ResearchGoddess

Once again, it’s March Madness time – and I’m hosting a Tournament Pool again for all you geeks out there who want to participate! Get ready – March 17th is approaching quickly!

Sadly, doesn’t look like my beloved Gators will last long this year, but at least they’re (most likely) invited to the Dance.

So, if you’d like to participate, you can sign up here – the group ID is 30220 and the password for the group is twitterrules. The buy-in is only $10 and winnings will be distributed to the top 3 brackets: 50% to the 1st place bracket, 30% to 2nd, and 20% to 3rd. Please notify me when you’ve registered your bracket to pay for your buy-in. I will be accepting PayPal payments for this.

Who’s your top pick this year? Will Pitt keep being a big spoiler, or will they be stopped by this year’s Cinderella team? Hope to see you in the Social Media Geeks tournament pool!

The Shorty Awards have been a hot topic on Twitter over the past few days. So, what are the Shorty Awards?

“The Shorty Awards honor the world’s top Twitterers. You can nominate as many people for as many categories as you’d like until midnight December 31st. ”

• To nominate someone for a Shorty Award, send a tweet similar to this: @shortyawards I nominate @researchgoddess in category #business / #pr / #recruiting because… (but write something of your own).
• The text of the tweet is completely up to you. As long as it contains @shortyawards @someone #category you can be as creative with the rest as you like.
• You actually have to write something. Just submitting the default tweet doesn’t count.
• The five people with the most nominations in each category will go on to the final voting round, held January 5th to 14th.
• There will be an awards ceremony in New York in late January, where the winners can deliver their 140-character acceptance speeches.

Rules:

• You can nominate people for any category you can imagine. We’ll eliminate categories that don’t have enough nominees and add categories that become competitive.
• You can’t nominate the same person more than once for the same category.
• You can nominate yourself, but beware, you might win the #egocentric category.
• Only one person and one category per tweet. If you want to nominate someone in multiple categories, you have to send multiple tweets.
• Corporate and personal Twitter accounts are eligible for any category.
• We’ll perform audits to make sure people are not gaming the system or hanging chads. Contact us if you see suspicious activity.
• Nominations close at midnight, December 31st.
• Your nominations won’t be counted if your twitter account is private. You nominations must appear publicly.
• If you change your twitter username, any nominations under your old username won’t carry over.

Props to the folks over at Sawhorse Media as they are the brains behind these awards.

Think about who some of your favorite tweeters are and start nominating them! Remember those with the MOST nominations will move to the next round of voting. And if you can’t think of anyone, I’ll accept your nomination

That’s right everyone – it’s time to start thinking about your brackets and who you’re going to be cheering for again. Sadly, it doesn’t look like my back-to-back National Championship Gators are even going to make it into the Tourney this year, so I might have to find another (SEC) team to call my fave But just like last year, I’ve decided to host a Tournament bracket pool. I’m opening this up to anyone and everyone who wants to play! Whether you’re a researcher, sourcer, recruiter, PR professional, social media buff, or you just stumbled onto my blog by accident, you’re invited. WE WANT YOU! This year, payouts will be in cash as opposed to prizes as I had last year. Reason for this – I just didn’t have time to solicit any prize contributions. However, if anyone wants to donate a cool prize, I’d surely accept it.

 Here’s the skinny on my pool:

•  Here’s the link to my group – Researchers and Sourcers (group ID#41259 ; password is sourcing08)
• $10 buy-in, just like last year – I will accept PayPal payment (preferred) or check
• You must provide your email address when you register so I can send you a PayPal request to accept your payment or you will not be allowed to participate
• Your payment MUST be received before 12:01am Tuesday, March 18th (Opening Round) or you will be deleted from the pool
• Your picks must be made before the Tournament starts or you will be locked out
• The overall pool winner will receive 50% of the pool cash; 2nd place, 30%, 3rd place, 20%… amounts will be determined by the number of folks participating

 Are you GAME or LAME??? If you’re game, go to my Tournament site and get registered! You can’t set up brackets until Selection Sunday has come and gone, but you can get yourself ready. If you’re lame, well…that’s something you’ll have to deal with on your own Hope to see many of you participate!

Just saw this video on Jim Stroud’s blog this morning. Don’t forget that the FIRST SOURCECON CHALLENGE will be going live this coming Monday, March 10th, at 12pm Eastern Time!

Today is the last day for you to cast your vote for your favorite recruiting/research/HR blogs – don’t miss your opportunity to make your vote count!

RecruitingBlogs.com 2007 Best Recruiting Blog Awards