Trying to have a competition near Baltimore

[MirzaCubing]

Hi guys,
My name is Ishmam and i am an amateur speedcuber from Maryland(about 19 seconds on average). I am trying to have a competition at my school, Chesapeake Science Point in Hanover MD(20 minutes from Baltimore City). I understand that i most likely will not be able to have this do to lack of experience(2 comps) but i am hoping to got to a few more within the next 3 months. I contacted my principal and he said it was a great idea and gave me the venue for free and said the cafeteria can accommodate up to 120 people, which is a good amount. I have a teacher in my school who first introduced me to speedcubing, so me and her can help with setting up. Also i can get a few more MD cubers to help me. I have already worked out a rough draft on what events will be there, the timing, schedule, registration fee, etc. All i need now would be a delegate to provide for timers and such. If you have any other concerns, comments, questions please reply ASAP. I am planning to have it in late April/Early-Mid May

Thank you for your time and consideration and i really hope to have this competition. Here is what i already have planned out. as i stated earlier please leave concerns, comments, etc. thanks everyone. if you like the idea please say so.

CHESPEAKE SCIENCE POINT SPRING 2012

time: 9:00 - 6:00

events:

2x2(2 rounds, first + final)
3x3(3 rounds, first + second + final)
4x4(2 rounds, first + final)
5x5(1 round, final)
magic(2 rounds, first + final)
OH(1 round, final)
Venue: Chesapeake Science Point Public Charter School, Hanover, MD
Location: Inside Cafeteria

Regisration Fee: $10 base charge (includes 1 event) + $1 per additional event
Schedule:

8:30 - 9:00 = registration and preperation
9:00 - 10:00 = 5x5 final (no cutoff time)
10:00 - 11:00 = 2x2 round 1 (no cutoff time) (Top 16 -> Final)
11:00 - 12:00 = One-Handed final (no cutoff time)
12:00 - 12:30 = Lunch/Break
12:30 - 1:30 = 3x3 round 1 (no cutoff time) (Top 24 -> round 2)
1:30 - 2:00 = Magic round 1 (no cutoff time) (Top 12 -> FInal)
2:00 - 3:00 = 4x4 round 1 (no cutoff time) (Top 12 -> Final)
3:00 - 3:30 = 3x3 round 2 (no cutoff time) (Top 12 -> Final)
3:30 - 3:45 = Magic Final (no cutoff time)
3:45 - 4:15 = 4x4 Final (no cutoff time)
4:15 - 4:30 = 2x2 Final (no cutoff time)
4:30 - 5:00 = 3x3 Final (no cutoff time)
5:00 - 5:15 = post competition break
5:15 - 6:00 = Awards

 

[masterofthebass]

A couple of things:

Not having cuttoffs with only providing an hour for bigcubes is not really feasible on the East Coast. If you look at almost every competition in recent history, a cutoff has been needed in order to even hope to stay on schedule. Also, what exactly is the registration fee for? $10-15 per person when you have the venue for free can equate to quite a bit of money.

As for your experience, only having been to two competitions isn't necessarily something that prevents you from organizing one of your own, but there are things that you need to know in order to run a successful competition. Do you have people who are going to help you with judging/scrambling/time entry/etc. ?

I'd love to see competitions in and around Baltimore, as it is where I am, but there are some things that organizers really do need to know in order to put on a successful competition.

 

[Kian]

Go to River Hill on January 21st and help out a lot. We need to know you before you're given the ability to run a competition.

 

[MirzaCubing]

thanks for replying. I am going to River Hill Winter 2012 on the 21st where i hope to meet up with some cubers and delegates. from there i want discuss what you said about the scramblers and things. the only reason i dont have cutoff times is because i kinda hate them. But the competition isnt about me its about everyone's enjoyment as a whole so i can take them off. how does 2 minutes for 4x4 and 3 minutes for 5x5 sound

thanks Kian. i am going to River Hill. i was considering signing up for judging but i need all the practice time i need because i have mid terms and finals the week before and i will get minimal practice time.

 

[collinbxyz]

how does 2 minutes for 4x4 and 3 minutes for 5x5 sound

I think a little lower for both of them. 1:20-1:30 for 4x4 and 2:15-2:30 for 5x5. I'd also like to see OH have a cutoff of maybe 40-45 seconds.

I'd love to come to a competition in Maryland, so I hope you can run this.

 

[MirzaCubing]

like i said i dont like cutoff times because it doesnt give everyone a fair chance to have an average. even i cant make a 5x5 cutoff since im about 3:30 on it. but 4x4 is manageable. i want to focus on more 3x3 rounds and magic because 3x3 doesnt require much effort to solve and magic isnt offered at many competitions not to mention that i want a first and final. even at the last river hill in June 2011 there was only 1 round. I was actually thinking of taking 5x5 when i made the schedule but i guess i chose not to. we'll see as this thread hopefully moves on with more people giving their opinions.

 

[aaronb]

I think a little lower for both of them. 1:20-1:30 for 4x4 and 2:15-2:30 for 5x5. I'd also like to see OH have a cutoff of maybe 40-45 seconds.

I'd love to come to a competition in Maryland, so I hope you can run this.

I think a 2:00 and 3:00 cutoff would be fine. The MIT Spring 2012 competition is going to have many more people than this competition would (I assume), but based on the schedule he gave, both competitions have 4x4 and 5x5 as 1 hour events.

 

[BlueDevil]

I think a little lower for both of them. 1:20-1:30 for 4x4 and 2:15-2:30 for 5x5. I'd also like to see OH have a cutoff of maybe 40-45 seconds.

I'd love to come to a competition in Maryland, so I hope you can run this.

Like he said, he does not like cut-off times. If you look at his WCA profile, he is not that fast yet, so that would make it very hard for him to complete those events. I think 2:00 and 3:00 are reasonable. He could also list two possibilities on the site for the comp and just say that the cut-off depends on how many people sign up, and how many judges and scramblers there will be.
I also don't think he needs an OH cutoff.

Mirza: definitely make sure you have those judge/scrambler/time enterer roles set up.

Also, is it typical to have 2 rounds of Magic?

 

[MirzaCubing]

actually i am 19 seconds on average now. i just havent competed in a REALLY long time. and i like 2 rounds of magic. its a fun event and im sure people will like that. its not every day you get 2 rounds of magic. or i could switch one round to master magic thats always an option.

 

[masterofthebass]

Having 2 rounds of magic is quite negligible. It really doesn't make a difference. The problem with not having cut-offs for bigcubes is just a matter of time. You only have one hour scheduled for 4x4 and 5x5 first rounds.

If you look at River Hill Spring 2011, there were only 17 competitors for 5x5, and the schedule had 1 hour allotted for the event. Felix even lowered the initial 2:30 cut-off to something like 2:10.

I wasn't at this competition, but I can bet that this was because the schedule was running tight. It would be nice to let everyone compete and get averages, but it really takes quite a bit of time for that to happen.

 

[MirzaCubing]

i understand your point. another thing you must consider is that he had 3 different blindfolded events. this cut out a lot of his time because he had 3x3, 4x4, and 5x5 blindfolded events. That is why i chose not to do any blindfolded events, because many people will not even be able to do it. i dont intend in any way to be rude or offensive, but i have seen in many competitions that over half the people who sign up for these events end up with DNFs.

also i only put 1 round of 5x5 in the beginning of the competition so that i could simply get it out of the way and out of the schedule. im actually thinking of taking it out do to the problem it will cause. i can replace it with another event or mix it with the schedule of 4x4 rounds 1 and 2 so that they will not have a cut off time. i apologize for the mixed thoughts and constant digression from the topic im trying to address as many things as possible.

 

[RSCuber]

I'd be down for a competition in Hanover. As I can't drive, I'm always looking for competitions in state. I think the one round of master magic would be a better route then two rounds of magic, and as for judging/scrambling/setting up and anything else, I'd gladly help out. I'll be River Hill Winter 2012, so we can all discuss it there too.

 

[Bob]

This competition will not happen so this thread is pointless. The only delegates in your area are Tim and myself. I've already seen that you are unfit to organize a competition, so that leaves Tim, who I imagine feels the same way that I do.

 

[Tim Reynolds]

Neither Bob nor I will be willing to delegate during April or May. We already have a large number of competitions planned for this time, which we'll be announcing soon.

We've had a number of new people organizing competitions over the last few years. Those who had been to at least 10-15 competitions, and helped out extensively at all recent ones they had been to, generally did a medium to good job. They did significantly better than those people who had not been to this many competitions or helped out much.

Organizing a competition is a significant amount of work, including a lot of work during the competition. To do that work, the organizer needs to have a lot of competition experience, and needs to have helped out extensively. There are numerous people in the northeast with that much competition experience, so Bob and I will delegate competitions run by those people.

Finally, I have not seen any competitions in the northeast US organized successfully using speedsolving.com. Deciding things such as the date, venue, events, and schedule should be done by email with your delegate, not by posting it here and getting input from random people. If you do not know that Bob and I are the people in the area who are delegates and who have enough experience to decide things like this, then in my opinion you do not have enough competition experience to run your own competition.

If you have any other questions, please email us directly.