L1 Welcome Wagon
A consistent way of welcoming L1s to the program.
| Project Manager: | Io Hughto |
|---|---|
| Public: |  |
| Alignment: |
Sphere Project - Judge Levels
(Lead: Alfonso Bueno ) |
Project Description
The process of becoming a judge and joining our large program can be daunting for someone. Once you pass your exam and your certification review is entered, it's very easy to feel lost and like you're left on your own. Of course, some L1s are in well-judge-populated areas, so there can still be lots of contact between the certifying judge and the new L1. However, many judges are certified, then head back to their own store and are never heard from again.
Paul Baranay and I noticed this problem and tried to find ways to fix it. We needed a way to give these new judges information that they'd need and also have a way for them to remain connected to the judge program. As Eric Levine pointed out to us, we were trying to develop an onboarding process for our region. Onboarding is like orientation but much more broad. It's a way to ease the transition into the judge program and get judges doing things easier and with much more support.
The method that we came up with was to create a “Welcome Wagon” project, which standardizes and centralizes the information we want to send to new judges. The Welcome Wagon is headed by one judge, who serves as the point of contact between L2+ certifiers and the new L1’s. The L2+ judge’s only obligation is to fill out a webform telling the Welcome Wagon coordinator who the new judge is, where they live, and what their email address is. Once we have that, the Welcome Wagon rep sends the L1 an email with lots of useful information. In the Northeast, we have ‘area representatives’ (Area Captains/Wardens in other regions), so we also CC their 'area representative' on the email. This method satisfies our goals of directly handing this new judge useful things that they'll need to know, and it also provides extra points of contact in the judge program if they have any questions. Now, if the new L1 has some issue, they can contact four people: their certifying judge, the RC, their area rep, and the Welcome Wagon rep.
USA - Northeast has been running this program since the end of July 2014 and, in my opinion, it's been quite successful. As of April 1, 2015, we've made 101 new L1s in the region and 70 of them have received WW emails (just under 70%). Honestly, I was expecting to have to hound our L2+s about this and we'd have a rate closer to 40-50%. It turns out that this is something that was easy to insert into the certification process with almost no pushback.
The new judges also appreciate this program. Here are a few responses I've received from these new judges:
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"Thank you for the welcome to the community! I too am highly invested in making as fun and secure game and community possible as I own a store in the region and run tournaments on a weekly basis. I'm hoping attaining this promotion will serve to both enhance my own local community through additional competitive events as well as by expanding my own knowledge and experience through working at other venues. Thank you again!"
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"Thank you for taking the time to welcome me. The judge community has been very welcoming, and I'm happy to be a part of it."
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"This is really nice of you guys, thank you for the warm welcome!"
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"Thank you so much for this warm welcome! I am so very excited to be stepping into this great community that you and the other judges of the area have created. I look forward to reading all the provided literature and learning as much as I can about my new role as an L1 in the NE Region and the community as a whole. It is emails like this that make me so happy to become a judge - every judge I've met has that best and most positive attitude toward the players and the game - and I'm honored to be one."
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"Thanks! I'm excited to judge events and do other judge things with my new judge family."
This project is a place to for each region's Welcome Wagon coordinator to discuss things that have gone well and improvements that can be made.
Project Members
| Name |
|---|
| Paul Baranay |
| Io Hughto |
| Meg Baum |
| Stephan Classen |
| Nole Clauson |
| Nate Hurley |
| Brogan King |
| Kevin Moore |
| Andrew Quinn |