Working the layout - time to party

[Anonymous]

Below is the invite I posted for my last layout party. This will be explained at your read further. This is my third year of hosting these parties so I am actually getting a sense of what I am doing now. I will be advertising in a number of forums, so apologises to those who bounce between many. You will see threads I have included at the bottom of the invite so you can peruse at your own pleasure as you make up your mind whether to join in. I can say, that everyone in all the parties have had a good time.

This one will be called: Workin the layout – time to party

Okay,
I know you're out there. Yeah you, and you, and you with the potato chip hanging off your lip and the half drunk coke sitting beside you...lol. I know you're not working on your layout as much as you hoped to. Well what I am proposing is a layout party for a 5 week period - a layout design self help group.

The purpose of the group is to encourage others to get out of their armchair and do some more work on the layout. And also to motivate you (and me) to do more work on our layout. I am hoping we can get a small group (but no one will be rejected) of people who will be committed to posting their work on the layout from the following week. This means for 5 weeks you are committed to posting once a week (or more – several did). We will of course congratulate those who work on their layout, and encourage those who haven't.

Rules:

1. Brief description of your layout to present, with what you want to accomplish in the next 5 weeks (don't make it grandiose is my recommendation).

2. Brief description of what you hope to accomplish in the next week.

3. A commitment to posting once a week describing what you have or have not done. It is important to report if you have "fallen off the wagon (not worked on the layout" so that we can see all are human here, and that we can encourage you). You can include pictures, problems you have encountered, get bragging rights around the cooler, etc. I’m looking for you to walk the walk, as well as talk the talk.

4. A commitment to not fudging your reply so that you look better than you are really doing. By joining this group, you are acknowledging already that you haven't worked on the layout as much as you know you should have. The idea here is for us to have some fun and act as an electronic round robin self help group. When I have others coming over to my home to help me build, I am more efficient because I have to plan and prepare, then work when they arrive. Well, this is the the internet round robin group, we may not be able to physically help you out, but we can support you and your efforts.

Many had a good time with this format. It was not uncommon to hear people say they had accomplished more work on their layout in the short time we ran the thread than they had in long time. Many posted pictures, asked questions, helped others, moaned about their problems, and encouraged others through theirs. I am including the threads to the last three layout parties if you want to check out what happened and what is expected out of you. I host this at www.trainboard.com in the “Layout Design” forum; I am the moderator there. I have found it is easier to keep track of one longer thread there than in some other forums. Also trainboard has free Image hosting (picture hosting) so you might want to take advantage of that forum. You have to join the trainboard to participate, but it is free.

Again, the title of the thread will be: Working the layout – time to party

If you have any problems joining trainboard or posting pics, let me know. And I will get some one to assist you. Just around Xmas some were having trouble getting a password, but that has been solved now.

From Arm Chair to Benchwork
http://www.trainboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi/ubb/get_topic/f/33/t/000234/p/1.html?


Lonely Hearts Club Band
http://www.trainboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=33;t=000106

High Balling the layout
http://www.trainboard.com/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/33/t/000178.html