<div dir="ltr">This was my first time attending a tournament at the Kent site. I personally was NOT impressed. It is darker there than it is at Vasa Park! I also felt it was too far for me to drive back and forth for a 3 day (or 4 day) tournament. I only made the drive down on Sunday for Swiss and with carpooling I did not get home until almost 8:00 PM, I feel this makes for a very long day and not worth the drive.<div><br><div><div>I played at ESB yesterday and took an informal poll to folks that came to my table about the site. I got no positive comments, two comments of "I guess it is a good location for the south end people", and quite a few "it is too far to drive". Also, on Sunday I received at least 5 complaints about the chairs being uncomfortable and the poor lighting; folks were wondering if they had cataracts or the lighting was really that bad :-)</div></div></div><div><br></div><div>It would be interesting to see how many folks that live in or near that area attended. Will we be given that info?</div><div><br></div><div>Susan</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 19, 2016 at 6:08 PM, Michael J Ring <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:michaelring304@comcast.net" target="_blank">michaelring304@comcast.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
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<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Hi all,</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">I wanted to send the Board a few thoughts and notes
about this weekend's sectional while they are fresh in my mind. </font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"></font> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">As you are by now aware, attendance was
disappointing. Total table count was as follows below. I've included the
attendance from the 2015 fall sectional in parentheses. It's not a perfect
apples to apples comparison given the site (Bothell) and date (3rd weekend in
October) were different but it will give an idea about the drop off in
attendance:</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Friday<br> Afternoon<br> Open game
30 tables (Bothell October 2015: 36 tables)<br> 0-200 game 11 tables
(16 tables)<br> Afternoon total 41 tables (52
tables)<br> <br> Evening<br> Open game 26 tables (28
tables)<br> 0-200 game 4 tables (4.5 tables)<br> Evening
total 30 tables (32.5 tables)<br> <br> Daily total 71 tables
(84.5 tables)<br> <br>Saturday<br> Afternoon<br> Open pairs
Qualifying 24.5 tables (30 tables) <br> 0-750 game 12
tables (18 tables)<br> 0-200 game 9 tables (12
tables)<br> Afternoon total 45.5 tables (60
tables)<br> <br> Evening<br> Qualifying final 13
tables (13 tables) <br> Consolation 12 tables (14
tables)<br> 0-750 game 9 tables (14 tables)<br> 0-200 game
N/A (6 tables) <br> Evening total 34 tables (47 tables)</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial"> Daily total 79.5 tables (107
tables) </font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Sunday<br> A/X Swiss 16 tables (19 tables)
<br> B/C/D Swiss 17 tables (24 tables) <br> Total for day 66 tables
(86 tables)</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Grand total 216.5 tables (277.5
tables)</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Bottom line is attendance was down over 20%
compared to Bothell last year. One possible problem is the proximity of this
weekend on the calendar to other tournaments, whereas the October dates have
fewer overlap. Unfortunately Kent Commons has limited availabilty in the fall.
If I recall correctly, this was the only weekend in this time of year that we
were able to hold a sectional when Kent Commons was free.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">It will be interesting to see the demographic data
by city to see if the attendance dropoff was more the result of local players
not showing up or North Enders/Eastsiders not coming down.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Other observations:<br>-As was the case last year,
Kent Commons staff were extremely responsive to our needs.<br>-Personally, I
received one positive comment and no negative comments regarding the quality of
the venue.<br>-I received a few negative comments regarding distance from
Seattle/Eastside and traffic.<br>-The day of tournament phone came in handy. I
received two calls - one call from a player stuck in traffic and one general
inquiry about schedule.<br>-Lunch break was slightly more than 1 hour (start
time was 2:40 and my slow 3rd match ended at 1:30). My team went to the Ram (sit
down brew pub) and it was just enough time for us. <br>-There was a little
confusion regarding the number of boards for Sunday. The directing staff was
initially setting up for 7 board rounds. I asked for 7 rounds of 8 boards as is
the usual procedure for A/X. Since we all needed to break for lunch, I also
asked for 7 rounds of 8 in B/C/D so we would be breaking at the same time.
However, is this something we should generally leave to the directing staff?
Given we were breaking for lunch one movement I definitely did not want was 8
rounds of 7 - I don't know if Jeff's plan was 7x7 or 8x7. One recommendation
Jeff had was to run 6 rounds of 9 boards, which is becoming popular in District
20, especially if the flights are fairly small. With 16 & 17 in the flights
yesterday that probably would have been a good format but we didn't want to
change it on the fly. However it's something to consider for the
future.<br></font></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Arial">Thanks, Mike</font></div></div>
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