Q&A - Attributes Of a Successful TO

[Major]

Recently someone came up to me at a doubles event I was attending (Brilliant I might say as well. The Brisbane scene has some amazing tournaments that never fail to impress me) and wanted to ask me a question about Hobby. Of course we always do whatever we can in this community to help our fellow wargames so I dropped dice and listened. He had decided he favourite past time in hobby was Tournament Organising and that was what he wanted to do. His question – What skills do I need to have success with my Tournament Organizing? The answer was a lot, so I told him to join this forum and look out for this post. Jason, if your reading this, wish you all the best for your TO endeavours! I was gunna put this on AusHammer but thought I might put it on here instead in case there was any other budding TO’s out there asking the same question. There are others, but I listed some of the most important. So without further or do, my response:

1. Personable

The one thing every Tournament will have in common is people. You will always need to interact with others and work with people while organizing events. A good and successful TO are great listeners, good conversationalists, are engaging and, of course, personable. After all, the role of TO is a very social role in that the end result – the Tournament itself – is a group of people, be it small or large. Understanding people and actually enjoying the time spent talking to them is part of the “job”. But that doesn’t mean that as a TO you’ll spend most of your time having beers and lunch with players at the event of course. Tournament Organizing is hard work and much of it is spent at your desk, on your phone or computer staring at spreadsheets, lists, emails, questions, concerns etc etc etc. But being personable is a must when tackling any of these common tasks:

·         Negotiating with venues

·         Discussing menus (if you are providing food)

·         Meeting with possible event sponsors or supporters

·         Pitching your Tournament ideas to possible sponsors or supporters

·         Networking

·         Supervising tournament staff

·         Working the tournament and interacting with its participants

·         Conflict Resolution

In day-to-day life, most of you reading this remember the pleasant, helpful people we interact with and that positive interaction is what can make an experience more enjoyable for both parties. Knowing how to related to different personalities, how to connect with a club, organization or individual whom you would like to organize a tournament with and being someone that makes a positive impression are all keys to success so consider this one of the more essential TO skills. Nobody wants to work with or support and TO who is difficult to talk to, hard to understand or rude.

2. Highly Organized

The success of Tournament is in the details. And there are heaps of em! Keeping track of all the tasks and to-do’s all at the same time, while keeping the competitors happy can be challenging for some and utterly daunting for others. Being well organized is a must for a successful TO. For those who make an manage to-do-lists to keep their personal lives running smoothly, being organized may come naturally. For the rest of us (like me) who struggle to remember all the deadlines or to pick up bread/milk on the way home, being well organized… well…. It can require more effort. TO’s may manage one event at a time, or Like my friends at Heralds of War, Objective Secured or AoS Shorts (Yes this was a shameless promotion of some great content creators so go check them out!), be in the planning stages of 2 or more events simultaneously. Some Tournaments can even take more than a year of planning so TO’s must stay organized for the long term as well as the short.

Lucky for us all though, there are HEAPS of tools available to help stay organized. Registration trackers, form templates, spreadsheets, payment/funds managers blab bla bla – just google it and you’ll see for yourself. Of all of these though, an event planning checklist, customized for each of your events is going to be one of, if not the most, valuable planning tool no matter how naturally talented you are. So figure out a organizational system that works best for you and your strengths because this is one of the most important skills you could possibly have.

3. Excellent Communicator

Yes, being an excellent communicator means being an excellent listener as well! These skills are essential in most of our professions already and this is no different for Tournament Organizing. Miscommunication can result in numerous problems for everyone from you to the guy throwing dice at the table and a simple misunderstanding can have some pretty crappy results sometimes. Being able and ready to communicate effectively, your thoughts and ideas, is a very practical skill that is used on a day-to-day basis by TO’s of all experience levels.

Written Communication:

·         Writing tournament proposals for prospective sponsors/supporters

·         Creating materials to market your tournament

·         Writing rules and schedules

·         Drafting thank you notes to guests and/or VIPs

Verbal Communication:

·         Ability to explain the scope or focus of your tournament.

·         Effectively communicating ideas to a senior TO or event participants.

·         Understanding and processing information that is provided (eg. Concerns from are participant or questions from staff where the tournament is held).

·         Skilfully negotiating rates with hotels, extras from a sponsor etc.

4. Creative

A successful TO has ideas. Lots of em! And with that creativity comes the ability to transform an idea into something more. They can take a vision of their next Tournament and bring it into being. From developing a unique theme (look at Holy Havoc for example) to coming up with an affordable way of ensuring the terrain theme for the tables are catered to with an affordable solution that meets the budget for the tournament, creativity is essential. Jamie, a TO at my local gaming group consistently organizes AoS events for club days that I always enjoy because he puts time into designing unique scenarios for each level of the competition. This alone makes me want to sign up every time I hear he has another one in the works. Creativity!

Creativity also comes into play when facing the inevitable problems that arise during even the most well planned tournaments. It is at this time that creativity takes shape in the form of problem solving. Being able to think creatively in order to develop solutions to the problems you ar effacing can have a hugely positive impact on the success of your tournament.

5. Multitasker

Guys, we’ll never be as good as our female equivalents so don’t ever try. My wife can parent 3 kids, cook a meal for a family of 5, watch her favourite show and tell me I spend too much on little plastic men all at the same time. It’s a skill I cannot match! At various stages of your planning process, there are numerous tasks you will be managing. You may be negotiating a deal with a hotel or venue, meeting others TO’s to discuss collaboration, meeting with potential guests/speakers, booking catering, travel or exploring entertainment options. And that isjust for one event! Add multiple events all of which are at different planning stages and the result is the same as juggling 3 angry nurglings. Successful TOI’s meed to know how to effectively multitask and keep many aspects of the event moving all at once without any of them falling to poop.

Success lies in the ability to prioritize and focus on each task in that order without falling victim to the distractions offered by other things that may or may not need rending to or drowning in numerous things that need your attention. Staying focused, calm and flexible are the attributes of the successful multi-tasking TO.

[Sleboda]

#1 Above All

 

Realize that just because it's your event,  it doesn't mean you should make it your game.

 

This is not your opportunity to rewrite the game, "fix" problems, or get crazy with scenarios.

 

This is not your chance to cure your own boredom or flex your fledgling game designer muscles.

 

Do great terrain. Be consistent in rulings.  KNOW THE GAME inside and out. 

Organize an event,  don't make it a testament to your own ego.

[RuneBrush]

I'll hold my hands up - I've never run a tournament (at least beyond organising a few mates round the local club), but quite a few skills are common to managing or organising in general.

The art of delegation : It's really easy to get into the mindset of "this is my <item>, I can do everything", that's fine when you're doing something small, but there will come a point where you need to accept that you need help.  Finding somebody to help is the first thing, but you then need to accept that certain things have to be passed over and that they might not turn out how you expected them - that's fine!.

Keep it Simple (Stupid) - aka KISS : The most important thing is to constantly review what you've done and are doing to ensure it contains the least amount of bloat and faff.  For AoS a prime example would be creating battleplans that are thematically magnificent, but come with two A4 pages worth of special rules.  It will make people disinterested

Lists : As @Major rightly says, everybody has their own way of organising themselves.  I love a good list and diary!  One tool that I've found invaluable in the past is Asana, it's basically a simple list project management tool (both web application and mobile phone app).  You can list everything you need to do, give it labels and priorities and also allows you to delegate to other people.

[MacDuff]

I salute any TO who has the energy and dedication to pull an event off. They're unsung heroes.

[Ollie Grimwood]

Might be more productive to discuss what makes a good event, the objective rather than the person . 

 

[Major]

1 hour ago, Ollie Grimwood said:

Might be more productive to discuss what makes a good event, the objective rather than the person . 

 

Might have been. But i promised someone an answer and an answer they got. I just figured if I am going to put in time to write something why not let it benefit 2, 3 or more rather than an individual. I am happy to do one on the event as welll though if you feel it might help you or others. Thanks for your feedback.

[Ollie Grimwood]

2 hours ago, Major said:

Might have been. But i promised someone an answer and an answer they got. I just figured if I am going to put in time to write something why not let it benefit 2, 3 or more rather than an individual. I am happy to do one on the event as welll though if you feel it might help you or others. Thanks for your feedback.

Ah sorry dude I was a bit grumpy this morning (not very personable ?).  Anything that is gives people a steer on running events is all good. 

[Major]

11 hours ago, Ollie Grimwood said:

Ah sorry dude I was a bit grumpy this morning (not very personable ?).  Anything that is gives people a steer on running events is all good. 

Hahaha thats all good. I think I very much like the more personable you!