Covid-19 Update – Organising and Running an Online Congress
Following ABF guidelines, the NSWBA has published regulations governing the running of online congresses www.nswba.com.au/tourn/regulations/NSWBA_Rules_for_Online_Congresses_202008.pdf.
The dates for all online congresses must be approved by the Congress Coordinator. In case of clashes, priority will be given to clubs that had a face-to-face congress scheduled for the same date.
Note that scheduling a lunch break using BBO is not trivial – make sure your Director is au fait with how it’s done.
The ABF has published regulation for all online players at www.abfevents.com.au/events/tournregs/ABFOnlineRegs2020.pdf
Organising a Congress
The following document is provided to assist organisers in the running of a congress.
Contacts
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Congress and State Events Coordinator - Pauline Gumby
Contact Pauline for all queries relating to the calendar.
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NSW Masterpoint Secretary (Congresses and State Events) - David Weston
Super Congresses must be approved each year by the State Masterpoint Secretary.
Congress Directors
Congress events require a director of Grade C1 or higher. Super Congress events (Grade B3 masterpoints) require a director of Grade B or higher.
Applications
Clubs are invited to apply for congresses, holidays or cruises in the year preceding the date of the event. The forms are completed online and submitted to the Congress Coordinator. The Application Letter and Online Application Form are available on the Running a Congress > Forms and Conditions page.
Approvals for Bridge Holidays outside NSW
It is a requirement that when a bridge event, including a Bridge Holiday, is to be held outside the state from which the event is being organised, that approval must be obtained from both the originating and host state’s Association/Federation.
For example if a Tasmanian organiser wishes to hold an event in the Northern Territory, approval of the TBA and NTBA must be sought.
- Approval of events originating outside NSW rests with the Chairman of the NSWBA Tournament Committee.
- For events originating in NSW but held outside NSW, it is the organiser’s responsibility to gain permission from that State’s designated Authority.
Brochures
Brochures for congresses and holidays must be mailed or emailed to the office of the NSWBA. Also, original versions of the brochures, e.g. Word, Publisher or a PDF file from your printing firm should be emailed to the webmaster at for inclusion on the Calendar page. Scanned copies of brochures in jpg format or similar will not be posted.
eCongress News
The NSWBA supports the congress scene with a monthly eCongress newsletter.
Please send stories about your congresses to
Entries
Clubs are encouraged to use the Online Entry facility which is available from the NSWBA website to accept entries online. They are also encouraged to display all entries via the Entry administration page which allows them to update and add to these entries.
Contact the webmaster if the email address for entries is different from the organiser's email.
The following functions are available to organisers and directors to manage the entries:
- Add, change or delete an entry
- Print the entry list
- Send an email to an individual contact
- Send an email to all of the contacts
- Compare the entries of two events
- View the Suspended Players list
- Download the Entries, Players File and Home Clubs to Excel
In addition, organisers and directors can update some of the event's details:
- Open and Close entries
- Modify the maximum number of tables
- Add a link to the results
- Add up to two questions and set whether they are mandatory
- Modify the information for players
Contact the webmaster for details and a password.
Conditions, Fees and Masterpoints
The Congress Conditions and the instructions for payment of fees and submission of results for masterpointing are detailed in the Congress Conditions letter found at Running a Congress > Forms and Conditions.
Results
The event director should upload full results to the Congress website or a similar site or if that is not possible email them to the NSWBA webmaster at .
The link to the results should be added to the details for the event via the Entry Administration as soon as it is known. The front page of the NSWBA website and the Calendar depend on this link.
Player Behaviour
Congress players are expected to be ethical and courteous at all times and as such are subject to the NSWBA’s Congress Disciplinary Regulations. Reported breaches of acceptable behaviour are investigated and dealt with by the Congress Disciplinary and Ethics Committee (CDEC) committee drawn from a panel representing each zone in the state.