Tournament Organisation

[Garrick]

I am sure someone will put me right but I couldn't find any threads on here from TO's about their experiences running tournaments, so created this one to add my own musings to.

[Garrick]

Burger Bowl 2018 – a virgin Tournament Organiser’s perspective.

As this was my first tournament as TO I decided to keep a “diary” of the experience and when I read it through realised it was a useful aid for me on the do’s and don’ts for future tournaments I might organise:

At the beginning of the year Ant Purdie who had created Burger Bowl and run it for 4 years in the RAF Club decided to focus on his role as Captain of the Scottish Eurobowl team with the objective of bringing the Eurobowl to Scotland and handed the organisation of Burger Bowl 2018 onto me. In parallel to this the RAF Club closed down and a new venue had to be found quickly.

I wanted the first tournament I organised to be as good as it could be for a maximum of £25 per head including a nice meal both days, a bar and access for under 18s. So finding the right location within budget was a challenge which surprisingly my wife agreed to help me with. Having visited over a dozen places all of which had advantages I settled on Akva as it seemed to tick more boxes than any other venue I had seen.

As Akva had never hosted anything remotely like a Blood Bowl tournament before Ant and I had a series of meetings with them discussing what it was we were looking for and what they had that could improve the tournament. We agreed that £15 out of the £25 entry fee would go towards lunch on the Saturday and Sunday and that with 30-40 attendees there would be no additional hire fee for the venue.

Prizes – On the Friday afternoon in Nottingham before the NAFC, I spent some time with other Scottish Coaches discussing what they wanted in the way of prizes. Unpainted teams/models were considered less desirable instead a Scottish themed painted team was the ideal first prize but also there was a lot of support for prize tokens in addition to the trophies normally given out, tokens that could be used in future games of Blood Bowl. Hence the Scotling team and painted NAF trophy for 1st place but also painted figures for 2nd place, 3rd place, Stunty, Top Rookie, Wooden Spoon and Best Painted.

On top of this I approached several suppliers whose products I used / liked and asked for their sponsorship. Tritex, Two Drunk Flings and KR Cases all stepped up to the mark.

Best Painted Trophy - So this is an idea I have stolen shamelessly from Geordie Bowl: Each year the winner of the Best Painted Team will paint the next year's trophy. Obviously we will need a trophy to "prime the pump" so I have used an old NAFC Duel entry of mine (not the one I won the 2017 NAFC Duel painting competition with ).

Free NAF membership for new members – to encourage more coaches to join the fun of the Blood Bowl tournament scene. Burger Bowl was NAF ranked and to tempt new coaches into the tournament scene the entry fee included NAF membership for those who were not already members (but not membership renewal). New to tournament coaches are far less likely to win prizes (other than the Top Rookie Award) so it seemed fair that they shouldn’t pay more than the regular tournament goers.

Top Rookie Award – instigated to give first time and younger coaches something to strive for. Top Rookie is open to anybody who has not played a NAF ranked match before Burger Bowl 2018 and also anyone under 18 whether or not they have played NAF ranked matches previously. It is not just all about the top experienced coaches!

Registration of Rosters - I also put quite a lot of thought into this and decided to reward early submission so as to get a flying start on loading Score etc. Initially I was going to give everybody who registered a week before the tournament 5 free Fan Factor however it was pointed out that this rather detracts from those rosters which already have purchased FF so considered Brendan’s “golden re-roll” but eventually decided on a free Assistant Coach and Cheerleader. It worked and I was able to send all the information to Brendan Spencelayh who kindly loaded it onto Score for me a full week before the tournament. Score behaved impeccably during the tournament and within an hour of the tournament finishing, Brendan had loaded all the results onto the NAF ranking database.

Pre-ordering for the Saturday lunch was a necessary evil (Sunday lunch was generic) however agreeing to organise a meal out on the Saturday night that also needed pre-ordered was a massive ball ache with lots of moaning and will not be done again!

Gavin Wilshaw asked if he could bring a Blood Bowl 7s pitch to play if anybody finished early, I was delighted to say yes as I want this tournament to have a buzz with loads going on. This is why when a Cosplay Girl approached me about coming along to watch and entertain, I also said yes, unfortunately she was double booked, maybe next year!

It required a little bit of preparation but the “Coach Name” personalised Results Slips Booklet made capturing all the results easy with the exception of the inevitable Geordie losing their booklet. Each booklet had 6 numbered round slips and a Best Painted voting slip, I mandated that you couldn’t vote for yourself in the Best Painted category and having your coach name on your voting slip ensured this.

I allowed everybody to choose where they sat and played rather than mandating table numbers.

There were 38 coaches registered but unfortunately one called off the night before meaning that as both TO and Spare Man I had to play Round 1, it quickly became apparent that I was not going to be able to play and run the tournament to the standard I wanted. This was for 2 reasons: 1) I should have played a fun team I didn’t care about rather than one I was proficient with; 2) I was not feeling 100% (it turned out later that I had a rip roaring chest infection). Luckily (God bless Schmee) the situation resolved itself and I did not need to play Rounds 2 through 6. The lesson learned was that you need a TO and a separate Spare Man for larger tournaments or if that is not possible / practical then bring a fun team you don’t care about and whatever you do don’t be ill!

The tournament itself went smoothly. The prior close liaison with Bar Akva ensured there were no surprises on the day. Access was as agreed; the right number of large enough tables were available; a projector for my laptop allowed clear dissemination of the pairings in each round, the leader board, timings and eventually the prizes; Chess Clocks kindly provided by Brendan Spencelayh kept everybody to time; and wireless microphones would have made announcements easy if I hadn’t already lost my voice.

The pre-ordered lunches in Akva were excellent and having them in the same venue as the tournament meant that 45 minutes was more than enough for lunch allowing me to have a timetable (with 2.5 hour rounds) that started at 9:30am and was finished by 6:15pm both days.

In addition to Bren’s excellent Burger Bowl 2018 tournament report viewtopic.php?f=28&t=44809&start=45
also check out Ant Purdie’s Burger Bowl 2018 Tournament Report on the NAF website: https://www.thenaf.net/welcome/stories/ ... g-july-18/

[frogboy]

My past experiences of organizing Foul Bowl 1 & 2.

Running a tournament can be challenging, I learnt a great deal more about Blood Bowl, its community and the several types of coaches from doing so. Some highs and some lows.

There we're two main reasons I wanted to run a tournament in South Wales, firstly I was interested in the development of Team Wales at the time and believed organizing a local event in Cardiff could attract more interest in the game and secondly, I thought I could do it different/bigger/better...

Here's the thing, and I expect some people will be offended at this but it’s just reality.
A lot of other tournaments we're restricted in numbers because of their location, some are held in small huts in the middle of nowhere, or village halls mainly. My idea was to hype it up, it was going to be a grand event, with prizes to match. I think I made a point of selling it as a "not for profit event" this was due to me attending some tournaments which I felt were overpriced and under par (naming no names), I put 110% of the money from tickets into prize support, yes, I lost money at both events, boo hoo

Now you might think that's rude, but that's what I wanted to do, to give back to the community who had given me a place to play my Blood Bowl. Run an event with loads of prizes so everyone felt like a winner, and not just the 1%s getting awards at the end of the day whilst the rest of us stand around clapping like chumps lol, yeah we've all been there at the end of the day, trying to smell that trophy or glimpse the awards as the same old faces walk away smiling (gitz).

Anyway, it was with these reasons that I said, I’ll do it. But it must be two things, different to your bog standard NAF event and newb friendly, remember I was trying to attract new talent. Most local gamers don't go to tournaments because the stigma that surrounds them, so I had to sell it like a fun event, with little interest in the rankings. But still have rankings available for members who made the trip to play. So Foul Bowl was born, dividing the top with something I have not seen before, tie breaker from fouls resulting in a casualty. (although I now know there is a Foul Bowl in the US as well).

The first event had 16 coaches, I was really amazed at this as it was a bit of a rush to get it organised in the little time I had before the event. I was really worried that it would be a flop from the start, it was a 4 game one day event, so I needed at least 12 for it to get sanctioning. This was, despite me not wanting to focus on rankings points, my biggest fear for the NAF members who had paid. I still really wanted it to be NAF sanctioned for them. This was very stressful going into the last week not knowing what would happen, in the end it turned out great and everyone seemed to have a blast.

After some post event discussion, I decided the next event would be different, I needed them elves to show up.

Round 2, I really stepped it up this time. Foul Bowl had a website and a Facebook page, and I was on twitter, I got signatures with links to them on the Blood Bowl forums and the spam began, I posted lots of posts on different forums advertising about the event, many of which we're deleted. This was quite good fun, and I think most people could see what I was trying to do. I also made effort to contact most of the gaming clubs in South Wales. Anyways it must have paid off as Foul Bowl 2 had 40 coaches in attendance. From 16 to 40 in 1-year, happy days.

Must have been doing something right, I also had locals turning up and playing in their first tournament. Although it had been a very long year and a massive focus of my efforts it was all going so well.

Unfortunately, this is where the story gets grim. I planned even bigger things for the 3rd event. I could never understand the NAFs reluctance to work with Games Workshop. Or at least that is what it looks like from the outside looking into the organisation I have been a member of for many years. So, I contacted Games Workshop directly or they contacted me, which was it again, not sure... anyway due to this quite frankly astonishing change I thought I could roll with it, make my event even more different and open a new pathway/channel not yet heard of in the Blood Bowl community (or at least not to consumers that most of us are). But it quickly devolved into a horribly stressful period of my life, in real life and trying to organize this tournament. (This was in no way related to Games Workshop, who we’re very supportive) So, I cancelled it.

If you’re thinking of running an event be prepared and don't leave things to the last minute, everything you leave will just create more stress. You may get some verbal support but essentially you will have to do everything yourself.

As soon as someone gives you money, you feel obligated to do something.

The biggest mistake I made was relying on someone else to do score for me. I could have learnt this myself and wouldn't have had the drama in the second year of finding someone else to do this after a late drop out.
You will however need a second person but relying on that person leaves you in a precarious position. Get a spare player and/or someone to help on the day, timings are critical, especially if it’s a four game one day event when running over the time could have financial implications not to mention what you would feel obliged to do if people start missing their train/bus home.

I said in the beginning that I learnt a great deal more about Blood Bowl, its community etc. Well what I learnt was the mechanics behind the sanctioning procedure. I never really gave this much thought before, I would attend tournaments with no idea how the rankings worked, what a tie breaker was and certainly I wouldn't have any plan of how I was going to play at an event.

I have learnt that there are some distinct differences in play style, reasons for playing and a great deal of passion behind each person’s reason. But we are all equally worthless really, no-one’s style is better than someone else’s. Their passion for rankings is no better than someone’s desire for crazy, for example. Running a tournament has shown me many reasons for each, with a little in-between too.

Some people fear that the wacky events lower the strength of the rankings, but others fear that strict events could be boring and put new players off attending. And you can bet your shorts that you will be in the middle of a storm if you push any boundary’s. Remember when I said you will do it all yourself… No support, this is what I meant, you will be getting it in the neck from all sides, when even the reason from your friends sounds like negativity, or a compromise.

Don't respond to the negativity, I made this mistake, and despite trying to explain why or what I was doing, people make assumptions and twist your words. It’s not worth it. Just go with your idea, be happy with it and enjoy the event with the people who attend.

You can also enjoy the support of some very generous company’s. If you put the effort into to talk to them. But above all you will make friends, have fun and play some BLOOD BOWL

[lunchmoney]

After 19 (wowzers! I checked on NAF and it shows 20, but Speedbowl 5.1 & 5.2 were basically the same event) events I can confirm it does get a little easier. One knows what needs doing and when, and things can roll on quite happily.

When I started it was on the idea from a local league player to fill a gap in the calendar. At the time, 10 years ago, the south had ARBBL and ACC (of course since then the "local" scene has exploded!). That player did all the NAF stuff, I arranged for the local GW to host and deal with ticket sales (they even procured trophy and prizes), and I had local bigwigs Darkson and Lycos on hand to help out.
On the day Lycos even handled Score (albeit on my laptop) and the NAF upload. I leaned in and learned how it worked.
Prior to that I got on this forum and started to advertise. I even got hold White Dwarf and advertised there (trying doing that nowadays ).

The subsequent couple of years went well. In year three we peaked at 42 coaches! I've never had that many attend before or since (we tend to hover around 24-26 for some reason).

After that it got real - GW pulled the plug and I had to find a venue and do everything myself! There were no FLGS at the time (how times have changed, we have 4 now!). A few people offered to help out but nothing ever materialised. I did it all on my own. Venue, advertising (generally by word of mouth, flying bombing other events, and my limited social media presence), prizes, budget, etc.



Over the years I have presented some odd tourney rules and they have generally been well received (I think, anecdotally, that Lucky Stars has been the favourite, closely followed by Pieces o' Eight). I've even made people dress up (Rise of the Cheerleaders and Pieces o' Eight:lol:)
And then there is the Speedbowl editions


I do get tired. Sometimes I honestly wonder why I do it. Especially within the last couple of weeks and I still don't have many paid up coaches and I would like to get some prizes in (I always try to plow every penny I've received back into event, in one way or the other). The night before I rarely get any sleep. Then on the day it generally all goes well. I've either blocked them from my mind or there were no major smeg ups


All in all I have enjoyed running events for people. It is hard, but the support network is there. All you have to is ask

[lunchmoney]

Any other TO's care to share their experiences?

[ooarrtracter]

I've only run a tournament once but I'll chime in. I picked up Pearlies after a years hiatus as Joe didn't fancy the graft again. Looking at the history of his organised tournaments I can't really blame him. This meant I was fortunate in the fact I had a starting point to go from rather than from scratch.

Well I say starting point, I basically just repeated everything! If it ain't broke don't fix it was the motto so I swiftly contacted the The Mad Hatter Hotel again on Joe's advice. They offer both a lovely venue, good food and would give us free hire of the space, with no upfront cost, considering there would be up to 40 nerds eating and drinking for 2 days. This early planning went off without a hitch and saved a heap of effort finding a new affordable venue in the centre of London.

Once that had been done it was quick work to work out the finances. I decided that I wanted to do some custom dice, so added that as variable cost to the price of food, multiplied by anticipated attendees and then added an estimated overhead for a couple of 1st place prizes. I wasn't trying to make any profit so simply divided back out by the attendees and funnily enough it came out at the £33 Joe charged last time! I started my estimated target low, at the previous attendance of 26, but was conscious other 1 day events in London had hit 40+. Also giving the ECBBL a heads up meant I could very quickly count 10+ coaches as definite attendees giving me some confidence I wasn't going to be able to break even. Some hard advertisement began aimed on here, fumbbl and to all 3 London leagues and happily we quite quickly had a waiting list.

For my prizes I wanted to come up with something a little different. Anticipating a high number of tournament veterans coming I figured that they would own more BB swag than you could shake a stick at, and wanted to offer a prize they wouldn't already have in their trophy cabinet. Seeing as we are called Pearly Kings & Queens it really had to be a Pearly Hat! Fortunately I love making stuff so could save a bunch of cash hand sewing the beads and making it a very affordable, but still priceless, prize. As ticket sales went on I became more and more confident I would exceed my target number of 32 and therefore have spare overheads so ordered the etched glass mug for the James Brown Memorial Trophy (Stunty) and custom rosettes for the other places. In fact I got a little confident and anticipated a sellout of 40 based on interest and upgraded both to nicer materials! Fortunately we sold enough tickets so I broke even.

For our 'other' prizes once I had the budget I knew we would have 2nd, 3rd, Most TD, Most Cas and Stunty. Also as was traditional Blackshirt Hunter and Bitch were included to make the mid-field a little more interesting to which I also added Blackshirt Bully. If (when) I run it again I will definitely include a few more such as painting prizes judging by some of the teams that were present.

2 weeks before the tournament I had a fun stressful time as after 3 days of calling the venue I found out the manager I had organised everything with had left! The booking was in the system though so I still had the spot, but had to re-organise the details all over again with the new manager. Pre-ordering all of the food via email with the attendees was a bunch of effort but to be honest I couldn't think how else it could be done. It did give a chance to get details about teams to pre-fill score somewhat.

Also for last minute stress the day before we had a few drop outs, and another on the Sunday. I felt really bad not being able to reimburse them but had spunked all the money already. Next time I would try to be a bit more cautious spending the extra cash for an eventuality like this and then if we did have some left over put it into the next tournament. It did also mean I needed to play Sunday, but this worked out ok as with the 4/2 game split meaning the hard work had been done and I could lean on league mates to push timings for me.

The actual event went pretty smooth. Setup day 1 took a little while to organise the tables, making final race signups less smooth than I anticipated but everyone chipped in and it was all quite laid back. I had swotted up on Score before we began, and could fall back on Joe or Lycos if needed. I saved about a billion times into a billion files as I was taking scores verbally. Having been told Score scary tales I would probably do some slips or double record into Excel next time. With the way the day is structured there is only the last round which is tough on time so everything went absolutely fine, barring forcing a very drunk Gritter to skip 2 turns of ineffective cage diving to try his 1TTD attempt immediately (he made it, swoop is OP) so I could wrap up at 9pm.

Next time I'll have a better handle on the finances as I'll know what I have to work with, and also ensure I have better contact with the venue in the run up. I might also try to force the wrap up a bit better and have some kind of organised after-party on the Saturday as the day petered out a little with games finishing all over the place and it is (roughly) my birthday. Otherwise it will be about the same, A++ would run again.

[Jip]

Alex (Wormito) posted something about this on tacklezone, not long ago.

http://thetacklezone.net/running-a-tournament/