Dewey’s Read-a-Thon

Hi cheerleaders!

Since this is the first time we’re attempting to ‘organise’ the cheerleading at all, there will probably be a few bumps. Feel free to e-mail me, Eva (astripedarmchairATgmailDOTcom), with any questions this post might bring up! Also, I’m looking for a head cheerleader or two who plan to do the whole read-a-thon and are willing to serve as resources for the cheerleaders during the actual read-a-thon. If you volunteer (and to do so, just e-mail me), you’ll have my undying love and gratitude!

Here’s the plan.

As a cheerleader, you can choose a commitment level, based on total hours you plan to spend cheerleading during the read-a-thon (they don’t have to be all at once-it can be five minutes here, five minutes there, etc.).
Level One: 1 Hour
Level Two: 4 Hours
Level Three: 8 Hours
Level Four: 12 Hours

Very soon, I’ll be e-mailing you asking what level you’d like to commit to. That way, if you’re worried about the stress of trying to do it all, you can commit to fewer hours and lose the guilt!

I’ll take all of that information and divide the cheerleaders into 4 teams with an equal distribution of the various commitment levels. You don’t have to worry about that, though; all you have to worry about is which team you’re in. The day before the read-a-thon, I’ll be e-mailing you that information. I’m taking suggestions for team names, by the way! (Colour? Genre? Authors? What theme should the 4 team names have? Update: Softdrink has come up with really awesome names-check out the comments section!)

I’ll also be dividing the readers into 4 parts, simply by dividing the total number on the Mr. Linky sign-up. Right now, it looks like there will be at least 280 readers, so that would mean 1-70, 71-140, 141-210, and 211-280. Each cheerleading group will be assigned one part of the readers for the first six hours of the read-a-thon. During that time, you only have to focus on that (much smaller) amount of readers. It’s up to if you try to visit them all, or just a few, or if you’re not cheerleading at all during that time! At the end of the first six hours, the groups will switch readers. This is one of those things that sounds a lot more complicated in theory than in practice, so I’m going to give you a demonstration.

As a cheerleader, I’ve been assigned to Team Austen (hehe). For the first six hours, I’m responsible for readers 141-210. Once that time’s up, I switch to readers 211-280. After six more hours, I cheerlead readers 1-70. And for the final six hours, I’ll be visiting readers 71-140.

Does that make sense? That way, I get a chance to cheerlead for all of the readers, but I don’t feel overwhelmed by huge numbers. Meanwhile, the readers should be getting more comments, since they’re each in a smaller group for cheerleaders to visit.

Now that you know that you don’t have to cheerlead the whole time in order to be a cheerleader, that you can choose your participation hours & not feel guilty about it, I hope more of you will sign up! Especially readers who are willing to take at least an hour break from reading to cheer on everyone else, or those who have other obligations during the read-a-thon day, but will be able to spend a few hours involved! I’ve already mentioned the upsides of cheerleading, but one last time: 1) the readers love you and often visit your blog to leave a comment back, 2) you’re eligible for the mini-challenges and most prize drawings, 3) you get to see what everyone’s up to!, and 4) you always feel better doing something for others than for yourself!

FAQ

• Do I have to visit every reader in my part during those six hours?
  Definitely not. If you do, that’s great! But if you’ve only got an hour to cheer, don’t worry about it!
• What are these teams? Do I need to be talking with other cheerleaders
  to plan who to visit? Nope. The teams are just the simplest way to divide y’all into 4.
• How will I know when to switch? Conveniantly, your four co-hosts also have divided the read-a-thon into six-hour shifts. So each time one of us takes over, we’ll remind the cheerleaders it’s time to switch groups!
• Imagine I’m a reader that can cheerlead for one hour, but I’m not even sure yet when that’ll be. How will I know which of the four groups of readers my team will be on when I sit down to cheerlead? When I send you the e-mail with your group the day before the read-a-thon, it will include a break-down of which readers you should be visiting when. As long as you don’t delete the e-mail, you can easily refer back to it!
• Do I need to choose specific hours during which to cheerlead? No! You just choose how much time you’ll be spending on cheerleading throughout the read-a-thon-there’s no need to sign up for a time slot.
• Eva, you are so convincing! I definitely want to become one of the read-a-thon elite and cheerlead. Where do I sign-up? I’m so glad you asked! Right here.

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