25 Random Things

I now get multiple tags a day from people who want to hear 25 random things that people might not know about.  It has been going around blogs and Facebook.  The idea is that you make a list of twenty-five things, copy the person you tagged you, and twenty-five others who might be interested in reading yours and creating their own lists.  On and on it goes.  It has been interesting to read about my friend’s belly dancing classes, desire to travel, and strange food preferences.

I thought Remarkable Tributes would join in the fun and create a list of 25 things you might not know about Remarkable Tributes.  Consider yourself “tagged” and put links to your own lists in a comment here.  These are in no particular order.  Enjoy!

1.  Remarkable Tributes was once called “Creative Outlet Labs.”  We all agree Remarkable Tributes is better.

2.  Remarkable Tributes owns over 100 Fill-in-The-Blank Links ™ that you can use to create to publish your tributes online.  These include funny ones like so-and-so.LiesAboutHerAge.com or serious ones like such-and-such.WhomILove.com

3.  Remarkable Tributes was in private beta testing for three months in late 2008 preparing for the larger launch.

4.  If a group of 16 people (like a dance team, drama club, or church youth group) were to use Remarkable Tributes to create a gift for their coach or leader and each submitted a page, the cost for each participant would be less than $2.50, which includes the cost of standard shipping.  For less than the cost of a slice of pizza, you could create a personalized gift that they’d treasure for years. 

5.  My son, who is six, has been a beta tester and had made a very cool Star Wars book.  Ironically, our user policy prevents us from publishing it, since the good folks at LucasFilm own those characters.  He has a cool superheroes book instead.

6.  You can use Remarkable Tributes to host a virtual birthday party with far-flung friends and family.  Everyone submit their own pictures and greetings and viola!  – the perfect gift.

7.  The first Remarkable Tributes book I created to test the concept was a baby blessing book for my daughtter.  The concept here is that extended family would submit their blessings, greetings, and prayers for the new baby.  This is a fantastic things for grandparents to do!

8.  The idea for Remarkable Tributes was inspired by my grandma, whom we called “Mano.”  I’ll write more on that in future blog posts.

9.  The first tribute book (in alpha stage of development) that was sold was for a farewell.  The recipient was a friend, minister, and neighbor who was moving out of the country.  What a great application for Remarkable Tributes!

10.  The largest tribute book we can publish is 200 pages.  This is 100 contributors you invite submitting two pages each.  Plenty big for most occasions.

11.  The smallest tribute book we want to publish is 20 pages.  If your’s doesn’t reach that page length, we’ll fill it in with lined “Notes and Stories” pages on which you can get additional greetings or that you can use as a guest book at an event.  A tribute book makes an excellent wedding guest book!

12.  The time it takes to organize and publish a tribute varies widely.  A month to six weeks seems about typical, giving people a chance to respond.  That said, I will offer a special gift to the person who kicks off and publishes a collaborative tribute (with more than 5 contributors) in less than 24 hours.  It certainly could be done in less time than that,  if everyone is ready to respond!  Email Welisten [at] RemarkableTributes.com if your project qualifies.  You’ll not only get a fabulous prize, but be featured on this blog under the heading “Speed Tribute!”

13.  Remarkable Tributes has been nominated in the Start-up National Leading Moms Competition.  You can vote for us here!  Only one vote is allowed by person per day.

14.  You can use Remarkable Tributes to create a cookbook for your club or group.  One of our alpha testers created a cookbook to honor a friend’s 29th birthday.  Everyone submitted their favorite recipes and now she has a hard-bound cookbook with birthday greetings, photos, and recipes to enjoy for decades!  This would make a fantastic wedding shower gift, as well (plus a way to involve college friends, extended family, and colleagues from across the country who can’t be at the event).

15.  Tribute organizers have full editorial rights to the pages of a tribute.  If something is misspelled or inappropriate, they can fix it before publishing.  They can edit as much or as little as they want.

16.  We love getting your fan mail at PO Box 3575, Hillsboro OR  97124 or via email at WeListen [at] RemarkableTributes.com.

17.  We invite you to video tape people receiving tribute books.  Capture the surprise and delight on their face.  Post it (with permission, of course) to YouTube or another video sharing site and send us the link.  We’d love to see it!  Maybe one day we’ll have our own reality TV show with a big, tear-full reveal at the end of each episode.

18.  Remarkable Tributes is located outside of Portland, Oregon on the west coast of the USA.  Portland is on the border of Oregon and Washington State at the junction of two rivers: the Columbia and the Willamette. 

19.  Remarkable Tributes is a great gift for someone who has everything.  What is most precious is the memories that they share with friends and family!

20.  Remarkable Tributes was designed to be error-proof.  Contributors to the project can’t “mess up” the color schemes, font selections, or page layouts.  The resulting tribute is professional-looking, unified, and ready for gift-giving.  Plus, it makes is super easy for contributors as they don’t have many creative decisions to make. 

21.  I have been a scrapbooker (with paper, glue, processed photos, and embellishments) for over 15 years, a digital scrapbooker and user of desktop publishing tools for over 10 years, and know what goes into creating a work of art in the form of a scrapbook.  Remarkable Tributes doesn’t replace that.  It simply solves the problem of how to create a collaborative tribute as efficiently as possible.

22.  People ask me, “could I use Remarkable Tributes” to create a photo book of my summer vacation?”  The short answer, is “yes.”  You could upload all your own photos and stories and publish a book without any outside contributions.  But if you did this, you’d miss the power of Remarkable Tributes.  Now, if you wanted to create a photo book to commemorate a destination wedding, where each guest left their best pictures and greetings for the bride and groom…then Remarkable Tributes is perfect!  If you were a teacher who wanted each student in the class to submit information about their respective summer vacations, then we’re onto something!

23.  The story behind the name Remarkable Tributes is that it is the combination of “Remark” and “able.”  It essentially enables people to remark and leave their mark in a tribute.  We thought it was clever and we liked how it looked in the logo.

24.  While we were developing Remarkable Tributes, we thought it would be fun to create a little mini-tribute application.  Something people could use for free to make people smile and raise interest for Remarkable Tributes.  You can use this today for free at www.isAbsolutelyRemarkable.com.

25.  What’s next?  We have lots of new features and options planned for the coming year.  Join the mailing list to keep up with all the latest news.  Of course, you can also subscribe to this blog and follow us on Twitter.

Like I said, we’d love to hear your 25 random things.  Leave a link in comments below.