We’ve entered the Kefka era and things have changed, so this article has been given a much needed update. If you were looking for the original just to feel nostalgic about paper brackets, it’s here:
https://apps.magicjudges.org/forum/topic/22897

Running on-demand events at a GP 2.0

Quickly play a few rounds of Modern? Or do you prefer Chaos draft? Maybe you want to play in a 2HG draft with your friend. The possibilities are endless, all you have to do is register and hope that 7 other people want to do the same. Welcome to the world of on-demand events!

For players, on-demands (or 8-player events) are an all-you-can-play bonanza. For judges, being in charge of this circus at a big event can be quite a challenge. The number of players who will show up is hard to predict. It can be very quiet or a crazy flurry of events firing, and everything in between. The number of judge staff and space available is often equally unpredictable.

I’ve been running on-demands for ages at European GPs now, and I’d like to share my experiences and some of the systems and preferences I’ve developed, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. This article is written from the perspective of the on-demand lead*, the person in charge of running these events, as they will be the one deciding on the system. But that doesn't mean there isn't useful information in here if you are on floor duty, so keep reading.

First, let’s look at the basics of what we’re trying to achieve:

1. Players can register for an event. Players will be notified when their event starts and be instructed to gather at a gathering point.
2. We put the correct set of 8 players at a table and get them to play.
3. We need to collect their match results so that we can
a) Give them the appropriate prizes
b) Upload the results to WotC for planeswalker points and glory

There are lots of ways to achieve this, but I personally have a preference for doing it in ways that are efficent and fool proof enough to handle a couple of inevitable errors as well as rush hour madness. I will break the system down into tasks and describe some modes of operation that you can choose depending on how busy it gets.

Assumptions made:
The TO takes care of registration and scorekeeping, as well as prize payout, so your job is limited to seating the players, taking care of them while they play, and registering their results.
Players are given buzzers/pagers when they register that are used to notify them when their event is ready to start. (If not, microphone announcements will have to do.)
You are using Kefka.

Kefka

Kefka is the ODE software used by CFBE for all Gps, so I’m going to quickly describe some of its features so this makes more sense later in this article. The tabs that are relevant to you are probably:
– The ODEs tab shows an overview of all events. The relevant part for you are the ones that have a red border around them: These are events that have been entered into the system, but have not yet been seated. You can click an event to see its details.
– The Search tab allows you to search for events by player name or DCI number, which is very useful.
– The Map tab shows an overview of the events seated on the ODE tables. It is expanded and updated automatically as events get assigned to a zone. This is done by modifying the location on the event details page.

All judges on the ODE team will have access to Kefka, either on a dedicated ODE tablet, or on their own smartphones.

Runners

Runners are responsible for starting events when they are ready. They gather up the players, give the buzzers back to the registration area, grab draft product if applicable and escort players to their table. The players are seated according to the seatings in Kefka and informed who their first round opponent will be. It’s also recommended that runners give the players some information on how the format works, where to find basic land, etc.

Some options on how to organize runners:
– Runner mode: “freestyle”
No dedicated runners, everyone on the team is potentially a runner. Their cue to come into action can be either an unseated event appearing in Kefka, or more commonly the sound of a group of players with beeping buzzers moving towards the gathering point. This usually works out, but risks an event going unnoticed for a while.
- Runner mode: “buzzer”
Give some spare buzzers to the runners on your team so they can be notified when they are needed. You probably want to let the registration staff know about this so they can buzz the players and the runner at the same time. Gets tedious if it gets busier and judges just get buzzed continually.
- Runner mode: “dedicated”
During busy times, instruct runners to just hang out near the gathering point until players show up. This saves time because they don’t have to come back from the floor, and ensures that players don’t have to wait around for someone to notice that their event has started.

When things get really busy, you could add a ‘runner assistant’ judge who helps smooth out the process by:
- Putting the correct players together. When multiple events fire at roughly the same time, the gathering point will have a mix of players waiting. Separate them out into their respective events so the runners don't have to shout all over the place to find ‘their’ players. 
- Helping to collect and return buzzers. It saves the runners a trip to the registration station and back, which allows them to get the event away from the gathering point (de-cluttering this area) and towards actually playing just a bit sooner (yay!).
- Helping to solve problems. This includes: microphone announcements for missing players, clarifying illegible DCI numbers, etc.

ODE station

You are going to want an area near the gathering point where you can keep relevant stuff like spare tablets but most importantly, draft product. Preparing product in advance speeds up the running process a lot.
Set up a little ‘shop’ with all the different kinds of product you may need. Put somebody in special charge of making sure it stays stocked throughout the day. Runners need to be able to grab a ready-to go set of packs at all times to avoid the awkwardness of players waiting around as the judge tries to put together an 8-player draft set from boxes scattered around the station.

Managing Space

You will have a limited range of tables where you can seat the events, as other tables are needed for other things. (Except if you are running on-demands at a Modern Masters 2015 GP in Utrecht on Friday or Sunday, in which case you will have an entire convention hall to yourself. My weekend was made when I walked in that friday morning and the side events lead told me all other events would be in the other hall. It was a dream come true.)

-Space mode: “Kefka Map”
Kefka supplies you with a neat map showing free areas. Runners can just pick an empty slot and seat their event there.
-Space mode: “Floor manager”
When things get busy and/or errors and oddities creep into the map (bookkeeping issues or tables lost to various causes) you can have a dedicated judge to help manage the space. He/she walks around the area to monitor where there is space available, and to guide incoming runners to these tables.

I understand that it seems like the automatic Kefka map suits all your needs and that using a person as the primary floor manager may seem counterintuitive. But there are some things they can do that a map can’t.

Accuracy – Keeping a map up to date with reality requires effort and is not without error. Players will move onto nearby chairs, judges will enter the wrong location or forget to enter a location. Tables get claimed by nearby events. The floor manager can correct or ‘overrule’ the Kefka map.
Space – After round 1, 4 of the 8 chairs in a pod will be empty. Sometimes you can't afford to keep them empty because you're low on space. A floor manager will immediately be able to ask players to move together and free up another set of 8.
TIP: A common way to create more space when you are running low is to start a ‘finals row’. This will be a row of tables where all events will move once they reach the finals. This frees up a play area (set of 8 chairs) a bit earlier than usual. The difficult part is to get players to actually do it. Instruct runners to tell players about the finals tables when they start the event, but also make sure the floor manager is on the lookout for semifinals finishing and ensuring the players don't forget to move. 
Forecast – Both a map and a floor manager can tell you whether spots are taken, but a floor manager can also give you a forecast of space that is about to free up.
Additional perks – The floor manager is not just coordinating incoming events. They are also present on the floor for questions, keeping the area clean, sending casual players out when space is needed, keeping an eye on the land station, etc.

Floor judges

Floor judges are there to take judge calls and help players, and to register results. Players will need to call a judge so they can enter their results in Kefka and tell them who their next opponent is going to be. This role is pretty straightforward and doesn't have modes, though usually these judges can be pulled off the floor to be runners if things get unexpectedly busy.

When to do what?

The preferred modes of operation for on demand events can change throughout the day depending on how busy it gets. The chart below indicates what modes I usually use at different levels of traffic:



How many judges do you need?

It depends a lot on how many events are firing at a time. A couple of rules of thumb:
- One floor judge for every 15-20 events currently playing.
- Assume a runner takes 10 minutes to start an event. So if you are firing 6 events an hour, 1 runner, 12 events - 2 runners, etc. It seems that a single scorekeeper is capped at a little over 20 events an hour, so 4 runners per scorekeeper should be enough even for rush times.

I hope this helps you to run a smooth day of on-demands! If you have any experiences or advice you'd like to share with me, don't hesitate to contact me through judge apps. I love hearing about this stuff.

Footnotes
* In my experience, this should be someone other than the general side events lead. Both positions are busy jobs, that are too much for one person.