Budget for organising

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GutRot81
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Budget for organising

Post by GutRot81 »

Hi guys, I'm clinging to an idea of a small 1 day event in Coventry to help generate some interest in a league.

Venue aside can anyone give examples of the sort of costs they encountered when organising?

If I manage to get something off the ground I would like it to be memorable so people return, not a few people crammed in n a room told to bring a packed lunch and to quit their jibba jabba.

I'm thinking buffet platter lunch (Mrs works at m&s food so discounted for us) kettle on site with tea/coffee etc. Other facilities around venue?

Costs for people helping out? Costs for awards?

Any help guys would be great.

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Loki
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Re: Budget for organising

Post by Loki »

Don't think you need 'staff' paid or otherwise unless you a planning to have over 30 from 30-50 you may want to identify someone to help between rounds but that can be someone playing.

When doing the tournament I run when I have a cheap venue I do trophies and prizes when I have a venue I'm paying more than a nominal amount for I just do prizes. I tend to do the prizes as a % of the total I expect.

If there are award certificates, flyers, posters, etc you will need to consider stationary costs, paper, ink, etc; frames?

If you do consider trophies remember that if you have bespoke engraved plates on them e.g. Stunty Cup as opposed to something generic like 1st Place, the extra engraving can cost as much if not more than the awards themselves. You can get cheap engraving done on line.

Generally tea/ coffee/ sugar won't bust the budget but do you wants to offer people doughnuts or bacon rolls. That sort of thing you could subsidise.

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rolo
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Re: Budget for organising

Post by rolo »

A lot of tournaments give out custom dice with the tournament logo on the "6". We get ours from Chessex, depending on how many dice you order that costs about $0.50 to $0.75 (US) per die, plus shipping.

Trophies are usually small models painted by the organizer, nominally probably about 10-20 $/€/£ or so but I suspect the real cost is "Whatever the organizer has lying around in his bitz box".

I'm used to buying my own drinks at tournaments, nobody expects you to pay for their beer. But a pot of tea or coffee is always welcome.

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Shteve0
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Post by Shteve0 »

If its your first time running a tourney, consider setting aside budget to cover:
> printed rulesets and certificates (it can be fairly expensive to print colour on card)
> a pot of white-out/tippex and a fine permanent marker for anyone who turns up without numbered players (so they can paint a white strip on the bases and write in the number themselves)
> a box of biros for filling out results and voting slips
> some sort of tokens for those who haven't brought any, tiddlywinks are fine!
> some sort of balls. Leftover greenstuff is good
> a bag of those small coloured rubber band things to use as skill markers
> if you can find them cheap enough, a couple of small ink stamps for your roster checking helpers to show what's been checked
> a big bag of d6

Not all of these are necessary, but if your experience is anything like mine this lot will be a big help, and after the first one will form your tournament grab bag for a long time to come!

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Purplegoo
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Re: Budget for organising

Post by Purplegoo »

Interesting post that from Shteve0, highlights a few cultural differences. Numbered players is very rarely a thing in the UK, for instance, and I don't remember ever seeing a TO with a bag of D6! Not a criticism, I just love how the culture of BB is different everywhere, it's even notable in the north and the south of the UK, let alone the UK / down under.

GutRot - welcome. The midlands is a bit of a sleeping giant in terms of tournament BB, so some more events there would be brilliant. You've access to the northern and southern sub-communities, and a few years ago there were some midlands only coaches that we rarely now see, so getting them back in the game would be ace. More of this sort of thing!

Getting the budget right for a weekend (or even a one day) tournament is not as trivial as you'd think, and it's great you're thinking about it up front, even before you think rules or skills or anything else. I hear from TOs every year that get it wrong and lose money, and I've done it myself even though I think I know what I'm doing.

Whilst it is not an exact science, there is one solid bit of advice I can give when budgeting: venue, venue, venue. Everything else is bells and whistles. I appreciate that you want to make your event special and memorable, but a BB tournament in a blank but bright room fronted by a warm, smiley TO and nothing more on-top is still an enjoyable thing. If you can go around your club and get your membership to confirm (whilst looking you in the eye and telling the truth) they will come to your event and their combined fee will pay for the venue / tables to play on, brilliant, you're on. Don't rely on getting non-group people to join you and pay for the venue, although they inevitably will. They're the bonus signups.

UK Blood Bowlers are terrible (and I include myself here) at commitment. You can put on an event and not really know if you're going to get 20 or 40 up until about a week or two out. This makes budgeting really tough when you're thinking about extras such as prizes and giveaways. To be quite honest, these things are nice, but they're about last on the list when it comes to importance. The idea about onsite tea / coffee / snacks is good, and if the venue is near a supermarket or chippy, keep costs (and complexity, for your first event) down by not including dinner. An inclusive meal is nice, but not essential.

When it comes to prizes, about a month out, take your paid up coaches, add half of those that declare 'interest' and your budget is whatever is left from cash - venue - drinks and snacks. A first event is a bit of the voyage into the unknown, so err on the side of caution, and remember certificates as prize substitutes are OK, and that it's nice to have stuff for 'anyone' to win, rather than just the actual winners (think spot prizes or bingo awards). When you're in your third glorious year or whatever, you can start thinking about givaways and cool extras. Making the event happen at all and establishing a 'base' is more important than giving something magical away. Build some momentum and get there eventually.

Finally, give some thought to the social aspect. The truly memorable BB experiences all come with a brilliant night out or with a meeting in a bar or restaurant attached. This probably won't eat into your budget at all, but it can be easy to miss this side of things when you've got your head down, trying to work out what symbol goes on your commemorative D6.

Good luck! I hope to be sent to Coventry soon. ;)

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sann0638
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Re: Budget for organising

Post by sann0638 »

Great posts guys. Will probably pull these bits together into an article once people are done (or get a wordsmith to do so).

Meanwhile...

http://www.thenaf.net/tournaments/running-a-tournament/

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danger rat
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Re: Budget for organising

Post by danger rat »

Haven't got anything to add in terms of organising it that hasn't already been said, other than good luck and it would be cool to see an event in Coventry.

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Re: Budget for organising

Post by babass »

Interesting post that from Shteve0, highlights a few cultural differences. Numbered players is very rarely a thing in the UK, for instance, and I don't remember ever seeing a TO with a bag of D6!
What i do like, in tourney, it's giveaway : this way, every single coach will get a souvenir from the tourney.
Could be dices.
Could be a fig.

As TO, i think the good ratio, is having more or less the same budget for giveaway and for prizes.

But, actually, it's more difficult to plan giveaway... as you have to predict the number of participants (except if your tourney is soldout at each edition)
1st tourney i've organized, i had to reorder giveaway, because we had more coachs as expected :)
2nd one, we organized we ordered to many.
3rd one, we tried to order the "exact number" at last minute the giveaway, but the supplier was not able to post the package, because of floodings in his region (his local postoffice was even under water)

For the prize, it's more easy. A nice workaround, is to buy "too many" prize (based on most succesfull expectations), but to put on the table an total cost of prizes matching the actual audience. And to keep the not used ones, for the next tourney.
But, it's easy, only if it's not the first edition of the tourney, and so, if you are quite confident on the average audience you will get or on chance you will organize another edition later... (for a 1st tourney, it's not so easy, take care, not to put, too many of your own personnal money here)

Actually, before worrying about the prizes, coffee, etc, the very first thing to worry about, is the venue!
- Without venue (having tables usable for bloodbowl). No tourney :)
- if you rent a too expansive venue for actual audience you will get, it will be on your personnal money, and you won't have budget left for the rest
- if you select a venue that is not made for bloodbowl and for your tourney (ie: tables too small, venue too small/dirty/etc...) coachs won't come back the following year...
etc.
The message above from Purplegoo better explain this than mine: the venue should definitly be your first focus.

Don't see too big if it's your first tourney. a 3-rounds-tourney, with 12+ coachs could already be a nice event, as TO, and as participants :)
but, still it's depending of the venue you could get :)

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