I’ve recently moved my family to Greenwood, SC and been working on re-establishing chess here. I have had excellent response from South Carolina Chess Association. However, I expect I’m not the first individual doing a start-up that needs guidance. So I expect there is a great deal of experience in expanding chess locally. Please direct me to it, so I need not re-invent it.
Thus far, I’ve contacted and have had favorable responses from Greenwood’s Lander University and YMCA (after-school program). There is also a local home school chess club with 20+ members.
As a TD with a meeting place, I’ll be ready to ‘go public’ so I’m primarily interested in information related to advertising & online media. Perhaps there are national agreements/discounts for hosting a USCF affiliated web site. Or Perhaps templates/graphics that are well thought out and successful are stored somewhere.
If USCF web site doesn’t provide this, please direct me to sites which may.
Thanks, mike games
Please be a more specific on what you are trying to accomplish: start an all-ages chess club? start a school-aged chess club? run rated tournaments? run unrated tournaments? start a chess-teaching business?
What you will need to do for publicity varies somewhat depending on your goals. You’ll find lots of wisdom on this forum – and some on the USCF site – on how to get started; however, you won’t find free marketing support such as web templates, marketing materials, etc.
For running USCF-rated tournaments, you need to affiliate with USCF, then you get free on-line listings (at the bottom of the page ), or you can pay for listings in Chess Life and then get a better (chronological) listing online. For tournament listings in Chess Life, you’d need to plan your tournaments at least three months in advance. (We plan about two months out…too bad for us. ) Affiliation will also get you a club affiliate listing on the USCF site, so if someone goes “club shopping” on the USCF site, they’ll find you.
For a chess club (either scholastic or all ages), you need to work the publicity angle locally–through your newspaper’s community column, by putting up flyers, and by putting up your own very simple web site and making sure a search engine will find it when someone looks up “Greenwood SC chess”.
Whatever your chess endeavor, having an active presence on that South Carolina Chess Association site will be helpful–whether it’s making sure your club has a listing, buying an ad on the site, sending in tournament announcements in a timely manner, or posting regularly to the forum (if there is one). That will bring out the chess people in your area, particularly those who search “south carolina chess”.
Thanks for the info and sorry for lack of clarity. I must be working to many chess related activities. The SCCA has been very helpful in all of them, club, college & pre-school.
I’m primarily interested in launching a club (adult mix) meeting in the evening.
I’m currently researching & preparing to have a web site (for the club) and was looking for available templates or graphics. I also thought USCF may have agreements with preferred venders for site hosting. I was hoping to leverage USCF and maintain a common look and feel for members.
I’ve not been able to locate ‘start-up’ related information at this USCF site, but was hoping I’ve just overlooked it. Is there information on the affiliate cost/benefit somewhere?
I’ll leave the teaching to those better qualified; I’m just an atheistic organizer
No prob. Most of us are working too many chess-related activities, as you say.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any “preferred vendor” deals from the USCF for site hosting, nor are there USCF club templates. But hosting can be had for under $50 a year at the entry level on the open market, and it’s the best $50 in publicity you’ll spend.
Yep, darned if I can find it on the “new” site, either. No doubt some honcho will come along and tell us both that it’s right there on the new site, in plain view, and how could anyone possibly miss it? Never mind that. Here’s the real deal: there’s an “old” USCF site, and it has all sorts of useful info on it, like club startup info:
secure.uschess.org/sitemap.php is one way of getting to the old site. Once you’re on it, you can pick your way around and find all manner of stuff, some of it useful, some of it out of date.
The TD/affiliate support area also contains some info, although most of this concerns running and rating tournaments.
As for cost-benefit of affiliation…you MUST be an affiliate to run USCF rated tournaments. Maybe one of those honchos can supply a link to the list of Affiliate benefits.
If you don’t care if you have an upper level domain name, like mychessclub.com or .net etc there are free webpage sites. Some throw advertizing on them but some like this one 110mb.com/ don’t.
Here is an example of a simple site with just basic club info. ivchess.110mb.com/index.html/
I’m suprised there isn’t a link for club start-up info on the new site, adding web templates and graphics of course. Seems it would benefit newbies. I also think our membership numbers would provide some (corporate?) leverage for site hosting and even meeting sites. Not sure who to make this suggestion, but I’d think both have value for USA chess.
Let me know of any other helpful ideas for rural Greenwood, SC.
Thanks again,
Mike Games
13718655
P.S. I’ve found extensive Web Publishing info provided by Kenilworth Chess Club -http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/links/publishing.html It even includes hosting options. A wealth of ‘web site’ information, from a chess players perspective.
I’ve secured space to begin meeting. It’s the Greenwood local family landmark restaurant & coffee combo; Mig’s Coffee House adjoining Mig’s Pizza Castle located at 1219 Bypass 72 NE Greenwood, SC 29649-2263
Greenwood Chess Players will meet every Tuesday at 7pm until 9pm.
I’ve received confirmation of Club Level TD and will look for any opportunities to gain experience. I expect to organize small club tournaments as soon as possible. And I’m still looking for additional info on the affiliation benefits. Thus far I know there is a $40 annual cost to (somehow) submit ratings and get a limited amount of ad space in TLA.
I’ve contacted local newspaper & radio and will submit requests for any (free) advertising / publicity they make available. However, I don’t know what references to USCF are acceptable or not acceptable when publicizing.
Online information will be with SCCA - South Carolina Chess Association - until I labour my way thru establishing a web site. [scchess.org/clubs.htm]
It’s interesting that I can find tons of info on scholastic club start-up, but not so much for non-scholastic start-up. I think I may have the beginning of a good white paper on the subject. But maybe I’m just not seeing it.
Any additional insights or advice is always welcome.
Mike, good luck with this. I hope your players will respect and appreciate their host, because if they don’t then the host may decide they’re not worth the effort at some point.
When we did our Arby’s tournaments we got Arby’s to give us one of those buy-one-sandwich-get-one-free coupons that we could run at the bottom of the flyer we had printed up. Every month the management team that runs the Arby’s restaurants in town would add up how many of those coupons got used, and at which restaurants, and I usually got a report on that too. Over the roughly one year that we ran those events we had several hundred of those coupons turned in.
As to newspapers, radio stations and TV stations, some years ago I read a pamphlet on how to write press releases, but I’m not sure where I got it or where it is right now. (Surely someone has written something like this up for the Internet. I’ll ask around with some journalism friends of mine.)
In general, the primary reason the media will run your releases is because it is about local people, whether that’s competitions for those players, exhibitions against local players by top players brought in from somewhere else, newsworthy things those players do, etc.
Sometimes the outside talent can become the focal point of the story. If Tiger Woods shows up to play in a charity golf event in your city next week, it’ll get excellent coverage from the media, because he’s Tiger Woods. The same would be true if it was Kasparov, but it wouldn’t be quite as big a story because fewer people know who he is.
That means that for the most part they don’t care who the USCF is or what it does, unless that’s relevant to the local interest in the story. Thus if someone makes Master at an interesting age (and in some areas of the country ANY age might be interesting), then they care a bit about the USCF and its ratings, but otherwise they do not. Similarly, if a local player or team goes to Nationals and has an outstanding result, then the fact that the USCF ran or sanctioned the competition might be an interesting side fact, but it still isn’t the focal point of the story.
I believe it was good advice to be a good patron; to a good patron who provides free space for players. So at the inaugural (another way of saying no one showed but me) meeting tonight…I ordered a full meal before the meeting and a large coffee for the meeting. However, I’m now concerned my body weight will increase faster than my chess rating. AND I think I may be awake for hours! The GOOD news is the one game played was with the owner (who knew). RECAP: I brought my queen out early and lost it (piece, NOT the game)… more good patronage.
Now that a meeting place is established, publicity begins. Some well placed flyers of course and newspaper community calendar notices (seems the person in charge of the calendar is a player). And a local radio station wants to schedule me for one of their programs, hour long chat with local civic & business folks. As Nolan advised, I’ll keep it local human interest all the way…from my chess playing daughters…to increased sales of great coffee at Mig’s Coffee House …and probably share my optimism about starting after school chess at the local YMCA’s and scholastic chess at Lander University.
Before the school year is done, I expect to send out a letter to each of the area schools asking if they have or would consider establishing a scholastic chess club. I finally have the addresses and letter drafted. Not certain where this will lead, but hopefully find some interest and build some relationships. If there’s interest I’ll find a meeting place for Saturdays so younger players can attend.
The local tourist & visitor bureau was VERY supportive; about “if the day ever comes an ‘open’ tournament is organized”. Not sure what that provides, but good to know for the future. I’d rather have a sponsor from the Chamber of Commerce
Well the coffee is still working, I’d better update SCCA.
Any and all ideas and suggestions welcome,
), or you can pay for listings in Chess Life and then get a better (chronological) listing online. For tournament listings in Chess Life, you’d need to plan your tournaments at least three months in advance. (We plan about two months out…too bad for us. 
) Affiliation will also get you a club affiliate listing on the USCF site, so if someone goes “club shopping” on the USCF site, they’ll find you.
…and probably share my optimism about starting after school chess at the local YMCA’s and scholastic chess at Lander University.