All about the Tower Teams III challenge

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

                                                                      ~Tower Teams~
                                               First Team to 20,000 points

                                                                      

What are Tower Teams?
Essentially it is small groups of members in a team who read and discuss books, record them for "points" in order to compete against other teams.
It doesn't matter if your yearly goal is to read five (5) books, fifty (50) books or five-hundred (500) books. Anyone can join! We are still balancing the Tower Teams Reading Challenge by Total Books read.

IMPORTANT
This is NOT a read-a-thon and WILL go for a few months, so please only sign-up if you are a consistent goodreads user and are willing to discuss books with your team mates over a period of a few months. Unlike our other team challenges, the Tower Teams Challenge is a marathon, not a sprint!

Goal: The first Team to 20,000 points wins!

When: Starts November 8, 2014 and goes until the a Team reaches 20,000 points.

How: We will take all the people who sign-up and divide them equally - by book goal - into SMALLER groups, taking into account the number of books they read in 2014 and how many they think they will read in 2015. Otherwise we will be using a "ramdomizer" to assign. When you go to the sign-up thread, PLEASE INDICATE the NUMBER of BOOKS you have read so far in 2014 and the number you THINK you'll read for 2015. (Just to even out the teams. Thanks!)

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Points
For reading books
Books between 100 and 160 pages (100 pages or 25,000 words is the minimum) = 10 points
Books between 161 pages and 450 pages = 20 points
Books between 451 and 600 pages = 50 points
Books between 601 and 750 pages = 70 points
Books between 751 and 900 pages = 90 points
Books over 901 pages = 100 points

For NBRC BOM (Book of the Month) discussions
Writing a day's worth of discussion questions = 40 points
Participating in a BOM (participating in discussion) = 30 points
NOTE: We will accept one team member per book per team for writing a days DQs. If, by three days prior to the BOM starting, we don't have enough volunteers to write all DQs, then we will let more than one team member per team write questions. If we have more people than days sign up (prior to 3 days before start date) we will randomise the volunteers to determine those who can write DQs

For NBRC Buddy Reads
Participating in a buddy read with a member from a different team, or with a member of NBRC who isn't on a Tower Team = 30 points

NOTE: Points for BOMs and BRs are only provided for these discussions happening inside the NBRC group. Points are not provided for discussions in other groups

NOTE2: Participation means providing meaningful discussion to the book with others. You should be commenting on the book as you read. (A comment about the book when you've finished is more of a review rather than a BOM or BR discussion)

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Add-ons: If you didn't sign-up in time, you can be added through-out the competition, as soon as there are an equal number of books for all teams. For example: If there are 10 teams, it is January, teams have yet to reach 20,000 points, and you want to join the game. You only have to wait until there are enough players -- who collective make up an equal number of books -- want to join, then we'll allow all a new batch of members to in, most likely as a new Team.

◈ Those people who want to keep their Profiles Private, must be willing to "Friend"
    their Team Captain(s), the NBRC Mod account, or one of the Moderators, to allow
    page count verification and to assist you if you are having difficulty with your
    bookshelves.

◈ Teams will be similar in size to TTII and the Wheelathon. We haven't decided on the exact number, as we are going by books read, but we are shooting for 10-25 members.

◈ Books must be />100 pages. NOTE: This number is lower than our other team challenges!
    For page number questions, please check with your captain who can ask in the Captains group for verification.

◈ Audio books and Large Print editions are allowed. (For page numbers, we will use the "default" GR book page numbers.)

◈ No graphic novels. (Sorry.)

◈ No little children's books less than 25,000 words.ArBookFind is a great site to double check. If in doubt, ask your captain.

◈ Any genre counts.

◈ Any book in any language will count, as long as it meets the criteria.

◈ "Re-reads" will be allowed, if it has been six months since you have read the book. This includes listening to the audio version, if you've already read the book.

◈ This challenge involves adding a special bookshelf to your personal
    GRs bookshelves other than "read." You may choose a preexisting one.

◈ Please wait to be told to which Team you are assigned. It might take awhile; however,
    you will be able to count the books you have read from the START date of the challenge.


◈ Once you actually join, please check-in with your team discussion thread by posting the name of your bookshelf.
    Remember to add a HYPHEN between words for your bookshelf.

◈ Helpful Tip: Knowing about Sticky Shelves may help you put your assigned
    bookshelf near the top of your dropdown box.

◈ With MOBILE DEVICES there have been major problems when trying to
    add books. If that is all you have to access the Internet, or you don't know how to Cut & Paste
    on it, then this challenge probably is NOT the right fit for you.

◈ Discussion threads will be in the regular NBRC group.

◈ You do NOT have to join the discussion, if you don't want to; communicating
    via posting a book is good enough. Nevertheless, Your Team wants to know if you are
    still participating. We understand Real Life gets in the way. However, please plan to
    "check-in" in some manner at least once every week. If we don't hear from you for two weeks, you may be replaced with another team member

◈ We need people to volunteer to be Team Captain(s) whose duties include:

- Keeping a Google Spreadsheet that all members can view (we will provide you with a template)
- checking team members books read and page counts
- communicating with a NBRC Moderator
- communicating with all Team Members
- making sure Team Members are staying active
- notifying the NBRC Mod if someone drops out
- have effective and kind (this is a game, remember) on-line communication skills to help members having trouble
- making sure Team Members belong on your team
- posting weekly status updates/reminders
- dealing with minor issues that arise
- post little challenges within challenges, if desired.

    You may rotate/share these duties. We would suggest you have at least one Co-Captain.
    You may have as many Captains and Co-Captains as you like.

◈ Please let us know, when you make a request to sign-up, if you are interesting in being a
    Team Captain.

◈ When a Team reaches 20,000 points, they win. If more than one team hits this in the same week then the team with the highest points is the winner.

◈ If interested, go to Round III Sign-up Thread and tell us:

✔ How many books you have read in 2014 (>100 pages)
✔ How many books you plan to read 2015?
✔ The continent you live in (so we can try and match time zones)
✔ Would you be willing to be a Team Captain? Or Co-Captain?
✔ Is this your first team challenge with NBRC?

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

The challenge will start at 8pm on the 8th November, Sydney Australia (AEDT) time.

Countdown until the challenge start is here