Evilnemesis always gets a TON of noobs to show up to his tournaments. He says if you post your tournament on the calendar and not just the boards, that a ton of noobs will show because they're too lazy to make an account and read the boards. He said that's his secret to getting tons of noobs to show, which increases the pot.
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The ABC's of tournament hosting
- Thread starter nealdt
- Start date
SuperRad
Smash Master
From my experience attending and watching the inner workings of running a tournament there are a few things I've noticed:
Sign Ups:
If you have a medium sized tourney (like 30-40) make sure you allow enough time for sign ups. At the biweeklies here, sign-ups last a pretty long amount of time. While it is important to have a schedule, you shouldn't force them to be short so people who are playing friendlies all scramble up at once to sign up. Also, make sure to allow time to get the bracket set up properly and everything seeded correctly. For smaller tournaments (less then 20 people) you don't need as much time to sign up, because you can probably tell one everyone has signed up. And if you notice someone hasn't, it's easier to specifically ask them about it.
Calling matchups:
The speed you call the matchups at controls the pace of the tournament for the most part (well, in combination with people reporting matchups). I suggest when calling the first round of a tournament, to get everyone off of the TVs. This makes the room quieter, and allows you to assign matches to each TV easier. I suggest calling matches like this "SuperRad vs Joe Blow on that TV" *point clearly to TV*. That way you don't have to rely on people speaking up. If you notice after calling all the matches there isn't two people at the TV, recall the names to make sure you catch who it is. For matches after that, you will probably need to make sure to get eye contact with the person playing the match and direct them to TV and point out who they are playing.
Friendlies:
You don't want to stop friendlies completely, but for the first few rounds of your tournament you are probably going to want to keep your cubes friendly free. People that go two and out will probably be left spectating for a round or two, but that's life. It's important to not be afraid to tell people to wait on friendlies or flat out kick them off the TV.
Respect:
Respect is earned, and the best way I've seen to earn it is to just be a human being. Talk to people, make jokes, etc. If you are an ******* to people, people wont want to deal with you. Like neal said, after someone loses just throwing them a "Better luck next time" or something similar can make someone feel better. This is just a general human thing, not specific to tournament running or even smash. Also, try to not to be timid, especially as a TO. If you don't want to have to yell, or do things that people wont like, organizing a tournament is not for you. This doesn't mean you have to be a drill sergeant, but if you are the kind of person that doesn't tell restaurants they made your order wrong, you probably aren't cut out for it.
Don't be afraid to ask:
odds are that at your tournament there will be people that know more about smash rules and general tournament organization there. I see questions about counterpicking/stage selection come up all the time at tournaments. If someone asks you and you don't know, find someone who does.
this was longer then i intended. eh, whatevzzz
Sign Ups:
If you have a medium sized tourney (like 30-40) make sure you allow enough time for sign ups. At the biweeklies here, sign-ups last a pretty long amount of time. While it is important to have a schedule, you shouldn't force them to be short so people who are playing friendlies all scramble up at once to sign up. Also, make sure to allow time to get the bracket set up properly and everything seeded correctly. For smaller tournaments (less then 20 people) you don't need as much time to sign up, because you can probably tell one everyone has signed up. And if you notice someone hasn't, it's easier to specifically ask them about it.
Calling matchups:
The speed you call the matchups at controls the pace of the tournament for the most part (well, in combination with people reporting matchups). I suggest when calling the first round of a tournament, to get everyone off of the TVs. This makes the room quieter, and allows you to assign matches to each TV easier. I suggest calling matches like this "SuperRad vs Joe Blow on that TV" *point clearly to TV*. That way you don't have to rely on people speaking up. If you notice after calling all the matches there isn't two people at the TV, recall the names to make sure you catch who it is. For matches after that, you will probably need to make sure to get eye contact with the person playing the match and direct them to TV and point out who they are playing.
Friendlies:
You don't want to stop friendlies completely, but for the first few rounds of your tournament you are probably going to want to keep your cubes friendly free. People that go two and out will probably be left spectating for a round or two, but that's life. It's important to not be afraid to tell people to wait on friendlies or flat out kick them off the TV.
Respect:
Respect is earned, and the best way I've seen to earn it is to just be a human being. Talk to people, make jokes, etc. If you are an ******* to people, people wont want to deal with you. Like neal said, after someone loses just throwing them a "Better luck next time" or something similar can make someone feel better. This is just a general human thing, not specific to tournament running or even smash. Also, try to not to be timid, especially as a TO. If you don't want to have to yell, or do things that people wont like, organizing a tournament is not for you. This doesn't mean you have to be a drill sergeant, but if you are the kind of person that doesn't tell restaurants they made your order wrong, you probably aren't cut out for it.
Don't be afraid to ask:
odds are that at your tournament there will be people that know more about smash rules and general tournament organization there. I see questions about counterpicking/stage selection come up all the time at tournaments. If someone asks you and you don't know, find someone who does.
this was longer then i intended. eh, whatevzzz
Justin Wiles
Smash Journeyman
This sure was true in High School.
Lobos
Smash Master
Cool tips, I'm thinking about hosting a tournament for SSBB and Guitar Hero 3 in the near future. I'm actually going to check out the venues in my area.
kewlz
very nice
very nice
The Game II
Smash Champion
You're right on Thomas.
The way I run tournaments is ... have some sarcasm and have some fun. If people get that you're being funny, then they'll roll with you. Like, I remember one person at OC3 who I'm very cool with now telling me he hated me when I ran a tournament in NorCal (not a Monterey Bay Thunder tourney) two years ago because I was a **** to him. But he understood that I was being sarcastic because I knew he was going to make the finals, which he did. A lot of these kids don't get that I'm trying to have fun. They think I'm going to pound them to **** if they don't play. I sometimes say, "hey you can smile I'm joking" or I'll keep reminding them that I'm ****ing around with them.
Thing is, have fun when you're running the tournament and don't let them forget who is running it. I've seen TOs beg people to turn off their friendlies. Get over there and unplug their controllers. Stuff like that reminds people who is in charge.
If I think of anything else, I'll post it.
--GCII
araknophobik
Smash Master
banana needs to follow D
and lol at X
and lol at X
B_AWAL
Smash Master
Thanx
Even though it is mostly obvious this is appreciated.
Even though it is mostly obvious this is appreciated.
Lawrencelot
Smash Lord
I was wondering what the best places are for a tournament for 50 people or so (obviously not at someone's home), and how do you explain what you want to do with the room. I called a party centre, and they asked if I wanted to hire the place from 8 pm to 1 am, but I said I wanted to hire it for a whole day, but that wasn't possible. So, what's the best way to find a room for a tourney?
Cinder
Smash Master
Omg, Thank You!!
Man, I'm really glad I came across this...I've been put in charge of running tournaments for my school's new Gamers' Club (not big tourneys, obviousliy, but I wanted to run them as close to pro tourneys as possible). I'm just curious, is there a thread with some general rules? I've never been in a tournament before *blushes in embarrassment* (but I am good enough, just haven't had a chance
), and I'm only somewhat sure of the rules..I've got the banned stage list, general rules (4 stock/8 minutes), but I wanted to be sure of the rules before posting them at the club's tourneys...yes, I'm a little on the OCD side...I have to double check EVERYTHING
Man, I'm really glad I came across this...I've been put in charge of running tournaments for my school's new Gamers' Club (not big tourneys, obviousliy, but I wanted to run them as close to pro tourneys as possible). I'm just curious, is there a thread with some general rules? I've never been in a tournament before *blushes in embarrassment* (but I am good enough, just haven't had a chance
), and I'm only somewhat sure of the rules..I've got the banned stage list, general rules (4 stock/8 minutes), but I wanted to be sure of the rules before posting them at the club's tourneys...yes, I'm a little on the OCD side...I have to double check EVERYTHING
Percon
Smash Lord
Wow, that was really helpful. I'm holding my first ever smashfest in one week and that was an incredible read. I've got most of it down, according to your list, so I think I should be okay.
But can I have someone's opinion on the following?
Alright, now I wanted to hold a smashfest at my place, however, since it's the first time I'll be meeting many of these people, my parents (yeah, still live with some over-protective parents...) wanted me to host it elsewhere. So I decided to host it in a conference-type room in a hotel.
The price of said room? 75$ for half the room or 150$ for the whole room. I'm guessing that half a room could hold 20 people at most. I'm also ordering about 50$ worth of food. Now, naturally, I can't quite pay for ALL of this myself, so I'm asking everyone to bring 10$... is that too steep? Not including me and two staff I've picked out, I'm expecting just above 20 people. If everyone brings 10$, that's 225 (Approx)... so what should I do with the extra 20$ or so?
I wanted to justify the cost, so I decided to hold a mini-tourney within the smashfest to make it even more fun and worthwhile. But 25$ is a negligible prize amount for a tourney, if I have to split if between first, second and third place. I may as well go without a prize and have is just for fun.
So... what should I do? Keep it for myself? Or add my own money to make the total prize money 50$ (25$, 15$, 10$ prizes, basically a "thank you for attending" kind of deal). Remember that this is a smashfest first and tourney after.
Or should I just abandon the tourney and just do the smashfest?
I'd like some input, if you may (directed at everyone).
But can I have someone's opinion on the following?
Alright, now I wanted to hold a smashfest at my place, however, since it's the first time I'll be meeting many of these people, my parents (yeah, still live with some over-protective parents...) wanted me to host it elsewhere. So I decided to host it in a conference-type room in a hotel.
The price of said room? 75$ for half the room or 150$ for the whole room. I'm guessing that half a room could hold 20 people at most. I'm also ordering about 50$ worth of food. Now, naturally, I can't quite pay for ALL of this myself, so I'm asking everyone to bring 10$... is that too steep? Not including me and two staff I've picked out, I'm expecting just above 20 people. If everyone brings 10$, that's 225 (Approx)... so what should I do with the extra 20$ or so?
I wanted to justify the cost, so I decided to hold a mini-tourney within the smashfest to make it even more fun and worthwhile. But 25$ is a negligible prize amount for a tourney, if I have to split if between first, second and third place. I may as well go without a prize and have is just for fun.
So... what should I do? Keep it for myself? Or add my own money to make the total prize money 50$ (25$, 15$, 10$ prizes, basically a "thank you for attending" kind of deal). Remember that this is a smashfest first and tourney after.
Or should I just abandon the tourney and just do the smashfest?
I'd like some input, if you may (directed at everyone).
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2005
- Messages
- 2,617
winner takes all would be the best choice for this
Percon
Smash Lord
Yeah... I think I'll do that. Thanks!
OmegaXXII
Fire Emblem Lord/ Trophy Hunter
hmm. very, very helpful indeed because I will soon host my very first tourney and this thread is just what I needed to learn some of the basics of what I should and shouldn't do, thanks nealtdt
ChRed2AKrisp
Smash Master
or you could do what most tourneys do and have a venue fee + entry fee. of course, you could make the entry fee like $3-5 so people would be willing to do it, just as a sort of side show, but with thirty people or so that makes the prize 115-175 total, meaning you can easily split it, winner could take like $80, that's no meager prize. Well it is if you're M2K. BUt at a small smashfest people'll like that.
I'm very grateful for this tourney, because we at UMD are holding our first tourney, and since it's UMD, we've already got lots of really good people coming from all around the area, and expectations are pretty high.
Percon
Smash Lord
^ Already hosted it, and it turned out pretty well, but I'll keep that in mind for next time.
Ken Neth
Smash Champion
This is great advice. I'm going to be hosting a tourney at my school and it will be my frst one.
Just wondering though, what would the best way to run a singles and a teams tournament simutaneously? I've been thinking about it and it seems pretty hard because it will be hard to schedule matches so people aren't supposed to be fighting in both at the exact same time. Is there an easy way to do this?
Any advice would be great, thanks.
Edit: Any ideas? Anyone? I have till the 28th to figure this thing out.
Just wondering though, what would the best way to run a singles and a teams tournament simutaneously? I've been thinking about it and it seems pretty hard because it will be hard to schedule matches so people aren't supposed to be fighting in both at the exact same time. Is there an easy way to do this?
Any advice would be great, thanks.
Edit: Any ideas? Anyone? I have till the 28th to figure this thing out.
TheManaLord
Smash Hero
My friend and I are putting these steps into action at SUNY Oswego, we plan on holding many small smashfests and tournaments before the actual tournament which will be before brawl comes out. These steps are great seeing as how I've only ran small stuff and this tournament is already getting hyped in my area. This stuff is really great and I hope to draw people from syracuse and rochester too.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2005
- Messages
- 2,617
It's exceptionally difficult to pull off, and unless you have a lot of people to help you, it's not going to work. Basically, you need to be able to keep track of what teams need to play, then find them in the singles bracket, make sure none of the players are playing then call the match.
All it ends up doing is increasing the time that is being wasted, and the time spent on each tournament. It's far easier to just run really efficient brackets for each tournament than it is to try and sneak them both into the same time frame.
miller483
Smash Ace
Ok, so I'm thinking about hosting a Smashfest and I want about 10-120 people to come. What would be a good place to host it? There's already a good venue for lease near me also.
Sync99
Smash Journeyman
Wow that guide was not only extremely helpful but also extremely awesome. You're so good with your ABC's! But I was wondering one thing you didn't mention... how should I NAME my tournament?
miller483
Smash Ace
I may be able to help. Try to make it witty or epic sounding. You can also try naming it based on place.
Example: you hold a smashfest in a place called Santa Armenia. The acronym would be SAS (Santa Armenia Smashfest). You could take that and name it, oh, I dunno, "Sync99's Sassy Smashfest!"
TubbyTommy
Smash Rookie
What are the names of computer software that set up double-elimination tourneys?
tio tournament organizer, available at http://www.nealpro.com .
Sync99
Smash Journeyman
What could I do with "La Crosse"? If it helps with coming up w/ something witty, there's also the abbreviation "LAX" heh
butterpaws
Smash Rookie
what are the recommended tourny programs for macs?
Boot Camp + tio.
You'll use byes for the 6th, 7th, and 8th people, since the # of entrants has to be a power of 2. But any good bracket program will do that automatically for you 
.
.
You can find it on my website http://www.nealpro.com
http://www.nealpro.comunii
Smash Cadet
Ok i just Bringing up SAB smash arizona brawl a tournament in gilbert arizona that i want to get sponsered so any mods or back stagers read this please modify the leaders of this website and message me thankyou
Atacusbebop123
Smash Journeyman
I, personally loved this thread
good job
good job
Sonic23
Smash Cadet
Hey, is it possible to run a small Brawl tournament with just one Wii and one copy of the game or not? Cause I wasn't sure about setting up and running one in conjunction with another event a mate of mine runs and wanted to get some interest in the game.
Knight-errant
Smash Apprentice
If you were going to run a tournament, let's say a small to medium size one (somewhere between maybe 20 and 50 people) how many TV's do you think you would need?
Also, does the host usually bring all of the equipment (consoles, memory cards, controllers, etc) or can they get help from the attendees? Because I only have one Wii, so if I was going to host a Brawl tournament I would need help with the consoles. All of my "assistants" would be my brothers and other people who play smash at my house rather than having a wii/gamecube of their own.
Also, does the host usually bring all of the equipment (consoles, memory cards, controllers, etc) or can they get help from the attendees? Because I only have one Wii, so if I was going to host a Brawl tournament I would need help with the consoles. All of my "assistants" would be my brothers and other people who play smash at my house rather than having a wii/gamecube of their own.
People will bring equipment if you ask. Another way to encourage equipment is to charge a small venue fee ($1-$2 for a small event) and waive it for anyone who brings a setup.
You should have a memory card with all unlocks on it as a backup*, but everything else can be left to the community as long as you make it clear you need help.
As for TVs, well, 1:10 is a minimum ratio. More is obviously better. See the Tournament Mechanics post in this forum for a few formulas to help calculate how long a tournament will take with X tvs.
*Note that you cannot transfer save data from one Brawl game to another. At least no one's found a way yet.
You should have a memory card with all unlocks on it as a backup*, but everything else can be left to the community as long as you make it clear you need help.
As for TVs, well, 1:10 is a minimum ratio. More is obviously better. See the Tournament Mechanics post in this forum for a few formulas to help calculate how long a tournament will take with X tvs.
*Note that you cannot transfer save data from one Brawl game to another. At least no one's found a way yet.