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?

-Jennifer