Most events run smoothly: players arrive, register, round pairings are posted, calls get answered, results are collected and entered, final pairings are posted, and prizes are distributed. But in some events, something unexpected happens, and that nice and easy routine gets derailed, which can cause discomfort for players and staff (such as delays), threaten the event’s integrity, or even stop the event prematurely.

While resourceful judges could fix these unexpected issues on the spot and reduce the inconveniences they cause, wouldn’t it even better if these issues didn’t happen in the first place, or get detected before they escalate and have a noticeable impact on the event? That’s the goal of event awareness. It could be as simple as checking that the tournament organizer has enough boosters and basic lands for a booster draft event, or that you have enough chairs for the number of pre-registered players, or something more advanced, like putting into balance the progresses of the deck check team and the level of floor coverage and reassigning a team member mid round 2.

In the end, event awareness will allow you to significantly improve the play experience of all people involved in your event, and will be your best way to avoid, or at least mitigate, complete disasters.