Overall Convention Questions

• There should be a “protest/problem” form, which has

  • Id

  • Name of competition

  • What is the problem?

  • What is the resolution?

  • By whom is it resolved?

  • When was it resolved?

• Medical

  • Medical staff/ambulance should be on site for certain events

    • It should not start without them present

  • There should be a well-stocked first-aid kit available at the Info Point

• Venue Schedules

  • When scheduling events at venues, you should check with the venue about contingencies for extending the reservation by 30 or 60 minutes. If a competition is running long, sometimes the best option is to pay a fee to extend the venue reservation so that we can finish the competition. Having discussed this with the venue in advance is ideal.

• Internet access

  • Many different events require that there be continuous access to the internet. Even though a venue may report to have stable internet access, don’t trust that. Always have at least 1 fully-capable backup internet access method. We usually recommend having Mifi devices capable of supporting more connections than you need. (ie: at least 12 connections if you are doing 10-judges).

• How will you be communicating with your registrants?

  • Will you be getting their e-mail address in advance, so that you can send mass e-mails of newsletters/updates?

  • Will you have an official website on which you will post the schedule and any updates to the schedule?

    • For long conventions, some registrants may choose not to be present for the whole convention, so having the schedule published well in advance is important.

    • Any time the schedule is updated, it is preferred that the specific changes be clearly described, so that people can read through that instead of having to guess at what has changed.

  • Multiple people should have the ability to update the official web presence to post updates.

    • If there are last-minute changes to courses or schedules

    • If there are rain-delays or re-schedules

    • If there are venue changes.

Supplies needed

• Large (manilla-style) Envelopes, so that we can put results into the envelope

  • Need to be able to put 10-30 pages of 8x11 paper into an envelope

• Printer, to print results for review

  • To print award labels

• Award labels

  • Usually Avery labels (exact shape/size depends on the physical medals chosen)

• Phones

  • When running a multi-national event (like UNICON), providing main organizers with prepaid phones/phone-numbers is very useful.

    • Recommend that the following roles have phones:

      • Main organizers
      • Data Guru
      • Info Point
      • Any Director whose event is “away” from the main home-base location (e.g. Road Racing, Muni, Cyclocross)

• Large Envelopes or bags of some sort for registration

  • Each registrant usually gets a set of things including:

    • Registration Summary paper

    • Program Book

    • Local Tourist information

    • T-Shirt(s) If ordered in advance

    • Bus Ticket(s) if ordered in advance

  • We often put these in envelopes for each registrant, but sometimes we also get sponsored bags instead (like Trader Joe’s Bags, etc)

Creating a program book

The program book is a very important part of a convention. It should be a good reference for the following important things:

• Schedule of events

  • When are the events?

    • If there are different times/days for different subcategories (e.g. Novice, or 0-14 Male, etc) they should be listed here.

  • Where are the events?

  • When are the awards for each event?

    • The awards schedule depends greatly on the way in which results are determined. Any hand-written results usually require at least 6 hours for data entry/verification/posting/protest. Electronic data entry/judging/recording can usually be done in less than 2 hours after the event.

• Map of locations

  • A description of the areas

  • How to get there by car

  • How to get there by unicycle

  • How to get there by public transport

  • GPS coordinates of the meeting location, and a link to an online-map which has a pin (e.g. Google maps)

• Maps of the courses (e.g. 10k, Marathon)

  • Where do they start?

  • Where do they end?

  • Where can you park?

  • How to get there?

• Transportation

  • How to use local public transit?

  • Will there be chartered busses for transportation to events? (e.g. Muni)

    • Where do these busses depart from?

    • When do they depart?

    • When do they stop running? (i.e. ‘From 7:00-8:30am there will be busses departing”)

• Practice areas

  • Is there a freestyle practice gym? Where is it? What days/times is it available?

  • Is there a practice run of the Muni courses? When? How to get there? Who is running the practice ride?

• A summary of rules

  • Safety gear requirements for each competition

  • Are ID numbers required to be worn during the competitions (in some competitions an ID on the front & back are required (eg. Road Racing), in others, ID numbers are not required (e.g. Freestyle))

  • Are competitors allowed to change categories at the course? (e.g. Can someone who signed up for Beginner Downhill elect to compete in the Advanced Downhill once they see the course, the morning of competition?)

• Medical contact information

  • What number(s) to call?

  • Where is the nearest medical facility?

  • Is there first-aid available at any of the events? At the info point?

Chartered Buses

• For some events, chartered busses are the only way to get the competitors where they need to go

• Do you charge for bus tickets? How much?

• Can you buy in advance?

• Will you have volunteers at the bus-stop checking people’s tickets/registrations?

  • Will they sell tickets at the bus-stop?

• Will you send busses which are not completely full?

• Do you have the busses booked extra long, in case we have a delay at the event and do not return “on schedule”?

Info Point

• After “Registration” day, the info point becomes a critical place where people ask questions

• They should have the following supplies

  • Table

  • Chairs

  • Shade (a tent, if outdoors)

  • A laptop

  • A printer (which works with the laptop)

  • Internet Access.

  • Large folders for misc. Uses.

  • A well-equipped medical kit, for cuts/scrapes/

  • A cell phone, and contact numbers for:

    • All organizers

    • Emergency Medical

    • Taxi

• Any changes to the schedule, locations, or events should be posted at the info point as soon as possible.

Volunteers

• If an event has volunteers which are required for a long time (3+ hours), you should ensure that they have water and the ability to go to the bathroom/get a replacement

• For judged events, it is best if you schedule the judges, and ensure that they know when they are judging. If a judge doesn’t show up, it is good to have a backup judge available to take their place, so that the event can start on time.