Darn... what I miss from reading this group sometimes. I can commiserate with Amanda in terms of what to do about these last- minute cancellations. I know the time that I've been at Depauw, the tournament was well-run and organized. It's unfortunate, especially for the people organizing it to see this sort of thing happen. But I will admit, you take the lumps when they happen. I do understand circumstances in which charging late fees would be necessary. In professional meetings, we have to prepay our registration because the organizers are spending so much money on reserving the convention center or ordering food or whatever. Granted, we do not function in the same manner; just give us a few rooms in buildings where there is electricity and an internet connection. If student groups are being charged per room and more for cancelling use of those rooms, yeah, I can see how that can be a problem. On the other hand, that's part of the deal you have to contend with by agreeing to host a competition. Unless you actually have a legal contract with accommodates this, there's no way you can expect anyone to pay you a late fee. Eagerly I await the next set of posts with revised policies for late fees for NAQT Sectionals and Nationals. :) Somewhat seriously, you cannot expect that any organization for whom you are hosting as their regional site wouldn't want some sort of piece of the action if you impose a late fee, would you? To everyone else, please be considerate and give the TD's time to figure out what to do. If you wind up constantly pulling out of competitions due to inadequate planning on the part of your members, that's your problem and people won't be so willing to commiserate with your position after the second time. (And I have my mental list of high schools/advisors that do that with me, so they don't get any benefit of the doubt the next time.) Now, if it's always happening whenever your group goes to Depauw, there are other issues obviously that I would say are in play which I cannot address. As for Amanda and the Depauw group, if there's any way one can avoid such a confrontational tactic, I would have explored it first... but in the end, you should be able to enjoy running a small competition as much as running a bigger one. Not that I'd know your logistical issues, because I can understand how much of a pain it is, but just make sure you give the teams you do have in your field the best effort you can rather than fret over the ones that aren't coming. Plan your contingency schedules as you should; if teams dropping out late in the ballgame occur so frequently, you should be prepared to deal with the inconveniences... create different schedules as you can. Believe me... I'm doing all that for our high school comp this weekend. That's part of being a TO. It's one of the most frustrating parts, but it's something every TO deals with.
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