How do you grow your off-season competition?

[Josh Goodman]

In the past 12 years, Ruckus has seen it's fair share of growth. The offseason started with 11 teams in a high school gymnasium in 2005, steadily increased and plateaued to just around tournament size at 21-26 teams from 2006-2011. From 2012 - present we saw an influx of interested teams and upgraded from gymnasiums and field houses to dome arenas and concert venues. We still cap Ruckus at ~40 teams. This past weekend we had 36 teams participate although our max was in 2014 where we maxed out at 40.

One of the biggest positive feedback points we get on a yearly basis is that the event is run like a regional. In 2016, we had 41 matches with defenses on a scheduled rotation, 7 minute cycle times with each team playing 7 Qual Matches each. Obviously with larger venues and more teams, the cost to hold the event will naturally go up. Ruckus is now $300 for registration which amounts to around $43/match if you don't play in elims.

I cannot emphasize enough what other people have already said about trained volunteers. The crew at Ruckus has been doing not only this event but is essentially the same crew that runs the Finger Lakes Regional and has for years. It also helps when you have a seasoned planning committee and stellar FTAs.

Besides reputation and "building your event brand", I think the biggest thing you can do to grow and be successful as an offseason is to listen to your attendees. Send out surveys right after the event and ask them what they liked and what they didn't. Ruckus used to be far more gimmicky back in the day with it being almost half Halloween party / half robot competition. After years of feedback, it's clear what the teams in the area want: another large-scale, well run, regional-sized event with as many matches as they can possibly play.

Here's a look at how we run the schedule. Some year's it goes late, some it ends early, but on average we stick to it pretty well.

Friday
4:30 - 8:00pm	Early Robot Dropoff & Registration
7:00pm	        Volunteer Meeting

Saturday (Oct. 29th)
6:00 - 7:00am      Volunteers Allowed In
7:00 - 8:00am	 Late Registration & Teams Allowed In
7:45 - 8:00am      Driver's Meeting
8:00 - 8:15am	 Opening Ceremony
8:15 - 11:55am    Qualification Matches
12:00 - 12:45pm   Lunch
12:10 - 12:30pm	  Pumpkin Chunkin Game (Durning Lunch)
12:45 - 2:50pm     Qualification Matches Continue
2:50 - 3:20pm      Alliance Pairings
3:20 - 3:30pm      Alliance Captain Meeting
3:30 - 4:30pm	 Quarterfinals
4:30 - 5:15pm      Semi-finals
5:15 - 6:30pm	 Finals & Awards
6:30pm	         Teardown and Cleanup

Let me know if there are any other specific questions you have!