How to Prepare for Your First Large Event

You’ve just been accepted to your first large event. Congratulations! There are a lot of factors that impact the success of an event, and several of those factors are in your hands. Proper preparation and mindset can drastically change your experience at an event, so here are some ways to set yourself up for success.

Travel
Regardless of if you’re flying or driving, you should plan for the worst case scenario. As appealing as it may seem to book the cheaper flight that gets to town two hours before your shift starts, the reality of flights can be delays, cancellations, and generally everything taking way longer than expected. Analyze your travel plan, figure out when things could go wrong, and plan for it.

Planning travel can be tough, especially when it comes to budgeting. Before the event, try to estimate a budget so you don’t find yourself stressing about money at inopportune times. Some questions to take into account can be: How much am I being paid for this event? How much does my travel/hotel cost? What is my food budget? How much emergency money should I set aside? What is my budget for purchases at the event? Most events will have vendors and artists. It is very fun to support these members of our community, but stressing about finances makes it less fun. Setting a budget and sticking to it can ensure that you set the boundaries that you need to both travel comfortably and get to enjoy every aspect of the event that is important to you.

Be mindful of how light or heavy you are packing. If you’re driving, this is typically less of a concern. If you plan on flying to the event you’re working, be sure to look up the luggage size restrictions for the airline you’re booking through and try to leave room in your suitcase. Depending on the event you’re working, you can receive a variety of judge gifts at the end of the weekend. This could range from items as small as an individual card, to booster boxes or storage boxes. You’ll want the extra room in your suitcase so you can ensure your judge gifts get home safely.

In addition to getting to the city that the event is being held in, planning for traveling while in that city is important. Figuring out where the event venue is and how you are getting there for your shifts is the main aspect to consider.

Plan Ahead with Your Packing List
Plan on taking care of yourself. Bring snacks, a water bottle, and medications that you need or may need (particular suggestions are Tylenol and/or Ibuprofen). Bring clothing and shoes that you will be comfortable and mobile in (while still maintaining professional attire), as you will be moving around a lot. Make sure you’re getting the amount of food and water that you need to keep your body moving. Your brain and your body will function at its best when it’s being taken care of, which will benefit you and those around you. Here’s an example list of the things you may want to bring:

• Plain undershirts: If you’re judging an event that requires a specific judge shirt, you will need something to wear on your way in and out of the event. Our beloved yellow polos are not very opaque, so if you are judging an event that utilizes the yellow polos, plan on wearing the undershirt all day. Any graphics on your shirt will be visible through the polo. If the event is in a cold environment, long sleeved undershirts can come in handy.
• Black pants or skirts: (probably with a lot of pockets): People have different preferences on what to wear for events, but popular choices are slacks, cargo pants, or professional looking skirts. Black is ideal for most events, and pants or skirts are preferable to shorts or other less formal options. Your goal is to look professional at events, while maintaining practicality.
• Hoodie or zip-up jacket: In addition to keeping you warm, a hoodie or jacket is the easiest way to signal to others that you are on break. This will be addressed more later, but you will want to be able to cover your judge shirt when you’re off shift. In warmer climates, judges tend to just take off the judge shirt and wear their undershirt or bring another shirt to change into while on breaks. It’s slightly less convenient than using a hoodie, but significantly more convenient than getting heat stroke on your way to get lunch.
• Notebook and writing utensils: You’re going to experience many interesting scenarios and hear many unique viewpoints, you will want to write them down! This can also be useful for keeping track of your shift times, jobs you’ve been assigned, the address of your hotel, etc. You will also want multiple colors of pens, typically red and black or blue will do the trick.
• Chargers: Technology will likely be used, whether it is to keep track of the progress of the round, look up card text, or double check on a ruling. Portable chargers and wall chargers will come in handy.
• Water bottle and snacks: Having a water bottle and snacks on hand make it far more convenient to ensure your body has what it needs.
• General travel items: This varies from person to person, but please remember the things you need on the daily. These things could include medications, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, soap, etc.

By this point, you’ve gotten yourself to the event safely. It’s the morning before your shift starts, you’re up bright and early, you’ve gotten breakfast, and you’re ready to take on the day. Before you leave for the event, you’ll want to take a few things with you.

What to Have at the Event
Most large events have a staff area that is not accessible to players, but also not locked or directly monitored. This means that, if you bring a backpack, be wary of the items you leave unattended. Theft is not common, but is possible. Bringing a backpack or bag is very common, at the very least for snacks, a jacket, charger(s) and maybe a change of clothes.

Before embarking for the day, make sure that you are able to carry your phone, notebook(s), and pens in your pockets with some extra room. At the event, you may be provided slips of paper to indicate time extensions on a match or notate that a player didn’t show up to their match, so you’ll want extra room to have those handy. Many judges carry water bottles in their pockets as well, to keep their hands free.

Additional, but not necessary things that may be useful are: a deck box for cards you may acquire, a stick of deodorant to refresh yourself during the day (particularly useful in warmer locations where you’re more likely to be sweating), and headphones to use on your breaks.

Having electronic resources ready is an important step in preparing yourself for a day of judging. This could mean having the Comprehensive Rules and Procedure & Penalty Guide downloaded or bookmarked to your phone, having commonly used rules/policy information bookmarked or written down in a notebook, among other methods of having that information at the ready. It may take a few events to find what works for you, so don’t hesitate to try new methods or ask about what works for other judges.

What to Expect
There will be several individual events running throughout the day. The staff of each event will be made up of teams with different tasks to make the event run smoothly. You will be assigned to a team for each day, and your team lead will inform you on what specific tasks you’re doing. Some common teams are:

• Deck Checks: For events where decklists are required, the deck check team will gather decks from a match nearly every round to ensure that the players’ decklists are accurate and that none of their cards are marked. At events where paper decklists are used, the deck check team is also responsible for collecting and organizing decklists.
• Paper: Takes down and puts up event pairings for each round. At some events, the paper team is also in charge of restarting round timers.
• End of Round: This team is in charge of making sure the round can actually end. The main responsibility is to ensure that all tables have reported their match results, which is done by either watching the last few rounds of the event and hanging around until you see them report their results, or communicating with the scorekeeper to track down tables that have already finished without reporting their scores. Communication with the scorekeeper is often done through a program like Purple Fox, but specific processes depend on the team lead and head judge.
• Floor: The floor team is covering floor judging throughout the event. This typically just means being available for judge calls, but can also include making sure the entire floor has coverage, or assisting other teams with their tasks (such as watching the end of a match for the End of Round team). The specific tasks of this team vary based on team lead, head judge, and details of the event.
• Breaks: This team floats around to cover the breaks of other teams, meaning they typically end up doing a little bit of everything. Teams typically take breaks during a time that their task is unlikely to be needed (for example, End of Round typically tries to take their break as soon as a round is starting, where Paper tries to take their breaks during the middle/end of the round) so that no other team has to handle the specifics of their responsibilities.
• Sides: The teams described above typically exist for the main events of the weekend. In addition to these main events, there will be side events. Side events are casual events in a variety of formats that are run throughout the weekend to fill time in between other events or for players that aren’t looking to play competitively. A judge on the Sides team will be responsible for running a small or medium sized event independently. This could mean running a draft, a Blitz event, or even an Ultimate Pit Fight event. A Sides judge will need to be familiar with the format(s) they’re running (you will be provided this information prior to arriving at the event). Your event’s round timers, pairings, and end of round are your responsibility.

These generalized overviews are meant to give you an idea of what your day might look like if you are assigned to one of these teams, but keep in mind that your team lead and head judge are the ultimate authority. If you have questions about your specific responsibilities, reach out to your team lead, but generally plan to be flexible and adaptable.

Taking Care of Yourself at the Event
In addition to packing your items with the intent of taking care of yourself, actually following through with self care is important. Drinking enough water, getting enough food, and getting enough sleep are great first steps. Your health is more important than the task you’ve been assigned, so if you need to step away from the event, let your lead know so they can adjust their plan. There are many very valid reasons to step away for a moment, most of which will only get worse if ignored. It is your team lead’s job to adjust to what their team needs, and they will be able to best accommodate your needs if you communicate with them. Your team lead will also be grateful for clear and proactive communication, so don’t be afraid to mention something if you think it may be relevant. 

With all of this information in mind, you will likely be quite well prepared for your first event. It is important to keep in mind that proper event preparation can only do so much, especially when it comes to the uncertainties of travel and all of the new experiences you will have on your trip. It may take a few events to get an idea of what works for you, but the most important thing to prepare is an adaptable mindset. Your flight may get delayed, you might forget to pack something, or you could end up with a headache all weekend, but being adaptable and ready to solve problems that may come up is the best course of action to ensure that unfortunate surprises like these don’t ruin your experience at the event. You will be put in a place where you can learn many new skills and tactics, it’s time to take advantage of it! With each large event, your knowledge will accumulate and you will start to feel more and more prepared.