Allow reserve submissions for Contests
After required number of entries has been submitted, allow later Voice Pros to submit Auditions in reserve.
I have yet to make it to a contest where I have actually been able to submit my Audition in time. Last night, for example (all times quoted PST / GMT-8):
10:24pm: Contest 104F800892A081E8FAC7 arrives in my e-mail.
Saw the e-mail, went to my studio. Read the project, listened to the clients desired pronounciations.
10:45pm Contest is still open. Yay! Record/Edit my Audition
11:03pm Tried to submit my Audition. Sorry, Contest asked for 3 Auditions. Its full.
- I listened to the other entries. I'm sure mine was better. So sad.
04:59am I get an e-mail, the contest is open again! Too bad I was asleep at 5am
07:30am Got out of bed, saw the e-mail... nope Contest is full again.
- I listened to the other entries. Mine is still better (in my humble opinion)
If you allowed us, after the contest was closed, to submit our Auditions in reserve (which you would not pay us for) then I could have been in line. When the client re-opened and asked for three more entries, maybe I would have been heard? The way the system is set up right now, I'm not getting a chance to compete and its frustrating. The client is also missing out on my stellar work! ;)
Potential work flow:
- When the contest is full, change the Submit button to "Submit in Reserve"
- If a Reserve Audition is not heard by the client, the Voice does not get paid for the Audition
- Odds are we will do it anyway... because we've already spent our time making the recording.
- When uploading, tell the Voice what position they occupy in the Queue.
- Perhaps limit the Queue to 3x the Clients Submission Request value.
- If a client does not like any of the initial submissions they may re-open the contest and request X more entries.
- Entries are then taken from the queue as if they are fresh.
- If a reserve entry is heard, the Voice gets paid for the Audition as normal.
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Hi Bryon!
Well, taking into account our current model, I don't believe this would be viable. The thing is that we only allow our clients to request 6 auditions maximum, so if we allow several users to submit auditions, we may end with too many auditions recorded in our system that the client will not be able to listen to.
Also, we don't think it's actually fair for you guys to record a bunch of auditions you'll never get paid for. However, I do find a lof of interesting points we could analyze and see if there's a way to implement it!
Thank you for your suggestion! It's a really interesting idea!
Hey Bryon,
honestly sounds like you're not quite approaching the audition process correctly.
In your example, at 10:45 when the contest was still open, you should have Accepted the project, you then get 25 minutes to record, edit, and submit your audition.
Waiting to accept the project until after you've recorded and edited, is setting yourself up for disappointment & wasted time.
good luck!
Hey Owen. Can you tell I'm new to the Bunny?
Accept button? I've never seen an accept button on a Contest. Are you telling me that these things fill up so quickly that even when I'm "on it" I'm missing the boat? Or is the Accept button on something else like Projects?
Confused
Byron Armstrong
Gotcha Byron, yeah it can take some practice to get used to the platform. :)
Any time you decide to work on a project from your Dashboard, it's a 2 step process.
First page has all the project details, and a "Submit Audition" or "Accept Project" button at the bottom of the page (depending on whether the project is Booking, Speedy, or Audition)
Clicking this then takes to the "Before you Accept this Project" page, which provides details on what it means to Accept a project, and how long you have to submit your recording, once you click the accept button. Amount of time you have will vary depending on the project, exception are Contest Auditions, which I believe have a standard time of 25 minutes.
Note: on Speedy's and Contests, there's a 30 second count-down before you can accept the project.
If you try to Accept a project that's already received the allotted submissions, you'll be taken to a "Project not Assignable" page.
(Angela, please correct, me if any of the above is inaccurate)
Hope this helps, and good luck!
Owen is right! That's how the process works :) The time for auditions is, indeed, a solid 25 minutes always. Sometimes we give you a couple seconds more, but the time we usually allow to do this is 25 minutes. The time for Speedies and Bookings will vary depending on how long the project is, but Speedies will be expected to be completed in less time most of the times.
I also agree with Owen that you should accept the auditions right off the bat so that the system doesn't allow another person to take your spot while you record, edit and submit. In languages like English - North America, contests go by super fast as this is the language where we have the most talents. Maybe that's why you didn't have a slot to submit when you were done!
Try that next time and let us know how it goes, Byron! :)
He Angela and Owen.
Thanks for all the help. I actually submitted my first Auditions the other night thanks to you two, and was Favorited by the client. I found the Accept button... you need to click the "Submit Audition" button on the Contest Details/Project Status page first. I had never done that previously... because I had not yet recorded anything to submit!
Angela: Since the current functionality is... identical to my suggestion... ;) If I may make another suggestion. On the Project Status page, change the name of the "Submit Audition" button to "Accept Contest" or "Check In".
If I hadn't sent in a support ticket and talked to you two, I likely would have never thought to hit "Submit Audition" *before* I had recorded an Audition to submit. Eventually, after not making it into any Contests I would have gotten frustrated and left VoiceBunny.
At any rate, I'm rolling now and I'm all good. Thanks again!
Byron Armstrong
Hi Byron!
That's awesome! I'm glad we were able to help :) Feel free to post your questions and concerns here anytime. We will gladly step in and help you as we can.
I'll also check the copy situation. I agree with you that it could be better! I'll bring it up with our Product Team!