1. Teams of 3 players seems to have worked well over the last few years (although traditionally I think many years ago it was 4 players
      per team). I'd still stick to the 3 players per team.
   2. I like 1 Hour Sudden Death (Guillotine) time control. From an organisational point of view you can start the rounds on time without
      the worry of some games carrying on from the previous rounds well after they were supposed to finish. This is one of the drawbacks
      with incrimental time controls. However, the normal thing these days for Weekenders is 1 Hour + 10 secs Fischer which I don't have
      a problem with.
   3. 6 rounds is fine by me. 3 rounds on the Saturday and 3 on the Sunday, the Saturday night being left free for a social night and
      relaxation. The social night was good in 2007 and 2008. Players who attended these social nights seemed to have enjoyed them.
      I'd be inclined to stick with this format. Dubbo (Alex) has always had the Saturday night off at the Dubbo Open with a get together
      on the Saturday evening. This is what Blayney (Phil) does as well, hosting a get together and social evening on the Saturday night.
      Newcastle is seriously thinking of doing this as well for the Newcastle Open. I don't know what Alan does at Coffs Harbour as I've
      never had the pleasure of competing at Coffs Harbour Open. Why I'm in favour of having no play on the Saturday night, is that long
      distance travelling teams who have had to leave extremely early on the Saturday morning, drive for several hours to arrive, then
      compete, are pretty tired (dead tired) come the start of a 4th Round on the Saturday evening. Makes for a bloody long day.
      Social nights seem to work well at Dubbo and Blayney. Their is a social side to the tournament as well. It's not just "the business"
      at the board, and I thoroughly enjoy the Saturday evening social side of things. 
   4. Play should start as early as possible on the Sunday morning with no delays between rounds. This is so that teams that have had to
      travel long distances (Dubbo, Coffs Harbour & Blayney) can get on the road early and drive a fair distance before nightfall sets in.
      Coffs Harbour have around a 5 hour drive, with Blayney and Dubbo around the 4 hour mark I've been told. These teams need to get
      away as early as possible for safer driving in daylight hours.
   5. This year I won't be catering for One Day Players. I have found this too hard to organise and I'll only be calling on players
      who can commit to two days playing. I usually get a call at the eleventh hour with a One Day Player dropping out, then I have to
      go an organise somebody else. I'm steering clear of this pitfall this year. Blayney, Dubbo and Coffs Harbour all have committed
      players with no One Day Players. I'll be following their example this year.
   6. Hopefully we can dispense with the Captains Meeting this year. This a total waste of time in my opinion in the New Millenium.
      Surely play can start on time (or nearly on time) with the time control, number of rounds etc, worked out well and truely in
      advance as in a normal weekend tournament. The Captains Meeting wastes so much time in this respect. Having said that,
      the regional organisers (Captains), should have given you or the DOP their team list(s) so that the draw, ratings etc can
      all be worked out prior to the teams arriving. Basically, the draw could be done with Swiss Perfect on the Friday evening,
      allowing for just the tables, chairs and sets to be organised on the Saturday morning. This in my opinion would make for
      smoother running of the NSW Country Teams Championship. Last year you were still waiting for confimation on the Saturday
      morning whether one regional team was still coming to compete. Basically, nobody could do the draw until the eleventh hour,
      which in effect set the start of play back at least 30 minutes. Teams are either coming or they're not! It is up to the regional
      organisers to supply their team members names to the DOP or organiser, say at least 2 days (Thursday) before the tournament starts,
      so that the draw can be done on say the Friday night. If the organisers fail to do so, then their team doesn't compete.
      This may seem harsh, but it allows for a smoother running tournament. Some players were getting quite disgruntled last year at the
      late start.
   7. Another problem last year was signing players up who were not already members of the NSW Chess Association.
      I had about 4 or 5 players from Newcastle from memory who fitted into this catagory.
      Maybe, these players could already have their registration forms downloaed from the NSWCA Website and filled out prior to the tournament.
      This would save some time and probably help out Norm Greenwood as well. The registration form(s) and the appropriate amount of money would
      just have to be handed to Norm on the day. All the organisers know what a drag it is to have to sign up non NSWCA members on the day
      of big tournament. If you do have to sign players up, then it needs to be done as smoothly as possible with the least amount
			of disturbance.
   8. My understanding is that it is still $30 per team for the weekend. Still goood value for money.
      If the cost has to go up then so be it! This is one of the few fees in modern times that has remained the same for about a decade or more.
      I think it was $10 per team back in the late 90's.

Keith Farrell's reply :







team bye - for Dubbo, Coffs, Blayney, Newcastle District (the travelers Taree and Wollongong), Bathurst , Katoomba I have tried to avoid
 it by having an even number of teams - tho cutting players from teams and forming combined ones has always been my particular
  issue/problem, I'll endeavour to appoint an overall Gosford captain for this purpose but a team bye may happen
	 (1 year for examle Gosford only had the 1 team [and we formed a second of loaners - Col Rowlison, myself, Trent and Thelma Clarke 
	 who just came to remeet players] so cutting may well have caused a mini-riot ??? - so that teams may only get to play
	  5 out of 6 rounds may well happen - give me as much time about how many teams are coming is very helpful - I know I don't
		 have to say this for most but I thought I would say it anyway

ooh another thing is (and very important for a quick start) on your  way up work out your team average rating - have it
 on a card (if needed put a 'P' for provisional) so that Shane can just plug it in.
> Dear Keith,
>  
> I am writing in relation to our telephone conversation about 2 weeks ago. I've CC'd the other regional organisers
 (Alex, Phil & Alan) that regularly bring teams to compete in the NSW Country Teams Championship. I look forward to my other
  counterparts for their comments and suggestions to make the 2009 Country Teams Championship another successful and
	 enjoyable tournament on the Country Circuit. I'm sure that Alex, Phil and Alan may have slightly differing views
	  on some aspects of the tournament, or may have other issues that they wish to discuss.
>  
> Being the main organiser for the Newcastle Teams over the last two years (2007 & 2008), I have listed my views and thoughts below:
>  
>
>    1. Teams of 3 players seems to have worked well over the last few years (although traditionally I think many years ago
 it was 4 players per team). I'd still stick to the 3 players per team.
>
1 Alan gives 3 the big tick, as does Sandy and I am fine with it - it makes it easier (perhaps ??) to form an extra team if needed
 (to avoid a team bye - however if Dubbo, Coffs, Blayney, Newcastle

somehow the following bullets got renumbered ???/
>
>    1. I like 1 Hour Sudden Death (Guillotine) time control. From an organisational point of view you can start the rounds on time without
 the worry of some games carrying on from the previous rounds well after they were supposed to finish.
  This is one of the drawbacks with incrimental time controls. However, the normal thing these days for 
	Weekenders is 1 Hour + 10 secs Fischer which I don't have a problem with.
>
2 guillotine - Greg is OK either way - Alan and Sandy are definitely for the increment, as am I
 (the prospect of 10.2 appeals everywhere still gives me the shakes), Yes the natural consequence of increments
  is as Greg says - 14 minutes before the start of round 5 in the recent Ryde Open there were still 4 games going
	 (out of 72 players) and the last only finished 5-6 mins before, there are no procedures for this - except the
	  invisible force of 40 players hovering (including 2 team-mates, perhaps an adjournment with a supposed score for pairing
		 purposes - that being up to the Arbiter of course, no problem in the last round of the day of course
>
>    1. 6 rounds is fine by me. 3 rounds on the Saturday and 3 on the Sunday, the Saturday night being left free for a 
social night and relaxation. The social night was good in 2007 and 2008. Players who attended these social nights 
seemed to have enjoyed them. I'd be inclined to stick with this format. Dubbo (Alex) has always had the Saturday night
 off at the Dubbo Open with a get together on the Saturday evening. This is what Blayney (Phil) does as well, hosting a get
  together and social evening on the Saturday night. Newcastle is seriously thinking of doing this as well for the Newcastle Open.
	 I don't know what Alan does at Coffs Harbour as I've never had the pleasure of competing at Coffs Harbour Open. 
	 Why I'm in favour of having no play on the Saturday night, is that long distance travelling teams who have had to leave
	  extremely early on the Saturday morning, drive for several hours to arrive, then compete, are pretty tired (dead tired)
		come the start of a 4th Round on the Saturday evening. Makes for a bloody long day. Social nights seem to work well at 
		Dubbo and Blayney. Their is a social side to the tournament as well. It's not just "the business" at the board,
		 and I thoroughly enjoy the Saturday evening social side of things.
>

3 6 rounds is fine by - except that being a team event a false winner may be thrown up, and of course if 3 player teams the
 team-coloring may be 'funny'  Alan and Sandy like 6 rounds.
>
>    1. Play should start as early as possible on the Sunday morning with no delays between rounds. This is so that teams that have
 had to travel long distances (Dubbo, Coffs Harbour & Blayney) can get on the road early and drive a fair distance before 
 nightfall sets in. Coffs Harbour have around a 5 hour drive, with Blayney and Dubbo around the 4 hour mark I've been told.
  These teams need to get away as early as possible for safer driving in daylight hours.
>
4 limited by when the club opens on the Sunday - but yeah, sure. Alan and Sandy prefer early which is not an issue to any
 of the 'local' teams.
>
>    1. This year I won't be catering for One Day Players. I have found this too hard to organise and I'll only be calling
 on players who can commit to two days playing. I usually get a call at the eleventh hour with a One Day Player dropping out,
  then I have to go an organise somebody else. I'm steering clear of this pitfall this year. Blayney, Dubbo and Coffs Harbour 
	all have committed players with no One Day Players. I'll be following their example this year.
>

5 One-day players, if I (or Gosford's Captain) has to merge 2 teams to form 1 then 1-day-players are a natural consequence
 - however I'll pass it on, tho this is probably more a reflection on how its more difficult to get players to commit
  for only the 1 day - although last year Alex Momot came down from Laurieton to play for Ettalong
>
>    1. Hopefully we can dispense with the Captains Meeting this year. This a total waste of time in my opinion in the New Millenium.
 Surely play can start on time (or nearly on time) with the time control, number of rounds etc,
  worked out well and truely in advance as in a normal weekend tournament. The Captains Meeting wastes so much time in this
	
	 respect. Having said that, the regional organisers (Captains), should have given you or the DOP their team list(s)
	  so that the draw, ratings etc can all be worked out prior to the teams arriving. Basically, the draw could be done with
		 Swiss Perfect on the Friday evening, allowing for just the tables, chairs and sets to be organised on the Saturday morning. This in my opinion would make for smoother running of the NSW Country Teams Championship. Last year you were still waiting for confimation on the Saturday morning whether one regional team was still coming to compete. Basically, nobody could do the draw until the eleventh hour, which in effect set the start of play back at least 30 minutes. Teams are either coming or they're not! It is up to the regional organisers to supply their team members names to the DOP or organiser, say at least 2 days (Thursday) before the tournament starts, so that the draw can be done on say the Friday night. If the organisers fail to do so, then their team doesn't compete. This may seem harsh, but it allows for a smoother running tournament. Some players were getting quite disgruntled last year at the late start.
>
6 yup, although in the past it has been diffcult/tricky to get some issues answered except at a face-to-face, it took a 3
 or so years to settle upon 3-player teams, - setting up a yahoo group generated 2 who were okay
  with 3, 2 who 'kinda' liked 4, and 1 who did not answer emails but face to face liked 3 players - or 
	something like that, setting up  forum survey thing got nowhere, if there are 3 rounds Saturday I don't see
	 this as being an issue - especially as they'll be covered by this/these - I'll post the rules on the website