With the recent controversy of the Miami tournament I thought it might be a good idea to get together the elements of organizing and running a tournament. I have lost about $5,000 over the past 20 years of organizing and running open tournaments, so I have some idea about what not to do. Please feel free to add elements that I have left off, as I am not going to list everything in my list below. Also, there is no significance to the order of my list. #1 on the list is not necessarily what I consider the most important element.
Here is my list to TOE the line in organizing and running a tournament:
Mail advertising (especially for large $$ tournaments).
Accept Credit Cards if possible.
Budget
3a) Plan for breaking even on the tournament
3b) Be realistic in your estimates
3c) Be prepared for a loss on the tournament.
Don’t offer free meals
Ask for advice from more experienced people (if at all possible).
Look at what other tournaments are doing.
I won’t flesh these out, but rather let others do that. I will only say one thing and that is about #4. If you do for some reason decide to offer a free meal make certain to plan it well ahead of time and have it coordinated with your site. I once offered a buffet lunch for the players [mini pizza, min egg rolls, etc.] at a hotel site. I almost didn’t do it, so I signed the contract for the site before also signing for the food. As it turns out the hotel would have given me the $400 spent on food off of the site/room rental if I had arranged for it at the time of the initial contract. I loss $1500 on that tournament, which also happened to be the Guaranteed prize fund. Please note that I am saying it is usually a bad idea to offer a free meal. That is not to say that you should never do it [well maybe], and that is not to say that you can not have something in the way of snacks [i.e. cheap candy] for the players.
The one point I will make is that you should strive to consistantly run your tournaments in the same manner, so player get use to it and know what to expect from a tournament that you are doing.
Best “Chess” Regards,
Larry S. Cohen
PS: It is good to learn form your mistakes, but it is even better to learn from the mistakes of others.
For several years they held cribbage tournaments at one of the local motels with a built in lunch at the motel’s restaurant. That way they got the playing rooms for free.
I could see holding a G/30 tournament with rounds at 10:00 and 11:15, lunch at 12:30 and rounds again at 1:30 and 2:45.
Many years ago there was a special clock simul between Kasparov and several top American juniors. It was held in the Russian Tea Room in New York City. I think Kasparov won most of the games (but I think Dan Edelman played a continuation which forced a repetition). Everything was going fine until someone ordered a pizza from Ray’s on 54th Street to be delivered to the simul, because the food at the restaurant was too expensive.
Advertising and promotion of the tournament is indeed necessary. I would add that for local tournaments using the local newspapers and radio, and even television media is good as well. All of them are pretty good at giving you the Public Service Announcement venue to advertise your event.
I would also use fliers. It is simple to print up a one page flier telling the important things like who, what and where. I then either personally bring or get a friend to bring these fliers to other tournaments for handouts. If we can’t get to a tournament, I have even emailed or faxed a copy of the flier to the friendly tournament director and he has made some copies to give out at his tournament. If you are copying your own, be sure to use colored paper other than white. Goldenrod and pink, of all colors, are really good colors for handouts and fliers as they really call attention.
I would disagree just a bit with you on this one point Larry. It is best to not plan to break even, it is better and even necessary to plan to make at least a little profit. It is amazing how money seems to just get sucked into the ether when running an event.
Yes, I want to agree and highlight that it is important to be realistic in estimates, both financial and otherwise.
Well, as Rodney would happily point out, there is no such thing as a free lunch.
While I have never provided meals, except donuts or something like that, at a tournament, I have seen pizza events.
I believe if you want to provide food, it needs to be included in the budget. The money to pay for the food needs to be calculated in to the income category, either from added entry fees or donations (known amounts not hoped for).
Food is like other amenities at an event. I handed out privately printed and bound scorebook at a tournament once. I went to a local printer and had a local friend do the artwork. I definitely figured the cost of the books into the tournament budget and it worked just fine. All players got a complimentary scorebook, played a nice tournament and I didn’t lose any money. Yes, I did plan on making a little profit and broke even.
I think these two things go together. Learn from others and other tournaments.
Yes, consistency is also a good and necessary thing so that players know what to expect. Of course it is important to keep the good things consistent while always eliminating the bad things.
I agree! Food is an amenity, and I’d see it as a break-even thing you do to make the tournament more attractive to players. One doesn’t always have the time/energy between rounds to go looking for lunch or a cup of coffee. One of these days I might experiment with ordering in pizza or boxed lunches. You want food, Mr. Chess Player? Give us an extra $7 when you check in, and your lunch will be waiting for you after round two.
For advertising, I’d add “web site, email (build your own list), USCF online tournament listings, community internet bulletin boards and calendars, and your state affiliate.”
It depends on the size and nature of the event - but I always suggest that organizers use a food concession as a way to get a cheap/free site.
For example, a local school may be more willing to offer a site if the local PTA gets to run the food concession (which they can sometimes do by using the school’s kitchen and cafeteria).
You don’t have to give away food to make it an attractive feature of your event. Providing reasonably priced coffee, soft drinks, pizza, etc. is appreciated by the players.
Treat it like the book concession - you provide the warm bodies and they provide things to sell as a service to the players.
Some school organizers have reversed this and run a scholastic tournament at a break-even rate (maybe even a small planned loss) while making the real tournament profits off the food concession. Sometimes a single tournament run this way can have the food concession profits pay for the school team’s costs for the season. It also can be used to counter any complaints that the tournament’s entry fee is too high as the entry fees do not profit any significant profit.
A good list for things for organizers to consider. Another important bit of information is whether you’re organizing an established tournament or a new tournament (format).
Note that if you accept credit cards, you must build the cost into your planning budget (probably ~3%). Taking credit card payments on line is fairly easy, but taking them at the door is going to be more complicated unless you already run a business. There is also likely to be an additional cost for a telephone line if you want POS transactions (and if don’t, you could get stiffed). And, it’s going to slow things down at registration. I’ve never found taking credit cards at the door worth the trouble, but your mileage may vary.
