Midwest Regional Judge Conference (May)

Note: The schedule portion does not display well when viewed in mobile mode.

The conference is a Judge Academy, foil-supported, two-track event ran on Zoom and Discord capped at 125 attendees. What this means, is there will be four sets of two simultaneous presentations. One track focusing on soft skills, the other on hard skills. You will choose which presentation you wish to attend during each time slot. Followed by a single presentation that everyone will attend.

Priority will be given to applicants from the Midwest region for 50% of the slots. If you are from another region, feel free to apply. We will likely have spots for you.

If you cannot make this conference for any reason there will be duplicate conference that takes place on June 6th.

Receiving Foils

In order to receive foils, you must attend all five presentation times and be a certified judge L1 and above. Exceptions to the attendance requirement can be given by a staff member. If you cannot attend the entire conference please let us know. Attendance will be tracked via Google feedback forms as well as presence in the Zoom call.

Presentations (Schedule and times are below)

Soft Skills

Presentation 1: TBA – Bryan Spellman

Presentation 2: Imposter Syndrome: A Hypocrite’s Guide – Liz Mackie

Imposter syndrome can affect you in multiple stages in life, whether in judging, work, hobbies or a wonderful mixture of all three! We will cover what actually is imposter syndrome, and how to tackle it.

Presentation 3: 11 investigation lessons taught by Among Us – Emilien Wild

In 2020, the game Among Us became a viral success. Deception and lies being at the core of its gameplay, solid investigation skills were required to be a top player. Let’s review together what we learned from it!

Presentation 4: Conflict is not a Bad Thing – Meg Baum

Conflict is just conflict. It isn’t good. It isn’t bad. It just is. What you do with it is what matters. In this presentation we will discuss the nature of conflict, how we can use it to foster healthy environments, and get the most out of any conflicts you may find yourself in.

Hard Skills

Presentation 1: Intro to legacy – Elaine Cao

Legacy is a complex format, and yet many judges are unfamiliar with the cards, the decks, and the interactions. With many more people playing Legacy now due to the increase in online Magic, it is helpful to have knowledge of these rules interactions and play patterns.

Presentation 2: Two Headed Giant – Steven Zwanger

Two-Headed Giant is a widely popular casual format, but many of its rules are poorly understood. Learn how 2HG works so that you’re ready to judge it when your local store starts running events again

Presentation 3: Introduction to Digital Events -Klaus Lassacher

In this presentation we will have a look at several online tools that enable digital MTG events. This will include a brief look at Spelltable, MTGMelee, Companion, and Eventlink to give you an overview of what tools are there for you to use. After the theoretical part there will also be some practical demonstration.

Presentation 4: Combat phase (CR) – Maria Alex Chernov

Everyone

Presentation 5: Authority, Not Adversary – Sheldon Menery

In his talk ‘Authority, Not Adversary,’ Sheldon Menery discusses judges walking the fine line between ally and arbiter in their communities.

Schedule

Start time: 9:50am End time: 5:30pm (All times are listed in Central Standard Time (GMT-5)

Time	Event
9:00-9:50	Zoom open for networking
9:50-10:00	Introduction
10:00-11:20	Presentation set 1
11:20-11:30	Break
11:30-12:30	Presentation set 2
12:30-1:00	Lunch
1:00-2:20	Presentation set 3
2:20-2:30	Break
2:30-3:30	Presentation set 4
3:30-3:45	Break
3:45-5:15	Presentation 5
5:15-6:15	Zoom open for networking

Contact Information/Conference Admins

Please feel free to reach to us with any questions you may have.

Bree Yard – bwyard@gmail.com

Shawn Gadow – sgadowocusd@gmail.com

Sherwin Ng

Liz Mackie

Helpful links:

Time Zone conversion

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

A beginners guide to discord

https://support.discord.com/hc/en-us/articles/360045138571-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Discord

A beginners guide to zoom

https://www.theverge.com/21506307/zoom-guide-how-to-free-account-register-sign-up-log-in-invite

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Apply to this Event

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