Rethinks music choice for upcoming video 
I’ll admit, I got a little stressed just reading your response to Shawn’s question Steve.
How you manage to do all of that, PLUS all the stuff you do for CLYW, PLUS running and updating YoYoNews daily, PLUS having a wife and kids (including a newborn) to look after and spend time with…
http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion/files/2011/09/0901_WVconsConfidence.jpg
I think I need to lie down.
Being a competitor requires the ability to follow the rules, not only during the competition, but at the registration phase. There are penalties for not following rules during the competition, and there should also be penalties for not following the rules for registration. That makes sense to me.
I think increasing the fee for the late-comers is more than reasonable, and the best option to achieve the desired end. If you turn people away, it might teach them a lesson about registering late. But, there are a lot of expenses to run a contest, and you’d also be turning away someone who is willing to pay you money. I’m not a big fan of turning away someone who is willing to pay, if you have the space for them. I believe that increasing the registration fee for late-comers would deter a lot of people from delaying, but it will also be a good added source of revenue for the event.
As a side note, I don’t think any responsible parent should be yelling at a contest organizer, about how they drove all that way to the contest “for nothing.” The rules are typically posted online, so there is no room for misunderstanding. And, anyone who travels to a contest can find a place to yo-yo, socialize, or watch the event as they see fit, which is a lot more than “nothing.” So, they can still make the most of their trip. A lot of the parents are the reason the kids don’t know if they should register early, as they have no idea if they can get a ride, some money to register, or their permission to go. The parents are probably the most upset about it, and don’t yell at their kids, because it’s actually their fault in the first place.
I guess the question is whether we want to punish the kids for what parents may be doing. I don’t believe it’s all the kids’ fault on this one. Kids can be forgetful and fail to communicate, but parents can also be asked to go somewhere on a specific date and say, “hmmm…we’ll see,” for months on end. Then, when the date draws near, and the kid finally gets the okay to go, the registration deadline has passed.
I’d like to see a poll taken at the door of the late-comers, to ascertain the reasons why they are registering late. I think collecting that data and calling them out to an extent will help bring about positive change. If you continue to accept late-comers at the door with no deterrent, you will get the same result. I think your post is a step in the right direction.
the two main problems are that many contestants are teens or very juvenile unresponsible grown ups and that parents (which are supposted the help their kids) are not aware of how serious competitions work today.
I mean, try to sign into a kids beaty contest on site today, good luck.
I have totally no remorse anymore on this question. on site registration is dead. (should be in my opinion)
Don’t forget Las Vegas Open. Oh, and I’m working on the proposal for Worlds 2016 and will be leading the team on that one. 
There are a few things that make all this work for me.
My wife is the best. And she knows how much I love all of this, and it’s one of the reasons she loves me. Without that massive bit of emotional and logistical support, none of this would work. Period.
I have amazing collaborators. Chris Mikulin and André Boulay are incredible to work with, and in addition to them I’ve managed to build up a tremendous support network of like-minded people who work hard and want to make all of this stuff happen, too.
Coffee. You have no idea.
And the most important thing: I love this. Even the parts I hate, I love. This is what I do. I’ve now been doing this more than half my life. It’s what I’m best at. And every new skill or concept or connection I make is all diverted to the service of yoyoing. Everything I learned from my time in retail and store ownership and running an art gallery and producing designer toys and managing web stores for artists…all of it gets funneled back into yoyos. I’m always learning new stuff and then looking to see how I can bring it back to yoyos.
It can be done. Just don’t expect to be well-rested ha ha.
agreed, coffee is life-fuel.
What percentage of people routinely register on the day of the event?
At ohio states last year, did you tell people it was ok to register Saturday morning?
…taking notes…
even the kindest of people will get a little raw when they’re sitting in a chair and watching 50 kids stringfumble through bad dubstep.
Oh my lawd…Laughing so hard I can’t even breathe
So, Steve, by your description of the Ohio event, you were taken by surprise by the additional entries. Is there a way you can prepare for a larger event but then scale it back if you have less participants? Meaning, is it financially feasible to prepare for 100 contestants but only have 50 on the day of the event? This would put you in a position where you have the space and time allotted for the “additional” entries, the judges would be prepared for the amount of time they will be providing for 100 contestants, and you won’t end up with additional problems like scheduling extra time with the venue.
This way, you can either leave early because you have less contestants than expected (which I’m sure judges and parents wouldn’t mind), or you fill up the empty slots (charging as much as double for ‘day of’ entry fees) and proceed with the contest “as scheduled” so to speak.
The only addition you might need is a person to take those ‘day of’ registrations and fees and add those players to the schedule where needed. This doesn’t have to be you if you would rather focus on the meat and potatoes of the event like stage prep and sponsor prep.
I can’t speak for yo-yo contests but the tiered pricing approach is common place in the convention circuit.
It is all in how you sell the idea of the price increases. Everything here makes it sound like a penalty, you are registering late and making my life difficult so I am going to punish you with a higher price of admission. Instead of taking that tone just set the maximum price off the bat. (For this examples I am pulling numbers out of thin air, please don’t call me crazy if I am way off base.) Example, in order to compete in this competition you will have to pay $100. From there just set some early bird dates that cuts the price by a quarter to half off. Making sure to set the lowest discount at the minimum price that allows you to cover all of your costs. Make people feel like they got a deal.
One area that I see needing to be done is set a hard date for competitors. You definitely need to implement Option 1 here. Make it friendly but firm and posted everywhere that this is the cut off date and here are all the reasons why it must be the cut off date.
As for why people register so late, it can be a money issue. They don’t know way in advance if they can cover the costs involved so they take a wait and see approach to the whole situation. Life happens on both sides of the registration table.
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Correct, and having good registration numbers allows an organizer to set a good schedule and stick to it making a better experience for all the people that registered on time, all the staff/volunteers, and all the spectators.
Not with it being a good experience for spectators. You could either wind up running early which is an issue for people that told friends/family when to watch them (or press that you told when to be there) or you have a lot of dead stage time which is super boring.
Last year we had a little over half of our competitors register the day of the event. I did tell people it was ok, thinking (wrongly) that it wouldn’t be more than 20% of our total. I also opened online registration a little late last year, and when my morning registration apocalypse happened I assumed it was my fault for not having registration up sooner.
This year I opened registration a few months in advance and assumed that people would trickle in slowly but they would still mostly register in advance. I also didn’t pay a great deal of attention to it since I’ve been largely preoccupied with this whole newborn baby thing, which is completely my fault. Of course, I’m sure tomorrow morning is going to be a nightmare again. And while I can roll my eyes at kids doing everything last-minute, it’s also my fault for not being more pro-active about making plans that assume all these kids are pure evil and trying to destroy me. Which they are.