Ask the Judge, 09/09/2005: Feature Friday
GP Salt Lake City
I had the pleasure a couple weeks ago of attending GP Salt Lake City, and thought I'd share a few thoughts in the event with you. We had a good mix of good, bad, and challenging issues.
I flew into Utah on Friday. Salt Lake City has an incredible alien geography to it. Flying or driving, as long as there's a bit of light, you can't miss it. To top it off, the city is surrounded by gorgeous mountains. I got in, found a shuttle to the hotel, and headed to the site to find Seattle judge Adam Bargmeyer, with the intention of dinner. Or headed, it turns out, to what I thought was the site.
Utah Premiere TO (and fine level 2 Judge) Chris Scanlon was kind enough to sponsor hotel rooms for 10 non-local judges.* Some miscalculation on the part of the staff hotel meant that those of us sponsored by Black Rose Games ended up across the street in the perfectly acceptable Comfort Suites. I'd somehow come to Utah with the idea that the GP was at the original hotel. I quickly discovered that there was no organized Magic play in the Best Western; fortunately the desk clerk was aware of the event and directed me to the Expo Center "just down the street".
As Ted Knutson can attest, the Expo Center is indeed just down the street—just about two miles down the street. I stopped to verify my route no less than three times. My flight arrived at the Salt Lake City airport at 7:45; it was pushing 10 by the time I found the actual site. Adam had thoughtfully waited up for me, and we found adequate food at one of the countless chain family restaurants on the stretch between the hotel and the site. Knowing that we had an early call the next day we resisted the urge to head back to the site or really make a night of it.
I was awakened the next morning by what seemed to be the loudest alarm clock I'd ever encountered; it was actually a 6:30 fire alarm. My unconfirmed speculation is that the hotel was struck by lightning. No matter what the cause, there was a ferocious thunderstorm, largely cleared up by the time my roommate Paul Thompson and I were ferried over by Idaho good guy Mike Goodman.
I was looking forward to working with head judge Toby Elliot, who is the main judge these days in the San Francisco Bay area. I started my judge career working PTQs and Prereleases at Matchplay alongside Toby, and I have a lot of respect for him. He didn't disappoint. He ran a tight event; I learned a lot from him (as well as soft-spoken L4 John Shannon, who was here to shadow Toby) and I think this GP was good for him as well. I suspect we'll see Toby joining the elite L4 ranks in the near future. Things got started off on the right foot when the early arriving judges got right to things, taking care of a number of logistics issues before most of the senior staff had even arrived. Toby showed up and had the best kind of judge meeting: a concise one. We covered the areas we needed to and broke up into teams.
I was to be on the deck checks team, under Mitchell Waldbauer, an up-and-coming L2 from Texas. One of the surprising things for me about transitioning from L2 to L3 is the different focus that I have at events like this. As a level 2 judge, even a team lead, you are striving to make sure that all of the team's jobs get taken care of. As an L3, getting those things done is a given; your job is to make sure that the team lead takes care of them, and to collect information on your team members so that you can give them good feedback. That's no secret; what I didn't really realize until I found myself doing it is what an active process that is. Getting good feedback on people means creating opportunities to learn about them, rather than waiting for those learning opportunities to arise spontaneously. Our team did a fine job of finding rulings and philosophy issues to talk about. I think we managed to engage everyone on topics that were of interest to them. Mitchell did a fine job, despite having not had a ton of experience in the team lead role. Reflecting on the weekend, I think there are some key points that I would highlight as the skills necessary for doing a superior job of managing the judges that are working under you:
- Make sure that everything gets done.
It's not enough to assign each task that needs doing; you have to follow up to make sure it's getting done. As you work with people, you can build trust and give them autonomy—this is an important part of running a team of judges—but you have to keep in mind that at the end of the day, each task a team member undertakes reflects on you.
- Manage your resources.
Don't assign the whole team (or staff, if you're a HJ) to each thing that comes up. Obviously, it only takes a couple people to put up two sets of pairings. At the end of a round, note when you have a fair number of free team members and take the opportunity to have a discussion about how the round went.
- Actively engage your teammates.
This means a lot of things; leading discussions is the most straightforward. But it also means that you should be asking questions rather than asserting your opinion. Look for process and philosophy rather than dwelling on details. In the long run, people will learn the rulings. How you work a series of rules and penalty guidelines into a final resolution is (when dealing with judges who are, by and large, competent, and working to improve their understanding of the game and judging) more important than whether the specific application of the layer system or state-based effects was correct. Recognize the comfort zone of your judges and work within it, offering examples from your experience to kick off discussions. Your job here boils down to: get to know your teammates. You won't do that by offering long monologues on how you single-handedly saved organized Magic play in your state.
- Make sure judge needs are met.
People need a handful of things to be effective. They need to know that they have a place filling their role. They need to get feedback on their weaknesses so that they can improve. They also need food, water, and rest. You can't really go wrong encouraging people to drink water. At many high-level events, there are a surplus of judges. In my opinion, it's best to keep people working within fairly tight parameters, but to push them to take frequent breaks. It's a better habit to develop than just leaving judges to come and go at their whim. When something comes up, and suddenly the event staff needs to kick into high gear, knowing where everyone is, and that they're not likely to just wander off into the aether, can be crucial.
- Give people the feedback that they deserve.
Filling out judge review forms is an important part of your job as team lead (or even as another member of the team—if you have something to contribute, get it out there). But even more important is taking the time to share your feedback with the judge.
These guidelines are useful not only when you're team leading at high-level events; they apply any time you are in charge of other judges. Be friendly, helpful, and let people do their jobs, and you'll be happy with the results.
At any rate, things went well. We were a little overstaffed, which is always nice for a deck check team. Our checks went quickly and smoothly. We had plenty of opportunities to watch each other work, which is wonderful. While we want to avoid judges clumping up and ignoring the players, watching someone else make a ruling and then discussing that ruling can be invaluable. What could have been a tremendously long day, due to some issues with DCI Reporter, ended much earlier than it might have.
Day 2 I was floating on a number of tasks in the side events area. While it's a common trope to note that working sides is not a punishment, rarely have I had the opportunity to observe how true this really is. Each member of the side events staff was there for a reason, and we were a well-oiled machine. I was observing a number of judges, some of whom are interested in testing for level 3, and some of whom were hoping to test for levels 1 or 2. It worked out well for everyone; my candidates did well, and the people I wasn't testing, I was able to gather good feedback on.
As to the aforementioned challenges, and things gone wrong: we met the challenges head on. Judges tackled roles they hadn't taken on before, and had the support to do it well. Turnout was somewhat lighter than expected, which is a shame, but I think that those who attended found a professionally run event. If I had to complain about one thing, it would be the food: dining in Salt Lake City late on Sunday night was challenging, particularly compared to Baltimore just two weeks earlier. We didn't have the benefit of Sheldon scheduling our meals in Little Italy for us. What we did have, though, was excellent company, and lots of grist for the judge topic mill. Next time Salt Lake City gets a high-level event, plan on seeing me there. It's worth the trip.
* This is an extraordinarily generous gesture; in ways even better than Pro Tour sponsorship. While working at the PT is a great experience, and spending time with a Pro Tour staff is a fine way to learn about judging, the GP judging experience is, in many ways, tougher and potentially more rewarding—the PT is often overstaffed, and there just don't tend to be that many tough situations that come up. I would certainly not hesitate to recommend to any L1 or L2 judge looking to broaden their horizons that they take the time to travel to a GP.
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