“It took me a long time to get back on the train”

Another season begins! The Campus Program questions are being printed and shipped out as I type this. Many schools are already promoting their upcoming campus tournaments.

It’s been too long since I’ve blogged. There is much to cover; some of it left over from last year. This season, I especially want to focus several entries on College Bowl game questions. While some earlier entries touched a bit on answering strategies, there is a lot more that can be said on the subject. Plus, I want to share an approach I’ve developed towards writing College Bowl style questions that will help you prepare practice material for tournaments, and even questions for your own invitationals. In the process, we’ll examine some myths and urban legends about College Bowl questions in general and how we create them in particular.

Other entries will look at new ways to promote your tournament, how teams develop over the course of the year, and how to fix broken ends on your buzzer system. Mark Dawson, a Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions winner, will be contributing a blog entry on how to use your College Bowl experience to help you appear on, and hopefully perform well on, game shows.

But I also want to talk about whatever topics you’re concerned with. Let me know, either in email or in the comments below, what you’re interested in talking about, and I’ll address them as best I can.

First though, I need to talk about MONEY. For team budgets, there is an important deadline coming up: the Early Order Discount for Campus program game packets expires at midnight Pacific time on Saturday, September 15th. Since I’ve been getting many calls and emails this week, I’m using this blog to post a FAQ about the discount. With a little planning, nearly everyone can save money!

We’ll be ordering packets, but our Purchasing Department is slow, and I don’t know when I’ll get my Purchase Order number. Can I still take advantage of the discount?

Yes! Go ahead an place your order before the 15th. In the Purchase Order field, type “to be sent.” Call, email, or fax me the number whenever your Purchasing Department gets around to issuing it.

Can I use my procurement card or personal credit card?

Credit card orders are even easier to do on our web site, and may be a better option for you. It’s secure and encrypted. We take MasterCard, Visa, and American Express.

Our tournament is next week. Can you ship the questions to me overnight?

We can, but that’s expensive. If you’re ordering the questions on CD-ROM instead of printed copies, I can email you the packets if your tournament is happening very soon. If we’re printing the questions for you, though, they’ll have to be shipped.

We know we’ll be ordering at least ten packets, but we might have more teams sign up for our tournament, and may need to order more games later. Can we still get the discount?

You’ll save the most money (a $50 or $75 savings ultimately, depending on the final size of the order) by ordering the first 10 games before the Early Order Discount expires. If you need to increase your order to 15 or 20 games later, you’ll still get quantity discounts on those later games. Note: increasing the order later can’t be done on our web page, but you just need to email or call me.

We won’t know about our funding until later in the year. Can we get an extension on the discount?

Sorry, but that’s not possible with this discount. It expires at midnight Saturday, September 15th. Please call or email me to discuss your specific situation, and we’ll brainstorm to see if there are other solutions.

We’re a new school. Does the Early Order Discount affect us?

Nope! The New School Discount is in effect all year, and is a better deal for teams that did not play in the 2006-2007 season.

Feel free to call or email me with any questions about ordering. Depending on the situation, we may be able to work with you to solve many issues. You can email me at tfm@collegebowl.com or call me between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Pacific at 1-800-234-2695 ext. 106 or 818-610-8225 ext. 106 for local callers.