5 How to Tips For Contestants and Contest Hosts in Regarding to Outfits: a Subject Suggested by moynistwo

Tip #1, Make Sure You Understand the Theme: Don't be afraid to ask questions or request further explanation. Not only does this help you do your best in the competition but it can help the contest host learn how to explain herself to her contestants. To my Contest Hosts out there, if you can tell that someone does not understand what you are asking then find a way to help them without making them feel humiliated or embarrassed. 

By understanding what you are dressing for, your outfit will be way better equipped for the contest and you've got a very good chance on making it to the next round.

Tip #2, Combine Matching and Colorful: Try to have matching items in your outfits but at the same time don't be afraid to add that pop or surprise item that can take your outfit to the next level. You want their first reaction to be "wow, this person did a great job" or anything like that.

This is something which I apply to more than just Fashion Story Avatar Contests. I also apply it to writing blog posts, drawing, the list goes on. 

Tip #3. Beautiful Can Be Less Coins: You might think that the more coins/gems an item is, the cuter it will be. This is not always the case, so I don't worry about the end cost of my outfit in real life or in Fashion Story. For instance for my Christmas Outfits I used some of the items you get for free in the beginning, at like level 80 (or something like that). Anyway, price isn't a defining factor in my choices for winners of my contests nor of what I wear for contests I am in.

Just something to think about and watch out for.

Tip #4. Accessories, Accessories and more Accessories: I know you have most likely heard this many times, but I happen to know that the accessories you chose can change an outfit from elegant to casual, basketball time to date time, etc. Pick your accessories with care and remember to experiment with what goes and what doesn't. 

Tip #5. Ask For Pointers From Contest Host if You Get Eliminated: If your outfit doesn't 'cut it' ask for the honest reasons and learn from their critic. Most of the ladies I know would gladly give pointers to their contestants and I know I have in the past though only when asked.  

To those of you who are contest hosts, keep in mind that you owe it to your voluntary contestants to make being in your contest as fun as you can. 

To those of you who are contestants, I hope this list helps you and I hope that you will have taken something away after reading this. 

If you have an idea of a good subject for a post please either leave via comment here or at Questions & Suggestions. Thank you! ~ Sky's Limit

Annual Contests, Why and How to Start the Process

Once a month I host a 5-round contest to decide the new Fashionista O' the month, and just for fun. Why? For one thing I love entering contests myself and as I started to enter more, I began to see things that I could do in a more organized way. As I continued to ponder this fact, I came up with the system which I wrote about in How To Start Your Own Avatar Contest, Part 1 and Part 2. 

Now, some people just hold random contests whenever they feel like it, but I prefer organization and consistency. So, I decided to have a monthly contest that would at the most have 15# contestants. As I  started my first Fashionista O' the month contest (Fashionista O' July, 2013), I realized that I needed to offer a prize to the winner. I also determined to come up with a title to give them, and after some thought I concluded that the winner would receive 1 month of likes and the title of Fashionista O' the month. 

At first I did an annual contest to see if I could improve the process I was seeing all-round me, but as I continued to host contests I started to do it just for the fun of trying to stump my contestants which sometimes works and sometimes it doesn't. I also noticed that my popularity, neighbor count and the number of messages left on my wall increased during my contests, to the point I have trouble keeping up. 

So, if your boutique seems a lonely place hosting a contest might help open up new doors and be a fun thing to do. To start, pick a specific time (if you are planning on doing monthly, pick a day, if you are going to do a yearly, pic a month, etc) and then a prize and title. Then I suggest at least reading if not emulating the instructions in the following posts:

How to Start Your Own Avatar Contest, Part 1 and Part 2

Round Themes, Part 1 and Part 2

Unlike when you enter a contest, to host one you do not haft to own a lot of clothes or be a certain level. Though I will say that having more clothes for my avatar is helpful, it is not required. In addition, you do not have to get it perfect the first time. I am on my 8th contest and I am still making changes to my operating system.

Though honestly, I just enjoy the fact that other people are having fun and possibly laughing at some of the things I come up with for keywords and round themes. To boot, I get to see some of the cutest outfits in the game as well as some of the silliest outfits on the face of the earth.  :)

I hope that this has help you see the importance and fun of hosting an annual contest and how it can impact your boutique's chance of survival. Please feel free to ask questions via comments. ~ Sky's Limit

Round Themes, Part 2: Creating a Good Story Line

Now that we have some Round Themes to pick from, you need to come up with a good story line to go along with your themes. Why? Well, it is the story line that helps your contestants get the idea you are going for. For example, what if I told you to dress up in a winter outfit? You might dress up for a sleigh ride, winter ball, snow ball fight, ice-skating or a number of other things. 

But if I told you that you have been invited to your friends house for Hot Cocoa, and that you need to dress for a night of talk and jokes by a warm fire, you would most likely do just that. See the difference? 

The first option has the potential to become chaos and the second option has less potential to do so. Story Lines, therefore, not only help your contestants but they can also help you as a judge. 

I have found that by giving my contestants a guide line for what I want to see, the options of what they can dress in are narrowed down. Which of course makes it easier for me as the contest judge to pick who did the best and who did the worst. However, be careful to not make it to narrow or your lower level contestants may have trouble. And that is never a good problem to have when hosting a Fashion Story Avatar Contest. 

To get your story line, go back to what first brought the theme in question to your mind. In the case of the Round Theme: S'mores Anyone?!, I was spending time at my aunt and uncle's house and they just happened to have a fire pit in which they made s'mores, among other things. Ironically, we made s'mores that very night right after I posted this Round for my Fashionista O' August contest.

Not only that, but some of my own neighbors used to invite my family over to make s'mores over their fire pit. To sum it up "In the mind, out the pen". 

If that doesn't work, look at the outfits you made to when fool-proofing the theme or make some new ones. When you see these outfits, what do you think of? What would you dress in this outfit for? If you are still having trouble, ask a friend to help. Sometimes two or even three heads are better than one.

I have found that I enjoy joining contests whose hosts make up good story lines to go with their themes more than those contest whose hosts don't. It may be just me, but I somehow doubt it. 

Hope this gets you to start thinking about coming up with Story Lines to go with your Round Themes! ~ Sky's Limit

Round Themes, Part 1: Creating a Good Theme

For me, one of the hardest things to decide when I did my first contest was 'What are the themes gonna be?' Hopefully, this post helps you with this part of Creating a good Fashion Story Avatar Contest. The first step to finding a good theme, is to get a piece of paper and your favorite writing device (pencil, pen, marker) or open your favorite note taking program on your computer.

Then take a quick look at your own avatar's closet and start thinking of places for her to go (Egypt, the beach, Atlantis, etc), things she could dress up as (Pirate, super hero, etc), or even things she could do (ice-skate, hiking, going to a movie, etc). 

Next start writing or typing the ideas that pop into your head on your note taker of choice. Some of them will be silly or outrageous, but others will be 5 star themes with a little bit of help from you. Here is what your list might look like (if not that is ok, everyone thinks differently):

1. Trip to Egypt to see pyramids
2. Date night at a fancy restaurant
3. School teacher
4. Business lady
5. Opera singer
6. Seafarer
7. A hike with friends

Don't forget that you can always add on to your list later. However, not all themes are meant for Fashion Story Contests. Remember when I had you look at your Fashion Story avatar's closet? This is so that you can get ideas for Round Themes and also fool-proof them. Here is the rule I use when choosing Round Themes for my contest: Any theme you use, your own avatar should be able to dress for in more than one beautiful way. 

This makes it easier for most people to dress for your contest without much trouble. Don't be surprised though if some people stumble a little… Just remember to do your part and judge as fairly as you can.

 And like I said before, if you ever have trouble making a Theme up, take a quick look at the closet and dress your avatar in a new outfit. I find that sometimes help with this process. 

Now that we have come up with and fool-proofed our Round Themes, it is time to come up with a good 'Story Line' to get your contestants thinking!

 If you have question, please ask via comment. ~ Sky's Limit

How to Start Your Own Avatar Contest, Part 2

Keeping track of points and rounds can be very confusing, so organizing them should be top priority. Keep in mind that everyone organizes differently, so your system probably won't look exactly like mine. On the other hand it may be very similar. Either way here is an example of how to organize your points and rounds.

Round 1: Date Night

………….(describe round)…………..

1. (Contestants Boutique name) 5/10= 6th place --- 5/50 overall

First you could write down the round and the description you are going to give the players, so that when you are looking at or taking a picture of their avatar's outfits, you know what to look for without having to go back on your own Fashion Story wall. This information may not be necessary, but can be very helpful in the future. Something else I strongly suggest is a list of your contestants, as shown above. I usually but  a number next to their Fashion Story name based on what order they entered my contest.

Next to that is their boutique name and then their points or score for that round.  In the case of my contest, each round is worth up to 10 points and since there is 5 rounds each contestant could get up to 50 points overall. It is these points that in the end decide who wins the contest. At this moment our example would most likely be eliminated, because of the very low score she has.

 I don't usually count their overall score until the last round, though I do keep track of it. This of course means that some people get eliminated even though they have a pretty high overall score, but that doesn't happen very often. You may have noticed on the example that this player is considered to be in '6th place'. This is something which I only recently developed. Here is what I came up with.

10/10 1st

9/10 2nd

8/10 3rd

7/10 4th, etc

If you get into the 1st, 2nd or 3rd group, you will most likely go onto the next round. If you get 5th (6/10) and below, you are most likely up for elimination. As the contest organizer, you should plan ahead as to how many contestants will be eliminated per round. This should be based on how many contestants you have in your contest and how many rounds you are going to have. In my case I do 5 rounds, #15 contestants and I eliminate 3 players per round except in the last round where winner takes all… :)

Using this organized system I keep track of my contestants, their points and rounds. I have found that by using this system I can easily run my Fashion Story contest and still operate as a human being in my real life. I am planning on going into more detail about contest rounds and how to come up with them in a later post, but hopefully this can at least help you get started.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask via comments, I will answer them to the best of my ability. ~Sky's Limit

How to Start Your Own Avatar Contest, Part 1

When I am starting a Fashion Story avatar contest the first thing I do is come up with a catchy phrase to draw people in -- making sure I spell the words right, use proper punctuation/grammar and that it includes a unique word for them to post on my boutique's wall if they want to join. Here are a few examples: "If you like to win Trophies and have fun at the same time please join my contest! Post 'Spots' on my wall to join!" or "I am having an avatar contest on my wall, post 'Spots' to join.", etc. After I have figured out what I am going to say, I decide how many people I will allow to enter. I usually stick to #15 because it works perfectly with the number of rounds in my annual Fashionista O' the month contest and though it is not easy to keep everything straight with fifteen contestants, it is not too hard.

You also have to consider (based on your number of contestants) how many people you are going to eliminate each round and how many rounds you are going to have. Another thing to consider is what kind of prize will the winner win.  Thankfully Fashion Story gives many opportunities for this type of thing. I would suggest likes for a certain amount of time and/or a unique title and/or a particular type of gift for a pre-arranged amount of time. These are just some examples, so feel free to be creative! :)

After I have determined the before mentioned information, it is now time to line up some contestants. How? Well for starters I tell my best Neighbors, Friends and frequent visitors about my contest. I also tell people on the Fashion Story community,  and if I am in any contests I will also post it on the host's wall. If you want more contestants quickly, choose people who are in other contests, are holding contests and 4* players who seem to like this sort of things. By doing it this way you will get a mix of old and new friends which will make your contests even more fun to host.

Once you have the desired number of contestants you can move on to organizing the rounds. Make sure you have a link or connection so that you can notify each of your contestants about upcoming rounds, etc. I keep track of my contestants in a notebook purposely designated for that purpose. I will cover round organization and points in a later post.