HOW IT WORKS IMPORTANT DATES

Transcription

1 thebasics HOW IT WORKS Videos submitted to the Math Video Challenge website and approved by the team advisor are eligible to receive votes. Videos can be submitted and receive votes at any point during general public voting, February 13, 2018 through March 14, Anyone can vote for any video. Voters create free voting accounts, linked to their address, on the Math Video Challenge website and then are able to vote for whichever video(s) they d like. Voters are limited to one vote per 24 hours for a specific video, but there is no limit to the number of different videos someone can vote for in a day. Students and team advisors can (and are encouraged to) vote for their own video every day. The 100 videos with the most votes when general public voting ends advance to the judging rounds, which determine semifinalists and finalists. During general public voting, a leaderboard will be available on the Math Video Challenge website with real-time data on the number of votes received by each video in the contest. IMPORTANT DATES February 12: Last day to submit a video before voting begins. Suggested deadline from the MATHCOUNTS Foundation. February 13 March 14: General public voting takes place. March 14: Last day to submit videos and qualify for the final prize drawing in the program for $25 Amazon gift cards. March 16: Top 100 videos announced on the Math Video Challenge website.

2 the5 DO s DON'ts + of Voting DO share your video link with family and friends. see pg. 3 for ideas and templates DON'T wait until the last minute to submit your video and vote. learn more about why on pg. 6 DO create a voting account on the math video challenge website. find out how on pg. 6 DON'T get discouraged about the number of votes you have. find out how on pg. 7 DO get your school involved in voting. find out how on pg. 7 2

3 1 DO share your video link with family and friends. Aside from the 5 individuals (4 students + a team advisor) on your team, your friends and family members are likely your best supporters in the Math Video Challenge. One of the easiest ways to secure enough votes to advance in the contest is to ask them to vote for you. Think of it this way... Team advisor + each team member vote for the video once a day during the 30-day voting period: 30 votes 5 people = 150 votes Team advisor + each team member get 2 friends to vote for the video once a day during the 30-day voting period: 30 votes 10 people = 300 votes Your team would receive a total of 450 votes by Pi Day! Below are some tips for sharing your video with family and friends. On the next pages are samples you can refer to including information about templates available to you. 1) Ask early. Remember, each person can vote only for one video per 24 hours because they log in with an address. To maximize the number of votes you can get, contact your family members and friends as soon as possible. 2) Ask many. However well-meaning and supportive they may be, it is unlikely all of your team s friends and family members will be able to vote every day during the voting window. You should cast a wide enough net to average a handful of votes from friends and family members each day. 3) Use both and social media. Your video will get a unique URL, making it easy to and use in social media posts. If people can simply click on a link to get to your video and vote, they ll be more likely to vote every day. Use our and social media templates on the next page to get started. 4) Send weekly reminders. The voting period is 30 days long, so it would be a good idea to send 2-4 reminders during this window. 5) Thank your voters. Whether you include this in your reminder s or send a note, a simple thank you goes a long way. Expressing your gratitude during the voting window isn t just a nice gesture it tells people their support matters, making them more likely to continue to give it during the rest of the voting period. Sample We ed team advisors who qualified for the Promo Pack a Microsoft Word version of the template that appears on the next page. You can copy this template directly, but also feel free to change the text to make it work for your team. 3

4 Subject: Please support my Math Video Challenge team this month Dear Aunt Jessica, I m participating in a MATHCOUNTS program called the Math Video Challenge. I would be so grateful if you could support me by voting for my team s video between now and March 14th so we can advance in the contest. For this project, my teammates and I produced our own math video, Your Video Name, which solves a math problem and demonstrates a real-world application of math. Students across the country are participating in this program, and the 100 videos that receive the most votes will move on to the next round of the competition. Depending on how well we do in the program, we could earn prizes, a trip to Washington, DC and even a college scholarship! You can show your support and help us get to the next level by: 1) going to our video s page at and voting. You ll need to use an address to set up a free voting account. 2) voting for our video as often as once a day until March 14, If you re interested, I can tell you more about the program and how we created our video. You also can check out to learn more. Thank you so much for your support, Mike Sample Social Media Posts Facebook or Instagram: Please help us get to the next level in #MathVideoChallenge! Check out our video at and vote for our video every day until #PiDay March 14th! (You ll need to create a free voting account when you click Vote.) #STEM #Mathletes Twitter: Vote for our video in #MathVideoChallenge every day until #PiDay 3/14! Vote for us at #STEM #Mathletes *Note: Twitter posts are limited to 280 characters. Snapchat: Vote for us in the MATHCOUNTS Math Video Challenge! *Note: Snaps are limited to 80 characters and are not permanent (they are deleted between 24 hours and 30 days, depending on settings and opened status). There also are limitations on including URLs, hashtags and social media handles. We recommend using Snapchat only for sending quick reminders. Team advisors, your students likely will understand Snapchat better than you do... :) The posts above are just examples. You may want to modify these to make them work for you. Some changes that are likely a good idea for some social media posts: Add any hashtags specific to your school or group. We ve included common MATHCOUNTS hashtags below, but if #GoWildcats is a common hashtag for your school because it references your mascot, for example, it may be useful to add that, as well. Add schools or other organizations you re affiliated with that would help you. For example, you might say Help get to the next level... instead of the text above. If your video name is short enough to fit, consider adding it to your posts. Add a photo. We recommend always including a photo with your posts on social media. Obviously photos 4

5 are required for Instagram and Snapchat, but even for Facebook or Twitter, a photo can help your post stand out as people scroll through many different posts from people/organizations they follow. We ed team advisors who qualified for the Promo Pack standard graphics teams can use a mix of stand-alone images, filters and frames but you may want to create your own images, too. You ll notice we ve in these samples. If you or include #MATHCOUNTS, we will make every effort to like posts, but cannot guarantee we will be able to do this for all of them. We will not retweet or share any team- or video-specific posts on social media, as doing so could give an unfair advantage to one video over another. Please keep in mind the rules of the Math Video Challenge regarding appropriate language and content as you write your posts. You can find these at Graphics Available to You: These were ed to team advisors who qualified for the Promo Pack on February 13, 2018, and are released online to all on February 20, Image Recommended For Notes Facebook, Instagram, Twitter Be sure to include your video s URL in your social media post so people can vote for your video. Stand-Alone A Facebook, Instagram, Twitter Be sure to include your video s URL in your social media post so people can vote for your video. Stand-Alone B Facebook, Instagram, Twitter Use this to add a screenshot of your video. You can use Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft PowerPoint or any similar software to create this. Square Frame Snapchat Upload this image to create your own filter on Snapchat, or create your own filter. Go to to learn more. Snapchat Filter 5

6 2 DON'T wait until the last minute to submit your video and vote. It is very unlikely that your team will be able to advance in this contest if your video is submitted and approved on the last day of voting. This voting guide would be incomplete if we did not mention this (again). You ll notice we did not say impossible. A few teams have managed to get into the top 100 even while submitting their videos in the last few days of the contest, but these cases are very rare. In fact, almost every video that has advanced to the top 100 has had at least a week of time to collect votes. Get your video submitted and approved as quickly as possible, and then make the most of the time left in the general public voting to get votes. You can refer to the leaderboard to track your video s progress, which will be on the Math Video Challenge website for the duration of general public voting. 3 DO create a voting account on the math video challenge website. Voting is limited to one vote per video per account. Therefore, each voter must have an account on the Math Video Challenge website, which they will log into before they vote. Team advisors do not need to create voting accounts because they can vote through their team advisor accounts. Everyone else including student team members who wish to vote for their own videos should create a voting account. Voting accounts are linked to unique addresses. Teams still can send first time voters to their own video s URL. When someone clicks the Vote button on the video page, s/he will be prompted to either log in or create an account, as shown at left and below. 6

7 4 DON'T get discouraged about the number of votes you have. Many videos that are submitted after general public voting has begun are able to advance into the judging rounds. Getting votes may seem daunting, but it doesn t have to be! Think of it this way... On average, the 100th ranked video in the contest which has advanced to the judging rounds has received 209 votes during general public voting. The judges panel does not take into account the number of votes a video receives when making selections for the semifinals or finals, so when it comes to judging, the 100th video is on equal footing with the video that receives the most votes. Also, remember that if the team advisor and each team member vote for their video once a day during the 30-day voting period, they will get 150 votes. You do not need to submit your video by February 12th to have a shot at being in the top 100. That said, you ll notice our advice not to get discouraged also rests on the assumption that you will follow Don t #2: Don t wait until the last minute to submit your video and vote. Your team shouldn t panic if you re not finished by Day 1 or even Day 10 of voting, but you also shouldn t procrastinate to Day DO get your school involved in voting. No matter how many votes you get from family and friends, involving your classmates and school community in your team s efforts is a great way to drum up support for your video (plus it s fun). Teams submitting videos later in the contest also would benefit from having the opportunity to get additional votes. Below are some interesting ideas we ve heard from other team advisors and students over the years of how to get school communities more involved. On the next page is information about how to use the printed flyers and poster we provided to all team advisors who qualified for the Promo Pack. 1) Have an assembly to celebrate. Some schools have used pep rallies and other assemblies to give shout-outs to the Math Video Challenge team(s) at their school. This is a great way to raise awareness and get future votes from classmates. 2) Have a school-wide voting day. Some schools have had scheduled a day when every student with an address sets aside a minute to log in and vote during, for example, morning announcements, lunch and homeroom a great way to get a couple hundred votes in a day! 3) Make an announcement on the school website, newsletter or social media pages. You can get lots of people affiliated with your school to vote for your video this way! 4) Screen your Math Video Challenge for math/tech classes at your school. Your video is educational! You can showcase it during your own math class or ask other math or technology educators to show it during their classes. 7

8 Printed Resources Available to You: These resources were ed to team advisors who qualified for the Promo Pack on February 13, and mailed February 13 February 15, 2018 (sent in order of video submissions). In addition, everyone regardless of when they submitted a video will have electronic access to the resources starting on February 20. Flyers: Teams receive 20 printed flyers (10 in color, 10 in black/white on color paper), which you can either post around your school or group, or give to people you re hoping will vote. You also can print out additional copies to send home announcements to students or members of your group. Before making copies of flyers, fill out the front of the flyer (as shown below). You should write your team s video URL suffix on the line with a pen. You also can make a Word document template with this URL typed and print directly onto the flyers. We recommend testing this on blank pages first, to ensure the spacing is right for the flyers and your printer. For example: VOTING GUIDE ACCOUNT CREATION VOTE You must have a Math Video Challenge website account to vote for videos in the competition. If you are already a student or Team Advisor participating in the contest, then you do not need to create a separate voting account. This Voting Guide includes information about how to create a Math Video Challenge voting account and how to link it to a social media account. Logged in users can vote for each video in the competition once every 24 hours. Remember, the General Voting Period is from Tuesday, February 13 through Wednesday, March 14, To create an account first go to videochallenge.mathcounts.org and click on the My Account tab at the top of the page, as shown below. videochallenge.mathcounts.org/ Next, click on the click here link, as shown at right. You then will be taken to an account creation webform. This form will require you to submit a user ID, address, and password. You will also have the option to link your Math Video Challenge account to a social media site (details below). Once you submit this information you will receive an asking you to validate your account. After validating your address, your account creation will be complete and you ll be able to log in at videochallenge.mathcounts.org to vote throughout this year s contest. SOCIAL MEDIA LOGIN Squawk! VOTE Vote for us! Vote for us! create a free Voting account log in to vote for our video once a day keep voting until pi Day ! During the account creation process you will have the option of linking your Math Video Challenge account to Facebook, Twitter, or Google+. You can link to these by clicking on the icon of that site on the account creation webform (as shown at right). Linking your Math Video Challenge account to one of your social media accounts can save you time, because if you are logged in at your social media account, you can log in automatically at the Math Video Challenge website. To do this, simply click on the appropriate site icon (as shown at left); you will not be required to enter a user ID and password to log in, as long as you are logged in at your social media account. If you need any assistance with voting or registration please contact videochallenge@mathcounts.org. Video Name: I Love Math URL: URL Suffix: i-love-math Write on the Line: i-love-math Write or type your team s URL suffix here. The back of the flyer has the 1-page Voting Guide, which gives detailed instructions for how to create a voting account. For many people, this level of detail on instructions will not be necessary, but some voters will appreciate this. Poster: You ll also receive a poster in color (15 x 36 ), which you can post around your school or group. Before posting, you should add your team s video URL suffix on the line with a marker. Refer to the example above about what to write on the line. V O T E Squawk! Vote for us! Vote for us! videochallenge.mathcounts.org/ create a free Voting account log in to vote for our video once a day keep voting until pi Day ! Write your team s URL suffix here. Still have questions? We can help! Contact us at (703) or info@mathcounts.org. 8 good luck!