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Questions about organizing national chess tournaments
Questions about organizing national chess tournaments
Our club was approached by a sponsor who would like to help our club set up a large chess tournament. Does anyone here have experience organizing large chess events like the Canadian open or CYCC? If so would you be so kind as to answer some questions? My sponsor is particularly intersested in the hotel occupancy question.
How many hotel rooms did you block off, and what was the average occupancy of those rooms, (i.e. how many registered players per room)?
What methods did you use to advertise your event, and which were the most effective?
What unexpected expenses and/or problems you run into while organizing it?
How many arbiters/TD's did you require?
How much sponsorship did you obtain? How much, if any, is necessary?
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my questions! We really appreciate the help!
Our club was approached by a sponsor who would like to help our club set up a large chess tournament. Does anyone here have experience organizing large chess events like the Canadian open or CYCC?
There are quite a few posters who can answer yes to that question including myself. I would suggest that we move this discussion to email.
If so would you be so kind as to answer some questions? My sponsor is particularly intersested in the hotel occupancy question.
How many hotel rooms did you block off, and what was the average occupancy of those rooms, (i.e. how many registered players per room)?
Usually there were one or two for the Canadian Open but the uptake on rooms was quite disappointing despite a favourable rate. The problem is that players found rooms that were maybe not quite as nice but were less expensive. The CYCC and NAYCC was a bit better because most people were less willing to book a room in an outside hotel. In actual fact we were lucky in that the rooms sold out.
What methods did you use to advertise your event, and which were the most effective?
Email, flyers and a website. We also advertised it on various social networks and on the same registration website as the Continental Chess Association and of course with the USCF.
What unexpected expenses and/or problems you run into while organizing it?
Audiovisual fees added about $100 per day. Several thousand dollars in souvenirs at NAYCC but otherwise nothing too annoying.
How many arbiters/TD's did you require?
As many as you can get. We had a very good group and it significantly reduced the headaches for the organizer. In the case of the head arbiters it was expensive but well worth it. I never had to worry that the arbiters would mess things up.
How much sponsorship did you obtain? How much, if any, is necessary?
We had about $5000 from the local tourism bureau and a few thousand from various local businesses. Most importantly we had about $100,000 in complimentary playing halls from Caesars Windsor if we managed to get a certain number of room numbers rented across the three tournaments. We did not actually hit our numbers but the rooms sold out so we didn't have to pay any penalty because we obviously could have rented more rooms had they been available. Not every sponsor actually came through with the cash but the main ones did.
We ran a low risk Canadian Open with only $15,000 in prize money, a few grandmasters and titled players and the possibility of IM norms. The numbers for the Canadian Open were a bit disappointing but manageable. We played in a beautiful venue and the players that were there had a good time.
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my questions! We really appreciate the help!
Our club was approached by a sponsor who would like to help our club set up a large chess tournament. Does anyone here have experience organizing large chess events like the Canadian open or CYCC? If so would you be so kind as to answer some questions? My sponsor is particularly intersested in the hotel occupancy question.
[B]
How many arbiters/TD's did you require?
How much sponsorship did you obtain? How much, if any, is necessary?
!
Hosting a new event is riskier than an established one like the Canadian Open. The CO could be run by only 2 IAs but a junior would need a FA for each section. Plus both benefit from having at least 6 volunteers to set up pieces, sit at an info booth to checking phones and getting food for the arbitrators.. Bringing in foreign GMs is expensive, providing them hotel rooms and travel costs.
Chess players largely look for the cheapest hotels, eat junk food, and don't go sight seeing. But they often are into computer products. Many of the most active players are rising juniors who often travel and in the future would need to select a university. Some companies would like to be associated with math nerds.
Sponsors are part of the website but hard to get in media coverage. Banners and sponsors booths are ok. One of the best ideas I've seen were sponsors' names on chessboards (and score sheets) which got donated to local schools and lasted a couple of years.
Last edited by Erik Malmsten; Saturday, 15th April, 2017, 07:53 AM.
Re: Questions about organizing national chess tournaments
I remember after the 2008 Ottawa Open there was a post on lessons learned / guide / tips on how to organize large events. I don't know how to perform searches of that nature.
I remember after the 2008 Ottawa Open there was a post on lessons learned / guide / tips on how to organize large events. I don't know how to perform searches of that nature.
Re: Questions about organizing national chess tournaments
Unfortunately - the 2007 Canadian Open was not spectator-friendly. Spectators were not allowed in the playing hall(s) and were limited to screens in an adjacent room. You want to encourage spectators - provide lots of chairs near the top boards, with as many screen displays as possible (ideally with DGT equipment. I don't know about Monroi these days). Some spectators might be future tournament players. You want them to see what a real GM looks like.
Be prepared to supply sets and boards on every table, and clocks (if possible). All equipment can be easily rented if you don't have it on hand.
Have gamescores available in a timely manner (at least from the top few boards).
You site doesn't have to be a fancy hotel. During the summer, college/university halls are fine (be sure they have a/c) and cheap rooms and meals are often available on site (or nearby). The site should be easily accessible by public transit, and ideally have lots of free parking.
Re: Questions about organizing national chess tournaments
The MonRoi posting by Peter Hum is a good place to start. See the Zeromskis post below: http://monroi.com/chess-tournaments/...urnaments.html
Peter was one of the key organizers of the 2007 CYCC/Canadian Open along with Stijn de Kerpel and a small team of volunteers who made the event a huge success (though not without its faults, as Hugh Brodie points out). We raised well over $100,000 and attracted more than 20 GMs and superGMs (including Nigel Short and Xiangzhi Bu) and earned extensive coverage in the media. The kids especially enjoyed their experience, playing in the Chrystal Ballroom at the Chateau Laurier under the watchful eye of the great Susan Polgar. Two of our innovations were particularly valuable: at the Open, we had excellent postgame commentary, hosted by a local IM with the participation of many of the playing GMs; and at the CYCC, Polgar gave several lectures for the kids and for the parents. It was a great show and incidentally raised $50,000 for the CFC.
As the novice Chief Organizer of those events, I would however recommend you set your sights on something more manageable and in proportion to the Canadian chess scene. Again, Hugh's comments are on point. The main thing is to create an environment where your participants can enjoy themselves playing chess in a national championship.
My answers to your specific questions are:
The best advertising was earned media, i.e. reports on television, radio, newspapers and chess magazines. Kids are the best angle but top players (Nigel Short) can also attract the media.
Our biggest problems were with the tournament director (choose very carefully) and the lack of spectator facilities as MonRoi was in its early stages and the projection screens and online broadcasts were problematic.
We had one chief arbiter and three assistants plus several volunteers for 300 participants. More would be better.
We raised over $100K in contributions through drawing on personal connections. We called them sponsors but in truth it is a very hard sell indeed. The demographic for chess in Canada is awful: too few of us, low income and low average expenditure. If they look carefully, very few if any businesses would see chess sponsorship as an economic proposition. Outside Quebec and Alberta, and on one memorable occasion, New Brunswick, governments provide little or nothing.
If you want any further info, please don't hesitate to contact me directly through this site.
Last edited by Gordon Ritchie; Saturday, 15th April, 2017, 04:30 PM.
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