Running the player meeting is one of the many responsibilities of the head judge. It’s not often a job that gets much attention, but it’s actually very important. This is the time when you (ideally) have the attention of all the players, and you can pass on what they need to know in order to participate in the event. Many events also use the player meeting to collect decklists. What some head judges don’t realize is that the player meeting also helps set the tone for the entire event. This is usually the first interaction you’ll have with most of the players, and how you conduct the meeting clues them in to what the event will be like. Is it going to be a chaotic, disorganized free-for-all, with no real supervision or information, or will it be smooth and well-ordered, with all the details handled competently? The players will form their initial assessment of the atmosphere of the event from what they hear from you, and how you present yourself.

Nothing like adding a little more pressure, huh? The player meeting is a source of stress for many a head judge. You need to pack a lot of information into that meeting, and there’s only so much time the average group of players is going to sit there and listen to you. If you’ve got a not-uncommon reluctance about public speaking, it can be hard to put together a meeting that is short, informative, and professional—but the meeting shouldn’t be passed over, or done at the last minute. I’m going to go over some planning ideas that can help you polish up your player meeting skills—get ready to dazzle your players with your brilliant and informative oratory!

First, you should always talk to the tournament organizer, to find out if he or she has any information that you should include. The TO may have some unique policies, and you might not know about them unless you ask. Some TO’s make their own announcements before the event, but check to make sure. If the TO just wants to announce other upcoming events, try to keep that separate from the actual player meeting—focus only on announcements relevant to current event, to keep things easy for the players to follow.

Write it down! Make a list of everything you want to cover. Trust me, even if you’ve done meetings before, you might forget something, and then you have to deal with confused players. Make sure your information is correct, too—issuing a correction later on will also result in confused players. You don’t want to deal with confused players, do you? The more accurate information they have to start with, the better your event will run. This is your insurance against all of the, “Well I didn’t know that!” remarks that crop up from players as the tournament progresses. If you mentioned it in the meeting, they’re responsible for knowing it. That’s why you want to make sure you don’t miss anything, and that what you said is completely accurate.

Compose your meeting beforehand. Don’t just stand up, grab the mike, and start extemporizing. If you’re not used to running a player meeting, you might come off sounding something like this: “Uuhh, I’d uhh . . . welcome to the region—I mean Shonen Jump. [Pause, with some breathing noises.] Uhh . . . yeah, I’m the head judge, so appeal to me if you need to. And uh . . . we’ll need to get your lists, so get those out. (Awkward, sweating pause.) So . . . um . . . ok, I guess that’s all I need to say. Thanks for coming!” Even if you have done it before, you still might miss something, or mix up your information if you’ve been running a lot of events lately.

Keep your meeting as short as possible—the longer it goes on, the more likely the players’ attention will wander—but don’t talksofasttogettrhoughitthatnoonecanunderstandawordthatyousay. You are a head judge, not an auctioneer. Nervousness can make you speak quickly, and if it seems like the players are turning their attention away from you, the urge to be fast and get it over with can be hard to overcome. You’ll do best by avoiding irrelevant remarks, making your points distinctly, and keeping your pacing easy to follow. A short list of topics will remind you what you need to say, so you don’t need to pause often to remember things.

A little effort on your part will encourage the players to listen to you. Be engaging and authoritative, and look around different parts of the room as you speak. Looking at the players instead of at a piece of paper in your hand, your feet, or the wall will also help keep their attention. If you need to tell them to stop talking to each other, sit down, and pay attention, go ahead. (You shouldn’t have to do that more than once or twice, though—if you find you cannot keep the attention of the bulk of the players, you need to put in some work into your presentation.)

Speak, don’t read. Unless you are very good at sounding natural when you read (people with a lot of public-speaking experience can often do this quite well), then you should resist the temptation to write your meeting out and read it verbatim. Notes you can glance at are fine (I recommend them!), but use them only to make sure you hit all your points. Don’t write out a prepared speech to read unless you absolutely have to. Players will respond better if you sound natural, relaxed, and in control.

Practice before the event. You don’t necessarily have to be a stand-up comedian (actually, you really probably shouldn’t be), but put in a little work on your “microphone” voice and presence. You don’t want to mumble, but you don’t want to thunder like the voice of Final Judgment either. If you stand up there in front of everyone, quaver, stammer, and drop your speech, you don’t look very authoritative. If players can’t hear you because you’re mumbling or speaking too fast, they won’t take you or what you’re trying to say very seriously.

Hopefully, you will have a microphone, but if you don’t, talk loudly. Don’t scream from the top of your throat: try and project from your chest. If you are not loud, you’ll need to get a judge who is and channel yourself through his or her voice (I’ve done this before . . . I’m a lot of things, but loud isn’t one of them.). The important thing is to get the information to the players.

While we are on the subject of microphones—check the speakers before the event starts. Make sure they are working, and send a judge or two out to see how well people can hear you before things get underway. If you’re at a convention, you might be competing with other events which will have microphones and speakers, as well as an increased level of background noise. Players can create an awful lot of background noise.

Your players will appreciate it if you keep your eye on the speakers when you need to make announcements. If groups of people are standing or sitting near the speakers, make some “warning” sounds before you bellow out into the arena. A little preliminary cough or microphone crackle noise will alert people to either move or cover their ears if they’re right under the speakers.

All right, now you know how to say what you need to say—so what do you need to say? Here’s a short list you can use, when you’re composing your player meeting:

Some things you should always try to include:

  • Your name and the fact that you are the head judge!

  • The number of rounds. You should also remind players that rounds last 40 minutes and are best of three matches. Don’t assume everyone knows.

  • Where the pairings will be posted.

  • Remind people of legal cards—mention the format, and if any recent expansions are not allowed.

  • Explain how the decklists will be collected.

  • Spell out any sleeving requirements—if any kinds of sleeves or sleeving techniques are not permitted, let the players know.

  • How players can signal for a judge when they need one.

  • Specify the round format—tell players if the event is Swiss or single elimination. You’d think everyone would know by now, but remind players that Swiss rounds are not single elimination. People sometimes still leave when they lose.

  • Remind players not to eat or drink at the tables.

  • Tell players they may appeal rulings and penalties to you, as the head judge. Some people still don’t know this.

  • Remind the players to pick up their garbage and not damage the venue.

  • Caution players to keep track of their stuff, so they don’t lose it or have it stolen.

  • Explain the match slip (including the drop box), and quickly and clearly outline the procedure for submitting it. Point out the match slip collection box, if there is one.

  • If there are any unique policies to the event, like shuffling, match slips, clearing the area once the match is over, etc., be sure to explain them to the players.

  • Remind them to put their fusion and side decks on the table.

Some optional, but helpful, things to include:

  • The names of the floor judges, if there are a relatively small number of them.

  • The location of the event clock, if there is one.

  • Tell players if there is or isn’t a scheduled food break.

  • Indicate the scorekeeping area and remind players who wish to drop to speak to the scorekeeper.

  • Touch on the importance of good sportsmanship, and stress that poor sportsmanship will not be tolerated by the event staff.

Don’t forget to check with the TO, and make sure you include any information that he or she wishes to add.

It doesn’t hurt to give a brief reminder in between rounds (as players are seating themselves) if you notice some problems—fusion and side decks not out, garbage piling up, and so forth, or if you realize you left something out of the meeting (it happens). Don’t make an excessive amount of announcements, though—some players are sitting right by the speakers and they’re getting headaches. Also, if there’s a constant droning of announcements at the event, most people stop listening to them because most of what they’re hearing is irrelevant to them. The point of passing on information is to get it to stick between the ears of the people receiving it, so you want to make sure to make your information is as “sticky” as possible. Keep it to a minimum.

There you go: a player meeting guide that will help get you through that much-loved task. This has been the most-requested article for a while, and I hope it helps head judges prepare for the job. I’ll be running a partner article on the same subject geared towards the players this week as well, so, with luck, player meetings will get better for all of us. I think we can all look forward to that!