English Chess Forum

This project looks promising. Obviously a lot of work has gone into it and I hope it does well. Schools always like publicity so I wondered whether a few schools, picked at random or location or whatever, could be offered the chance of a personal presentation of their certificates etc with attendant publicity. The schools themselves usually know who to approach on the local papers and a few e-mails to TV channel news sites might get some interest regionally and possibly nationally. I was thinking of CJ for one if he was available and also any friendly GM's and IM's who might be able to volunteer a few hours in their areas.

Blimey, some common sense - and a marketing strategy all in one swoop! Get your dates in early with CJ...

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Adam Raoof
FIDE International Organiser and Arbiter
Hampstead International Congresses - http://www.hampsteadchess.blogspot.co.uk
http://www.chessengland.com

One forgets that not all schools play chess and that not all kids go to school - so how are "we" going to cover that or shall "we" just ignore them?

Good point. And those kids who start young and maintain their interest after the age of 11 are those whose main chess focus is their family and/or junior chess club, not those whose chess is solely played in or through their primary (or prep) school.

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www.chesskids.com
www.richardjames.org.uk

I have no experience with Junior chess. How would you cover that?

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Adam Raoof
FIDE International Organiser and Arbiter
Hampstead International Congresses - http://www.hampsteadchess.blogspot.co.uk
http://www.chessengland.com

I would request the advice of the Director for Junior Chess and Education.

What is the remit of the Education part of this Directorship?

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We are only talking publicity here. Schools are an obvious starting point as they are geared up for publicity when their children achieve something. You can see that from the pictures in the local paper if any school has a child winning their age group, or even just progressing to the next round , at the Regional Megafinals of the UK Chess Challenge.

Not every town is lucky enough to have a Junior Chess Club but they could be a good source of publicity as well. It would of course be necessary to make it plain that the COM can be entered by anyone at the individual level and doesn't have to be through their school or chess club. So yes if a variety of different children in different settings, including children entering individually, could be featured that would be good.

When it comes to home schooling there is an association for families following that path but I don't know the details. If anyone knows the contact details it would be a good idea to get in touch and ask them to pass the information about COM on to their members. They might also be interested in a list of Junior Chess Clubs which are independent of schools.

I think COM is something that a lot of children would really enjoy and the more people who hear about it the better.

So, Richard and Carol - thanks for your feedback. How would you cover these kids? Are you suggesting that we promote the CoM amongst chess clubs (sensible) and (to cover home educated) directly to their home address? That would depend on whether they are Direct Members, but I hope that at the very least they might be occasional readers of the chess press, the ECF website or even this Forum

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Adam Raoof
FIDE International Organiser and Arbiter
Hampstead International Congresses - http://www.hampsteadchess.blogspot.co.uk
http://www.chessengland.com

Ask Mike Basman to send out a flyer when he sends off his UKCC packages to the schools who enter it?

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February 16-17: 2013 BUCA Team Championship
April 20: 2013 British Blitz Championship
July 27-August 10: 100th British Chess Championships

Virtually all the points mentioned previously have either been covered, are in the pipeline for the ECF Office or have been forgotten about.
Home schooled children, adults and many foreigners will come in individually. Contacting them is very costly if done other than online. We have no database of home-schooled children interested in chess.

Foreigners we are awaiting providing the certificates automatically online. To send them out by post would cost far too much. We will also need to charge extra for the badge, again due to the postage.
The words in bold are an absolute requirement for the whole system to work cost effectively.

Stewart Reuben

The certs can go into the same envelope as the badge.

This is not rocket science and I have done a small amount of rocket science.

Getting two items into the same envelope is possible. As an active eBayer I have much experience of putting more than one item into an envelope.

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Chess Images: http://johnupham.smugmug.com/Chess
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John upham >The certs can go into the same envelope as the badge. <

The badges are much smaller than the certificates. Postage is no longer dependent solely on weight but more on area of the envelope. That is why it is so important to get the certificates produced and distributed on the internet.
That, presumably is rocket science.

Stewart Reuben

Is £6 enough I have to ask, once you take off the cost of the materials then the on-going cost of the web hosting and then the cost of the actual postage - what remains, has anyone worked it out?

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Cheers
Carl Hibbard

Dear Carl,
One of the easiest things to overlook (I ko because I have sometimes done so) is that not everybody who buys a credit receives a certificate and badge because not everybody passes. On the assumption of 60% pass rate, there is an added surplus of £2.40 for each credit where the cost was £6. Where the cost is £5, it is reasonable to assume there will be multiple mailings. That is why it was so important not to promise mailings in one to two days, as some wanted.
Level 1 is a bit of a loss-leader. The profitability of levels 2 and 3 should be higher.

Stewart Reuben

With respect Stewart: why would the ECF decide to make Level 1 a loss-leader? Why not make each level profitable, to ensure a profit?

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Michael Bennett
Hendon Chess Club: http://www.hendonchessclub.com
Golders Green Rapidplays: http://www.goldersgreenchess.blogspot.com