Tromso Olympiad

[Kevin Mayo]

Craig makes a lot of pertinent points.
Someone should listen to him!
Money (or rather the lack of it), as has been pointed out before is the bottom line.

Point 5 he makes is probably the most relevant on this subject.
But what an enormous task indeed!

I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility that the likes of Standard Life etc. could be persuaded to "give" Chess Scotland a small sum of money. Small in their terms might be £10,000.
But you would have to convince them in a highly professional way that they were getting value for money.
Companies like this do not give you money. They expect something in return. Actually they expect considerably more in return for their outlay...nevertheless I think it should be possible to make Chess an attractive investment for them in some way.
So the enormous task would begin...
[list=]Define your goals. You need tangibles and specifics. Airy fairy woolly nonsense will not cut it
Set out your ideas on how your are going to achieve them
Refine them. Refine them
Prepare your documentation for presentation
Rework it again and again until it's slick
What's been missed? What's good, what's bad?
Seek positive feedback
Rework it again and again
Then rework it again until it is superb
You'd almost certainly want a PP presentation as well as hardcopy handout
List your target companies
Attempt to arrange meetings with prospective companies (be prepared for a lot of rejection)
Present your case in a highly professional manner. You can't go to these companies like an amateur
[/list]
It's all with no guarantee of success
Pray

[Craig Pritchett]

Thanks, Kevin

I would add that charitable funding (through some of the medium to large charities) for juniors and perhaps also seniors (a longer-shot) might also be possible for a professionally thought-through package, of the sort you elaborate, perhaps especially for one-off events featuring exceptional individuals / teams willing to accept some serious event-focussed training aimed at achieving a defined "stretch" (sorry about the jargon) goal.

Unfortunately charitable funding won't ordinarily go to non-senior adults, at least until such times as the law in Scotland permits organisations like Chess Scotland to become registered charities (this should periodically be checked by CS at the charities regulator OSCR, by chatting informally / checking their website). This is purely because juniors and seniors (to a lesser extent perhaps) are generally regarded by governments of all political stripes, as groups whose access to and participation in sports and other pursuits that promote greater physical / mental activity and societal involvement bring definable health and social benefits in much larger measure than they do for non-senior adults.

I think that some clubs or sub-national organisations, such as say a regional junior/schools chess league, however, MAY nevertheless be able to register as charities, even under current charitable law. BUT this would have to be checked by each organisation (in a similar way at OSCR). The more charitable sources of funds available for chess, the better, of course.

[amuir]

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Great to see star players Stephen Mannion and Alan Tate playing. This will get over any Olympiad disappointments.

[Alex Gillies]

http://iominternationalchess.com/whos-pl...sters.html

Great to see star players Stephen Mannion and Alan Tate playing. This will get over any Olympiad disappointments.

Interestingly sponsored by Pokerstars - huge company now and big budget - Craig & Kevin just mentioned sponsorship for Scotland - it shows you if its pitched right company's will sponsor chess- London chess Classic is also really well presented. Do we have the marketing skills the product and the professionalism? Its difficult with such a small country but with experienced guys at the likes of Quality Chess and creative organisers like Johnathan Edwards Scottish Blitz its not beyond the realms of possibility
A big help would be someone from chess who works in PR/marketing as companies want new ideas to promote their brands

*- A

[Jonathan Livingstone]

In another thread a while back *I think* it was David Oswald who spoke of a model some organisations use where members who obtain sponsorship retain a percentage of any sponsorship income they have obtained through their hard work, time and perserverence. 10% was a suggested figure for a CS version of this model for obtaining sponsorship.

I thought that was both a fair and a great idea.

[Alan Tate]

"Compulsory" is too strong, but commitment should be rewarded. As Craig says, the purpose of a training camp is about mindset as well as honing chess skills.

Pokerstars sponsor many players. In exchange, the players where the company logo on their clothing and all the viewers at home see the brand (assuming TV cameras). I think there are a few poker playing chess players who probably helped to get this sponsorship... Simon WIlliams and Jennifer Shahade seem to be involved... but poker is popular with many chess players which makes this a great fit.

[Jonathan Edwards]

Although it may not please everyone, chess players are certainly a target market for poker companies. Professional Poker Videos (Ivan's company) supported the first Scottish Blitz. I remember that PokerStrategy.com also entered a team into the team blitz at Gibraltar this year, including Jan Gustafsson. I'm certainly not surprised that Stars are sponsoring the IOM international!

I never really had enough time this year to focus on approaching companies. The reason I'm not standing at the AGM as marketing director, once again, is that I'm abroad next year and I definitely won't have enough time to give my best effort. I hope that someone can rise to the challenge.

[Alan Tate]

Why can I not edit my posts? Please let me correct that horrendous typo.

[davidpgillespie]

Why can I not edit my posts? Please let me correct that horrendous typo.

=))

[Andy Howie]

A timeout was introduced on edits as people in the past were posting something abusive then watching for a mod to come on and editing it before they could see it. The main offender has been banned for some time now