Northeast Regional Judge Conference

LATE REGISTRATION: If you would still like to register, you can do so here.  You will not receive any foils for registering late, but you are welcome to attend.

Hello! And welcome to the event description for the Winter 2014 Northeast Regional Judge Conferences! This conference will be held on Sunday, December 7th at Jupiter Games in Johnson City, NY.  Many thanks to store owner Ryan Green for agreeing to host this event!

List of topics and presenters:

• The Road to Level 2 (Paul Baranay) -- Focusing on the new and updated requirements for Level 2, this seminar also touches on the philosophy of the judge level system as a whole and the importance of L2's in the new PPTQ system.
• Mentoring L1's (Will Anderson & CJ Stambaugh) -- This seminar will cover gauging and soliciting interest from potential judge candidates, setting attainable goals, distinguishing between L1 candidates, adjusting to the needs of specific candidates, and scheduling and administering the exam.
• Head Judging PPTQ's (Chris Cahill) -- This talk will give tips and advice for Head Judging new Preliminary PTQ's: who can run them, working with the Tournament Organizer, logistics issues, and announcements.
• Tournament Shortcuts (Rob Castellon) -- This seminar examines Section 4.2 of the Magic Tournament Rules, tournament shortcuts, and how to apply them properly.
• Microaggressions (James Eveland) -- This seminar aims to look at microaggressions, what they are, where they come from, and what judges can do to prevent them. An introduction to microaggresssions, a look at why eliminating them makes tournaments better, and a break-out small group session will all be included. This is part of an effort to make judges more aware of diversity issues in tournaments and also an effort to eliminate discrimination from the tournament environment.
• Running Judge Classes (Joe Hughto) -- This seminar will teach you how to run a judge class in your community.  Judge classes are a series of workshops/seminars that are designed to prepare players who are interested in becoming judges for the Level 1 exam, usually in about 8 weeks.
• Overcoming Frustration (Yonatan Kamensky) -- Judges will normally encounter obstacles and frustration.  This is a natural part of growth: frustration is a form of friction - and friction only happens when things are moving. Topics addressed will include variance, negative feedback loops, rejection, and a brief treatment of conflict resolution.
• Slow Play (John Brian McCarthy) -- This seminar will handle everyone's "favorite" infraction, Slow Play!  Topics will include why to call slow play, how slow play can occur, when to call slow play, and how to call slow play.
• FNM Problems (Jason Riendeau) -- This seminar will address a number of things that aren't covered by JAR in as much detail as the IPG: Slow Play, Marked Cards, OA, Insufficient Shuffling, messed-up drafts, and USC (mostly language). This seminar will explain why these issues are a problem, and how judges can use FNM to educate players to build good habits and prepare for Competitive REL.
• Missed Triggers (Kush Singhal) -- How to handle missed triggers at Competitive REL.
• Judge Health (CJ Stambaugh) -- Judge fitness, working exercise into your busy schedule when traveling to events, eating healthy, and more.
• Tournament Reports (Joseph Steet) -- A short presentation on writing effective tournament reports, particularly as part of the new L2 requirement.
• Customer Service (William Van Veen & Simon Cooper) -- Why does Wizards support the Judge Program, anyway?  The answer (or at least part of it) is that better customer service results in more players.  This seminar will focus on topics including customer service, store owner/judge relationships, social media, networking, and attitude.
• Shuffling (Erik Halverson) -- Small, group-based discussion of shuffling techniques and investigations.  Participants will discuss their experiences with dealing with these infractions, demonstrations of shuffling techniques to be suspicious of, and the appropriate remedy when faced with these sorts of scenarios.
• Rules Q&A (Olivier Jansen) -- This seminar will cover various elements of the Comprehensive Rules, including layers, turn structure and what happens, the golden rules, restrictions vs requirements, how to cast a spells, and so on.  Bring your questions!
• Creating Safer Spaces (Amanda Stevens) -- This workshop is designed to go over how to make the places we work as judges more welcoming to the community. During the workshop, we'll brainstorm how to improve our LGSs and PPTQ spaces.

Some logistics about the event:

Parking: Jupiter Games has a parking lot with roughly 20 spaces available, and there are several more free parking lots located within a 1-block radius. 

Food: There are numerous restaurants within walking distance of Jupiter Games, and several deliver; we will have an assortment of menus on hand. There will also be a formal, scheduled break for food around halfway through the conference.

Hotels: While there are no hotels within a 1-mile radius of Jupiter Games, there are nearly 20 within a 2-mile radius (all of which can be found here). If there is enough interest, we can look into getting a block of rooms for the event.

Schedule: Our current plan is to start at 1pm and end at 9pm, with a one-hour break for dinner. However, this will be dependent on the presenters, and is subject to change.

Judge Certifications: L1 and L2 certification will be available at this event.  More information about testing will be posted shortly, as well as announced via this event's JudgeApps forum, but feel free to let us know about your intent to test in your application.

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please contact us at NEJudgeConf2014@gmail.com.  We look forward to seeing you!

Cordially,
Paul Baranay & Joseph Steet