Abadaba/Abalucy, Aditan, Amundsen, Baddi, Baldfriede, Baldjean, Bambi1, Bbo_Tds, Berrakk, Blackbikin, Borko, Calabres, Culbbaran, Cyrielle, Donbel, Dittny2k1, Dusiolek, Edmundb, Ellie26, Esp1, Ffinesse, Firehead_, Fo, Grafa, Granguru, Guggie, Hope, Januszg, Milen39, Mink, Mirekf, Mozersanyl, Nkgupt, Nicegerda, Ohsteveyes, Otard, Poky, Puredragon, Smilysmith, Spwdo, Telecine, Tritri, Vanilla, Willk, Xx1943, Zyhus

Gwen called the meeting to order at 11:05 ET.

Schedule

The meeting was begun with a discussion of Scheduling. Reminders were given for the reasons for placing events on the schedule and for planning tournaments with consideration for events that are already planned. It was pointed out that there is no conflict if the tournaments are scheduled simultaneously but have different formats (i.e. Indy vs Pairs). The recommended spacing of 30 minutes between tournaments was restated. Bambi1 pointed out that there are impromptu tournaments added to the list all the time, but that TD’s should be considerate to their fellow TD’s by checking the schedule before setting up impromptu events. She also pointed out that – if you need to host at the same time as another event is scheduled, it is more productive to simply contact the other TD and collaborate in a single, larger event.

Paid Events

Paid vs Free Tournaments was the next topic of discussion. Many TD’s offered their rationale for continuing to provide free tournaments. These included:

1. the inability to offer any additional premium to the players,
2. an intention to maintain the "free" status of BBO,
3. a desire to return value to the BBO community for value received as a BBO member,
4. preserving the "cost" related competitive edge that BBO enjoys in the internet bridge arena.

TD’s who advocate paid tournaments cited their reasons as well:

1. a deserved return to the TD for their work,
2. placing a higher value on the product being offered by the TD’s.

Many TD’s contributed their thoughts and ideas to this discussion. Some of the points raised were:

1. concerns regarding the relative cost to players from different countries since the dollar’s value differs widely,
2. the lack of credit card availability to players from some countries,
3. the relative cost  as opposed to the cost per year to do the same at other paid bridge sites,
4. the low participation of the current slate of paid events.

Gwen pointed out the fact that, while BBO is free for the members, BBO is not a free endeavor for Fred/Sherry/Uday. Without understating the value of the contributions made by TD’s, any income the site’s founders realize, from paid events and/or sales, IS appropriate given their investment of time, expertise, and resources. There was also concern expressed about the increased lobby chat advertisements for the paid events. A general impression of Paid vs Free tournaments was that the players can register their comments on which they feel is worthwhile by their participation.

TDs Wish List

The final topic was TD Wish list. Although Uday has done a wonderful job being responsive to the TD’s needs, there were still many enhancements on everyone’s wish lists. TD’s continue to appreciate the tools that are available, but generally agree that a different view of the tournament lobby for the TD could replace the rather large pop-up screen which tends to block the TD’s view of whatever else they might be working on. The "Wishes" verbalized include:

The multi-lingual changes have resulted in subbing request responses coming back in a variety of languages. This makes it difficult for the TD to decipher the response. There was a consensus that this is a problem for all of us.

A motion and second were taken to adjourn the meeting at 11:50 am ET.