We are staying at a Renaissance Grand during the US Youth Soccer Convention. First, let me say that everything in the hotel room is nice. The beds are nice, the furniture in the room is nice, everything is upper scale.

But entirely unusable. Let me explain.

The desk I am writing this from is a nice, dark cherry with carved legs with inlaid wood veneer on the top. The chair I am sitting in is equally ornate and may be upholstered in Corinthian leather. But, here is where this all falls down. The table is too narrow to use a notebook computer. The chair is very heavy and hard to roll and the arms do not tuck neatly under the desk, so I am leaning over, typing on my keyboard. (yes, it is uncomfortable and is affecting the mood of this post)

The bathroom is similarly equipped. But the really nice vanity drains incredibly slowly and, of course, the little soap and shampoo do not fit on the tray. And finally, the coffee maker is in a tray that pulls out, but the switch to turn it on and off is on the front, behind the tray lip. And to make this worse, it shares the same armoire shelf as the TV, so there is no space next to the coffee maker to set down your cup. But, it is a nice coffee maker and makes a great cup of coffee!

Our Advice: When deciding the features and amenities of your tournament, make sure EVERYTHING FITS TOGETHER! For example, you may plan a great reception for your registration, but if there is no parking, it will be a bad experience for the coaches. Take the same approach with your web site. Does everything fit together or do you have a registration system that really doesn’t work with the schedule, etc. (While we are on that subject, take a look at the TourneyCentral.com site.)

Look at everything you provide for your guest teams and make sure that they are usable as a cohesive event, not a bunch of room furnishings that looks great but don’t play well together.

We are now at a point when several tournaments have accepted teams and are sending out the notice to confirm. I can always tell when a tournament accepts teams because the email server starts whipping the confirmation notices back to our tracking email inbox. It’s like someone turned on the switch at a circus merry-go-round; it’s that exciting to see.

What is REALLY more exciting is to see this flurry of activity even before the official Congratulations email goes out from the tournament. That means the teams have been checking their status by logging in, some probably almost hourly, to see their status go from Pending to Accepted.

Our advice: Keep track of those teams that confirm early; they are your biggest fans. (we now have a track tool in the Team Apps Module) Connect early and often with teams and make sure you know they are coming. Use this excitement to build ownership with your tournament event. Until you accept a team, they really aren’t invested in your event. But, after they confirm, they are in, mind, heart and soul. Don’t squander that ownership thorough apathy, poor communication or bad customer service.

Recently, a question was sent to a tournament from a parent asking why the U9 players are not required to wear headgear? She cited all sorts of studies about headballs, headgear, etc. and then ranted a bit about how the tournament was being irresponsible and providing an unsafe environment for the children. The proper response, of course, was that while head gear was not mandated, it was also not excluded. If the parent felt the play was unsafe for their child without head gear, they have the right and responsibility to require their child wear some. She also had a right to not sign the liability form and that by not signing, her child would not be allowed to play. Moreover, her issue was really with the coach, not the tournament.

But, the response was not given before a few suggestions got passed around the tournament staff, my favorite is posted above.

Head injuries are not funny and should not be laughed at. We’re not doing that. What is funny is a cat wearing a citrus peel as a helmet and parents who are so overprotective of their kids that they suck the fun out of everything they do. It is also quite sad that in 10 short years, these are the same kids who will be voting, never having seen any environment other than the one artificially created for them by their well-meaning parents. But, I digress.

Our advice: Never lose your sense of humor. Soccer is, after all JUST A GAME! Have a bit of fun along the way. Managing a tournament is a lot of hard work just communicating with coaches, not to mention all the parents who have easy access to you. Find fun where you can. It will keep you young and keep the tone of the tournament light.

I’m a bit amused whenever I see a question come across on one of our sites, framed something like:
I wanted to know about <something> but I could not find it on your site. Is it not available or is your website not updated? (emphasis is mine)

But my amusement quickly turns to frustration because I am suddenly and painfully aware that years and years of really, really horrifically bad soccer tournament web sites have conditioned your potential guest teams to assume and accept that your tournament web site is going to be out of date; almost always. And as you are expected to do more and more for teams in real-time, the task of keeping a traditional web site updated gets pushed further and further back.

Our advice: If you have a TourneyCentral web site, it is easy to keep current at all times. Post a message on the front page of your site that says with confidence that EVERYTHING about your tournament is posted on the web site and that it is CURRENT. Keeping your web site REAL TIME tells your guest teams that you are a tight organization who has its act together. It is the one bit of competitive advantage that is easy to gain and maintain.

And, if you don’t have a TourneyCentral web site and you want to project an image of real-time, what is holding you back? I’ve just now checked the dial tone on our phones and it still works. Call today.

The big question of the season appears to be along the lines of We are bringing our entire club to your tournament and we want a discount. There are some variations to that statement, some saying they are going to bat for your tournament with their club, board, etc., but the bottom line is they are looking for a discount.

On the surface, this sounds like a good deal for the tournament. You get a volume number of teams and all you need to do is give them a discount. But, as always, we are going to examine this issue just a little bit more in-depth.

Our advice: Don’t do discounts. Once you do, the discount price is the real price of your tournament and other teams will find out.

Firstly, is price the ONLY thing that is determining the club’s decision to play in your tournament? If so, why is this? Pass on any club that makes this all about price. If you are a quality event that meets the club’s development and competition goals, the club will want to play in your tournament. After all, an average tournament only costs each player about $20-$35 in fees.

Secondly, there are hidden costs with accepting clubs that have nothing to do with the tournament fee. Will you now have excessive coaching conflicts? Will they now demand reduced rates from your hotels, asking for a coaches’ room for free. If you are a competitive tournament, what will their B-teams do to your brackets and overall reputation? What if a team pulls out; will they find a replacement for you?

Club-block applications are not going away, so you must come up with a policy to deal with them. At minimum, you should post your policy in your FAQ section. You may also want to accept them with terms and conditions in place. A couple of these might be that coaching conflicts are theirs to resolve and that if a team in a club block pulls out, the club is penalized with a bond fee. Whatever your policy, make the club own their participation in your tournament as much as you do.

I have been driving from my home to the office the same way for the past three years or so. However, this morning, through a combination of weather-related and social happenstance, I found myself driving to work through a residential plat that exited out to the main road that leads into my office complex. What I had not noticed the three years I rutted out for myself is that homes had sprung up on either side and on the ends of the main road. I knew where I was, but nothing looked familiar. The area had changed without me noticing, even though I had driven by the same point every day for three years. I found myself surprised by this revelation.

Our Advice: No matter how well you think you know your tournament, take a look at it from different points of view frequently. How do your sponsors see you? How does the community see your event? Are you a great boom for business or are you just a traffic-jam every year? How do teams traveling in from out-of-the-area see your event? How does inviting teams from other areas change the dynamics of your tournament?

There are no right or wrong answers, but you should never find yourself surprised at the changing landscape. Always be aware of change. Oh, and take a different way to work every day. You never know when you’ll discover what you already knew!

This weekend I was asked to sub for my friend’s recreation league basketball team. The game was in an unfamiliar town. I e-mailed him for an address to get directions. Here is what I was sent:

Take 75 S to 70 West and get off at Eaton Rt. 127 exit. Turn left off the exit and go a few miles pass Kmart and Wal-Mart. At second light where a CVS is on the left and Speedway on the right, turn left onto Lexington Rd. You will stop at Maple don’t turn, stay on Lexington. The next stop sign is at East. You can see the church from that stop. The First Church of God is right there at corner of East and Lexington. It has a blue roof.
Wow, are you lost? Are these directions driving your crazy? You can imagine the frustration I was feeling as I tried to negotiate these directions and drive at the same time. I was traveling alone, so it made it even more difficult. My drive time was 30 minutes longer because of the way these directions were written.

Our Advice: BE DIRECT WITH YOUR DIRECTIONS. Start with basic information like site address, contact person and emergency phone number. Then use a modern form of providing directions (Mapquest, Google, Yahoo, etc). Always be sure to check accuracy of these directions before posting to the public. Imagine how frustrated your teams would be if they had to sort through the directions listed above to make it to your tournament. This can foul up your event very quickly. Let’s face it! One of the most basic elements to managing a successful tournament is to have teams, coaches and referees arrive on time, safely to their game site. All those associated with your event deserve easy to read, accurate and reliable directions to their game site.
Use the website maintenance module to post directions and layout maps for all sites used by your event. This module allows directors to post directions with a map through Google. There is even a feature allowing for latitude and longitude. Talk about precise. Spectators will also appreciate information related to pets, restroom facilities, smoking policy, concessions, etc. This information is crucial to helping promote a positive on-site experience for all parties involved in your event. After all, you want happy players, coaches, volunteers, spectators and referees to participate in your tournament

This blog entry is really just a shameless plug for a sponsor of the Go-o-o-oalrilla Classic.

This past weekend, ABC’s Good Morning America did a five minute segment on supermarkets and featured Jungle Jim’s almost exclusively (Stew Leonard’s and Wegmans also got a plug). Jungle Jim’s sponsors the Go-o-o-oalrilla Classic in Miamitown, Ohio (West Cincinnati).

You can see the video here or read the story here.

Why am I telling you this? Why would I not! A sponsor of a one of our tournaments just got five whole minutes on a national news show! Anyone who has ever tried to get press for their business knows how hard this is to achieve. I will tell everyone I know, including people with and without media connections. They will watch the video or read the story and they will tell more people. Pretty soon, Jungle Jim’s will not only be seen as that wonderful, wacky grocery store but they will also be seen as the community-based business who gives back to their community. As studies show, there just is no greater marketing ROI than when you have penetrated the hearts of your community. Youth sports is the expressway with built-in on ramps to the community.

Our Advice: If you have a sponsor of your event, watch the news, read the newspapers, get plugged in. And, when you see your sponsor gets some press, shout it out to everyone you know! Be proud of your sponsor’s success because their success is yours. And be sure to drop them a quick email or personal note of congratulations.

I was listening to CSPAN the other day and there was a senator at the microphone, explaining the amount of work in a gallon of gasoline. His explanation went something like: Each gallon gas contains as much work potential as 12 men working an entire year. In short, it takes the effort of 12 men working an entire year to push a car as far as a gallon of gas will take it.

He went on the compare the work output of a locamotive to 100,000 men, etc. but his point was: In our technological world, common folk have at our disposal exponentially more energy to move things than did people thousands (or even hundreds) of years ago when all they had were their hands and strong backs, maybe a plough and an ox.

This got me thinking about the amount of work-units the web-based tools of a TourneyCentral site gives an average tournament. Getting in touch with hundreds of referees is a click and email away. Sending the teams their game schedule is the same amount of work. Scheduling a tournament requires fewer volunteers as does posting scores. One gallon of Internet moves your tournament further down the road faster and with less effort than even a few years ago.

Our Advice: If you are running a soccer tournament without the TourneyCentral tools… why?? click here and get signed up today. If you are already using TourneyCentral, but only a few of the tools, take a moment and explore your modules more fully. The whole idea is to make you more efficient and effective, all the while reducing your workload. Burn some Internet fuel; we’ll make more!

When we were driving from Englewood to Indianapolis on I70 this past weekend to go to the NSCAA, we passed under a big sign at the state border that welcomed us to Ohio (I know, we were leaving, but that isn’t the point). On the sign, it has our red-white-blue Ohio logo, our state slogan and the name of the Governor and Lt. Governor. In November, we elected a new Governor, who was inaugurated the first week of January.

The sign had a small sign over the old Governor’s name and had the new Governor’s name printed on it. I counted 56 days between the election and the inauguration, which I think is probably enough time to order new signs. But, apparently not because there were these pieces of duct tape on the signs with the new folks printed on it.

All of this says one or more of the following:

• We didn’t plan in advance for a change in leadership
• We didn’t care enough to make new signs
• We didn’t want to spend the money on a new sign to change just one part of it.
• Hey, the new guy is going to be out of office in four years anyway and we’ll just have to make a new sign.
• Some other facet of bureaucracy that makes no sense.

Regardless of the reason, the message delivered to every motorist passing under those signs — subconsciously or otherwise — is Welcome to Ohio, the Duct Tape State.

Our advice: Don’t create systems that you can’t maintain properly. And when you make a system and want to keep it, don’t try to manage changes on the cheap. It will just look like you put a piece of duct tape on your event.

If you are living in Ohio, or even just care about this issue, and want to write Gov. Ted Strickland, his address is: Governor’s Office, Riffe Center, 77 South High Street, Columbus, OH 43215. (I couldn’t find an email address on the contact page of www.ohio.gov, which is a blog entry for another day.) If you just want your name added to the letter TourneyCentral will write, just offer feedback.

Yesterday, I saw a demo for Apple’s new iPhone. At that very moment Steve Jobs scrolled across the screen using a slight touch of his fingers, I hated my Treo 700w. I will buy an iPhone when they come out, even though they are partnered with Cingular Wireless and it will cost a fortune to break my contract with Verizon Wireless. I don’t even care how much the iPhone costs.

Judging from some of the pricing schemes we have seen this past spring season, pricing a tournament appears to be one of the trickier things about managing the event. But it needn’t be. The rule is a hard and fast one that has not changed since we began bartering each other for goods and services. Here it is: Price your tournament to what the market will bear.

Something about the rule seems to have been lost in translation, especially pricing for the lower age groups. For example, many events are now offering a 8v8 and 11v11 at a certain age group. From our prespective, the price should be the same since the experience of competing in a tournament is the same and the ability to win a trophy is the same, regardless of the number of players per side. Yet, many events are putting in multi-tiered pricing based on the number per side. This is unnessesarily complicated and violates the primary rule of pricing.

I suspect that much of the pricing discussion runs along the lines of Well, since we have fewer players per team, the cost should be adjusted so the per player cost is consistent or even worse it only cost us one referee pay at 6v6, so we should charge less.

Which brings us to the second rule of pricing: Never price to your costs. Always price to the value you provide.

What many tournaments appear to be forgetting is that the pricing for the lower age groups is designed to create a LOSS LEADER category. Even if you fail to cover your costs for the lower age groups, you will most definately make up for it in merchandise, concessions and repeat business for many more years to come. Younger teams buy more stuff and teams tend to go back to the tournaments they had fun at when they were U8, 9 and 10.

Our Advice: Keep your pricing simple. Most tournament events don’t need more than 2 tiers of pricing; entry level teams that are just starting travel (U8/9-10) and older teams that are looking for more competition. You should be looking to get as much money out of the teams as the market will bear while they should be looking to get as much value out of your tournament as possible. As long as each feels they got a good deal, the price is right. And make sure your younger teams have fun!

Next pricing blog entry: What is your market?

I brought some work home last night, plugged in my laptop and dug in, when my mouse starting acting crazy. It was on its last legs and I knew it. So, I ran down the the local Office Depot and picked up a replacement mouse. I didn’t think too much about it, a mouse is a mouse, right?

After working for about an hour with this replacement mouse, my wrist hurt, my fingers were sore and I felt like I was draggin a brick around. The manufacturer used cheap tactile keys, a heavy cord and .. well, I got what I paid for. But, it moved the cursor, clicked where I wanted and did everything a mouse is supposed to do. It just didn’t go that extra two feet.

It got me thinking about all sorts of other times that an inattention to detail spoiled other events in my recent past. No awning outside the coffee-place drive up window on a rainy morning. A blast of hot air from the furnace vent over my table at lunch. The on-hold time with Verizon Wireless when I just had a quick question. The single window at the Post Office during the lunch rush. When they stated moving the traffic cones on I70 at 3:00pm instead of 3:00am. Nothing huge, just little things that could keep a pleasant experience from becoming an annoyance.

Our advice: NEVER ignore the details. Are your schedules easy to read? Do your traffic directions read to someone who is from out of town or do they make assumptions that everyone knows where something is? Do you have signs posted visibly? On your tshirt table, are the piles clearly labled by size? Do your teams know your web site address by heart? I’m sure you can think of more.

Teams want to come to your event and have fun. By making sure that the details are buttoned up, they are less likely to have a pleasant experience tainted by small annoyances that can become big issues. To quote Joseph Conrad, The Secret Sharer, Exactitude in small matters is the very soul of discipline. Make sure your event is disciplined and your ship is tight!

A friend of mine told me about a holiday tradition within their family. Her family is huge! Several aunts, uncles and cousins. Instead of getting eachother the obligatory necktie and perfume each year, they decide to support a different charity during the holiday season. All interested parties make a donation to the cause instead of purchasing a gift. This money is then given to a local charity of the groups choice the week after Christmas. The charity is always relevant to someone in their family. Giving it even more meaning!

Our Advice: Is someone in your soccer community in need? Do you know of a player from a guest team that is in need? Can you support a local charity? These are all ways your event can give back to the community during the Holiday season. This is more meaningful way to share Holiday spirit within your tournament committee. Set up a Holiday Foundation within your tournament committee and share the funds with a deserving group, individual or family. The recipient will be ever grateful, you will feel wonderful and they will be a friend of your event for life. It is a win-win for everyone.

Recently, I had a conversation with a tournament that is having growing pains. They want to leap into the premier quality tournaments and to do that, they need to accept more traveling teams and start rejecting some local teams that do not provide as much competition. As with most events, they can not expand to more fields because there are none. However, they have a local sponsor who is very much against them cutting local teams.

On the one hand, they need to grow to remain viable. On the other, they could lose their main sponsor if they do.

Our Advice: Growth is painful and doubly so if that growth means the loss of a sponsor. For every local sponsor, there are more regional sponsors. The trick is to convince the regional sponsor that you are a hub site that brings a soccer community together for an experience of their brand and then carries it back to their home towns; like bees pollinating flowers.

Geographic location does not matter as much for regional brands. Market saturation does. And if you can help spread their brand recognition be bringing a group together in one place, your tournament will have value for the brand as it helps them saturate more markets for a lot less cost.

A sponsor should never stunt your growth or resentment will eventually set in, your volunteers and staff will lose passion for the tournament and your event will wither into just another tournament.