[Help Thread] Organizing official WCA competitions

[Kit Clement]

Hi,

I was wondering if a WCA competition is non-profit? Also if you don't have to pay for the venue, what happens to all the money?

No, the WCA is not any kind of established organization, let alone a non profit. Generally, the delegate should work with you to get estimated costs for the competition and charge a registration fee that will make up those costs with some wiggle room. Extra money generally goes toward future events and equipment upkeep.

Also do you have to pay the delegate for coming? If so, how much?

Depends on the delegate and how far they need to travel. If it's just a drive over to the competition, I sometimes ask for gas money. If they need to fly or are traveling a long way, flights and/or hotels may be involved.

 

[CornerCutter]

No, the WCA is not any kind of established organization, let alone a non profit. Generally, the delegate should work with you to get estimated costs for the competition and charge a registration fee that will make up those costs with some wiggle room. Extra money generally goes toward future events and equipment upkeep.



Depends on the delegate and how far they need to travel. If it's just a drive over to the competition, I sometimes ask for gas money. If they need to fly or are traveling a long way, flights and/or hotels may be involved.

Ok, thank you for the info.

 

[Caleb/spooderskewb]

I was wondering how much it would cost me and if it would be worth the trouble and some tips for organizing comps

 

[DGCubes]

Cost usually isn't an issue; you can usually make up for any venue costs with registration fees. However, it's probably only worth your time if you live in an area that doesn't have frequent comps. It takes quite a bit of time and effort to successfully organize a competition, so it's generally better to attend and volunteer at a lot of other comps before organizing your own.

 

[Caleb/spooderskewb]

Thanks I live in a really small city and usually comps are too far away for me to go to btw u are one of my favorite youtubers

 

[greentgoatgal]

Contact your local delegate, they are usually pretty happy to help and they will be helping you out a lot anyway if you actually decide to organize one.

 

[Caleb/spooderskewb]

I emailed candy shields I didn’t know it would cost me like 300 dollars

 

[ImmolatedMarmoset]

I emailed candy shields I didn’t know it would cost me like 300 dollars

Yeah. Usually, your delegate can help you fund the costs for the competition initially, and then you can pay it off with registration fees. I don’t know how many competitors you want, but if your competitor limit is 60 and the registration fee is 15 dollars, you’re going to produce 900 dollars if you fill registration. It’s not too hard to make ends meet for a comp in terms of money. Just contact your delegate, I’m sure they will help you work it out.

 

[Capcubeing]

Yeah Caleb we need more comps in our area if you organised one I would try my best to come. Sadly there is normally 1 comp a year in my city.

 

[Caleb/spooderskewb]

There are 0 comps a year in my county

 

[cubeshepherd]

I do not think that there is much I can add (that has not been said), but having organized 2 comps on my own, co-organized 1 and staffed almost every other comp I have attended, let me see if I can provide some tips.

1. In regards to organizing a comp by yourself, I would agree that it would really help you if you co-organized a competition with someone else first. There is quite a bit of work involved and if you have someone else you can divide that work load up, and see if that is something that you want to do on your own. I know of some people that have organized a comp before and after the comp they realized that organizing competitions is not for them and they preferred to instead help staff comps that they go to rather then organizing them. I personally enjoy hosting comps, and after doing it the first time makes the second time on easier, but if you have not staffed many comp (let alone organize one) then try to co-organize.

2. In regards to venue, look around for venues for a decent distance from where you live (or where you want to host a comp). How far to look is up to you, in how far you are willing to go, but I look for venues that were about 1 1/2 hours away from where I live, although I lucked out in finding a great venue only 30ish minutes away. Also, when looking for venues, look for places that you may not expect to works out. Some venues will be willing to help lower there rental fee, if you explain what you are trying to do, that you are on a somewhat tight budget etc. so ask around a see what you come across. Schools and churches tend to be good at that, but even science/learning related venues can be great with that as well. For instance, one venue I found (called something like "Discovery science center") was willing to allow me to use there venue for a huge discount since cubing (to some degree) is learning and using the brain in a different way (at least that is what the venue owner told me what he thought about cubing, haha).

3. For the cost related side of things, finding a venue that is cheap enough for a competition can be a bit more of a challenge, although even if you find a slightly higher rental fee for a venue, you can get that back in registration fees, and what ever you have left (after everything has been paid for) you can put aside and use that towards the next time you host a competition, or if you have a friend that wants to host a comp, you can help him/her out with the extra money that you have left from your comp.
And as it has already been said most delegates should/might be able to help cover the venue cost so that you can use the venue and then use some of the registration fees to help with that.

4. If you are really serious about hosting a comp (as I hope you are, since they are fun and it helps the cubing community out) then it will really help if you can plan ahead get a lot of the basic things done before/right after contacting the delegate, and that will (a) help the delegate out a bunch, and (b) show that you are serious and are really taking the time to organize a comp. Also, getting"the basic things done" are things like, creating a list of events, having a schedule, and having 2-3 dates in mind that will work for you and the venue (having a few dates tends to be much better, in case the delegate can not make one or two of them.

Hope some of this helps and please ask if you have any additional questions.

 

[One Wheel]

I’m in a similar position as far as not having many comps within a distance I can reasonably travel. I have organized two small comps at my church, and there is some work involved but it’s not outrageous. In my case I’ve lucked out a bit, and have been allowed to use the facility without any money changing hands.

 

[Caleb/spooderskewb]

Also does anyone know, there is a mandatory one dollar competitor fee or something. Do I have to pay that or is that payed with registration fees and also can i use registration fees to cover delegate travels and staff lunch

 

[One Wheel]

Also does anyone know, there is a mandatory one dollar competitor fee or something. Do I have to pay that or is that payed with registration fees and also can i use registration fees to cover delegate travels and staff lunch

Yes, that all typically all comes out of registration fees.

 

[Iwannaganx]

So me and my friend Gan356X were thinking how cool it would be to have a comp in our area, as close as we could to my house/his house.
I have a few questions:
1) does it (and how much) cost me money to setup a comp?
2) am I allowed? I'm only 13.
3) what counts as a place we can use? I was thinking we could do it at the school, after getting permission from teachers/principal. Would it have enough space? Or do I have to find someplace else?
That's all for now but if I have more questions I'll add them here.

 

[Zeke Mackay]

1) Obviously it costs money, but you will get that money back in registration fees
2) I'm 13 and am organizing, so yes.
3) You can use any room with a capacity of at least 2.25x (thats what I use) your competitor limit.

I do have an extra concern. Neither of you have WCA ID's linked. But, you need a WCA ID to organize.

 

[Iwannaganx]

1) Obviously it costs money, but you will get that money back in registration fees
2) I'm 13 and am organizing, so yes.
3) You can use any room with a capacity of at least 2.25x (thats what I use) your competitor limit.

I do have an extra concern. Neither of you have WCA ID's linked. But, you need a WCA ID to organize.

Ok thanks!

And I didn't know that, but neither of us have been to a comp. But, I am going to one at the start of October, so after that I can link my WCA id right?
And what is the lowest competitor limit?

 

[Kit Clement]

3) You can use any room with a capacity of at least 2.25x (thats what I use) your competitor limit.

Capacity is not a well-defined measure of a room, as every venue defines it differently. Some define capacity as the fire marshall's limit on the people in the room, some define capacity as the maximum number of people that fit in a pre-defined configuration of the room (audience, standing room, banquet, classroom, etc.).

Sqft or sqm are much better measures for determining the number of competitors that you can fit. My experiences say that 30sqft per competitor is the bare minimum that you need for a competition, which translates to a bit under 3 sqm per person.

 

[Iwannaganx]

Capacity is not a well-defined measure of a room, as every venue defines it differently. Some define capacity as the fire marshall's limit on the people in the room, some define capacity as the maximum number of people that fit in a pre-defined configuration of the room (audience, standing room, banquet, classroom, etc.).

Sqft or sqm are much better measures for determining the number of competitors that you can fit. My experiences say that 30sqft per competitor is the bare minimum that you need for a competition, which translates to a bit under 3 sqm per person.

Nice to know thanks kit!

 

[Zeke Mackay]

Ok thanks!

And I didn't know that, but neither of us have been to a comp. But, I am going to one at the start of October, so after that I can link my WCA id right?
And what is the lowest competitor limit?

Make sure you know the responsibilities as an organizer you will have and make sure you know how competitions run.