Hello AZB, Looking to learn from your experience, please chime in!
Recently we had a Local Player, who wanted to pull together a Local Limited Entry 16 Player tourney, with $100 buy-in / $15 greens. He started setting up the event, with plenty of time for players to work out schedules.
He has the right contacts for players, and was assured 16 players would be no sweat, the pot size would be very attractive.
Bottom Line: When it came down to it, we ended up with 7 players, after 1 asked for his money back and left, because we couldn't fill the 16 spots, (which we accommodated)
Part of this failure was due to "Advertising". He relied mostly on word of mouth.
We did start after the scheduled time, in anticipation of additional players showing up. We had 2 "tournament ready" tables, and one "practice room" table located upstairs.
Since the original plans kinda fell off, we took a poll with the remaining 7 and decided to go forward with the tournament. The format was Double Elimination Race to 7 (Winners) / Race to 5 (Losers). Alternate breaks, rack-your-own.
$$ Spots for 1st and 2nd only.
This worked out pretty well for the most part, we feel the players had a good time, and would be open to future events.
Here's my question:
What tasks, (or items) aid you, in pulling off successful reoccurring local events? (Something bigger, not just the weekly events)
Thank you for any input your willing to share!
I'm not exactly the right person for this subject because I have only put on smaller tournaments (less than 30) and only a hand full of bigger ones. I have organized other events for non for profit groups that had anywhere from 100 to 1500 people. Still not huge but I've learned a few things.
First thing I learned about the pool tournaments, if you're in charge BE IN CHARGE. By that I mean don't let anyone think that there is any wiggle room. Don't be wishy washy. In the end the players will respect you for it and that is the start to getting return players.
Be true to your word. If you say your gonna start at 1:00 PM than do it. The other players might not say it but they don't appreciate you showing favoritism by waiting on 1 guy who is coming just to steal every ones money.
EDIT- this has nothing to do with your post but from me actually seeing this happen at a tournament I was in.
If you don't know the rules put someone in charge who does. If you don't know how to run a efficient bracket put someone in charge who does.
Advertise the hell out of it. This is where the bulk of your work should be. In this day and age of endless free advertising there is no excuse for not taking advantage of it. FACEBOOK IS YOUR FRIEND. Build a good network of players, suppliers, room owners, manufactures and fans of pool. These are your people so none of them should say"I didn't know that was today"!
Find a way to let your players know how much you appreciate them being there. I once put on a event and gave each of the players a bag that contained items like chalk, tips and other freebies. It was a two fold approach. I contacted vendors and asked if they had some items that they would donate and include their business card with it. They got cheap advertisement, my players got some goodies and it started off my tournament with a good vibe. I had players come up to me and say they've never got anything like that at a tournament and everyone of them asked me to let them know when I was going to do it again.
Get vendors at your event. Even small events. It is amazing how much of a positive influence it can be to have a cue maker or table supplier their answering questions and showing off their products. There is a long term effect with something like that. I once contacted a local cue suppliers to see if he wanted to donate a small item to one of my events for a raffle. He gave me a $250.00 cue! He said "That's for letting me set up shop at your tournament a few years ago" He told me that several people didn't know about his business and he has got a lot of table repair work from that.
Speaking of raffles, I used to put on a fund raiser tournament for the Make A Wish foundation. We would have tons of raffles and silent auctions during the tournament, later I would find out that several of the people in the crowd who didn't play would say that they showed up just for the raffles and auctions. The bar owner loved it because it was great business for him. To this day I get a free beer offered to me every time I go in there.
Security. In any big event it is important that you are able to get a handle on potential problems quickly. Never let anything get out of hand. People need to know that they are safe. Make them feel safe and comfortable and they will return if they had a good time.
Make it attractive for spectators too. Not everyone is there to play but you need to cater to everyone that is there so figure out how to keep your crowd happy. Good seating, spectators 50/50 drawing, whatever it takes. I like to make sure we have a bartender that just works the crowd so no one has to get up if they don't want to. Depending on your venue that may not always be possible.
Invite the local news to so a report on your tournament. You wouldn't believe how easy this is especially in a smaller town. I've had a reporter at one of our events during the tournament. I had a local trick shot artist show them a few shots and had the reporter actually do it for their evening broadcast. It was great, they loved it and we got a very positive news report which helped open doors for the next event. The next time I hit up local business for product donations it was a breeze. Some of them already had thing set aside for it. (It was a annual event that had ran for 24 years)
After the tournament get with the local paper to post the results, try to make a big deal of the finalists. Post pictures of the winners with a trophy/cash in the participating businesses. Use those pictures for your next flyer showing how great it was last time.
If I think of some more things I will let you know if your interested.
P.S. It's also a good idea to work with a local hotel to get room deals for the players and advertise that when talking about the tournament. You can also do this with restaurants, I had a local diner that offered a 15% discount to any participants to a KCBS BBQ contest I put on. Just use your imagination, what would you like to see if you were a player?
