TourneyCentral will be at the 2017 NSCAA Convention, in booth 1011. Stop by and say hi!
Our booth is being run by the folks at Premier Athletic Advertising so while you are looking for hosting software to power your tournament, take a look at their services for tournaments as well as their calendar of events for your teams.
See everyone in LA.
Instagram has added a feature to their platform that has the potential of getting bigger, so we’ll cover it as a separate topic — Instagram Stories.
Instagram Stories is a short (10 sec) video clip that you can add to your account that disappears after a day, much like stories in Snapchat. You can decide to do just Instagram or just Snapchat… or both, but whatever you decide to do, make sure you feed your audience on both channels. If you do both, it may be tempting to record on Snapchat, save and then republish on Instagram, but you really should resist and create content unique to each channel for the widest audience engagement.
Regardless of what you do, save the video before you post it. You will want to create a reel of your social media efforts for your committee, board, sponsors or yourself and it always helps to save before posting.
Getting started
To get started using Instagram Stories, just log into your Instagram account.
1. At the very top of the home screen, you will see a camera icon (or a +) Press that and it turns into a standard recording screen.
2. Hold down the white record button at the bottom of the screen while you are recording your video. Release it when you are done.
3. Add text at the top and doodles as you’d like using the marker and/or text at the upper right (not necessary, but you can experiment as you get more comfortable with Instagram Stories)
4. Save your story to your phone now just in case things go wrong, like you get disconnected or Instagram fails to upload, by clicking on the download icon in the lower right.
5. Send your video to Instagram Stories by clicking on the Record button that now contains a check mark. If you change your mind or wish to re-record, you can always cancel.
6. You can also add photos to your Instagram Stories by just tapping on the Record button once, like you would take a regular Instagram or Snapchat. However, Instagram Stories is turning into more of a short video story tool and the photos are less effective in holding attention. Viewers can see your standard feed for photos.
7. Be sure to also add to your Instagram feed in addition to Instagram Stories. Because Stories go away after a day, you want to have something a bit more permanent. By swiping up on the record screen, you can include any photo or video you recorded on your phone during the past 24 hours. However, people really like seeing original, in-the- moment video so you may want to avoid doing that too much.
What to storify
The key to a good Instagram Story line is to tell a story, not just post up random or sequential videos because you can. That is what you may want to use your regular Instagram feed for.
Have a beginning, middle and an end, even as you may want to tell the story acrosss multiple 10-second clips. Many users string together several recordings to tell a complete story. Always be aware, however, that your videos will drop off at the end of a 24-hour period, so make sure your story still makes sense if the first or second video in a series is no longer available.
If you want to create a multi-video story, it is best to script and set up as much as possible beforehand, so that when you shoot the videos, they are so close in time that they drop off pretty much on the 24-hour expiration.
Have fun and experiment.
And shoot vertical, even though you can shoot horizontal.
The most-asked question we get about our software is “where is your one-button scheduling?”
I’m aware this expectation is out there and that others may be marketing it in their sales pitch, but we’re never going to lie to you. Scheduling a soccer tournament is a human skill that is only aided by software. While we have grids, automated pairings, conflict alerts — all the standard stuff you would expect from a soccer tournament scheduling program — we here at TourneyCentral don’t assume to know more about your event that you do.
You know your fields. You know the people who tend them, water them and make sure they are in peak condition for your tournament. You know what is important to them. You know the teams you have invited to and accepted into your tournament. You understand the hundreds — maybe thousands — of nuanced variables of each of these coaches and DOCs. You know who your volunteers are and what is important to them to get them and keep them volunteering. You know your vendors. You know your sponsors’ needs.
It may look smart, but a computer is pretty dumb about all this. A computer program just fakes knowing all this. A computer program needs to be told all of this stuff that you intuitively “know.” Sure, a program can help make things easier, but a one-button schedule-maker won’t care. It will just spit out the pairings, locations and times.
Fast, but not good.
In short, you know, understand and respect the thousands of human needs, feelings and relationships that make a soccer tournament possible. Never assume a successful soccer tournament is the result of a “superior, efficient” schedule. It’s not. Success will ultimately be judged by the vibe the coaches, players, fans and sponsors feel at your event.
If this is your first time scheduling a soccer tournament, we’ll help you if you need us to. We can do the mechanics of who, when and where, but the why is all you. Learn the why. Learning what is important to the people playing and tending to your games is the most effective way to build your scheduling skills. It’s much, much more than just an app.
You should never want to cede that power and responsibility entirely to a computer program. Your software should help with the scheduling, not take over the human bits that make your soccer tournament different, human and pleasant to attend.
Your guest teams come to play soccer because that is why they attend your soccer tournament. Higher quality teams who play good soccer with lots of points is what attracts soccer teams to your soccer tournament.
Soccer. Soccer. Soccer.
What if all of that is not true?
What? That is the way it’s always been. We play soccer. Our soccer people play soccer. Our DOCs play, live and sleep soccer. We are a soccer tournament, so we must focus on the soccer.
I’ve seen soccer purists rip good soccer tournaments apart, mostly because they believe a soccer tournament is all about soccer, that the other stuff is just fluff.
They are wrong.
But what soccer tournaments are not is a soccer event.
It surprises a lot of people when I tell them I’m not all that passionate about soccer or technology. What?? TourneyCentral is a soccer technology company? How could you not live and breathe the nuance of pairings and soccer stats, how this team should be seeded higher because they play in this league or they are state cup champions or….. How could you not live and breathe the tech and app development and Apple vs Android and specs and ….
Don’t get me wrong, I care about soccer and tech; I understand soccer through and through. I also understand technology because we use both to bring about the best soccer tournament production software anywhere. But if TourneyCentral was a soccer technology company, we would be doing a disservice to the people who need us the most; those who need a diversion from the everyday.
Our advice: Start looking at your soccer tournament as a fashion brand. Why do your guest teams want to be a part of who you are? Why do they “wear” your event? Consider they can get soccer anywhere — all day, every day — so what about your event makes it special?
Your soccer tournament should be a New York Fashion Week, not just another trip to Walmart for a pack of white undershirts. Figure this out and start producing an event that breaks out of the mould. Both on the field and in the digital space.
TourneyCentral is a media and event management company. Your soccer tournament is a fashion brand.
It’s time for soccer tournaments to get serious about a Soccer Tournament Media Officer to manage media, from newspaper and TV to social media channels.
This photo was posted by the Solar Impulse team. Sure, the photo itself is pretty impressive but once you get beyond that, there is a spectacular epiphany that was easy to overlook at first:
The Solar Impulse has a selfie window built into its design.
Marketing the Solar Impulse using social media was not a thought bolted-on after the fact. Marketing using social media wasn’t going to be one of those things an intern or a community manager would handle. From the very beginning, marketing on social media was planned.
It’s time for soccer tournaments to design their own selfie window into their events. It’s time for a Soccer Tournament Media Officer to plan, coordinate and execute the event using all media channels, including social. Start here.
Our advice:
Build a “selfie-window” into your soccer tournament event by design. Start now and make sure it is up and running for your next “flight.” Also, follow the Solar Impulse on Instagram. The photos are amazing!