Comic Making Tournament II: Prelim Report

Some early thoughts for right now; I'll have more detailed analysis later on.

The second tournament was a run away success! About 20 kids participated, with several walking in and out during different events for an average of 10 - 15 at a time. This was higher attendance than the first tournament, which by the end only had a handful of participants. One reason for the higher turn out is the time spent advertising: fliers for the event had been circulating for about 3 months, giving plenty of time for word of mouth to spread. I'll follow a similar method next time.

I'm still tallying the template totals, but early indicators is that the totals will completely blow away the first tournament. The variety of comics used is also staggering: nearly every comic that's part of the CCP (60+) was represented in the tournament. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time for clean up, so I ended up losing a few templates, plus the overall ranking sheets and satisfaction surveys. Those were the only casualties, though.

I managed to record nearly the entire tournament. I'll spend time sifting through the ~26 gigs of video for highlights to post to YouTube (I told everyone I was going to post the images online - no objections from the parents). Some 180 pictures were taken of all the events and the award ceremony. Those will also be sorted through and posted in good time.

Of the new events (hybrid, non-linear, and the card game), non-linear was the most popular and will definitely be coming back. Hybrid went well, though I'll shrink it down a little to give more time for other events.

The card game had mixed results - it's not very suited to large groups. I'll probably use the card game as a classroom activity rather than a tournament activity in the future. It has potential as a stand alone activity, though I need to work on a quick and succinct manner to explain its rules.

The prizes did well. The tote bag was the most popular item, along with the t-shirts and mug. "Jellaby" was the most sought after book. The grand prize for largest overall score was the complete "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Philip Pullman in a shiny box set. Most of the kids had seen "Golden Compass," so this was a good choice.

I kept to a "1 prize, 1 kid" policy (except for 1st place, which I allowed multiple awards for) to keep things fair and give everyone a shot at a larger prize. For the next tournament, I have some prizes left over that'll be used again. Additionally, "Little Dee" volume 1 came in Saturday and 3 webcomic shirts I ordered still haven't come in.

(Sorry for the delay in posting. I would've posted last night, but my flight out of Bradley was delayed due to the storm. I finally flew out this morning, having had to stay in a hotel with no Internet access.)