ON Regional Judge Conference 2016

It's Judge Conference time in Canada! This time, we'll be getting together in the nation's capital, Ottawa, ON for a weekend of Magic, Judging, and Generally Fun Things. The main events (and accommodations) will be at Les Suites Hotel and the Simard Building (Rooms 422 & 428) at the University of Ottawa (uOttawa).

This is the second of four (4) Regional Judge Conferences being held in Canada this year—that's twice as many as normally allowed! Canada's Regional Coordinator, Gavin Duggan, has petitioned on our behalf for this special arrangement for Canada, and in exchange, each attendee may only receive up to one (1) foil packet from Canadian Regional Judge Conferences in 2016, regardless of how many conferences he or she attends this year.

The other three conferences will be:
6–7 August — Victoria, BC
15–16 October — Moncton, NB
19–20 November — Red Deer, AB

What's in a conference? 

The goal of this conference is to improve the overall quality of Magic Judges and their interactions with Magic Players. Attendees are invited to receive training and knowledge from other experienced judges, and share their own skills and observations with the judge community.

As an appreciation for your contribution to the betterment of the Magic Judge Programme, foils will be distributed at the conference to attendees. Only judges who are certified as of the application deadline (15 July) and who have actively participated in a full slate of seminars on the Saturday will be eligible to receive a foil packet at the conference. More information on the foil packet is availble on the Judge Conferences Blog.

If your judge level on JudgeApps is incorrectly showing L0, please have your Regional Coordinator email David Poon confirmation of your certification.

Registration

If you wish to attend this conference, please take the time to apply here on JudgeApps and tell us about your JudgeLife™. Attendance at this conference will be limited, so be sure to indicate in your cover letter not only how this conference will affect your own personal growth in the programme, but also how it will benefit your local, regional, or global Magic community.

Preference will be given to judges living in Canada, but all interested parties are encouraged to apply (and will likely be accepted as long as there is room and their cover letters contain sufficient content).

Applications for this conference will only be accepted through Friday 15 July.

Schedule

Friday — Draft pods and board games. We'd like to have people staying at the hotel host a game in their suite. Head over to the forums to see what's being planned!

Saturday — Our conference day. Seminars and stuff will be held from approximately 10am–6:30pm, with a lunch break from 12pm–2pm. Judge dinner at 7pm at The Royal Oak Pub (161 Laurier Ave E).

10am: Customer Service at the LGS level and breaking down the WPN (William van Veen) — Let's talk about you, a customer service WotC Rep at your LGS (aka a Judge!), and how you can help TOs with WPN level requirements.
10am: Customer Service at a Grand Prix (Kris Burningham) — The Do's and Don'ts, benefits, and stories of great (and not so great) customer service at a Grand Prix.
11am: When you can't and when you must: Restrictions and requirements (Darcy Alemany) — Games of Magic give players lots of opportunities to make decisions, for better or for worse. Sometimes, though, players have fewer choices than they once thought. Even rarer, sometimes they have more. Come join us in this interactive presentation about how the Magic rules handle requirements, restrictions, and their combinations.
11am: Compensation: How and why? (Robert Hinrichsen) — A seminar covering the topics of why judges deserve to be compensated, what the appropriate levels of compensation are according to event type, REL, and judge level, and how to approach TOs to begin the negotiations.
2pm: Watching Magic (Samuel Tremblay) — Making the task interesting for you. Watching strategies to catch up mistakes. Examples of what to watch on typical matchups.
3pm: Embracing Slow Play (Or, When Mesmeric Orbs Attack) (Chris McGuire) — This presentation will go over what Slow Play is, consider why we call it that, and discuss various tips and strategies to enforce it correctly. This will include analysis of specific video examples and interactive discussion. In addition, this presentation will discuss when certain combo decks do and do not cross the line into Slow Play, and how to tell the difference. (And yes, I am talking about THAT deck.)
3pm: Effective Player Communication (William Blondon) — A look at best practices and techniques for communicating with players at all levels of competition.
4:30pm: Investigations and why not to worry so much... (Rick Salamin) — A high-level conceptual discussion on Investigations. How to do them? What to ask? What not to ask? What to do with your findings? Why you are already doing them and doing them correctly.
4:30pm: Challenges to becoming / being L1 (Stephen Phung) — Certifying as an L1 can be an extremely rewarding experience, but keeping up to date, maintaning expertise, and staying active can be quite challenging. Having a chance to judge can be rare, and having a chance to work with more experienced judges is rarer. Issues include the ratio of L1s to stores, the need for L1s at bigger tournaments, L1 training, and a lack of Competitive REL tournaments. This seminar is meant to find solutions to improve the experience of L1s, as well as producing quality L1s.
5:30pm: Judging in foreign countries (Ferran Jovell) — This seminar will tell of a personal judge history involving coming to Canada from Spain. Differences and similarities, things that work better here and there, and possible improvements on both sides will be discussed. We'll also discuss how to merge into an existing community of Judges when you're new to the area. 

Sunday — Conference follow-up. Optional seminars, gaming, and foil distribution.

Presentations and Volunteering 

If you wish to present a seminar, or volunteer in some other way, please fill out this Google Form no later than Friday 15 July. 

Seminars should be approximately 50 minutes long and should solicit active participation from the audience—this could be anywhere from structured Q&As, role-playing scenarios, or even friendly competition. Proposals for off-the-wall, non-traditional, non-lecture-style presentations that challenge the concept of what a seminar is are very much encouraged.

L3 presenters may present their seminar at up to two (2) Regional Judge Conferences in Canada this year, and will be offered a small travel incentive to attend the second conference.

Testing 

Have you been thinking about testing for the next level? This is a perfect opportunity to stop procrastinating and put a deadline on your calendar. Testing for L1 and L2 will be available at this conference—make sure you express your interest when you apply.

Please note that certifying for L1 at this conference will not make you eligible to receive a foil packet.

Accommodations 

We have a block of suites available at Les Suites Hotel! We're hoping that people will hang out at the hotel for games and camaraderie around the conference—we might even have some seminars or breakout sessions there.

Each one-bedroom suite (700 sq ft) can accommodate up to four people, and each two-bedroom suite (1000 sq ft) can accommodate up to six people. Costs per person will be around $50/night including taxes.

Deadline for reservations is Friday 15 July. Reservation instructions and other details can be found in the forums.