Rewarding the faithful - an idea

Hey, Dave! I'll be there from February 9th through the 17th. Too short a trip in my mind!

Henning,

Be careful. Being from Germany, typing 'March' and 'Beijing' in the same sentence may get you blocked by Chinese censors.

I will be in Beijing in March...

Hey Frank, when are you going? I'll be there some time soon after the Chinese New Year, although I'm not sure exactly when yet.

LOL Lunetta, does it show?! Sorry if I'm hogging the bandwidth recently. Normally I'd be blogging over at the Newbie Blog, but I really like it when... you know... people read and respond to what I write. :-)

And yes, I am harboring a GIANT ball of enthusiasm about my upcoming trip. There are big things afoot!

Frank, you wouldn't happen to be really, really, really excited about going to Shanghai soon? ;-)

You certainly are sharing the energy! Thanks! :-)

Just doing my job, ma'am. :-D

OMG, you guys just crack me up! Frank, thanks for this thread...great stress reliever : )

Well, I've been on practice plan for over a year now. Yes, I was one of the early guinea pigs. And, let me see, maybe we should have our caricatures put on the wall like they do at The Palm restaurant after you spend about $20,000 there.

Ah, thank you, Henning! I didn't catch that! EEK! I'm... uh... wow... what do you give the guy who has everything? I suppose at some point they simply have to let you guest host a lesson or something. lol

sebire - I'm all for equality, dear friend! The "Men of ChinesePod -- Swimsuit Edition" calendar happens to feature a double-page June/July spread of John Pasden. Because, in case you've never seen him, he's like 9 feet tall. His birthday lasts for three full days.

sebire, raises a good point. So what does the better half of the community suggest?

RJ, I got the following email from ChinesePod last April: "Thank you for subscribing to a one year Premium subscription at ChinesePod.com! Fancy a free mug? Send us your mailing address and we will send you a snazzy ChinesePod mug to thank you for your support! "

I traveled from Vancouver to Shanghai the following week and stopped in to the ChinesePod office but alas, no mug . Pumped out of some warehouse in the States instead. Think of all the paper cups from Starbucks and Tim Horton's I've gone through and disposed of in getting my daily coffee fix since then. ChinesePod, please send me my mug before I destroy the planet!

A possible gift idea:

The staff member with the most ChinesePod Oscars has his or her photo taken in the ChinesePod thong. This photo is given to the Most Active User for 2007.

:P

I was just thinking that some of these rewards were predominantly for the male audience!

lordstanley,

we get a mug????? News to me. Was the thong an alternate choice? Im sure there is a big demand for cpod thongs. What were they thinking?

Hey, what do the females get for the 36 month mark?? :)

frank,

goulniky wrote: 8 month of *practice* plan (additionaly to probably 14 months of premium). That is roughly the equivalent to 8 years premium.

I've already had dinner with Jenny, she bought me a pizza. ;)

A free thong would be perfect for launching the ball bearings in my home-made slingshot. I'll credit C-Pod (free of charge) for all the great headshots, too. TIMMEH! ARGARGGAH!!

How many months before dinner with Jenny.

Many years of subscribing I'd expect at which point a quick revision of..

Elementary - Your turn to pay!

Just kidding, gentleman should gladly pay for such a priceless experience, right Bazza?

goulniky, I'm afraid that at 8 months you only qualify for the Limited Edition "Promise of a Better Prize in 4 Months" prize. :-)

lordstanley, you know what you really want is the thong! :)

Or alternatively, ChinesePod could scare and threaten the disloyal: "if you don't renew your subscription, you will leave us no choice but to send you an unsolicited copy of a full-sized autographed color calendar of 'Lordstanley -- The Swimsuit Edition'.

Incidentally, with respect to Cafepress, I'm still waiting for my ChinesePod coffee mug for my Premium subscription, 10 months later.

Well, my point wasn't to actually create the rewards themselves. LOL I just wanted to suggest the idea so that the folks in charge could maybe implement the program if there was enough user support. I do think that free Practice Plan sessions and such are good incentives to pony up the cash and stick around.

But, NO, I would not advocate any of the gifts coming from CafePress. They're not terrible, but they wouldn't classify as a "Reward" in my mind.

Lets ask. Has anybody bought one? Im almost afraid of the answer.

About 27 months for me I think. ;)

I'd be interested to know how many thongs they have sold.

I think you guys are dreaming but you can buy a nice coffee cup (or thong) here:

http://www.cafepress.com/buy/chinesepod/-/pv_design_details/pg_1/id_18268894/opt_/fpt_/c_666/

Only 53 months to go... ;-)

ok, so what would you get after 8 months of Practice Plan?

Well, as someone who's had the pleasure of her company at dinner, I'd have to put that reward at someone near the 60 month mark, so great was the experience.

Dinner with Jenny should be in there somewhere.

Well, it IS the Swimsuit Edition. :-)

I have to wait 2 years for a calendar?