This is awesome… in addition to making a few videos of my own, I get to manage and judge a contest where you can win a FREE conference pass to the Adobe MAX 2009 conference (~$1300).  Plus the grand prize winner gets preferred seating at the keynotes.  In addition, 10 runners-up will be selected to receive just the preferred seating (they have to get their own pass to the conference).  The preferred seating is more valuable than it might seem–I know several Adobe employees who are going to try to win this contest for just those seats!

Anyway, here are the official rules (subject to change if I made a glowing error… though I had this stuff checked out by several people… and it’s official):

Contest:

Make a video that answers the question “is Adobe MAX for developers or designers?” or somehow relates to the upcoming Adobe MAX conference.

Winners/Prizes:

There will be 11 winners! 

There will be one grand prize winner.  They get one free full conference pass to Adobe MAX 2009 plus preferred seating at the keynotes.  If you’ve already registered for the conference, Adobe will refund the base price (that is, exactly what you paid for the conference–not any extras such as pre-conference sessions or hotel) .

There will be 10 runners-up.  They will receive preferred seating at the keynotes.  Runners-up must already be attending MAX to take advantage of the preferred seating–that is, you must have your own conference pass. (See http://max.adobe.com for conference details.) 

Winners will be announced on http://www.twitter.com/phillip as well as http://www.phillipkerman.com/blog.  If you’re following me on twitter I’ll attempt to also make send a direct message. The grand-prize winner will have 5 days to reply.  If no reply is received I will attempt to award the grand prize to one of the runners-up. 

Deadline:

To qualify for the grand prize (the conference pass) your video must be posted no later than September 15^th 2009 at midnight Pacific time (GMT -7:00).    The runners up (preferred keynote seating) will be awarded on the days that follow the 15^th until all are awarded–approximately one per day.  This means, you can still post videos after the 15^th and have a chance to win the preferred keynote seating (until all the runners-up prizes have been awarded).

Judging:

All videos are subjectively judged by Phillip Kerman from phillipkerman.com LLC using the criteria listed below.

Eligibility:

Void where prohibited by law.  Adobe employees may participate but can only win a runners-up prize (preferred keynote seating).  The main requirement is that you post a video (no longer than 200 seconds) on youtube.com and that you tag it with: #whymax.  Also, please post an update to twitter.com with a link and include the same tag “#whymax”.  Ideally, you also follow me on twitter (http://www.twitter.com/phillip) to make it easier for me to contact you if you win.

Judging Criteria:

30% Originality and sincerity.  Try to exploit your own personal voice.  You’re welcome to leverage familiar themes, but try to be original as possible.

30% Message quality.  Your video should make a point and as clearly and effectively as possible.

15% Clarity and conciseness. Respect your audience’s time and invest the work necessary to make your message concise. Also, strongly consider editing your video. Note, videos longer than 200 seconds will be disqualified unless they’re so captivating I can’t not watch them.

15% Technical: Audio and video quality and technical ability with tools.

10% Accuracy and timeliness. Try to make something contemporary to what’s hot now.

Humor is not required, but I’ll probably be more impressed if you use humor effectively.  In addition, entries may be disqualified out of hand if they contain blatantly offensive or objectionable content such as racism or pornography.  Also, all entries should relate to MAX, Adobe, and developers and designers who use Adobe products.  Sincere and honest criticisms of Adobe products are acceptable but not required.  Overly patronizing and blatant brown nosing is also not required.

Questions:

Feel free to contact me via http://www.twitter.com/phillip with questions or comment below.  Also, check out my videos at http://www.youtube.com/phillipk

Tags: adobe max, adobe max 2009, contest, free, max, max 2009, video contest, why video

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009 at 6:27 pm and is filed under contest, self-employment, why video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.