Yes anyone can. Though it is best if you have some experience of go events or running other events. You should probably have attended one or two go tournaments to see how they usually work.
Look at the BGA calendar. Preferably look for a vacant weekend, as there are less than 52 events per year, and look for a date that is not too close to the date of another event in your area.
Send your proposed date to the BGA Tournament Coordinator (tourn-coord at britgo.org), to check it is acceptable, and get it reserved. It can be marked as provisional at first if you are not too sure to start with.
Yes the BGA Organisers’ Handbook tells you a lot about setting up and running a tournament.
The BGA has public liability insurance that covers all BGA affiliated events. For more details of exactly what is covered, please contact the treasurer.
Yes the BGA Organisers’ Handbook tells you about the various tournament systems you could consider. The most common is a Three Round McMahon system event on a single day, though varying from this could make your event more unique and interesting.
You will need to do the local organisation, such as finding the venue, organising refreshments, and accepting entries, but the BGA will usually find someone to run the draw for you if you are inexperienced in running tournaments.
Yes, the BGA can provide a laptop computer and printer, together with the GoDraw program by Geoff Kaniuk. It will also usually provide help in running the program. Contact Geoff to arrange its use (draw-program at britgo.org).
There is an Excel spreadsheet available, produced by Ian Marsh, to help control registration and payments, which can run on your own computer. GoDraw now has a spreadsheet interface to load the tournament data.
A mobile phone travels with the computer, which can be used for on the day for notification of late or cancelled entries.
You will need to produce the entry form and web page of information, but these are easily copied from existing examples. The BGA can then circulate the entry form to members, link to or host the web page and also list the event on its calendar. This is explained in more detail on the Publicising Go Tournaments.
Yes, if you send your entry form to the BGA Tournament Coordinator (tourn-coord at britgo.org), he will can produce a web page for you on the BGA site. It can even include a template to fill in and automatically post an email to you. It can link to local information pages and map pages.
The BGA will print simple entry forms free of charge to include with the newsletter. Just send an electronic or paper original to newsletter at britgo.org. If you want to distribute your own copies, for example at previous events, then you will have to print some yourself.
The BGA can provide up to 100 go sets, boards and mechanical clocks for your event to use. Some of these are superior sets which are normally only used for special events. The normal tournament sets come in multiples of 12 (some loads have 15 clocks to cover for break downs).
Usually volunteers carry sets from one event to the next. This is arranged through the Coordinator (tourn-coord at britgo.org). Clearly it may be more reliable and helpful if you collect some sets from the previous event.
Usually a guess at attendance can be made from attendance at similar events. The BGA Tournament Coordinator will then ensure sufficient sets for this number will be available. Usually you can increase the number you require, up to the night before the event, but early notice of increase is appreciated. Of course you need half as many sets as players.
Yes it charges a tournament levy on each competitor in your event. From 2006 this is £1.50 per day for players who are BGA members, but only £1.00 for any concessions you give. If a player is not a BGA member then the levy is £3.00 which includes an additional charge for temporary membership. Note that we assume visiting foreigners are members of their own national Go associations and hence should be treated as members when calculating the levy.
Please print the levy form (PDF or RTF format) and send it and your cheque to the BGA Treasurer, promptly after your event.For new events with uncertainty over the number of entrants, the BGA Treasurer (treasurer at britgo.org) may on request reduce or waive the levy in case of loss. Also if your event is longer than two days or experimental in some way, please contact the treasurer to request a discount.
If agreed in advance the BGA will often underwrite the costs of unused hotel or university bedrooms at important events, in return for half the profits.
Usually you can get a guide of going rates from other events. If you charge too much less people will come. You will have to decide whether to provide and charge for food, or not, as the food element makes the event seem more expensive.
Most events provide reductions for children, students, unwaged or elderly. You will have to decide how this would effect your budget and number of attendees. The levy you pay the BGA is reduced for reductions anyway.
There is a sample press release you can copy from. If you get a report published in the media, then please send a copy to the Tournament Coordinator for the archives.
See page BGA Organisers’ Material for more on resources available.
The BGA Book Seller may attend an event at his own discretion, depending on location, likely sales, local availability of books and so on. He can also provide a box of books for you to sell if he cannot be there.
Immediately after your event ensure that the Tournament Coordinator is provided with a list of prize winners, number of players and other interesting information on the event. He will then ensure the BGA web site gets a report in the news section and the list of winners is updated; the BGA Newsletter gets it's information from the web site. If you have any interesting photos from the event you may also supply these for the web or for publication in the British Go Journal.
Send the full results, the Godraw file (event_yy.gdt) or a paper copy (for example the register and each round paring sheets), to Geoff Kaniuk (results at britgo.org) for the web site and submission to the EGF rating system.
See page Publicising Go Tournaments for more on selecting dates, reporting results, getting publicity and so on.