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Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 1:42 pm
by Cheynem
As alluded to in the State of the Board thread, I'm interested in starting a series of Quizbowl Roundtable talks with various experienced players about various topics. My vision for the talks would be private IRC (or some other media) discussions that were then edited to make it a little more understandable. I would be sort of a host/participant with to be determined guests with experience in various aspects of collegiate (as the main focus, but a lot of this is applicable to anyone quizbowl), including writing, tournament directing, editing, team building, improving, etc. No schedule has been determined yet.

I'd be interested if people proposed topics they'd like the panel to discuss OR people willing to be a participant. In terms of the latter, I'd say participation is at my discretion--I'd like a range of people, mostly experienced folks, but also people I'd be comfortable interacting with and know that they would have something compelling to say. Please post potential topics or PM/e-mail me about participating here. Once a topic has been set, I can then solicit more specific questions.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 2:00 pm
by grapesmoker
"How to run a tournament" should be a topic. So should "how to edit a tournament."

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 2:02 pm
by Frater Taciturnus
"How do I go to tournaments" seems to be something that younger, newer teams have struggled with; perhaps that can be a part of a general "How does college quizbowl happen?"

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 2:23 pm
by Important Bird Area
grapesmoker wrote:"How to run a tournament" should be a topic.
This is a big topic; running tournaments can be very disorienting to new hosts.

I think we should split this up into a series:

"How to find a question set for your tournament"
"How to promote your tournament to local teams"
"How to create a fair tournament schedule"
"How to run a control room"
"How to use SQBS/post your results to the database"

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 2:33 pm
by Cheynem
I think those are worth being broken up into different questions, but some of them probably don't deserve a roundtable discussion as opposed to just a tutorial (the SQBS one, for example, which has an obvious Right Answer).

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 3:09 pm
by Auroni
"How to get the most out of practice time" is something that I'd like to see, "How to choose answers when writing questions" is something I'd participate in.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 3:16 pm
by Susan
I think a real, HEAVILY MODERATED, discussion of women with quizbowl (with data) would be useful.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 3:19 pm
by Frater Taciturnus
Cheynem wrote:I think those are worth being broken up into different questions, but some of them probably don't deserve a roundtable discussion as opposed to just a tutorial (the SQBS one, for example, which has an obvious Right Answer).
I usually break up explanation of running tournaments into "preparation" and "day-of" segments; perhaps that could end up as an effective way to do this?

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:18 pm
by bag-of-worms
I'd like to see some sort of guide about How to Be a Good Moderator.

Situations like this still happen at local tournaments:
"Buzz...Sukarno?"

"I CAN'T TAKE THAT!!!"

This could be a subsection of How to Run a Tournament, however.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:28 pm
by Rococo A Go Go
This has the potential to be very informative and productive, especially if enough people get involved to make sure the discussions are focused on helping the community as a whole. The main reservation I would have about this is the worry that nothing new will come of it; a handful of people chatting in the IRC is hardly a groundbreaking roundtable discussion, no matter how respected those people are in the community.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:38 pm
by 1992 in spaceflight
One thing I'd like to see/maybe participate in is "How to do more outreach among teams besides emails." Have people talk about stuff that has worked for them over the years to get people to come.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 4:50 pm
by Victor Prieto
I'd like to see "how to attract and retain club members" (as I mentioned in the other thread) and "how to properly write a lead-in," as well as more niche topics like "how to select relevant visual clues for paintings" or "how to select relevant audio clues for music."

I realize some of these things have been brought up before in the Best of the Best forum, but most of those are more than three years old. Not that they aren't still relevant, it's just that I think quizbowl standards have continued to rise since then (although I wasn't around for that).

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 5:03 pm
by Theodore
Kenneth Widmerpool wrote:"How to get the most out of practice time" is something that I'd like to see
I would definitely like to see this. I simply read packets at my club practices, but I'm sure there's a lot more to practices than that.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 5:41 pm
by The King's Flight to the Scots
I think we could most productively discuss hosting, outreach, and retention, as proposed earlier in this thread. I would add that I might enjoy more discussions of strategy in studying, team-building and gameplay, since the forums have only dealt with those topics on the very most basic level.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:05 pm
by Galadedrid Damodred
I would like to see a discussion of "how to listen to tossups" because it is an under-examined skill that can have a steep learning curve for inexperienced players. This topic also relates to the idea of retaining players. If a brand-new quizbowler goes to a few practices (where most likely, he or she will answer hardly any questions unless playing only with other novices, and even then may be buzzer-shy for weeks) and then attends a tournament with no other experience or guidance, the frustration of listening to tossup after tossup with no idea of what is going on may cause that person to quit before he or she ever has the chance to get better.

When you are an experienced player who contributes on bonuses and is competitive on at least a handful of tossups per round, questions and matches often seem to zoom by. But when you are just starting out, there are several factors that can cause tossups to seem incredibly long and hard to understand. Moderators generally read faster than the average person speaks, often much faster, and are not always perfectly comprehensible. Additionally, tossups are filled with certain turns of phrase and sentence structures that are much less common in ordinary speech, proper names and titles out the wazoo, and subject-specific jargon (especially in science). Parsing this "quizbowl-ese" on the fly is an acquired skill that, to my knowledge, has never really been discussed in depth on the boards.

It is probably too much to ask, but I would really like to see a blow-by-blow analysis of two top teams playing against each other during a round from a past tournament. This would include the sequence of thoughts of each person who got a tossup (what they initially thought after hearing the lead-in, how they arrived at the answer, why they buzzed when they did, etc.), as well as general re-enactments of team conversations during bonuses. It may be an impossible task for eight people not only to try to remember an entire match as it happened, but to be willing to take the time to write it all down. However, I think this kind of detailed gameplay discussion could prove very enlightening to newer players or those who want to know the inner workings of quiz bowl at the highest level.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 11:57 pm
by Cheynem
When I get a chance (i.e. probably this weekend), I will organize these topics into potential broad themes for sets of discussions, and attempt to work at rousting up various panelists and times. When an actual panel and topic are set, I will invite people to submit specific (or non specific questions) in an attempt to make the panels as useful as they can be yet still maintain a moderated, private style.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 12:26 pm
by Fado Alexandrino
The Two Hearts of Kwasi Boachi wrote:One thing I'd like to see/maybe participate in is "How to do more outreach among teams besides emails." Have people talk about stuff that has worked for them over the years to get people to come.
This is probably the biggest problem I've seen in my region. You'll always have the regulars, but getting newer schools to come has been a challenge. I'd like to learn a thing or two about this.

I'm up for participating on discussing how to run a tournament, and I would like to see the discussion divided into preparation and day-of, especially since in some cases the parties involved are not the same.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 1:02 pm
by Algeria
I endorse Susan's suggestion!

I'll also throw in a vote for "how do I start a quizbowl team at x college/university without one" since I don't think there are many resources on the forums for how to do this.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Tue Oct 22, 2013 1:42 pm
by i never see pigeons in wheeling
Another big one: how to fundraise or how to frame funding requests for college/high school administrations. This seems to be the primary problem with getting teams from my region to multiple national tournaments because flights to the Midwest/East Coast are costly.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2013 11:38 pm
by naan/steak-holding toll
It is probably too much to ask, but I would really like to see a blow-by-blow analysis of two top teams playing against each other during a round from a past tournament. This would include the sequence of thoughts of each person who got a tossup (what they initially thought after hearing the lead-in, how they arrived at the answer, why they buzzed when they did, etc.), as well as general re-enactments of team conversations during bonuses. It may be an impossible task for eight people not only to try to remember an entire match as it happened, but to be willing to take the time to write it all down. However, I think this kind of detailed gameplay discussion could prove very enlightening to newer players or those who want to know the inner workings of quiz bowl at the highest level.
Could we please get the Yale 280 - Harvard 270 game if this happens? Or the finals of the 2013 ICT?

Also, I'll second Matt's suggestion of a discussion on how to study and build team dynamics.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Fri Oct 25, 2013 1:39 pm
by Cheynem
So here are some broad topics that I think could work as episodes. I don't believe I'm qualified to lead the discussion of all of them, of course.

"Running a Tournament"--I feel like the actually nitty gritty of running a tournament and the directions have been covered in some excellent resources. I would envision this panel addressing some of the recurring problems that generate in running a tournament and how experienced TD's/etc. work through them. Could talk about promoting tournaments.

"Writing Questions"--How to write questions well, with attention paid to successful strategies about how to write good questions efficiently.

"Producing a Question Set"--A discussion about editing a tournament and actually producing the questions that are generated. Different than writing.

"Starting a Team"--how to begin a team from scratch, dos and don'ts, getting money. I wouldn't feel qualified to lead this one.

"Moving a Team Forward"--How to go beyond people playing stuff at practice to being a really serious team. Discussion of ways to get people on board, ways to enhance practices, etc. Attending tournaments. This may or may not also talk about retaining and improving players; it may be too big for one panel.

"Playing the Game"--How to be a better player. Discussion of listening to tossups, bonuses, flowing as a team.

"Women in Quizbowl"--should be moderated by a woman, of course.

I would enjoy leading a discussion on Writing Questions, Producing a Question Set, Moving a Team Forward, and Playing the Game, and could co-lead the "Running a Tournament" discussions.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 3:33 pm
by Steak and Kidney Pie
This would probably be under "Playing the Game", but the highschool to college transition is pretty rough, and it would be nice to know how to adapt to the college QB environment.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Sat Oct 26, 2013 5:40 pm
by itsthatoneguy
Wasabi wrote: I realize some of these things have been brought up before in the Best of the Best forum, but most of those are more than three years old. Not that they aren't still relevant, it's just that I think quizbowl standards have continued to rise since then (although I wasn't around for that).
I think this is a good point. For each topic, there should probably be some mentioning of (good) material that has already been written on the subject and how relevant it remains in today's game.

Thanks for organizing this, Mike!

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Sun Oct 27, 2013 2:38 am
by Citizen Snips
I know this has been covered in other areas of the forms, but a comprehensive moderator guide might not be a bad idea.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 1:27 pm
by Cheynem
I would like to run in whatever order, depending on interest, the following topics in the next month or so.

1. Moving a Team Forward
2. Writing Questions
3. Playing the Game
4. Producing a Question Set

Not that the other topics aren't important, but I don't feel qualified to lead them. If you would like to be a panelist for any of these panels (I think 4-5 panelists is the ideal number), let me know and we'll work out the dates that work (probably in the evening).

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Oct 28, 2013 1:49 pm
by AKKOLADE
How to spread the game

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 6:28 pm
by Magister Ludi
Thank god someone finally started this thread. While I don't have the time nowadays for long theory posts between my own writing and ACF Nats, I would love to participate in a few panel discussions over Skype or the IRC. (Personally, I like Skype because in my experience these large, multi-person discussions always turn out better when people can actually hear each others' voices and can't talk over each other.)

Below are a bunch of topics that I have always wanted to discuss in a post but have never found the time. If you're interested in collaborating with me on a panel discussing any of these issues let me know. The first five are about gameplay and the last (and most important) one is about discussion on the board.

1- How to be a Great Humanities Player: The panel would discuss the different phases of a humanities' player's development, how to balance real knowledge and studying for quizbowl, how to build a diverse base of real knowledge, how to organize your studying (what classes to take, what books to read and when to read them).

2- How to Pick Good Answers and How to Avoid Picking Bad Answers: There could discussions for picking both tossup and bonus answers. The issue of avoiding bad bonus answers is especially needed.

3- How to Build a Top-Ten Team: Not just how to coordinate studying plans but how to create the type of environment and team dynamic that stimulates player growth and makes people want to get better. I mean creating that special camaraderie where teammates push each other to improve.

4- Picking Good Clues for Painting and Visual Arts

5- The Career Path of an Editor: I think it would be helpful to outline the steps in the career path of a successful editor.

6- How to Criticize an Existing Norm in the Community in a Productive Way: There are far too many grumbling posts that critique the board in completely generic and completely unhelpful ways. The most frustrating part of these posts is how little thought the posters seem to have put into the issue before complaining; these folks seemingly cannot pass up an opportunity to bitch about the culture of the board and will jump into any thread about any issue and demand change--though they have no ideas for what that change should be. I call this style of posting "The Marshall Method". It is totally ineffective and derails discussion. I think we need to have a discussion on how to approach critiquing established standards on the board. Specifically how to frame your criticism in a way that has a chance to be productive by grounding it in concrete suggestions for how one can specifically improve an issue.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2013 6:52 pm
by AKKOLADE
I like Ted's post, especially the last post, except for:
Magister Ludi wrote:(Personally, I like Skype because in my experience these large, multi-person discussions always turn out better when people can actually hear each others' voices and can't talk over each other.)
ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 12:19 am
by vinteuil
Wasabi wrote:more niche topics like "how to select relevant visual clues for paintings" or "how to select relevant audio clues for music."
I would also appreciate seeing some discussion of these things, and also math and science clues, which are the other major victims of terminological abuse/misunderstanding and poor cluing.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 11:15 am
by Cheynem
I'm a bit busy right now, including with quizbowl-related things, but I'll try to run some of these in November--probably Moving a Team Forward and Writing Questions.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2013 12:30 pm
by Cheynem
Sorry that this didn't happen, things got crazy not only for me but I think a lot of the people who wanted to participate (I think my post about tournament discussion may be considered a modest entry in it, although that wasn't a roundtable). Christmas break might prove to be a better time once writing pushes/finals are finished.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Thu Dec 26, 2013 3:38 pm
by Cheynem
I apologize for this not happening this year. It's been a pretty rough year for me personally and professionally, and when things calm down a little, we can try to finally set up something.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 6:29 pm
by Victor Prieto
Hey, I made a spreadsheet (with approval of Mike) to begin scheduling the roundtable discussions, with categories reflecting what has been discussed above. It is currently in comment-only mode.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... _web#gid=0

If you would like to be a participant in a talk, please email/PM either Mike or me so we can add you.

If you would like to see a specific topic discussed, add a comment to the spreadsheet (it's a control-click option, for people unfamiliar with Google docs). I think I covered all the bases, and that pretty much any topic can be part of one of the roundtable talks listed there already.

Once we've had enough people sign up for a particular topic, we'll schedule a date.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 6:31 pm
by Cheynem
Just to clarify--participants should generally be people who have experience in whatever topic they have. If you have questions or just want to learn more, those are cool too, but those should be separate from signups.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2014 2:32 pm
by Cheynem
Also, I wouldn't expect any to be scheduled until after ACF Regionals and thus within more of a "cooldown" period for quizbowl until the nationals season.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 1:40 am
by Magister Ludi
I have neither the time nor the patience to navigate such a belabored sign-up process, but if I'm happy to lead or participate in any of the discussions i mentioned earlier in this thread.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 1:46 am
by Cheynem
I'll just you mark you down, Ted.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 2:25 am
by Rococo A Go Go
I think there should be a discussion on something like public relations. Quizbowl does a pretty poor job of that right now, although we've seen some leaps forward in recent years.

Re: Quizbowl Roundtable: Call for Topics/Participants

Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 1:50 pm
by fett0001
Agreed, Nick. Even just some basics of how to contact newspapers, to make events sound notable.