[SBU Board] Fall Sectional Considerations -- Comments Sought

Thu Dec 8 16:41:53 PST 2016

A useful site for finding event locations in Seattle:
https://www.spacefinderseattle.org

Searching, two possibilities worth exploring might be:

Hangar 30 at Magnuson Park:
https://www.spacefinderseattle.org/spaces/view/264/magnuson-park (not sure
on cost, got an "our phone systems are down" message when I tried calling
to find out)

Mercer Island Community and Event Center Gymnasium:
https://www.spacefinderseattle.org/spaces/view/644/mercer-island-community-event-center
.

Moving the sectional back out of September sounds like a good idea if
possible. Looking at past years sectionals in September seem to do about 70
tables worse than Oct/Nov regardless of venue, likely due to the proximity
to the regional.

Eric

On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 2:56 PM, Tim White <trkwhite at gmail.com> wrote:

> Perhaps, however, in a largely apples-to-apples comparison of recent
> tournament attendance at Bothell and Kent:
>
> May 2014 @ Bothell = 395 tables and May 2015 @ Kent = 366 tables
>
> Sept 2015 @ Bothell = 201 tables and Sept 2016 @ Kent = 217 tables
>
> September is just plain a bad month to run a sectional around here.
>
>
> On Dec 8, 2016, at 1:28 PM, "Eng, Kim" <Keng at forestridge.org> wrote:
>
> > I guess I have 13 more days to voice my opinions on the board and then I
> am out of here! :)
> >
> > Tim, I think you are mistaken to think there are 2 primary contributors
> to our low fall sectional attendance when you haven't mentioned the
> elephant in the room. As much as we want to accommodate our south end
> folks, there are a lot of seattle/eastside/north unit members who do not
> like driving to Kent and won't do it for a tournament. I don't think it
> would be unreasonable to possibly go there every 2-3 years instead of every
> year.
> >
> > Now, let's talk about the holiday party! Only 4 of you have signed into
> my poll to tell me what you are contributing: Patti, DT, Tim and Larry-
> thank you! Could the rest of you please sign in and let me know so I can
> shop accordingly this weekend? Ann has given me a budget and I would like
> to be able to fill in the gaps of what is needed.
> >
> > Thanks!
> > Kim
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Sbuboard [mailto:sbuboard-bounces+keng=forestridge.org at mailman.
> celestial.com] On Behalf Of Tim White
> > Sent: Wednesday, December 7, 2016 9:27 AM
> > To: Seattle ACBL Unit Board <sbuboard at mailman.celestial.com>
> > Subject: [SBU Board] Fall Sectional Considerations -- Comments Sought
> >
> > Folks,
> >
> > Looking forward to seeing everyone at the unit holiday party next week
> at Kim and Matt's.
> >
> > Our next board meeting is January 9.  As some board members are unable
> to make that meeting, I'd like to open email communication here to enable
> all (including those who can't make the meeting) to weigh in on a January
> agenda item -- plans for upcoming fall sectionals.
> >
> > Attendance at the Kent sectional in September was much lower than any of
> our other tournaments in recent years.  Two primary contributors to this
> were the September date and inadequate/ineffective promotion with and by
> clubs and players in the south county and further southward.  Among other
> things, we should consider remedies for these two issues.
> >
> > Traditionally, we held our fall sectional in proximity to Halloween.  In
> 2016 we moved it up to mid-September because that was the only fall date on
> which Kent Commons was available.  Our current plan for 2017 is to hold the
> fall sectional at Kent September 15-17.  Our Tournament Sites Committee has
> been exploring the possibility of alternative 2017 fall sectional dates
> closer to our traditional October dates.  Kent Commons is not available in
> October 2017, however both Bothell and Vasa Park are available the weekend
> of October 27-29, 2017.  (For reference, we are holding our February and
> May 2017 open sectionals at Bothell and our July 2017 open sectional at
> Forest Ridge.)  Ann reports that Vasa Park is planning renovations that
> might address some of the issues with that site -- especially if there are
> lighting and restroom improvements.  Perhaps Susie and Walt will soon have
> more specific information on the nature and schedule of improvements at
> Vasa Park.  We currently h
>  av
> >   e a fall NLM sectional planned Oct 28-29, 2017 that would need to be
> re-scheduled if we were to move the open sectional to that weekend; there
> are alternative weekends on which the 2017 fall NLM sectional could be
> scheduled.  2017 fall open and NLM sectional dates are presently visible to
> players via the yellow 2017 Sectionals save the dates flyer and the unit
> website, so if there is any rescheduling of these tournaments it would be
> best done in the near term to enable adjustment of promotional aids soon so
> as to reduce potential confusion.
> >
> > Ahead of the May 2015 sectional at Kent (the first south end sited
> sectional in several years), there was substantial promotion with and by
> clubs in the south end and beyond.  There was less of this in 2016.  Ahead
> of our next tournament at Kent we should consider how we might improve
> promotion with clubs and players in the southerly areas.  If the board were
> to decide to take a break from Kent in 2017, there is the possibility of
> returning to Kent in fall 2018 as the facility is available October 12-14,
> 2018.
> >
> > Your comments, thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Tim
> > _______________________________________________
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