Los Angeles International tournament this Monday

[Ordway]

Results are listed on AskFred

[FRED] LA International Fencing Center Invitational

And really, this is the peril of not promoting an event well. If I'd known that there was going to be another B there for women's sabre, I'd probably have gone. But though I initially was planning on going, I looked at AskFred and saw a weak field, and thought: I'm not going to fight LA traffic and pay a hefty registration fee to fence one D and a bunch of Us. If it had only cost ten bucks OR if it had been local, OR if I'd known anybody strong was going, I'd probably have gone, OR if last year it had been a strong event (it wasn't) but... it was 0 for 4 at decision time.

[Phaeton]

That's less the peril of poor promoting and more the peril of having at the door registration (which I used) and not being in touch with a bunch of fencers in the community. Best way to find out if another person of your caliber is going to be there is to call up and ask.

It probably would have been reasonable to assume that Adelia is going to show up to an event run by her own club. Either way, it was a good event, and partially because it was so small and relaxed.

Promoting it and having it be much bigger wouldn't work all that well. Anything more than 30 fencers an event and it would have become too large for the venue, unwieldy, and lose that comfortable, homey feeling that it had over the last two years.

[theLuz]

I entered and had a good time. I'm now much more punctual as I got my clock thoroughly cleaned. The tournament was well run, well directed and a lot of fun. Good job

[Ordway]

That's less the peril of poor promoting and more the peril of having at the door registration (which I used) and not being in touch with a bunch of fencers in the community. Best way to find out if another person of your caliber is going to be there is to call up and ask.

It probably would have been reasonable to assume that Adelia is going to show up to an event run by her own club. Either way, it was a good event, and partially because it was so small and relaxed.

Actually, I was in contact with several other WS fencers who were debating the same question, so I did try to ask around - the ones I knew, weren't going.

Also, if Adelia is a LAIFC fencer, why the heck didn't she pre-register? She wasn't on AskFred. I don't know the fencers out of my area well enough to know which ones are at which club, or which ones are injured or traveling or what-not.... This is what I meant by promotion, really. For local events that I know I'm going to attend, if there's AskFred pre-reg, then I make sure to sign up right away so other people will see one more rated fencer there.

A small, laid-back event is fine if it is cheap and/or easy to get to. Really, I think that if the entry fee had been ten bucks again, I'd have gone.

[edew]

That's less the peril of poor promoting and more the peril of having at the door registration (which I used) and not being in touch with a bunch of fencers in the community. Best way to find out if another person of your caliber is going to be there is to call up and ask.

It probably would have been reasonable to assume that Adelia is going to show up to an event run by her own club. Either way, it was a good event, and partially because it was so small and relaxed.

Promoting it and having it be much bigger wouldn't work all that well. Anything more than 30 fencers an event and it would have become too large for the venue, unwieldy, and lose that comfortable, homey feeling that it had over the last two years.

Was it held at LAIFC? I was told that LAIFC was a rather large club with plenty of space. If they can't handle more than 30 fencers in more than 2 events, that would be important information.

[fencerwallet]

As I recall, LAIFC is maybe about the size of a public middle school gymnasium. They had pretty many strips, maybe 10-12 in a large main area, and perhaps 6 more in a smaller area, all electric w/scoring.

[notalent]

EDew, LAIFC was run on 9 strips on sun and 6 on mon. We were out at 5 on monday. Sunday had more folks and we were still done fencing by 530. The only real downer was the heat. It was over 100 on Sun., it was hot but that isnt their fault.

[oiuyt]

EDew, LAIFC was run on 9 strips on sun and 6 on mon. We were out at 5 on monday. Sunday had more folks and we were still done fencing by 530. The only real downer was the heat. It was over 100 on Sun., it was hot but that isnt their fault.

I think he was responding to Phaeton's statement that LAIFC can't handle large(ish) events. That's where your response should probably be aimed.

-B

[Phaeton]

LAIFC has a nice space for their club. They have a good number of strips. Their ability to run large events there is something I'd question a little bit.

There are a bunch of strips, but these strips are right next to each other. Even if things were run every other strip there would be about nine strips (which is by no means bad, enough per event). Then again there's the issue of just having space for all the bodies moving around. I really couldn't picture Sunday with a lot more people in the room. It would have been hotter and a lot more unpleasent just to stand around in.

LAIFC could by all means handle more people. I don't feel the venue would be half as comfortable and things quite as fast or well run if that were the case. It was my favorite event of last year because of the atmosphere, and my comment was more directed at the possible change in atmosphere and comfort level that many more people would bring.

I really think that's what makes the tournament what it is: a great way to kick off the season.

[Inquartata]

Also, if Adelia is a LAIFC fencer, why the heck didn't she pre-register? She wasn't on AskFred.

The cynic in me says: If the big fish at the club don't pre-register, no one from elsewhere will want to come and fence the little fish, and it's more likely that someone from within the club will win the tournament. ( And possibly ratings. )

The realist in me says it's probably just laziness. I wonder whether there's an exemption from the at-the-door fee for members...

[JEC]

So, did anybody get to the margaritas?

[notalent]

Seeing as they had beer for me I didnt need to go for the margaritas.

[4qtrs]

The realist in me says it's probably just laziness. I wonder whether there's an exemption from the at-the-door fee for members...

Nope, there were no fee breaks for members. However, last week and this week school is starting in SoCal. So, it may have been that it people had 'the last days of summer' plans.

[seven6ty]

I didn't notice any problems related to availability of the strips, everything went smoothly and was well run. I also think it was very well promoted, and I everyone I talked to in the area had heard about it, I don't think that there's much more that could have been done to ensure that it was a well promoted tournament. It sounds like the only issue here was keeping in touch with those who were planning on attending.