Philly Emerging Technologies Project of the Year Finalist

by sarah on April 6, 2012

WizeHive is named one of three finalists for the Philadelphia Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise Project of the Year Award.  The award is presented by Philadelphia’s Chariot Solutions and Technically Philly, our source for all tech related news in the area.

Mike, our CEO, will be attending the event on Tuesday, April 10 in Philadelphia. Anthony, WizeHive’s Senior Web Engineer, will also be there. They’ll speak about our latest project, the do-it-yourself contest builder, and why we’re so proud of it.

This is the 7th Annual Emerging Technologies for the Enterprise Conference. The event has become the Mid-Atlantic’s go to conference for developers, architects and IT executives. Subjects as expansive and intricate as emerging technology and Open Source require a dynamic forum. This conference provides just that, with industry experts providing up-to-the-minute insight.

It should be a great day!

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Facebook Timeline and your WizeHive Contest: A few things to keep in mind

by sarah on April 2, 2012

Here are a few tips to keep in mind for your WizeHive contest on Facebook:

1. Your contest will appear in a menu with Photos, Likes and Apps, under you Cover photo. Photos will always appear first, but you can rearrange other apps so that your contest is always prominently displayed.

2. You can select and upload a picture for your contest tab and update it at any time.

3. You contest page can no longer be the default landing page on your timeline. If you want people to land directly on your contest from outside of Facebook, you can share the URL that takes them directly to the contest tab. If you want your contest to stand out for people who arrive at your timeline, you will need to carefully consider how you are arranging the rest of your content.

4. A great way to highlight your contest on your timeline, you can post information about it, highlight the post and pin it to the top. You can unpin the post at any time.

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New WizeApp: The Private Review Portal

by sarah on March 30, 2012

There is now a private portal app available.   It is available right now in your workspace.

To enable the WizeApp, click on the WizeApp gear in the top right corner of your enterprise workspace. Click on “Show” for Private Review Portal, then click save. You should now see it on your main menu (if you use a high number of WizeApps, it might be under “More” on the right side of the menu).

Once you are in there, you will be able to specify the portal name, URL, start and end dates (and times) the message text on the left, whether assignments are on, whether editing is on, and which folders are displayed on which tabs.

If you would like to change the fields or elements that display or have any unique layout elements, please get in touch and we’ll be able to help.

Also New – Setting a Maximum File Size

You can set the maximum file size for uploaded files. With WizeHive, you can upload very large files. However, we understand that you might not want applicants to uploading massive files. Therefore, we’ve enabled a feature so you can limit the maximum file size on an application using the form builder.

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Citrus College Scholarship Application Forms now Live

by sarah on March 23, 2012

Citrus College, in California, opened online applications this week. Students can apply for over fifty scholarships through WizeHive’s online scholarship manager. Students can apply to the scholarships by going the Citrus College website. In addition to the application form, Citrus College has provided helpful tips on applying for scholarships.

By moving to online applications, scholarship providers can set the system to filter students to the correct scholarships automatically. Instead of going through each application to ensure a student matches the criteria, WizeHive sorts eligible candidates. This means scholarship providers spend less time on administration, often saving hundreds of hours of tedious work.

We’re happy to have Citrus College using WizeHive and wish all of the applicants well as they further their education.

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The University of Toronto and Samsung Canada continue the SPARK Challenge

by sarah on March 21, 2012

The SPARK Challenge aims to inspire young people to start Sharing Possibilities for Applications in Research and Knowledge , by asking them to come up with creative and original ideas for applications that would operate on Android smartphones and tablets.

Round One of the SPARK Challenge ran from November 1 to December 30, 2011, and was open to all high school students in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). This Round was designed to have a low barrier to entry – students weren’t expected to be tech savvy in order to enter; they merely had to have a great idea.

Students stepped up to the challenge and delivered: the SPARK Challenge received 45 entries, ten of which made it to the final judging round. Experts in the field – including a Samsung representative, a local IT professional, professors from the University of Toronto, and Nora Young from CBC Radio One’s Spark – met to assess the top ten entries and decide on the winners.

Taking home first prize were Ted Schreiber and Milan Crnjanski with “MusiCube,” a music recording and translating app, which would enable the user to record loops of music and arrange them into a song. Second prize went to Tyler Soares, David Klara, Justin McConnell, and Steven Megaffin, who submitted the “Community Service App,” which would assist high school students in finding placements to complete the required 40-hours of community service. Kelsi Smirlies nabbed third prize with the “Kids Help Phone Chat,” an instant messenger application that would immediately connect distressed youth with a counselor.

The overall creativity and originality of the entries prompted the delivery of Round Two of the SPARK Challenge – now geared toward post-secondary students in the GTA. This Round expects a bit more technical capability from entrants, as submissions are required to be fully functioning Android applications. Students are invited brush up on their tech skills at an Apps Workshop, to be held on March 24th at Thing Tank (36 Bathurst Street) in Toronto. Students can submit their apps at sparkchallenge.ca via Wizehive contest software, up until April 9, 2012.

The SPARK Challenge is an innovative partnership initiative between Samsung Canada and the University of Toronto, represented by the Institute of Communication, Culture and Information Technology (ICCIT) and the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI).

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New Features for Grant and Scholarship Applications

by sarah on March 16, 2012

New Portal Layout

The private reviewer portal (and public judging portal for custom contests) just had a design overall and looks great. Your logo is now front and center at the top and will not bump into our “Powered by” logo. In addition, the tabs have been refreshed and each applications now looks like a card on the screen.

When an application is selected, there is a nice new layout that makes navigiation and review even more pleasant. The previous and next links are now buttons at the top of each review (which can still be turned on or off). In addition, the “Add Review” button is clearer as is the review screen itself.

Assignment Grid Enhancements

One of the most significant improvements is in our assignment grid. First, as you can see below, we’ve made some modifications to make it look really nice. In addition, you can now scroll up and down the grid as well as right and left between users.

Last month, we released a feature on the assignment grid that enables you assign folders to certain judges. As new applications come into that folder, they will automatically be assigned to that judge.

Another new feature in the assignment grid is the “Batch Assign” feature. From this button you can have the system automatically assign applications.

For example, pick the folder, then pick the User of Page/Application. If you pick User, you can specify that each user (Judge) should get x number of applications assigned to them. WizeHive will go through the applications and evenly distribute them out to judges. If you pick Page/Application, the system will assign each Page/Application in that folder x number of times, distributing it evenly among the judges.

Letter of Recommenation Enhancements

We’ve made it more simple to track which applicants are missing letters of recommendation.

First, in the letter of recommendation setup we added a field which indicates the minimum number of recommendations that are needed for an applicant’s application to be “complete.” We also added two fields to the report writer which you can see below, “Recommendations Completed” as well as “# of Recommendations Completed.”

This will let you see at a glance which applicants still have recommendations due and how many they need completed. You can use this information to send them an email through WizeHive.

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CEA Eureka Park Challenge is Looking for Hot New Tech Startups Through WizeHive’s Online Contest Platform

by sarah on March 13, 2012

Looking for a way to launch your hot new tech invention? Submit your never-been-seen-before product, service or app through WizeHive’s online contest manager for a coveted space in the Eureka Park Challenge. Ten lucky finalists will be selected to compete for top honors including a free booth at the 2013 International CES.

The Eureka Park Challenge will be held at the CEA Line Shows in New York City on June 27 and 28. With more than 640 media and analysts and more than 430 retailers/distributors, the CEA Line Shows is one of the CE industry’s biggest events of the year. A win here will set you on a direct route for a dynamic debut at the International CES, and get your creation the exposure needed to take your product to the next level.

Over the course of two days, judges will interview contestants and view product demos. On closing day, each finalist will present on stage before a live audience. Judges and attendees will vote for a grand prize, second place and fan favorite winner. Are you up to the challenge? Find out more on CE.org here: http://bit.ly/HWRISN

One Month Left to Enter Jan Brett’s Contest for a School Visit

by sarah on March 9, 2012

One of our favorite contests, Jan Brett‘s Free School or Library Visit, is only open for one more month. The school or library that has the most parents, teachers, librarians, friends or supporters who like Jan Brett on Facebook will win a free visit from Jan in the 2012-2013 school year. The contest ends April 9. Each person can enter once.

The schools with the 2nd to 10th highest number of entries will win 10 Jan Brett books for their library. Schools with the 11th to 100th highest number of votes will each get a signed Jan Brett poster.

The contest currently has over 20,000 entries and we expect things to start heating up as it nears the home stretch. If you love Jan Brett (and who doesn’t?), you better start telling everyone at your school to vote!

New contests: Health, wealth and happiness

by sarah on March 2, 2012

We love sharing some of the contests run on WizeHive. This week, we have three contests to highlight with great prizes, touching stories and celebrating good causes.

Mango Financial is running a contest asking people to share their savings goals. The contest is switching from entries to the voting phase next week. If you’ve got time this weekend, enter right away!

The UK’s National Autistic Society is celebrating their 50th birthday with a photo competition. Submit a photo showing what friendship means to you. There are some beautiful pictures to check out, but be warned, you’ll want to have a tissue or two close at hand.

Nashville’s HMS HospitalIT contest, Good for the Heart is announcing winners next week. The contest is only open to customers and employees of Healthcare Management Systems. We think it’s a great way for HMS HospitalIT to say thanks while celebrating American Heart Month.

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Conversion rate on online applications

by sarah on February 29, 2012

Have you ever wondered how many people you can expect to apply to your online scholarship or grant? You aren’t the only one. As there are so many factors that contribute to conversions, it is tricky to give a concrete number as an answer. For example, is there anything unusual happening on your website? Have you done any marketing to people that would be interested in completing the online application? Every additional click will mean less conversions on your form.

Although online scholarship and grant applications are different from sales, we can learn from what retail websites do to increase conversions. Here are a few key tips to help ensure that as many people as possible are filling out their applications:

1. Define nice versus necessary. If you want people to make it all the way through their application form, give them less to answer. Think about each question you put on your application as an opportunity for people to abandoned the application.

2. Ask people what’s stopping them from finishing. Often, a quick reminder that they need to finish before the deadline is all that’s needed to spur them into action. People are busy and love to procrastinate. Help them to not miss a deadline by emailing them a reminder to get the application done.

3. Validation from a 3rd party. The more legitimate your scholarship or grant looks, the more people will be willing to fill out the application. Include information on previous recipients, including what they’ve done with their grant, or what school they went to with their scholarships. If you have high profile judges reviewing applicants, create an area to showcase thier bios, or an area to discuss the history and sponsors of the scholarship or grant.

4. Track and modify each year. Once applications are closed, find out what works and where people got stuck. From there, tweak the application process each time to include additioanl information, helpful links,

5. Explain everything. If you are asking people to gather information that takes more effort than recalling something from memory, include an explanation of why it is important. Also, ask people to preview the application to ensure each question is very clear and that there is no room for misunderstanding.

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