Good Morning all,
I want to post a general reminder, the NOVA OPEN, which is kind of a big deal, has just opened its ticket sales! http://www.novaopen.com/
In addition brand new for this year for NOVA.
MAGIC the Gathering!
Even more Basic Black Seminars!
I would really strongly suggest going to the Basic Black Seminars if you can, they are fantastic. I signed up for last years and was not disappointed. If you ever wanted to learn practical defensive lessons from a man with real experience, that's your ticket. Seriously can't encourage it enough.
A lot of people don't help run major tournaments or have a real feel for how it is to be staff on an event like this, so I'm going to pass on a few things here.
I really want to emphasize that the NOVA is really a good event focused on giving everyone who attends the best time possible. Not just those who win the events. The guys who win are going to be happy almost no matter what goes on. The point is for everyone else who shows up to have a good time. Every time there is a meeting, this is something that MVB goes out of his way to stress to the staff.
There is a great deal of effort behind the scenes by dedicated individuals who also have full time jobs and families to support. Everyone works as a volunteer, with no compensation. A lot of people just sort of see the face of the event as MVB, and yes, he's a huge part of why the NOVA happens. But there are a lot of guys out there who show up out of a love of their game of choice, and a genuine desire to pass that on to others. So when you see the NOVA, it's not just one guy, its one guy plus the 10 to 25 other guys (and gals) he has helping run it. Everyone does the best they can in this regard.
There are monthly meetings, and for some of the staff its more frequent than that, to plan the entire event, make goofy promotional videos, determine prize support, gather donations from sponsors, design missions, build terrain, and deal with the contracting side of it (hotel and stuff). This cycle starts within weeks of the end of the previous NOVA. It's putting it lightly to say there is a lot going on.
Burnout is common too, both at the NOVA and leading up to it. At the event itself, it can be stressful to wake up at 7am, judge an invitational, a GT, then run the TRIOS, Narrative, then go on trash pickup / cleanup from midnight to 2am, before crashing to sleep for a few hours. After a few days you can start to run ragged. Not to mention, you have to keep your energy levels high, you're constantly on your feet. People are talking to you, asking questions, depending on you to settle stressful rules disputes for archaic questions that you've never imagined could come up. Not to complain, but it's often something as an event attendee, one might not think about.
MVB and the staff try to run the best event they can. I encourage you all to come out and see it!
Registration is here -- > http://www.novaopen.com/?page_id=2995
In other news, the RTT for tomorrow is all set to go. We have our ducks in a line as it were and it's almost go time! I'm very excited to see all the gaming and competition which will be occurring tomorrow. Needless to say it's going to be a very heavy competitive gathering based on the sign ups we have. At this moment we are full up, with about 5 people on the wait list. I wouldn't let that discourage you from dropping by though as it is an RTT, people do drop without notice. Worst we can say is no right? =0
Sign ups start at 10am, we will distribute missions at 10:50ish and games will start rolling around 11. We expect 2 hours and 30 minutes a round, with a 40 minute break for lunch, and a 20 minute break in the evening. We should be wrapped up and bundling you out with any prizes you win around 8!
I look forward to seeing you all there.
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