have clear and stringent methods for evaluating. Evaluations should be normed, meaning evaluators are on the same page when it comes to implementing the rubric. They should have specific examples available for every level of evaluation, and evaluators should score two or three submissions independently before coming together to resolve any inconsistencies. Keep an eye on discrepancies and potential biases during the evaluation process and work with evaluators to remediate them. Finally, evaluators should take detailed notes using a platform that allows you to track and compare responses easily.
A good evaluation system builds up faith in the fairness of the competition and provides even the entries that aren’t selected with valuable feedback at the end of the process.
A good evaluation system builds up faith in the fairness of the competition and provides even the entries that aren’t selected with valuable feedback at the end of the process.
4. Support All Your Competitors, Not Just the “Winners”
Remember that while a competition must crown winners, that is, ultimately, not the major point. The point is to foster a community and momentum around your ideas and priorities. There are many different ways to do this, and the best competitions will take advantage of all of them.
For entries that don’t merit financial awards, there are many other things you can do to support competitors. For example, you can structure the competition so that they pitch before a panel composed of experts in the field; you can give them tailored feedback; or you can continue to foster networking opportunities and partnerships among competitors.
Remember that while a competition must crown winners, that is, ultimately, not the major point. The point is to foster a community and momentum around your ideas and priorities.
If your organization is considering using a competition to advance your priorities, email meg@the-learning-agency.com to learn more.
–Meg Benner
