2020 Challenge Feedback

[Tori]

We are going into a new year and would love to hear your feedback! Whether you are giving feedback on the challenges we've had or what things you would like to see done in the future, your opinions are important to us and how the challenges are run in 2021!

Challenges we had in 2020:
> Relay Reading Race
> Around the World in Books Challenge
> TBR Revival Challenge
> BINGO Challenge
> Reading Week
> House Cup Challenge

Things to consider adding to your feedback:
1. What Challenges did you participate in, and would you participate in these challenges again?
2. Are there other ideas or challenges we should consider trying?
3. Are there any challenges you think should be retired, rotated out/in, or revamped?
4. We changed some challenges at the beginning of the year. Did you like the changes or would you like to see the challenges go back to what they were?
5. Are there any previous challenges we did not do this year that you would like to see return?

This is supposed to be a discussion for general challenge feedback, but we can discuss specifics here as well. In a group this large we try to listen to what the majority of our members want, so be sure to voice your opinions! Just remember to be respectful of others opinions too!

Thank you!

[Renn]

I hope you continue with the elements House Cup theme for next year. But I’d like it to have a nerdy connection, like being more Avatar:the last Airbender-themed

[Cheryl]

I am tired of challenges that are just checklists. I like to discuss books, so I would like something like a 'theme of the month' challenge. (Active participants each choose a theme and lead off the discussion with a few suggested titles, including the one(s) they're planning to read.)

We all read the books that we want each month, as long as they have the theme or subject matter in common, and talk about them together, comparing the books to each other etc. Genres are flexible.

(To be clear, colors, single words, etc, are not themes. There's nothing to discuss about France if someone reads a biography of Paris Hilton, nor is there anything to discuss about "red" or "pretty cover" or trivia like that.)

(I could get us started for January if ppl like this.)

[adele]

I could get on board with the theme idea! It’d be cool to discuss themes like loss, death, possession, revenge, or beauty. All very flexible and people can read pretty much whatever they want, but could get discussions going with approaches from so many angles and perspectives!

[Georgie’s]

I really enjoyed doing the BINGO & House Cup Challenge this year ( especially the fact that it wasn't completed HP focussed, I loved choosing it this year based on my star sign). I also like the idea of a theme of the month, as it still gives us the freedom to read what we like, but I think it would be good to keep discussions alive.

[Samantha]

I have really enjoyed the House Cup Challenge! The only frustration is the way uneven teams. I know that people sign up and then don't really participate but we started off uneven in the beginning. Even though it is done on an average, team size does still play a factor. Other than assigning people into houses - which is no fun - I'm not sure what could solve this. Maybe ask for volunteers that do not care specifically what house they are in and when we get close to the start of the challenge, you can place those people in whatever houses need more people?

I loved the idea of the Bingo Challenge but did not participate. I would love to this next time around. I'm not sure how the themes were chosen but maybe we can have a suggestion thread and vote on what is to be included? Might get some cool ideas that way. I loved that you had an interactive card linked so everyone didn't have the same ones so make sure to keep that for sure.

I fell super behind on the Relay Challenge but I thought that one was fun and simple enough. I know the goal was based on it being 2020 this year but I felt like that goal was way difficult. I'm not sure where we're at right now as I have fell behind on my logging but I don't think we're close to hitting it (the last time I check anyway).

For the TBR Challenge, I think that one has potential as well. I didn't participate but would love to this next year. I could use the structure to get some of these books knocked out haha.

The themed discussion idea is really good as well. I personally have a harder time with discussions but would be open to trying it out. I can see this being something that many others would enjoy though even if it doesn't end up being my cup of tea haha.

Morale of the story is that I hope to participate in many more challenges this next year haha.

[Theresa]

I’m honestly not interested in discussion - I spent years avoiding the classics, since picking apart literature in class frankly ruined them for me. Others may feel differently, but I read for the joy of reading, and analyzing it after the fact takes something away from it for me.

The TBR challenge was great, inspired me to dig into my TBR list and check some of them off. I also did the house challenge and relay, and would probably do them again, although I wouldn’t be too upset if they weren’t repeated.

[Tanya]

I joined late in the year so I didn't really participate in any challenges but I would be interested in the TBR Challenge in the future. I have loads that I need to get off my list. I would also participate in the BINGI and House Cup Challenges.

[Laura H L]

I liked the BINGO challenge and the house Cup Challenge. I appreciated the rule modifications of the House cup Challenge - the review bonus points and the BOM bonus points were great ideas!

I didn't complete the TBR - sorry but the themes of the quarterly did not work for me. I liked it better when it was a simpler concept of knocking off the books that have been on your list.

I haven't participated in the others.

Thanks for all of your work in trying to appeal to the different interests within the group!

[Satrina]

Challenges I took part in:

- Around the World in Books: I really enjoy this one as it pushes me to read more diverse books. I found some great books this way.
- TBR Revival: I didn't pour my heart in this one. Both variants (just knocking books off your TBR pile - quarterly themed) were fine.
- BINGO: I completed BINGO but was going for Blackout, sadly I couldn't finish but it was really fun.
- House Cup: I took part and I loved the modifications on this one.

All of the above are challenges I would like to take part again this year and also take part in Relay Reading Race as I have in previous years.

And also a big thanks to all the mods for all your effort.

[Kyra]

TBR Revival is a good one to have going on, but I must say that I did not post in it. Instead I just worked on my TBR list. My favorite though is the Around the World competition. I was able to pick books from places that I would actually love to travel to and making the plan was half the fun. I did not compete in the House Cup this year since it wasn’t HP, which was the point for me in the first place but it seems like most people posting really enjoyed it. One challenge that we didn’t do but we did in 2016 is the Olympics and since we might be having them this year I think that would be a good challenge to bring back.

[Linda]

i like the BINGO even though this year I didn't participate. It makes me look for different books which can be a challenge.

[Carla]

Hi! I participated in the House challenge and I loved it.

I agree with Samantha that it would be great to be able to balance the number of members on each group.
We could add the total number of participants in the main thread/post, to encourage people to join the groups with fewer participants.
Maybe also have a joint spreadsheet or post where we track every group's progress on 'real time'.

I would like to participate in the Around the World in Books challenge and would love to make a map like this where we can track together how much of the world we managed to cover :)

[Laura]

I was part of the house cup challeneg, I do it every year and love it! I don't really have any problems than how it was done but I do think houses with more participants than others made it so that other teams had more of an advantage. I also think there could be a warning that if you are inactive in the first month then your name will be removed from that team just so it would improve the average and show how hard those who are participating are reading

[Betsy]

Thank you for everyone's feedback - this is essential for us when setting up the challenges for the coming year. This is our only way to know what has and hasn't worked for people in order to make the best reading year yet! And you've brought to the table many great points and ideas for thought, so thank you. Keep it coming!

Carla wrote: "I would like to participate in the Around the World in Books challenge and would love to make a map like this where we can track together how much of the world we managed to cover :)"
Carla, this would be amazing! I will message you privately :)