Happy New Year! It’s that time of the (new) year again where I offer up congrats and celebration for a few exciting NASPP happenings.
Question of the Week Winner!
And the winner is of our 2015 Question of the Week contest is (drum roll!): mamaandmore (who, by the way, placed 2nd in our 2014 contest). For those of you who are asking “What’s the Question of the Week Contest?“, it’s a weekly quiz challenge designed for stock plan professionals to test their know-how in a variety of areas, while competing against their peers. Hone your equity compensation knowledge while having fun at the same time! There’s a new question each week, and a correct answer earns points.
And the Winners Are…
A big congrats to screen name alias mamaandmore for coming out on top of our 2015 contest. The screen names of the top 5 scorers (in order from 1st to 5th place) are:
mamaandmore
Doctor Jack and DMekwunye (tied)
Heartbeat
Lucky13
MrsForty40
What’s in a Name?
Your play is tracked by your screen name – so you can be as anonymous or transparent in your game playing as you like. It’s become an annual tradition for me to highlight some of the fun, intriguing and perplexing screen names each year. In 2015, once again it seems nothing was off limits, from the range of “equity” and “stock” possibilities (CEP 1001, Sleepless in Stock Plan Admin. Land, EquityExtraordinaire, Equity Gamer, StockyMcStockMiester) to the mythical (unicorn6872) to the humble (Imnoexpert, InCaseIFlunk, Guessing, Humble Pie) to those who tell it like it is (Don’tKnowNuthin, The expert, The_Wrong_Way, whateverdude). Of course our sports fans were abundant as well (Golf, Hockeyfan, ORLonghorns, NY_YANKEE), in addition to a few that would probably require a happy hour and some time to explain (Bad Mamajama, Juice Club, Bubba, Sparky, Sparty Po, adminwannabe, Peter Pan).
Work Hard, Play Hard
We’ve just reset scores and this week’s challenge starts a whole new contest, so this is the perfect time for NASPP members to sign up, create your screen alias and jump into the Question of the Week Contest. We leave all of January’s questions active for the entire month, so you have plenty of time to complete the first quizzes of the new game.
Equity Expert Podcast
One milestone we’re recognizing is the 2nd anniversary of our NASPP podcast series: Equity Expert. That’s right, you can download short episodes right to your computer, smartphone or other device and listen to them at your leisure. This series focuses on short interviews with some of the industry’s best and brightest on a variety of equity compensation topics. Shorter than webcasts, they are designed to give you the quick run down on details you need to know. Our most recent episodes include Hot Topic! EU Data Privacy in 2016 with Barbara Klementz, Global Hot Topics with Marlene Zobayan, and 5 Things I Learned About Global Compliance and Communication. Be sure to subscribe in order to get updates on new episodes.
Social Status
Last year when I wrote this early January blog, we were celebrating our 900th LinkedIn follower. At the time of this blog, we’ve passed the 1,300 follower mark! We’ve got lots of great content posted to our social media pages, so be sure to like/follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter!
Happy New Year! We’re barely a week into the new year, so I figure I can still get away with squeezing some celebration into today’s blog. It turns out that we at the NASPP have a fair amount of congratulating to do!
Lucky on LinkedIn
Congrats to Jessica Laddon, CEP, for being the 600th person to follow the NASPP on LinkedIn. The NASPP is very social – follow us this year on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
Question of the Week WINNER!
Many of our celebratory thoughts go to the winner and runners up of our Question of the Week contest. For those of you who are asking “What’s the Question of the Week Contest?“, it’s a weekly quiz challenge designed for stock plan professionals to test their know-how in a variety of areas, while competing against their peers. There’s a new question each week, and a correct answer earns points.
And the Winners Are…
A big congrats to screen name alias mamandmore for coming out on top of our 2013 contest, with a score of 515. The screen names of the top 5 scorers are:
In reviewing the scores from last year’s challenge, I couldn’t help but observe the originality of some of the screen names users are deploying in our contest. It seems nothing was off limits, from the range of “equity” and “stock” possibilities (Dividend Dame, Shera Queen of Equity, StockNerd, 2013 Scrambled Regs) to the patriotic (Starspangled) to impersonators (Paul Bunyan, Peter Pan, Scooby and Jane Austen, to name a few). Of course our sports fans were abundant as well (RedsFan, Patriots Fan), in addition to a few that would probably require a happy hour and some time to explain (Duke City Dude, No name game player, The Colorful Finch).
Work Hard, Play Hard
We’ve just reset scores and this week’s challenge starts a whole new contest, so this is the perfect time for NASPP members to sign up, create your screen alias and jump into the Question of the Week Contest. We leave all of January’s questions active for the entire month, so you have plenty of time to complete the first quizzes of the new game.
Equity Expert Podcast
We’d love for you to join us in celebrating our very first NASPP podcast series: Equity Expert. That’s right, you can download short episodes right to your computer, smartphone or other device and listen to them at your leisure. This series focuses on short interviews with some of the industry’s best and brightest. The first few episodes will offer general advice for establishing yourself as an expert in this industry. Later episodes will capture short bits of “how to” advice on very specific topics. Our inaugural episode features the NASPP’s Executive Director, Barbara Baksa. Next week’s episode will be an interview with John Hammond of Plan Management Corporation. It’s free: subscribe now!
It’s happened to me twice recently: someone approaches me, bright eyed, with a great idea: “The NASPP should really put together some chapters or guides for international countries.” Did I say it’s a great idea? It is, the only catch being that the idea has already been implemented – in the form of (a whopping) 33 country-specific chapters that are collectively entrenched as one of the crown jewels of our Global Stock Plans portal. It occurred to me that some of our members may not even fully realize the multitude of resources available to them, all included with their NASPP membership. In today’s blog, I’ll revisit some the gems available to NASPP members (test your knowledge – are you in the know about all of them?)
7 Lucky Resources (ok, I made up the “lucky” part, but they are still fabulous!)
1. International Discussion Forum: Did you know that the topic of global stock plans has its own discussion forum? On top of that, questions posted to the forum are answered by experts in the field – members of our Global Task Force (a list of those members exists in the Global Portal).
2. Country Chapters: We currently have 33 country-specific guides in our Global Stock Plans portal, and more under development. The guides cover the basic legal, tax and exchange control landscape in the covered jurisdiction. This is a great place to start when venturing into a new country or offering new equity types in an existing one.
3. 42 Portals: In the world of NASPP, a portal is a portion of the site dedicated to a particular equity compensation area of focus. This means we have portals on 42 different administration and regulatory topics (and more under development). A portal contains anything from applicable regulatory and tax information, to articles, sample documents, tools, and other resources. The full list of portals can be accessed from the NASPP home page, the drop down menu on the NASPP home page, or here.
4. Global Alerts: Members of our Global Task Force (all of whom are experts in Global Stock Plans) sponsor the NASPP Global Portal by supplying country-specific alerts, global updates and articles. This means that when something significant happens in a particular country that impacts stock compensation, we’re likely to receive an alert. The alerts are posted to our Global Portal and alert subscribers receive an email notifying them of the update. You can subscribe to alerts by individual country, allowing you to receive alerts only for your areas of focus. We currently offer alerts for 68 countries. You can visit the Alert Archive at any time to see past alerts.
5. Monthly Webcasts: If you aren’t taking advantage of the free monthly webcasts, don’t delay. The subjects cover timely administration, regulatory and best practice topics (next month’s is: “Understanding Payroll Administration Related to Equity Compensation”. The speakers represent the best and brightest of the industry. Can’t make a particular webcast? Want to recall something from a past webcast? You can access the archive and dig up the details. This is a huge resource. Did Legal just approach you and ask you about grant practices? Go access the relevant webcast archive on the topic (March 2012) and you’ll have the expert opinions right at your fingertips!
6. Enhancers: There are several features of our web site that I refer to as “enhancers”. They are designed to enhance your knowledge or awareness of stock compensation practices and requirements. They include our weekly Question of the Week quizzes (all of January’s quizzes are active until the end of the month, so if you haven’t started the contest, jump in today!), our Compliance-O-Meter (this month’s topic is Employee Communication Practices), and our Practice and Regulatory Alerts(found in the dead center of our home page).
7. Career Center: I blogged about this feature last week, so I’ll keep it short (you can visit that blog for additional detail). The Career Center is a forum where employers can post equity compensation jobs, and job seekers can post their resume details. If you’re an employer with an opening, or an individual looking for a job in the industry, visiting the Career Center is a must.
These are just a few of the great resources available to you, all the time, as an NASPP member. Be sure you are maximizing your membership – we’re here to help you navigate equity compensation’s many facets! Not a member? Join or renew today.
The end of 2012 marked many things (remember the fiscal cliff?), and among them was the conclusion of the year’s NASPP Question of the Week Contest. For those of you who are asking “What’s the Question of the Week Contest?”, it’s a weekly quiz challenge designed for stock plan professionals to test their know-how in a variety of areas, while competing against their peers. There’s a new question each week, and a correct answer earns points.
And the Winners Are…
A big congrats to screen name alias edodge for coming out on top of our 2012 contest, with a score of 410. The screen names of the top 5 scorers are:
edodge (410 points)
mamaandmore (400 points)
Flower power121 (395 points)
DMekwunye (370 points)
CEP 1001 (365 points)
What’s in a Name?
In reviewing the scores from last year’s challenge, I couldn’t help but observe the originality of some of the screen names users are deploying in our contest. It seems nothing was off limits, from the range of “equity” and “stock” possibilities (Equidude, StockPrincess, Stockmonster, Stock Diva and so on) to a few that would probably require a happy hour and some time to explain. Some of my favorite screen names are:
Cabanaboy
honey badger don’t care
InCaseIFlunk
Stockless in Seattle
Guido
RU Crazy
Emily’s Tutu
I’m not suggesting that I understand what any of these screen names mean, but they did bring a smile or a laugh.
Play, Outwit, Outlast!
Are you missing out on the fun? Can out outwit your fellow stock plan professionals in a contest? We’ve just reset scores and this week’s challenge starts a whole new contest, so this is the perfect time for NASPP members to sign up, create your screen alias and jump into the Question of the Week Contest. We leave all of January’s questions active for the entire month, so you have plenty of time to complete the first quizzes of the new game. Answers to the quizzes are found within any of the content on our web site, so if you don’t know one right off the bat, you can search our site. It’s a great way to test and hone your knowledge, week after week!
Stump Your Peers
If you really want to take the game to a new level, our Stump Your Peers feature allows you to submit your own question and answer for one of the weekly quizzes. You’ll get the credit, and, you can still take the quiz that week, giving you the advantage (since you’ll know the answer).
Membership
The weekly quizzes are only available to NASPP members, so renew or join today!
I’ve always felt that stock compensation was a unique field to work within, one like no other. The sheer volume of regulations, requirements, and facets keeps us in the trenches of learning. It seems like there’s always something new to grasp, understand and implement. That’s why I love the Question of the Week quiz challenge that we post each week to the NASPP web site. Not only do we post a new industry related question each week, but to keep things fun we’ve made this a contest, where you can see how you rank against your peers who are also participating.
Stump Your Peers
This year we’ve implemented a new component to our Question of the Week challenge: Stump Your Peers. Quiz participants can now create their own question to be used for one of our weekly contests. If we use your question, you’ll get the acknowledgement, and, you can still play the game that week. This will put you at an advantage since you’ll know the answer to that week’s question. If your scores are behind this year, now would be the perfect time to play catch up by submitting (and answering) your own question. We’ve recently published two great Stump Your Peers questions, submitted by Mike Albert of Fidelity and Elizabeth Dodge of Stock & Option Solutions. Take a few minutes today to submit your own Stump Your Peers question.
I offer a couple of strategies to coming up with a fantastic question. First, start with the answer to the question. Yes, that seems backwards, but it’s actually much easier to build a question around a fact or “answer” than it is to start with the reverse (coming up with a question and then figuring out the sources on the NASPP site that will provide the answer). Also, this contest is for fun and there are no formal rules for how the questions or answers must be worded (even trick questions are welcome). So have fun with it, knowing you don’t need to stress about the detailed formatting.
Final Top Tips
The purpose behind the Question of the Week is to get your mind thinking. Some questions are easy, others harder to answer. In closing I list a few tips to help you play the game so that you can find that correct answer every time!
1. The answer is on the NASPP web site. Every question is answered using a source from the NASPP web site, so rest assured that if you don’t know the answer off the top of your head, it’s somewhere on the site.
2. Check the NASPP portal that most closely matches the topic. If the weekly question is on ESPP, the answer to that question is more likely than not to be sourced from a document that’s in the ESPP portal. Ask yourself what “topic” this quiz relates to and then head to the portals to see if your answer is there.
3. Don’t forget the webcasts and educational materials. Not seeing what you’re looking for in a portal? Our webcast transcripts and materials are also great possible sources for question answers.
If you’re not participating in the Question of the Week challenge, now is a great time to start. Whether you’re new to the game or a long time player, why not step up your game today by submitting a Stump Your Peers question?