Anyone got a good check list for putting on a store championship? I'm organizing our store's first one and want to do all I can to make it a success. Thanks for any input.
Store Champ TO checklist?
When running any event the main goal is to have fun. Yes the higher the level of play the more competitive but my last regional's the best game I played was the most intense match of the day and my opponent and I laughed all the way through it. But even though it is meant to be fun tournaments need to be run smoothly and cleanly to make sure no one has a sour experience. So here is my brain dump of stuff to think about leading up to a tournament. If you have run a tournament before a number of these things should have already happened / be in place but you might need to put it up a notch.
Things to think about for running your first store championship:
1. Before Start of day
Things to note in this part of the day:
· Have the tables set up with table numbers preferably. You should have a good idea on how many are going to attend so setting up tables the night before just gets that job out of the way
· Set up a screen to display pairing’s per round and a timer for the amount of time left in the round
2. Start of day
The start of the day can be very busy. You have people arriving and moving to some free space to start setting up their lists as well as people coming to the desk to announce their arrival and sign in to whatever you are using to keep track of matchups and who is versing who in each round. This can get very overwhelming and can set your day behind schedule before you even start.
Things to note in this part of the day:
· Make sure your tournament software or whatever you are using is up to date. All the tournaments I attend here in Australia use tabletop.to to run their tournaments. So you might want to look into that before hand. Table top is great because you can get people to submit lists and sign in to the tournament before / on the day without having to talk to you. They can also submit their scores after each round which makes things super easy as well.
· Print out the latest FAQ and ask your judges to make sure they are aware of any recent changes. I can’t count the number of disagreements that have been resolved because the latest FAQ was available.
· Make sure you let everyone know who is doing what in your team, Who are the judges, who is the head judge, where to hand in results etc. A print out of the days schedule is also good so you don’t get 50 questions in 10 mins for when lunch is.
· If you are receiving list submissions via paper, try have someone whose sole job at this time is to check them. Easier to catch a mistake before ships hit the table. But most likely someone will be going through the lists during the first round.
3. During play
During each round you want to make sure your judges are around to answer questions. Having someone ready to put in results as play is going means that there can be minimum down time between rounds so that people get to roll more dice (because that is what we are all here for).
Things to note in this part of the day:
· Judges are around and quick to respond to questions
· A clock that shows how much time is in the round (or a digital analog clock and very clearly state when the round is ending so people can keep track themselves) simply yelling across the room when there is 30 mins, 15 mins etc is also not to bad
· A person manning the results table. Handy because when people finish early they can enter results and you can give back the paper straight away thus reducing the downtime between rounds. Also if people have questions and they can’t see a judge or it’s not a question for a judge they will know where to look for someone.
4. End of day
After all the swiss games are played in you have a top cut hand out the prizes who weren’t able to make the top 8 or so (whatever your cut is) thank everyone for coming and let them know of upcoming events. Once this is done you can move onto the top cut and people can watch / leave as they wish. Do the top cut and clean up and go home, Well Done
*Note: This is just a brain dump I did when I saw your post so I have almost definitely missed stuff. Also some of this stuff is super obvious but sometimes that's whats missed. Have fun and Good Luck
Just to emphasise on the Software point, make sure you're familiar with whichever one you use (Tome, Cryodex, Tabletop.to). I'd recommend running through a few practice events to see what you can and can't do, especially if you need to manage drops or byes, or fix any mistakes. Practice having to rebuild the event or switch to a backup system, in case of the worst. Saving the actual draw for each round (printed or screenshot) would be advisable, in case your system crashes half way through the day.
Also have a plan for what you'll do if there are any list mistakes. IMO, It's not your responsibility as TO to ensure they each list is correct, it's up to the player to ensure their submitted list is accurate to what they're flying on the day. What the penalty will be is up to you though, since there are no official floor rules.
1 hour ago, AcexShadow said:When running any event the main goal is to have fun. Yes the higher the level of play the more competitive but my last regional's the best game I played was the most intense match of the day and my opponent and I laughed all the way through it. But even though it is meant to be fun tournaments need to be run smoothly and cleanly to make sure no one has a sour experience. So here is my brain dump of stuff to think about leading up to a tournament. If you have run a tournament before a number of these things should have already happened / be in place but you might need to put it up a notch.
Things to think about for running your first store championship:
1. Before Start of day
Things to note in this part of the day:
· Have the tables set up with table numbers preferably. You should have a good idea on how many are going to attend so setting up tables the night before just gets that job out of the way
· Set up a screen to display pairing’s per round and a timer for the amount of time left in the round
2. Start of day
The start of the day can be very busy. You have people arriving and moving to some free space to start setting up their lists as well as people coming to the desk to announce their arrival and sign in to whatever you are using to keep track of matchups and who is versing who in each round. This can get very overwhelming and can set your day behind schedule before you even start.
Things to note in this part of the day:
· Make sure your tournament software or whatever you are using is up to date. All the tournaments I attend here in Australia use tabletop.to to run their tournaments. So you might want to look into that before hand. Table top is great because you can get people to submit lists and sign in to the tournament before / on the day without having to talk to you. They can also submit their scores after each round which makes things super easy as well.
· Print out the latest FAQ and ask your judges to make sure they are aware of any recent changes. I can’t count the number of disagreements that have been resolved because the latest FAQ was available.
· Make sure you let everyone know who is doing what in your team, Who are the judges, who is the head judge, where to hand in results etc. A print out of the days schedule is also good so you don’t get 50 questions in 10 mins for when lunch is.
· If you are receiving list submissions via paper, try have someone whose sole job at this time is to check them. Easier to catch a mistake before ships hit the table. But most likely someone will be going through the lists during the first round.
3. During play
During each round you want to make sure your judges are around to answer questions. Having someone ready to put in results as play is going means that there can be minimum down time between rounds so that people get to roll more dice (because that is what we are all here for).
Things to note in this part of the day:
· Judges are around and quick to respond to questions
· A clock that shows how much time is in the round (or a digital analog clock and very clearly state when the round is ending so people can keep track themselves) simply yelling across the room when there is 30 mins, 15 mins etc is also not to bad
· A person manning the results table. Handy because when people finish early they can enter results and you can give back the paper straight away thus reducing the downtime between rounds. Also if people have questions and they can’t see a judge or it’s not a question for a judge they will know where to look for someone.
4. End of day
After all the swiss games are played in you have a top cut hand out the prizes who weren’t able to make the top 8 or so (whatever your cut is) thank everyone for coming and let them know of upcoming events. Once this is done you can move onto the top cut and people can watch / leave as they wish. Do the top cut and clean up and go home, Well Done
*Note: This is just a brain dump I did when I saw your post so I have almost definitely missed stuff. Also some of this stuff is super obvious but sometimes that's whats missed. Have fun and Good Luck
Great check list! Thank you! This will be my first tournament so it's all new.