Death of a congress ?

[David Pardoe]

Publicity is a key to success.....direct emails to players about 3 or 4 weeks prior to the event can be useful. and worth flagging up the joys of weekend chess.....its not just the prize money.
Its worth checking the map of your region to target key areas & all major towns/cities (clubs) for circulation. In your case, I`d be looking at the whole of South West, including Bristol, and beyond to Cardiff, Southampton, Oxford, Reading...you get my drift.
Check out major websites for possible county and club contacts, including county captains, and circulate to all congress organisors and webmasters in these areas. Ask if they can circulate there respective player lists/contacts....and post notices on respective websites.
Its important to network.....and to have uptodate email lists (not easy).
You`re right to try to target local players, ie those within 50 - 60 miles of your venue. Quite useful to circulate to Universities and colleges, and local secondary schools (+ junior organisors) contacts. Stress the fact that you cater for players of all standards..from beginner to expert. It is vital to attract new blood to our events and make all players feel welcome.
You`ll need to mention accomodation options, including B&Bs offering cheap rates. I guess you offer half-point byes. Might be worth contacting local hotels to see if they`ll offer some deals. Apologies if you already do this....
Sponsorship can be helpful...local Building Societies, businesses, etc might be willing to put up something for some publicity....even if its only £250
Reserve the right to `merge/change/amend` some sections and prizes depending on entry levels. You should not be looking at losing 4-fig sums.

Best of luck...and I echo the comments about late entries (these can surprise....). Our recent Stockport Rapidplay had good levels of entries recently and we got very good local support. Sometimes I think it just takes a bit of prompting/encouragement to stir up some enthusiasm. Notices in the Press can help...maybe even a token offering £2 discount on late fees, if they bring a cutting.

[Carl Hibbard]

It doesn't take long for a link on here to be picked up by search engines...

[benedgell]

Hi John.

As someone who went to the effort of organising a congress only to have to cancel it through lack of entries I can empathise with everyone involved with the East Devon Congress.

I think the congress venue is excellent. Easy to reach with public transport, and plenty of accomodation nearby. As a non- driver I can't really comment on the car parking, but I haven't heard any complaints about it from people who've played in the past.

I'd agree with Brendan about more publicising needed for the event. I would be happy to help to that end in the future.

A couple of examples I'd offer: the event isn't mentioned on the Somerset, Bristol, Hampshire, or Cornwall chess sites unless I've missed it. Also, no entry forms were available at the recent Somerset- Devon match.

One potential problem that the congress will always have is that whilst Devon has a decent number of active chess players (i.e people who enter a few congresses a year as well as play club matches), the same doesn't ring true for either Somerset or Cornwall.

Somerset, doesn't have many especially active players. With all due respect to my home county, it tends to be that people from Bath and the South Bristol area enter the Bristol Congresses and Frome, whilst people from central/ south Somerset mostly either enter only the Frome Congress each year, or only play for their local club.

Cornwall has only a few active players, who whilst they are comitted and enter a lot of congresses, are very few in number.

[Sebastian Stone]

The last time I entered the East Devon in 2009 there had been rumours of its forthcoming demise due to lack of entries.

I have once again sent in my entry form.

One wonders if these rumours turn out to have more substance than they did the last time.

[John Ariss]

Sebastian
You are right ,entries have been dropping gradually for years , unfortunatley this year has seen a massive drop off, maybe due to the financial situation across the country.
As for the stars barred situation, this could certainly have some bearing as I know the reduction from 4 sections to 3 has done. The reasoning behind that I am informed is that the congress couldn't afford to pay out the guaranteed prize money in the intermediate regarding the ammount of entries ,which is fair enough having been at a congress where the prize money was reduced and all hell let loose.
The disbanding of the intermediate has certainly put people off , I have had a few comments made to me regarding'falling between two stools'.
In the aftermath, hopefully we can iron out these problems, a lot of logical comments have been made on this thread, come back next year stronger and fitter - watch this space !

[Andrew Farthing]

I'm not sure that this will help entries , but I'll be playing in the East Devon congress, so if anyone has any questions or comments about the ECF (or just wants to say hello!), I'll be around all weekend.

This really is an excellent congress - the playing hall is spacious, with a large bookstall from CCF Mindgames and a large bar/analysis area just outside, and it's always very well run. Exeter itself is a lively university town, and the tournament is close to the attractive cathedral square if that's your kind of thing.

Andrew Farthing,
Chief Executive, English Chess Federation

[LozCooper]

I'm not sure that this will help entries , but I'll be playing in the East Devon congress, so if anyone has any questions or comments about the ECF (or just wants to say hello!), I'll be around all weekend.

Best not to do the above if he's in a time scramble or has his head in his hands though

[Andrew Farthing]

I'm not sure that this will help entries , but I'll be playing in the East Devon congress, so if anyone has any questions or comments about the ECF (or just wants to say hello!), I'll be around all weekend.

Best not to do the above if he's in a time scramble or has his head in his hands though

Don't worry - I'm hopeless in time scrambles anyway, and having my head in my hands, usually accompanied by quiet sobbing, has become my default position since becoming Chief Exec!

[E Michael White]

Can I urge people in general to wake up from their apathy.......

When you are struggling for numbers charging a late fee in the present financial climate, for entries within 14 days of the congress, probably works against you and sends out the wrong message. You don’t need the wall charts in strict grade order. Why do you need more then 2 days ?

Frome use 14 days but they have numbers. Other events seem to use 2 days (Huddersfield) or just £5 on the day (Gillingham). Smart thinking suggests an early entry discount and £5 late fee on the day with entries accepted up to 2 hours after the start with a 1/2 point first round bye.

I suspect the grading limit of 155 in the second section also works against you as many players 155-165 prior to 2009 were graded 130/140 and you now push them into the open to possibly play v 200 + players. Was the cut off grade for the second event given adequate consideration ?

[John Ariss]

Michael
As I have stated, I have nothing to do with the organising, I have taken it on myself to 'stick my oar in' for want of a better phrase.
I am just trying to glean as much advice as possible so that I can present it to the relevant people and maybe avert the demise of the congress.
Your comments are most welcome and will be
passed on, however all I can do at the moment is just that 'pass on advice'
whether it is acted upon or not is out of my control

[Alex Holowczak]

Michael
As I have stated, I have nothing to do with the organising, I have taken it on myself to 'stick my oar in' for want of a better phrase.
I am just trying to glean as much advice as possible so that I can present it to the relevant people and maybe avert the demise of the congress.
Your comments are most welcome and will be
passed on, however all I can do at the moment is just that 'pass on advice'
whether it is acted upon or not is out of my control

I've just looked at the form. You could attract entries by FIDE-rating your Open section. Your 4-hour sessions are long enough (and you have 40 moves in the first time control), so it might be a risk worth taking. (On the flipside, you might lose entries to people who aren't ECF members.) Your Open would become a British Championship Qualifier straight away (if it isn't one already).

Another option might be to put three rounds on Saturday, two on Sunday, and reduce the time limits to something like 35/75 + 15. This will make your congress cheaper to visit (no need for Friday accommodation), and may reduce venue costs (no round on Friday, so you only need to pay for two days). This may also impact upon your entries; you may lose slower players and gain players who play quicker. What do other congresses in the area provide? Are they run over 2 1/2 days, or are they run over 2 full days?

[David Pardoe]

John...some good points raised....but at this stage `immediate` action is needed if things are to happen this year.
I`d suggest targetting particularly the U100 group & the U150 group, because this is where the biggest potential numbers of players are...
With about ten days to go, there is still time to put out reminders via emails...ask other local South West Congress organisors if they could circulate there contact lists + county captains & some major league sectretaries & clubs, ie, Bristol, Devon...etc.... and maybe Universities/Colleges...plus Webmasters, asking for some clear publicity on news pages.
Birmingham & London even.....
Good luck....

[John Ariss]

David
Thank you for your input.
I e-mailed all of the local clubs yesterday and pointed out the situation.I must admit I had a very good response from the secretaries, who on the whole were very supportive and pledged to push the issue to their members.
Will report back if there is a significant response

[Roger de Coverly]

What do other congresses in the area provide? Are they run over 2 1/2 days, or are they run over 2 full days?

It's long been a signature feature of the long established West of England congresses, Dorset(Weymouth), Torbay, Exeter and Frome, that they play to the 1-2-2 format. That format (and 1-3-2) had all but disappeared in the London and South East area until e2e4 revived it for the FIDE rated weekenders.

West of England Congresses have long relied to some extent for numbers on chess tourists, players from outside the immediate area. From that viewpoint, playing on a Friday evening isn't an issue if you need to be present for the Saturday morning round. It also gives you Saturday evening off without spoiling your chance of a 100% score with a half point bye.

It's getting to be a common factor as well that players are leaving it to later and later before committing themselves to entering. Online lists of players already entered may have an effect as well, whether positive or negative I'm not sure.

[Colin Gardiner]

Hi John sorry to hear numbers are down.i will be there as usual.one idea i did mentio to tony maynard a couple of years ago was to consider having 3 rounds on saturday instead of the friday evening game.I would assume this will reduce the cost of the venue and may attract some players who would be able to reduce the cost of accomodation. we need exeter to continue. for myself and many fellow players it is one of our favourate tournaments.