Zoomer Show Results

Well I got the definition wrong. Apparently a 'Zoomer' is a Boomer with Zip.
The Zoomer show was held at the Vancouver Convention Center at Canada place.
Unit 430 had a nice big area, where we set up tables and introduced people to bridge.
The ACBL sent us a ton of promotional stuff, and the show itself gave us a couple of nice banners for our area. All in all it looked quite professional. Here is a photo of the banner.


Since there were several of us helping out there were always a few available to sit down with interested newcomers and walk them through a lesson hand or two.
Here is a photo of our area 'in action'.


As to what the long term effect will be who knows? But we could never have gotten the attention of so many people in such a short time if we were not there. We handed out several dozens of the ACBL "Learn to Play Bridge" CD's (in exchange for email addresses), conducted many mini lessons and games, handed out lots of flyers for the VBC and lessons and so forth.
Thanks to all the people who showed up to help and special kudos to Vicki who organized, promoted, and led the whole effort.

ZOOMER SHOW

Whats a Zoomer? I don't know. I think it is someone over 45 years old. The generation after the 'boomers'?
Anyway there is a show targetting Zoomers coming to the Vancouver Trade and convention center on Nov 27 and 28th.
Our Unit, (430 ACBL) has decided to participate and run a booth there for the two days.
We hope to introduce Duplicate Bridge to the target audience.

Here is a link to the web site that describes the show, and gives directions for getting there.

http://www.zoomershow.ca/2010/van/vancouver.html

If you have any ideas as to what sort of presentations should be at this show, what sort of lessons, etc. send an email to one of your board members.

We will be giving away some CD's with software on them, some old ACBL bridge bulletins, and the like.
Other suggestions welcome.

Some Handy Links

The local chapter of the ACBL (unit 430) maintains a web site with a lot of information on it.
Including the location and times of all the duplicate games at all of the clubs in the Vancouver area, and some in the Fraser Valley.

Check out Matchpointer Home Page
www.matchpointer.com/h0.htm

and also a list of clubs:
http://www.matchpointer.com/c1.htm

and a page of interesting bridge links here:
http://www.matchpointer.com/l0.htm

If you want to play online BridgeBase (BBO) is one very good place to start. They even have a special area for beginners, as well as chat rooms where you can practice your bidding.
See:
http://www.bridgebase.com/

Many of the local clubs post the results of the previous night's games online. The ACBL has a special page for such scores, so all you need to know is the name of your club.
Ask your director then go to the ACBL CLUB SCORES page and select from the drop down menus.
http://www.acbl.org/index.html
http://clubresults.acbl.org/

Future Stars -- Ocotober 2010

The reaction to the Unit's Future Stars events continues to be positive.
Richard Dunn, (the D.I.C) reports that this past weekends event had 48 Tables.
Here is a breakdown of the previous events for comparison.


Sat aft Sat eve Sun morn Sun eve Tot
May ’09 16.5 9.5 14 7 47
Apr ’10 17.5 14 12.5 9 53 !!!
Oct ’10 17 10 12 9 48


Greg Morse
As an aside, I have heard that some of the newer players are wary of playing regularly at the VBC; there is no reason for them to be worried. Encouraging them to attend a Future Stars event at the VBC would be a good way to introduce them to the site.
JGM.

Dealing Machine Arrives

Unit 430 now has a new dealing machine!! The cost is shared with the VBC (thank you Ken).
The machine will be kept at the VBC, and be available for Unit games, special mentor/mentee games, Sectionals (if required), and whichever club games Ken decides to allow.

The benefit to our members is that hand records can now be given out more easily. The benefit to our directors is that making up boards for special events and teaching hands is now much easier.

I am waiting for the final piece to arrive, and while I am waiting
I am still working through the various features of the software.

Here is a picture or three.
The top one is the full layout (CD is balanced on top of machine).
Next is a picture of the two windows that are open when the machine is dealing.
Finally the machine with the CD of software on balanced on top.

Greg Morse.

Mentee/Mentor Game Feedback.

Thanks to the interest of some people on the board in promoting and encouraging new bridge players, there has been an effort to have Mentor/Mentee games on a regular basis.
David Dilkes is the board member responsible for these games.
The following quotes come courtesy of David's efforts to obtain feedback on the latest game, a Swiss Teams event.

Greg Morse
-----------------------------From David-------------------------------------------------

Hi,

At the risk of being redundant, I want to say again that for me it was a fantastic effort on the part of our Mentors and our Mentees to turn out 84 bridge players and organize into 21 teams and to have a game which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you all! And, a very special thank you to Cathy Miller who did a magnificent job of Directing and single-handedly managing the scoring, team movement and caddying the boards. WOW---- what an effort!

I would really appreciate your feedback on three items:

1. Your overall experience at our game on Saturday, Oct 2. (Please be candid be it good, bad or indifferent.)

2. Our next quarterly game would fall in January. However, it will not be on Jan 1, as that day is reserved for the VBC Annual Special Marathon with games all day and all of you are invited but not for a MMTG. It has been suggested that we hold our next MMTG on Sat, Jan 8, at 1 p.m. Please let me know if this will work for you.

3. Any suggestions on how we can continue to improve our MMTG,

I look forward to hearing from you. Thank You!

David

---------------------------------From The Mentees---------------------------------------------

Overall Experience

1. “From my perspective it ran very smoothly. We had good games, and

learned about Swiss Teams. It is lucky we have people like you who will put the effort into organizing.”

2. “Overall experience: very positive--efficiently run and pleasant atmosphere.”
3. “Everything ran really smoothly on Saturday. Good job!”
4. “I really enjoyed the whole event and it was very well run.”
5. “I thoroughly enjoyed the game. My mentor was supportive, positive and encouraging throughout. He also gave me some objective feedback on the strengths and weaknesses in my play.”
6. “it was a great session.”
7. “Yes, I had a really good time. you did a terrific job. It is so nice to meet and or play with the good players! The better the player the nicer they are.”
8. “I thought the afternoon was very well organized and I enjoyed it very much.”
9. “Ya done good dude. A lot of the chaos around the first game was dealt with and the new director is a real asset. The game went very smoothly I thought.”
10. “My partner XXXXXX and I enjoyed the MMTG event very much on Sat. We had such helpful mentors and it was not nearly as stressful as I anticipated.With this first experience under my belt, I really look forward to the next one.I especially want to thank Anne Smith for being my mentor. Thank you so much for all of your attention to detail.What a great job all of you did in organizing the event.I don't know how you could improve.”
11. “Thank you for your good work and also a big thank you to Cathy Miller.
12. “I enjoyed the game you set up.“It was a wonderful afternoon and I was really enjoyed Mentors Mentees Team Game. It's my first team game. I was nervous at the beginning, then It turned out fun. Of course I learned a lot from those experienced and advanced players. As a mentee, I'd like to give my Big Thanks for the mentors and those who organized this special event.”
13. “l enjoyed the game- well organized and run - thanks for the effort.”
14. “First I would like to congratulate you for organizing everything so well on Saturday. Most people had a great time and I heard several new people saying that they would soon like to play in the 'big' room. I myself really enjoyed playing with Peter, he is such a great player and he knows how to point things out in a positive way.”
15. “You're right, it was a huge success.”
16. “I was going to e-mail you o congratulate you - you did a fantastic job organizing the event. I really enjoyed it and will definitely be there again.”
17. “I had a wonderful time and a good learning experience. The event was well organized”.
18. “It is amazing that you successfully gathered so many people in a game. Your organization ability and influence over a large group of people deeply impressed me. That is a wonderful game. I met some interesting players and remembered their names.
19. “I thought it as a very good event. I appreciated the improvements in timing and organization. As usual, of course, it helped me with my game.”
20. “It was very well done and from what I noticed the mentees seemed to really enjoy it and I believe that was the whole purpose.”
21. “I enjoyed Sat very much, and I like the idea of playing less number of boards each round, as there was less time to wait etc.”
22. “The mentee/mentor games were a huge success. I hope they will continue or if not, that you will continue the Saturday games in some format.”
23. “I am sure that you know that I am a BIG fan of this game & you have already addressed some of my suggestions. "Shuffle, Deal & Play" has worked out way better than the complicated pre-set hands that were dealt to us at the inaugural game. It goes without saying that Cathy is the best director for the job. She has a sense of humour and is welcoming to new players. (Why doesn't she hire a Caddy?). Our overall experience was excellent. It is so invaluable to the new players not only to play duplicate in a "softer" setting with experienced partners but to hook up with other Mentees for future Club Pairs Games.”
24. “my general impression was that it was a well organized and smoothly run event, and more importantly, a pleasant few hours for everyone involved. i was happy to notice that all of the more experienced players were less concerned with winning (and with teaching/speech-making) than with smiling and enjoying the day. honestly, if all the bridge events i played in, club games through nationals, offered me as nice an afternoon I'd probably play at more of them.”
25. “Great afternoon yesterday, at the VBC, David. Thank you to you and your team all for all your hard work to organize an event that ran seamlessly. And, it was such fun!”

Suggestions for Improvement

1. My only suggestion is to make it a match point game with hand records.

2. You might want to try an "individual" game. In this game, The mentees all

sit south or east; the mentors sit north or west.

Each table plays 2 3 or 4 boards per round.

At the end of the round north stays, south moves up two tables, east moves

down one table west down two tables. Result every round no one is playing or defending against the same person for more than one round.It is complex for the director but the movement is in ACBL SCORE (I think)

At the end the mentees have competed against all the other mentees. And the

mentors have competed against all other mentors.

I think it is fun, you get to meet many people. If anyone is a jerk .. you

only play 1 round.

3. I think that, given the complaints about some of the "mentees", you might consider not allowing regular partnerships to play together in this kind of event - just a suggestion.

The Eddie Wold Seminar

The seminar was a great success! This is based on the feedback which follows (Note: A survey was sent to all participants with the Part I of the survey asking for comments on the seminar -- what follows is the first 19 responses in the order received.):

1. Hi David - great seminar - thanks for organizing.

2. Really enjoyed the Eddie Wold seminar.

3. I think a lot of its success was due to Eddie's format in letting us play the hands, then discuss. Much preferable to a lecture format.

4. First of all I must say that you have done an excellent job in organizing the seminar and I really enjoyed it. The Seminar materials are very practical and to the point.

5. Well organized, good questions from the group, excellent material covered, and top notch teachers.

6. I personally got a lot out of it, and I am still studying the generous notes that we were given. Both Eddie and Bob were great communicators: I could feel that they knew exactly what to say, and how to time each subject so that we would not be rushed. As a rookie player, I feel that I was just at the level to figure out what they were explaining, as they took for granted that we all knew the fundamentals of bridge. The other three players at my table were quite a bit more advanced than I am, but they were learning a lot also.

7. Both Eddie and Bob were fantastic - I wrote to them personally to say how much I enjoyed the w/end.

8. I found the seminar well organized and I was extremely impressed by the presenters............The handouts were useful as a teaching tool. Many thanks to all the people who put the event together.

9. I feel the seminar pointed out many ways to improve our bridge games without have to memorize seldom used conventions and then to find a partner willing to memorize them. It seems easier to try to improve your own bridge game. I know that I enjoyed Bob and Eddie's advice and that Ev did also. Also, for me, the location was good.

10. I had a great time at the seminar and felt I really got something out of it. I particularly like the part about playing IMPs and MPs. Although I did know there was a difference and I was aware of some of the things I should do. They made things much clearer in my eyes. Their handouts are full of interesting tid-bits. My experience was great. And I would attend another one.

11. Excellent seminar, very professional. Presentation, handouts, and content clear and useful. Liked playing the hands then discussing them. Eddie and Bob kept audience alert by changing the pace (and speaker). Also liked their willingness to answer questions immediately. Topics included general principles--very valuable. Thank you, I really appreciate your help! And thank you and Anne for arranging everything so expertly.

12. Probably would NOT do another seminar in this format as I found by the afternoon sessions, my brain had gone out to lunch. On a warm Sunday afternoon, the probability of me learning hand probability is about .005

13. Loved the seminar - although it did put some strain on my aging brain!!! The format was good, the instructors outstanding, and the material was really useful. I also liked the fact that we started at the scheduled time, and the instruction carried on right to the scheduled ending time - they really delivered.

14. I found it really worthwhile and am now going to digest and practice the information. Many thanks for offering this opportunity to advance our bridge knowledge! Thanks for the excellent job you did of organizing this whole thing. Dim Sum was a wonderful touch. I enjoyed this seminar so much. It was the right mixture of playing and discussing. Eddie and Bob are super presenters and the handouts were like gold. I spent the next week going over all the handouts.

15. The venue, speakers and topics were great.

16. Great seminar. I liked the play and lecture format, with the excellent quality notes. The Day 1 topics were particularly good.

17. I just want to tell you again how impressed I was with the effort that you and Anne did on the seminar. You did a great job!

18. The presentation was excellent. One suggestion is the presenter should repeat questions from the floor. Many people with soft voices are not audible especially to old farts like me.

19. I thought is was very helpful. The presentation was excellent.

Eddie Wold Seminar Reaction

Bob Morris (Left) and Eddie Wold (right)
T. Morse Photo.

The Eddie Wold seminar this weekend has been well received. Personally, I thought the participants asked very thoughtful questions.

Eddie and Bob made the learning enjoyable. They were fun to watch working in tandem.

The way the subjects were covered allowed for group participation in the play of
the hands. The subjects were challenging. I know the end result will be that the participants will play, bid and defend better at bridge. I’ll be facing far better opponents at the bridge table.

Evelyn Hodge, my first bridge teacher, had this to say: “I want to thank Anne and David for arranging our great weekend with Eddie and Bob. The format was diverse and informative, especially the segment for IMP’s as compared to MP’s. YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE!”

On one hand I felt that all these people are now going to know all this stuff, darn it, they will be
formidable and on the other hand I felt very sorry for the rest of Unit 430 who weren’t in attendance because they need to know this stuff to be a better bridge player.

There were a whole lot of people who did a whole lot of work to make this seminar run smoothly. Cam Doner recommended Eddie and Bob, Vicki looked after the finances, Greg Morse arranged for the mike and the easel stand and board, Sam Nystrom provided transportation for Eddie and Bob and David Dilkes kept us organized.
Unit 430 did something real good.

Anne Smith, President

Unit 430 Board Members 2010

Board Members and Responsibilities, Unit 430, 2010
Anne Smith President
Monica Angus Past President
Jennifer Ballantyne Fundraising & Hospitality Special Events
Kathy Bye Tournament Assistant (Partnerships, Caddies)
Marguerite Chiarenza Memberships and Education Co-Chair
John Demeulemeester Tournament Co-Chair
David Dilkes Memberships and Education Co-Chair
Rita Dodge STAC Co-Ordinator
Angela Fenton Secretary
Vicki Moffatt Financial Officer
Greg Morse VP, Tournament Co-Chair Online Matchpointer
Howard Rubin IMP League Liason, Flyer Distribution
Richmond Williams Supplies, Trophies, Print Matchpointer Liaison

Eddie Wold comes to Vancouver

Eddie Wold, top ranked bridge professional with over 10,000 masterpoints, is coming to Vancouver.
He will be giving a series of four 3 hour talks over two days.
Aug 14 and Aug 15th.
The cost for all 4 sessions is $80.00.
There are only about 8 spots left of the original 64, so if you are interested send a cheque to Vicki Moffat, Unit 430 treasurer, made out to Unit 430.

There have been several top pros come to Vancouver and give similar talks over the last few years. The latest before Eddie was Mike Lawrence.
However this is the first time in my memory that Unit 430 has been the sponsor of the event.

Greg Morse

Unit 430 Finances. Priorities.

Thanks to the consistent hard work of our fund-raising people over the years the Units finances are in good shape. Since we like to run at approximately break even, (while being prudent of course) the question comes up as to how to spend whatever surplus there is.
There are two main areas that could use as much money as we can afford:
1. Travel subsidies for people and teams attending GNT, Canadian Championships, etc.
There are may groups such as Open Teams, Women's Teams, Senior's Teams, Pairs, and many events that we could subsidize. How much and how often?

2. New Member development. There is more opportunity for creativity here. We can subsidize teachers and courses, we can do some targeted advertising, we can offer free plays etc.
One idea that I have is to run a tournament for people under 25 years old with a (significant) cash prize, say $500, for the winners. Think any students at UBC, or Kwantlen college would be interested?

3. There is also the Vancouver Regional of 2012. While this is not strictly a Unit 430 event, it is of benefit to our members to have a Regional here, and if we can help out with prizes, after session refreshments, and the like perhaps we should consider it.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Greg Morse

Vancouver Regional 2012

The Vancouver Regional has suffered declining attendance for the last few years. This is due to a combintion of factors, the time of year, the venue, the format of the event and so forth.

The organization of the Regional, is not strictly the purview of unit 430, rather it belongs to District 19, Dino. However this post is an attempt to reach out and solicit ideas that could be passed on to the tournament chair, Cam Doner.

The 2012 regional will have a new location, the River Rock Casino in Richmond BC, and a new team friendly format (KO's starting every day).
In addition we would like to create an environment of community and fun around the event similar (if we can :)!) to what it is like in Penticton or Alaska.

Anyone have any ideas?

Someone has suggested that we take the money we would normally spend on evening snacks and put it to better use, perhaps by having more meaningful souvenir handouts.
Is this a good idea, or do players like their 11:00PM ice cream?
What sort of handouts would be appreciated?
Does anyone have any suggestions for sponsors who might be willing to donate handouts?

Comment by sending an email to, acblunit430@gmail.com

The HST

Your Unit board has been wrestling with the impact the HST will have on our members.
Our original thought, was that because of the volume of money we take in for our sectionals the HST would apply to us. This means that on a $10 entry fee, we would need to collect $1.30 on behalf of the government.

It is for this reason that at our final meeting last month, we passed a motion to raise the entry fee.

One question that keeps coming up is, "Cant we get this money back?".
The answer is, "We can get back what we pay others, but we must send to the government what we collect ourselves." Since most of our costs are to the ACBL in the US, to the directors for salaries etc. we don't pay much in the way of HST, and even if we did, it would not cover what we collect. The HST is not revenue neutral. :)!

One of our members has suggested that Unit 430 register itself as a Not For Profit Society.
Your board will actively pursue this option at our next board meeting.