The problem with planning the 8-person tournies is that since you never know when one is going to start or how many will be running at any given time, it's extremely difficult to plan judges for them. Obviously you want to keep the bulk of the judges in the Nationals tournament, since that's the one that's the most important. You can only "plan" for so many judges to be open at any given time, and thus you're stuck with trying to locate an open judge when you get 8 people. I don't see how you can work around that, really.
As for the not wanting announcements during the cut rounds Sunday, well, if you need to find somebody, you need to find somebody. How else could we really accomplish that?
These issues are easy to remedy.
"Planning and logistics" is my thing
I liked the layout of the 8-man. The floor placement and the physical logistics were laid out nicely. They had it in a great location and the table arrangement made logical sense (i.e. 8 to a table!)
The crash-n-burn came from uninformed staff that appeared to be THROWN into judging/organizing it.
Roles were not discussed and materials were not adequate.
I actually witnessed a situation where players that were halway through their tourney were sitting there shuffling and waiting to begin their games only to be told "ok, we're starting over because I just got here and I don't know WHAT's going on with this one."
It wasn't a big issue at all because the staff just pulled up their bootstraps and made the thing happen. I've just been in charge of event organizing enough to feel-their-pain from their perspective.
I appreciate that the makeshift staff got it done with a GOOD attitude instead of just complaining and being grumpy with the confusion. They kept their wits, they kept their sense of humor and they ran the events. :smile:
HERE ARE SOME MORE SUGGESTIONS:
Announcements:
PROJECT THEM ONTO A BIG SCREEN and highlight them VOCALLY between rounds as opposed to DURING ROUNDS. This, not only, would make the atmosphere less hectic (because sometimes it was a bit noisy) but there would be LESS misterpretation of information. I would, literally, hear one thing, walk 10 steps in any given direction and hear groups of people with varied understandings of the information. Written word that is reinforced by spoken word is always solid.
8-man Side-events
If we're going to have staff "TAG IN" then create a system that lends itself to this aspect.
1. Simplify the paperwork so the judges can focus on judging and collecting bracket-rosters.
Why not a "Side-event computer table?" We had sign-ups for modified side. Just have a table with a couple of people typing and printing off a bracket with player names. That paper is given to a staff member who will lead their 8 people to a table and begin. Once the round ends, the judge calls time and the winning players write their own names onto the bracket sheet. The only thing that a judge would do is call time, judge, and pick up the completed sheet. Single-Elimination tourneys makes this process fast and fun. You lose, you sign up for the next and try again. Top 3 can get packs (i.e. 6, 4, 2)
In a single-elimination format with player-filled bracket sheets, any judge that shows up as an 'in-between,' will simply call time and continue the next round. The sheets do all the work :thumb:
2. If you have 2 staff, you have 2 tables. When you get more staff, you have more tables. People shouldn't even be in the play area because the sign-ups will be at the computer table. This takes the turnmoil and confusion away from the play area itself.
Anyway, like I said before, the staff that ran it, handled it. It's our responsibility as FREE attendies to respectfully help the event improve. So, I make observations and suggestions out of appreciation for what has been done; offering my family a fun family hobby with fun events. I KNOW what it's like to be responsible for the planning and seeing people complain without being willing to offer fixes (i.e. Complaining for the sake of complaining).
I hope these suggestions help.
P.S.
It would be nice if people would stop saying "if ___ then I won't be there" as I am inclined to smirk and say "then DON'T!" Really people, it's a FREE event that is HUGE and EXPENSIVE for PUI. Show a little appreciation and work with it. Alot of people put in alot of VOLUTEERED EFFORT to bring you something incredible. State the suggested fixes and rock on.