How long does it take to change the world?
Every crowdsourcing challenge is different, and timing is perhaps one of the most crucial. In building an effective crowdsourcing campaign, you'll need to create a schedule that matches the scope and the needs of your contest.
You're probably excited, ready to see what kind of ideas people can come up with. This is natural, because you're about to something really revolutionary. By all means, keep that excitement, but be realistic too. Gut-checking is a wonderfully effecctive tool. In the midst of the New Campaign Energy you're feeling, ask yourself questions like these:
- When does the challenge open?
- When are submissions due?
- Do you need more than one round of submissions?
- When will the winner(s) be announced?
These are all important questions, and the answers will determine how long your challenge should run.
If you have a special event you want to use, perhaps for announcing the winners, use that date and work backward from there. If you don't have a special date to use, your challenge timeline can be a bit more flexible.
Check out some typical timeframes below for each challenge stage, along with tips on how to use them wisely:
| Stage | Recommended Timeframe | Tip |
|---|---|---|
|
Pre-Registration (optional) |
2 weeks to 1 month |
Allow enough time to generate news and excitement around the challenge but don’t drag it on for too long or else people may lose interest. |
|
Enter to Submission Deadline |
60 to 90 days (Ideation) 1 year or more (Proof of Concept) |
Take into consideration what you’re asking competitors to submit when determining this timeframe. Also, it’s always best to extend your deadline rather than have the challenge run for too long and once again, run the risk of competitors losing interest. |
|
Judging |
2 to 3 weeks |
Give the voting finalists and yourself enough time to promote this stage. It also gives the voters themselves time to cast their vote when it’s convenient for them. |
| Voting (optional) | 2 to 3 weeks |
Give the voting finalists and yourself enough time to promote this stage. It also gives the voters themselves time to cast their vote when it’s convenient for them. |
|
Winner Announcement |
2 to 3 weeks after Judging (or Voting) |
If you decide to have the winner(s) fill out due diligence and/or payment forms, this allows enough time for them to be completed and for you to review for any issues. |
Some HeroX challenge creators add in some extra stages to suit their particular contest, and you can use them too. Some of those options include:
- A registration deadline: This would only allow competitors to sign up for a set amount of time.
- Qualifying round: This would require competitors to submit an entry on a designated date prior to the final submission deadline, to prove they are qualified to move on (mainly for proof of concept challenges). This is usually a deliverable that's related to the main goal. This stage allows the challenge creator to give feedback to competitors and keep them engaged.
- Leaderboard update: This is usually utilized during Proof of Concept challenges. If your challenge requires competitors to submit multiple entries throughout the competition, you can provide updates on the challenge page to let everyone following it know who is in the lead. This is not always an applicable stage, but it can be a great way to drive competition and keep those not participating in it engaged.
So get scheduling! The sooner you plan out your incentive challenge, the sooner the innovators can start sending in their ideas. And if you need help, remember that the HeroX team is there for you, so don't hesitate to ask!
