What Is Happening Today On Gather - Thursday March 11, 2010

There was a lot to find in the community today. I hope you enjoy all the information I have found for you.  Enjoy and have a great Thursday!

 

 

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Cocktail Time: Thursday March 11th. Join in on the fun ALL DAY and win Raffle Prizes!

 

On Thursday March 11th,  there will be an all day cocktail time to celebrate the arrival of St. Patricks Day.  Please sign up to join the group *Cocktail Time*if you have not done so.

 

Check out the post for all the details.

The raffle prize photos will be posted tomorrow.  You could win a celtic natural linen kitchen towel, or a $5.00 TJmaxx/Marshalls gift card.

 

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Grow the Perfect Salad Herbs in a Wooden Planter-Win A Free Cookbook!

I know I say this every time there is a contest by DK but I just love their posts.  They are always filled with useable information.  This one is no different. It has tons of information about herbs.

Share your information and you could win a copy of DK’s The Cook’s Herb Garden. Comments must be posted in the field by Tuesday, March 16^th for a chance to win. Gather will draw one winner to receive a copy of the book!

 

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"Waking Up in the Land of Glitter" Book Giveaway

 

 Gather is giving away a fiction book about crafting and friendship :

Waking Up in the Land of Glitter

For your chance to win, all you have to do is answer one quick question. Gather will draw 10 respondents who comment to receive this book. Comments must be posted by Tuesday, March 16^th.

 

 

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 OREO Cakesters Controversy – Dunk or Don’t Dunk in Milk? Choose Your Side. Get FREE Samples!

 

Join us in a Gather experiment to find out whether or not the OREO of snack cakes is as satisfying with a glass of milk as the original cookies.

All you have to do is answer the question in the survey. Gather will draw ten respondents who vote on each side to receive a sample of OREO Cakesters to test their theory. Comments must be posted by Monday, March 15^th for the chance to receive a sample. Those chosen must then return to Gather to share posts to let us know whether or not their viewpoint has changed.

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Join The Live Chat With Author Sherrie Hansen - Win An Autographed Book

You are invited to a live chat with author Sherrie Hansen on Thursday March 11 @ 9 PM ET. Sherrie has been an active Member of the Gather community since: Jan 22, 2007.

Sherri Will be giving away an autographed book, winners  choice - either Night and Day or Stormy Weather to one person who attends the chat.

If you will not be able to make the chat, you can leave a question for Sherrie in the above post.

 

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Genre Shorties Prompt Week 26

 

This week's genre is  Poetry. Don't worry, you don't have to write it. You just have to read it.  Your story may be serious or light hearted or as silly as you like just so long as it is 100 words or less and written for the prompt in the post.

 

 

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Get to Know My Family Survey. Win a Family Fun Prize Pack!

This is a fun survey about you and your family. By following all of the directions, you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a Family Fun Prize Pack that includes an OREO Cakesters sample, a $20 movie gift card, books, and a board game! Surveys must be posted by Sunday, March 28^th. Gather will draw 19 participants to win an OREO Cakesters sample and one to win the Family Fun Prize Pack!

 

 

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New contest for Easter

Renee (Pres of Baby James Foundation) ~. is having  contest  for the Gather's SAHM's group. You must be a member of the group to enter.

You have $20.00 and you want to give your child the best Easter Bunny surprise. Object is to either enter Photo Essay or Video, sorry no single pictures or essays with no pictures allowed. Telling us how you are going to pull this off this includes the Easter Egg hunt and all the treats.  We are looking for unusual! More unusual the better.  Entries must be in by March 25th.

One winner will receive goodies to help with Easter.

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What are your best tips for a ski vacation? Tell us and you could win Gather Pointsâ„¢!

Each week, we’ll have a new travel discussion where we want to hear your best stories, tips and secrets.  You could be one of 10 members to receive 20 Gather Points™ just for answering one quick question.

 

You must  comment no later than Thursday, March 18th. Gather will then take the top 10 suggestions and create a guide that will live in the Travel Essential.

 

 

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Win a $500 VeggieTales Prize Pack. Comment for a Chance to Win!

 Gather is giving away a VeggieTales prize pack, which includes: VeggieTales 10-DVD Collectors Edition tin with mini-plush characters, 26 CD collection, 8 books and Bob & Larry plush toys. This is more than $500 retail value! For your chance to win all you have to do is answer one quick question by Wednesday, March 17th. Gather will draw one person to win!

 

 

 

 

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Genre Creative Challenge ~ Photo Challenge for March 2010

"Standing out from the crowd" will be your photo challenge for the month of March.

1. As always, no more than three photos can be entered in the Month.

2. And make sure you have GCC in the title (or NGCC if you have no interest in being a judge for April 2010). Posts without those letters in the title are not eligible.

3. Deadline is March 31, 2010

 

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Share Photos to Enter the Who’s Iggy? Illustration Contest To Win a GoodNites® Bedtime Kit!

Gather and GoodNites^® have adjusted the Who’s Iggy? Illustration contestto make it easier for members to enter their kids’ amazing artwork! All you have to do is submit a photo of your kid with his or her creation for a chance to win! The contest timeline and prizing still applies.

Gather will randomly draw three members to receive GoodNites^® Bedtime Kits and 250 Gather Points™ each.

All entries must be submitted no later than Monday, March 22^nd to be eligible.

 

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Join the Home & Garden Channel for Your Chance to Win Gather Pointsâ„¢!

 

Join the Home & Garden Channel  Group

Comment on the  above post AFTER  you join it – simply say “I’m a member!”

• Gather will give the first 1,000 members to join 20 Gather Pointsâ„¢ each just for joining
• You must be a member by March 29^th to be eligible.

 

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 Win a DVD of "The Fourth Kind"

 

 

 

This DVD sounds really good!  For your chance to win this DVD, all you have to do is answer one quick question.  Comments must be posted by Sunday, March 14^th. Gather will draw five respondents to win copy The Fourth Kind on DVD and a frisbee.

 

 

 

 

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The Gather community is filled with talented people.  I have had the privilege of hosting live chats with a few of these folks.  These chats have been so much fun.  The Authors that participated so far has offered tips on how to get your writing published as well as information on what has inspired them to be better authors and journalist. 

 

If you missed these live chats, you can still read the transcripts:

 Transcript Of Live Chat With Author Kimberly Ripley

Transcript Of Live Chat With Journalist & Author Kathryn Esplin-Oleski 

Transcript of Live Chat With Peter Joseph Swanson

Transcript Of Live Chat With Author DIANNA DOLES PETRY

Transcript Of Live Chat With Author Trish Ayers

 

There will be many more live chats throughout the year 2010.  You are invited to attend each of them.  Each chat begins at 9 PM ET and lasts for one hour.  The schedule is constantly being updated but it looks like this to date:

March 11th chat with Sherri H

March 18th chat with Tracy Fabre

March 19th chat with Erin O'Riordan

March 25th chat with Angela A

April 1st chat with  Patricia Gilliam

April 15th chat with Janet Lee

April 16th chat with Sarah Honenberger

April 22nd chat with gibbs williams

April 23nd chat with Marge H.

April  29th chat with  Kimber L.

April 30th chat with Brenda Youngerman

May 7th chat with Deb S.

May 13th chat with Peter Joseph Swanson

May 14th chat with Shirley Ann Howard

 

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New Year’s Resolution Journals: Winners of $25 AMEX Gift Card & Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs Samples

Winners of Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs Samples are:

• Christina L.
• Shannon W
• Debra M.
• Teresa W.
• d d.
• Marsha S.
• Rose H.
• Susan Budig
• *~*Meg*~* D.
• Connie C.
• Infinity M.
• Mary G.
• Ghostly Ghoul
• Lori A
• Love from Darlene!
• Mary Ann S.
• April H.
• Christina Bell

Of the above, three were also chosen to receive a $25 AMEX Gift Card and a journal for logging their resolutions. Those winners are:

• d d.
• Debra M.
• Shannon W

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Have a Question, Suggestion or Idea to Share? Need Help Getting Around the Site? Seeking Clarification on Gather's Community Guidelines or Publishing Guidelines?  Gather posts a new post each weekday to address your questions and comments.  It is posted in The Gather Help Desk  Group.

If you have an urgent question or need to discuss your concerns privately with Gather's support staff, you can reach them by submitting your question via the web form.  Gather's support staff always strive to respond to member inquiries as quickly as we can.

 

 

You want To Make More Points On Gather

One of the questions members frequently ask the Support team is for tips on how to get more views to their content so they can earn more points. An easy way to do this is by checking to see what is being searched for on the major search engines and to pick a topic that interests you from the list of top searched trends to write about.

The Google trends list is updated very regularly throughout the day.  MaryAnne be publishing this list daily to the Earn More Pointsand SEOgroups. Feel free to check out these posts for ideas. If you write about one of the items on the hot trends list, and use the keywords that are being searched on, your content will be one of the items returned in the search engines and you’ll draw more viewers to your content.

 

 

 

 

Tom Gerace, CEO and Founder of Gather has submitted some great posts to help you with your Gather experience:

 

 

Amplifying Your Voice (or, If a tree falls in the forest, and only 1.3 million people hear it…)

Step 1: Find Something that You Love to Do

Step 2: Evaluate the Appeal of Your Topic

Step 3: Consider the Competition (and Learn from Them)

Step 4: Creating a Consistent Experience

Step 5: Using Gather Groups: Create, Curate or Both?

Step 6: Check the box, expand your reach