VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

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VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by auriana »

This is the official announcement for VCU's Side Event Weekend 2017 mirror. We will be hosting as many as possible of the summer side/theme events that have been announced for the "second summer open" this year. See this page for an index of potential events.

Please note that this tournament REPLACES the announced weekend at UVa. After discussion between UVa and VCU it was determined that VCU is in a better position to acquire rooms for this event and we agreed to move the tournament to Richmond with UVa assisting in staffing.

This tournament festival will take place on Saturday, August 5 and Sunday, August 6, 2017, on the second floor of Harris Hall on VCU's main Monroe Park campus in Richmond. We expect to start registration at 8 AM Saturday and get to the first event as quickly as possible thereafter in order to maximize the number of tournaments we can run in the weekend. We will conclude at about 6PM on Sunday.

TO REGISTER FOR THE WEEKEND, PLEASE COMPLETE THIS FORM. Even if you previously registered based on UVa’s announcement, we need to know that you are still able to make it to the new site, so we request that you register again.

In order to minimize the recordkeeping burden of a weekend that will include eight or more tournaments, we will be using the following procedure:
1) Everyone will register him or herself and any buzzers you plan to bring to the tournament, for the weekend as a whole on an individual basis. That is, whether you are playing in one event or all of them, you need to register by the Google form as a participant in the overall "side event weekend" event.
2) Once you have registered as a participant in the weekend, you will be granted access to a Google spreadsheet on which you may officially form teams for each event. Since only people who have actually registered using their real e-mail addresses will be able to edit the spreadsheet, the spreadsheet WILL be considered the official, binding way to join a particular team. Each event will have its team size and a free agent list indicated in the tab.
At this time our tentative plan is to give priority to events not running anywhere else in the region, followed by NASAT, ACRONYM, and events already run at CO and HS nationals, in that order.

However, we will also give weight to how many complete teams are formed for each event when deciding what to run. In the event that sufficient complete teams are formed for more events than time permits us to run, we will give precedence to events which have attracted the most interest. Once we have the lineup of events, the exact order/schedule will be posted. We may run less popular events in abbreviated or shootout form in order to get the questions heard in some way.

We would strongly encourage another club running NASAT and ACRONYM, which are easier, full-format tournaments, as a separate weekend, which will enable us to run more of the true “side” events at VCU and give players in the greater Mid-Atlantic the chance to play every set.

We will NOT accommodate any requests to move events earlier or later based on any person's unwillingness to stay for the whole weekend. There are too many moving parts in play with a weekend of this nature and, as per above, we do not plan to set the final schedule until after you should have your travel plans already arranged. You need to commit to being there all day Saturday and Sunday or risk missing one or more of the tournaments.

Under each event, there will also be a column to sign up as a free agent. Anyone still on the free agent list (not moved to a team) by the Thursday before the tournament weekend will be placed on a team by the TDs (either used to fill a spot on an existing team or combined into a team of all former free agents). Please try your best to form teams on your own so we don't have to create 10 teams for each of 8 events on our end.

Your tournament fee for the weekend will be determined by a formula incorporating the mirror fees for each event and a discount offered by VCU for staffing events you are not playing and/or bringing buzzers. Expect the base fee for the entire weekend to start at about $80 per player before discounts (i.e., about the same as you would normally pay to play two full days of open quizbowl). Not all of the events are guerilla and we do want to cover the mirror fees as well as staff lunch, etc in addition to making some money as the organizers of this event. To avoid delays and accounting headaches, we expect everyone to know exactly which events they are playing/staffing by Saturday morning and pay the appropriate amount via one lump sum in cash, check to Quizbowl at VCU, or card. We will then handle disbursing money to tournament authors. We will NOT have eight separate periods of tournament authors collecting $5 at a time. The exact formula will be posted once each side event announces how much, if anything, it is charging per player.

To fit all the events into the weekend, we may run some events simultaneously or not have a separate lunch break on one or both days, and ask players to get their lunch during the tournaments they do not wish to play. There is also some chance of Friday night events if it proves realistic to get players/staff to VCU on time.
Again, please use the Google form to register yourself for the weekend, after which you may form teams for each event on the spreadsheet. Post any questions or concerns here. We look forward to seeing a diverse group of quizbowl players at VCU in August.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by naan/steak-holding toll »

auriana wrote:We would strongly encourage another club running NASAT and ACRONYM, which are easier, full-format tournaments, as a separate weekend, which will enable us to run more of the true “side” events at VCU and give players in the greater Mid-Atlantic the chance to play every set.
So...NASAT is being railroaded out after the transfer from UVA? What the heck is going on here? These sets are probably all going to get online mirrors at some points anyways, but I think it's much worse to play a tossup/bonus tournament on Skype than a tossups-only tournament.
UVA poll wrote: XENOPHON (20)
NASAT (17)
The Modern Age (15)
TRICON 5 (15)
Super ACRONYM (14)
There Will Be Stock Clues (14)
NASAT was one of the most popular options in the previous poll. I suspect that attendance for the weekend may suffer if it's just a bunch of hard side events, with no marquee normal tournament. Sure, it's the prerogative of the VCU club to decide to host what they want, but tossing aside team plans that a lot of people have already made because a few folks find regular difficulty events boring is questionable.

Also, this mirror fee is stupid, because you're making people pay for events they don't play! This pretense of "saving time for people collecting for each event" - just collect via Venmo before/after or something. This isn't Canada where there's no Venmo!
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Bensonfan23 »

We would strongly encourage another club running NASAT and ACRONYM, which are easier, full-format tournaments, as a separate weekend, which will enable us to run more of the true “side” events at VCU and give players in the greater Mid-Atlantic the chance to play every set.
So...NASAT is being railroaded out after the transfer from UVA? What the heck is going on here?
Yeah, if this is the case, then this is an unfortunate change. I can obviously only speak for myself, but as someone who generally finds side events underwhelming, I definitely won't be going to Richmond for this unless the weekend includes a NASAT mirror, which is disappointing. Could someone explain why this change was made away from the seemingly popular option of just running NASAT on Saturday, and playing a bunch of side events after that and on Sunday?
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Cody »

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea wrote:Also, this mirror fee is stupid, because you're making people pay for events they don't play! This pretense of "saving time for people collecting for each event" - just collect via Venmo before/after or something. This isn't Canada where there's no Venmo!
Consider this from the perspective of a host, an area in which I have infinity more experience than you.

The typical revenue (after mirror fees) for one full length college tournament is up to ~$15-20 / player. Two weekend days for two full length tournaments would be ~$30-40 / player. I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that $30-40 / player is *very* unlikely with this structure.

Having people pay up front and giving discounts for staffing ensures (a) people are incentivized to staff events they don't want to play and (b) incentivizes people to stay and play / staff all the events.

Indeed, the whole point is for people to pay for events they *don't staff* (*not* don't play) because otherwise the host receives no compensation, and staffers receive no remuneration.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Cheynem »

From the perspective of "running" a lot of Michigan's SIde Event Weekend last year:

-We really had no trouble whatsoever in just collecting money for each event at the beginning of each event. We were helped by the fact we had a few authors of the events on hand, and by deputizing a person to handle the money collection. (Also, a lot of the events last year were free) I think the logistics issues are somewhat overblown; there usually aren't that many people or teams.

On the other hand, though, I think Cody is correct in that you have to pay this way to ensure the hosts get remunerated. Michigan was either very generous about not asking for remuneration or decided to punt it for the ad hoc nature of the event. Especially if this event costs VCU money to reserve rooms, they should definitely get paid. (Perhaps dividing the payments up by day might be fairer?)

Where I think this could possibly go wrong is if VCU does end up mirroring one of the "larger" full tournaments, like NASAT or Super ACRONYM. Those events usually cost more money and I think someone might plausibly balk at paying the fee for that if they don't play. But I'm sure VCU is aware of that already.

All in all, it seems like the VCU payment plan is fair, especially from the idea of making sure the hosts get compensated.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by naan/steak-holding toll »

OK - seems easy enough accept the basic premise that the VCU plan is fair; reducing fees for staffing makes sense, though I wonder how this would be calibrated.

On the other hand, the decision to not have a NASAT mirror is still pretty outrageous. A cross-section of the current slate of possible side events (description-wise):

- History and History-oriented lit
- Food
- Trash
- Rock music
- Vanity packet-submission event
- Hard thought/social science
- Modern lit/arts
- Classics

A few points:
1) What the heck does a science player do with this slate of side events? Someone like Ryan (who's posted above) is 100% screwed by this.
2) Most of the academic events are hard. This will drive away lower-skilled players; compare that to the many high schoolers interested in a NASAT mirror!
3) No offense to the authors, but I would wager that most of these events aren't going to be as well-written or edited as NASAT

I'll admit this is speculation, but I think there is an obvious agenda here to shut out hosting a full tournament because a narrowly-defined group of longstanding figures in the collegiate community do not find such an event interesting (indeed, some of them have vocalized theee opinions already). Nominally, the dispute between "hold NASAT or not" was decided by a poll, an option that both the pro and anti-NASAT partisans thought was good. The current UVA club members (who I take it were also pro-NASAT) held this poll, and upon seeing that NASAT was a popular option, decided to go ahead with a mirror. Now that the VCU club has taken over responsibility, this previously worked out settlement has been completely abandoned for the reason that an "all side events" weekend is desired - nothing to do with the VCU club making money hosting, since then they would probably make more by having a NASAT mirror (as Cody admitted by saying that net per-player payments will probably end up lower). It seems reasonable to infer that the major powers that be (not necessarily current club officers, I should add) in the VCU club, and their friends, are the ones making this decision to actively ignore the already-expressed interests of the player base at large.

Granted, it is entirely within VCU's purview to host whatever they want. However, it seems to me that there are probably more people who would not show up at all without NASAT (since the side events are far less all-encompassing - the more "unique" side events will still be available to play on Sunday). I - and surely many others - would like this side event weekend to have a large number of attendees, and I've spoken with several people who are extremely frustrated with this decision.

Case in point: 28 unique people played at last year's VCU side event weekend. That is far fewer people than the number who showed up at VCUO 2015 - granted, a lot of VCUO 2015's attendees were Chicago players, but I think that's a case in point - a weekend with a full tournament can attract people from as far afield as Chicago to the area more easily (and indeed I have been in talks with some of them about teaming up).
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Bensonfan23 »

On the other hand, the decision to not have a NASAT mirror is still pretty outrageous. A cross-section of the current slate of possible side events (description-wise):

- History and History-oriented lit
- Food
- Trash
- Rock music
- Vanity packet-submission event
- Hard thought/social science
- Modern lit/arts
- Classics

A few points:
1) What the heck does a science player do with this slate of side events? Someone like Ryan (who's posted above) is 100% screwed by this.
2) Most of the academic events are hard. This will drive away lower-skilled players; compare that to the many high schoolers interested in a NASAT mirror!
3) No offense to the authors, but I would wager that most of these events aren't going to be as well-written or edited as NASAT
Alright, since I've already posted once about this, I might as well add the rest of my thoughts. Are there genuinely more people interested in just playing a bunch of (often incredibly) niche side events over an open mirror of a well-written set that's roughly regular difficulty? Last I checked, people were actively advocating for more of exactly those tournaments to occur (WAO, MO, etc). This is particularly confusing to me when the other option was to simply just have both options available anyway (NASAT followed by a full day of side events, plus some Saturday evening if people so choose). So, like Will said, its fully within VCU's right to host whatever they want, but this seems like a poor way of going about that.

Also, now that I've also had time to ask around about this, I can say that at least as far as the other member's of Duke's club go, our interest is pretty much gone without a NASAT mirror.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by 1.82 »

People have pointed out in this thread that side events attract a different audience than a NASAT mirror might. This is true and it's a good reason not to shoehorn in a full day of NASAT on Saturday rather than playing side events that the people sticking around for Sunday might be interested in playing. There's absolutely nothing stopping anyone who wants to play a NASAT mirror from organizing one on a different weekend instead of complaining about a conspiracy of VCU alumni.

Unless there's a reason that NASAT has to be the first weekend of August and it has to be in Richmond, I'm not sure what use there is in complaining instead of being the change you want to see in the world.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Bensonfan23 »

1.82 wrote:People have pointed out in this thread that side events attract a different audience than a NASAT mirror might. This is true and it's a good reason not to shoehorn in a full day of NASAT on Saturday rather than playing side events that the people sticking around for Sunday might be interested in playing. There's absolutely nothing stopping anyone who wants to play a NASAT mirror from organizing one on a different weekend instead of complaining about a conspiracy of VCU alumni.
The thing is though that (unless I'm mistaken?) a NASAT mirror was always going to be a part of this event since the Virginia summer open was being planned, and it's the reason a non-trivial amount of people were interested in this weekend in the first place. Don't get me wrong, side events are fun, but there's room for both, and I think it would be difficult to argue that the fields for each one wouldn't benefit from the other.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Smuttynose Island »

Much like Will and Ryan, I am dismayed by the sudden ouster of NASAT from the weekend's activities. Obviously VCU is a different entity than UVA, but, per the tournament's announcement, VCU's event is in some sense a "continuation" of UVa's previously announced tournament. It seems silly and disingenuous to discount the poll that took place earlier, a poll in which 60% of respondents wished for NASAT to run in full and in which nearly half wished for NASAT to otherwise be run as a TU only event.

This matters because VCU's "strong" encouragement that another school run NASAT and ACRONYM" I'm sure does little to assuage the disappointment felt by people who wanted to play NASAT. First and foremost, it completely ignores the difficult realities of hosting a summer open (realities which led to our current situation). On a more personal level, this abrupt turn of events almost certainly leaves me with no current or foreseeable affordable chance to play NASAT in person. It is not as if regular difficulty tournaments are in abundance in the Pacific Northwest.

I am also hesitant to officially register for an entire weekend of events when I have no idea exactly what events will be run. $80 is a steep price to pay when it is entirely possible that only one side event that I am interested in gets run. I bring this up because, while this is less of a problem for locals, it does present an obvious dilemma for people who need to buy hotel rooms. This uncertainty coupled with the steep price tag may turn many people away.

All in all these changes of plans jeopardize the likelihood of my attending this event, as I'm sure it does other's. Were I organizing this tournament, I would think long and hard about if a side event only weekend is the best way to draw a large field to Richmond on the 5th and 6th of August.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by fett0001 »

Coupled with the fact that this changed into an overnight trip, the lack of guaranteed NASAT makes my interest much lower.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Lightinfa »

When are people getting added to the doc? I several days ago but don't have access (my email is jnormanroach AT gmail DOT com)
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by armitage »

I submitted a form before noticing the NASAT business; for what it's worth I probably will not go a side event-only tournament at VCU either.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Emperor Pupienus »

Could the organizers of this tournament please decide asap on the exact events run and the schedule? As far as I know, people have still not been added to the google sheet yet. Those of us who need to book travel and hotels should have the knowledge to decide if we want to come or not, especially since the tournament it little more than a month away.

I guess I'll also add my name to the list of people who would prefer NASAT run as a full tournament.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by auriana »

In light of above feedback and the lack of any other host stepping up for NASAT in the region, VCU has decided to host two open weekends this August: August 5-6 and August 19-20. This should provide the opportunity to run NASAT, the full-length trash tournament, and all side events that attract interest. We would like to set the schedule as soon as possible so that those who only wish to attend a particular tournament know which weekend it will be held on. Please post in the thread with your preference as to the chronological arrangement of tournaments and we will make a final decision and announcement about the schedule no later than Wednesday July 5.

We will ask for a new round of registrations once the final schedule is up as we know that moving tournaments may affect your plans to attend.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Smuttynose Island »

In an ideal world, I would prefer the original arrangement - NASAT on Saturday (8/5) with a slate of side events on Sunday(8/6). The trash tournament and the remaining side events could be played on the 18th and 19th.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by felgon123 »

I will be moving away shortly after the first weekend and cannot make the second. My ranked preferences for the first weekend's offerings:

1. All side events.
2. NASAT + side events.
3. Trash + side events.
4. NASAT + trash.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by naan/steak-holding toll »

Personally I would like to see an "academic" weekend and a "trash" weekend because I think that would go best in terms of matching audiences. Is there a way we could use the poll results to test this hypothesis?

Basically maybe something like:

Nasat + xenophon, classics set, modern age, etc.
Super ACRONYM + food, tricon, rock music, etc.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Bensonfan23 »

I'd also prefer the idea of NASAT on the first weekend followed by academic side events on Sunday, and the second weekend focusing on trash/pop culture side events.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Ethnic history of the Vilnius region »

Last summer's VCU side event weekend was one of the most enjoyable tournament experiences I've ever had, so I trust the VCU folks implicitly to put together good events on both weekends based on what they consider to be the most reasonable logistics.

Also, thanks to the VCU folks for agreeing to take on this event after the UVA event fell through.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Emperor Pupienus »

I will add to the people preferring NASAT and academic side tournaments on the weekend of 8/5 and trash/other side tournaments on the weekend of 8/19.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Lightinfa »

Tricon is not "trash" - lots of people want to play it and it's going to be a relatively short event to run (esp if you do some kind of shoot out). As a result I think it should be done on the main weekend and not the second weekend (which I suspect will draw far smaller attendance regardless of what gets scheduled on it).
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by naan/steak-holding toll »

Lightinfa wrote:Tricon is not "trash" - lots of people want to play it and it's going to be a relatively short event to run (esp if you do some kind of shoot out). As a result I think it should be done on the main weekend and not the second weekend (which I suspect will draw far smaller attendance regardless of what gets scheduled on it).
The Tricon distribution contains 9 explicitly "trash" questions and 10 questions in which the authors may include trash - that's why I grouped it there. I don't have a big problem with the idea of running it on an otherwise all-academic weekend, I'd just rather not starve the trash weekend of events and end up shunting something audience-inappropriate to the second weekend, like Thought Monstrosity.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Edward Lansdale »

I just wanted to note that the sudden and unannounced change of venue is extremely inconvenient, as I had already purchased non-refundable Greyhound tickets to Charlottesville, VA, a week before the change was made. I find it curious that no attempt was made to contact interested players/staff by email to determine if the change would pose an issue. I only found out about the change while playing Cambridge Open at Columbia the past weekend. (Matt Weiner's email came later.)

Also, I was only intending to play NASAT, not a bunch of side tournaments. In addition, an $80 per person fee is far in excess of anything I've ever paid before; Cambridge Open only cost $15 per person.

I might still be willing to make it to the tournament if (a) NASAT is played, (b) the fee is reduced, and (c) someone is willing to give me a ride from Washington DC (the point at which I would have made my last change of bus on my way to Charlottesville). I understand the difficulty with getting rooms for summer tournaments but the lack of communication is frankly very disappointing, as is the prospect of wasting $103 on round-trip bus fare.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by auriana »

We will be running the following events according to the below estimated schedule. Please sign up again at the form.

SATURDAY AUGUST 5

NASAT w/lunch break 8:30am-5pm

Tricon 5pm-8pm

XENOPHON 8pm-10pm

SUNDAY AUGUST 6

OCTAVIAN 8am-11am

The Modern Age 11am-1pm

There Will Be Stock Clues 2pm-4:30pm

Thought Monstrosity 4:30pm-7pm

GEODUCK may be substituted/added to the above based on interest and completion speed of the other tournaments.

SATURDAY AUGUST 19

Super ACRONYM w/lunch break 8:30am-5pm

Chuck Berry Memorial 5pm-7:30pm

SUNDAY AUGUST 20

The Celebs Are At It Again 8am-10:30am

Let's Remember Some Guys 1030am-12:00pm

SINS/lunch break 12:00pm-3:00pm

Possible running of any previously run trash event (Fight the Power, PACENSC, etc) after 3pm depending on interest. May also run There Will Be Stock Clues again here if the trash-only audience wants to play it.

Announcements about modifications and specifics to the fee plan to follow soon.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

auriana wrote: Let's Remember Some Guys 1030am-12:00pm
Word of warning--according to its thread, guy remembering has been postponed until the 2018 HS nats season.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Kouign Amann »

Hey, could people who have registered get added to the spreadsheet, and could we get some fee info?
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Smuttynose Island »

How will the cancellation of OCTAVIAN affect the schedule? Rather than poach an event from the second weekend, is it possible to push back the start time for NASAT? Or to have some previously run event (Math Monstrosity, Fight the Power, etc) take its place?
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by felgon123 »

Smuttynose Island wrote:How will the cancellation of OCTAVIAN affect the schedule? Rather than poach an event from the second weekend, is it possible to push back the start time for NASAT? Or to have some previously run event (Math Monstrosity, Fight the Power, etc) take its place?
Evan Adams and I would like to advocate for It's Lit being slotted into the new opening in the schedule. I know a few people will have already played it at CO, but there are many who haven't, and I think it has a much broader appeal than something like Math Monstrosity.
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Kouign Amann
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Kouign Amann »

For what it's worth, I would be a fan of moving all of the already-announced stuff up in the day and appending whatever substitute event we settle on to the end of the schedule.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by CPiGuy »

Math Monstrosity is posted, so you should probably not run it.
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Re: VCU Side Event Weekend - 8/5/2017

Post by Charlie and Lolcat »

I had signed up for the Trash weekend, but my work denied my requests off, so I must unfortunately remove myself. I sincerely apologize.
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