Leadership: The key to develop small Magic communities Grand Prix Valencia 2013 Judge Conference Manuel Amaya González Level 2 Judge

Understanding a community (I) A Magic community needs three basic pillars to stay alive and well. Players –Buy product, play in events, and bring friends. Stores –Sell product, organize events, and provide with playing areas. Judges –Oversee events, teach players, and assist stores.

Understanding a community (II) Each pillar needs to support the structure in the best possible way. A triangle is one of the best shapes at resisting pressure and deformation. JudgesPlayers Stores

Understanding a community (III) A small community has one or more pillars absent or poorly developed, resulting in a structure that could crumble or deform under certain circumstances, and so it has limited possibilities of growth. Judges Players Stores

Leadership: Definition (I) Exercise: Discuss ideas in groups

Leadership: Definition (II) There are lots of definitions of leadership, but it's also a difficult idea to explain to others. We usually understand this concept by associating it to other ideas like: Authority, character, power or command Empathy, charisma, presence or trust Competency, effectiveness or supportiveness Influence, subtleness or persuasion

Leadership applied to judging In judging there are some traits that are very useful to accomplish some judging goals outside and inside tournaments. Some of them are specially relevant to develop a small community: Trust: Be trusted by players, stores, and other judges Example: Be a model for others in the community Empathy: To understand the needs of others Influence: To support and develop the community

A practical case (I)

A practical case (II) We had storesWe had judges But the community wasn't growing at all!!! Magic have always been a game of interest among some groups of players, but never had spiked in popularity, nor had lots of in-store action.

A practical case (III) When dealing with a case of a small community is always important to analyze and to determine what is keeping your community from growing and develop. In this case it was: A small group of players was taking advantage of the stores, trying to obtain better and better prizes Their attitude in events kept novice players from playing The attendance to events was inconsistent Nobody actually spent money in the stores

A practical case (IV) It is important to talk to people you think can help with the situation. You don't need to impose anything, but you can use your influence to try to better your community. Some examples of what to do: Talk with other judges and try to act as a unified group Assist the stores tailoring their events to other public Lead by example when playing in events Certify and mentor judges

A practical case (V) After less than a year of work we have developed greatly our community and it is growing. There are some examples of the goals we achieved: There are more players than ever before playing in the stores, in special casual and novice players The stores started to increase their magic sales and now have regular customers There are new judges and lot of people who ask us how to join the Judge Program Competitive players still play in events tailored for them