World Beyblade Organization by Fighting Spirits Inc. World Beyblade Organization Discuss worldbeyblade.org

Parental Input

Oct. 03, 2016  12:12 AM
 
Hello World Beybalders!!! Thanks for taking time to read this thread. With the introduction of the New Experimental Format and the introduction of Hasbro Burst, I think it's time to look at some tournament and forum etiquette/suggestions for new Bladers. 
  
We all know how it is, at a tournament and we take a loss. It can be a bad feeling or at least not fun. Now imagine that for a new tournament participant. The kid who just bought his first Hasbro Beyblade. I know we don't always cater to them, but we do need to keep them in mind. Especially with the arrival of Hasbro Beyblade product to North America. If someone has a bad tournament experience or bad experience on the forum, it can mean the difference between a returning player and a player who is never coming back .  Ive seen this happen first hand.
 
I had some feedback from parents at a recent NC event, and it was actually rather interesting. The parents stated they liked how the NC community seemed like a family. The parent stated that they appreciated the senior members of the community helping their child with Beyblade. And in recent tournaments this player has returned. I feel one area we as a community have been lacking is the feedback from parents. Parental feedback is key. (Now if I'm wrong in this statement. Please correct me).  
 
Over the last few months I've actually been collecting parental feedback from the NC community. Some of the things they like were how NC seemed like a family. People helping each other. No Sore winners or losers. Judges interacted with the Bladers really well. The main complaint(More specifically coming from MFB Tournaments) was how long they took. And the past event complaint was some felt they didn't play enough matches. But of course this was fixed in the latest updates to the experimental rules format. 
 
I've been to some tournaments where it did seem like some of the newer Bladers may not have felt so welcomed. Overall I don't think tournaments don't have a negative atmosphere. But I do feel we could do more to help make new Bladers feel welcomed at tournaments and on the forums.  
 
How can we do this you ask? We get parents to do a survey. Whether its online or at events. On the survey we will ask the parents what they like/don't regarding the WBO & Events, how often do they or their children attend events and browse the WBO. Regardless of how we do it, we need to open up the lines of communication more to parents/guardians. In North Carolina we try to reach out to our parents or guardians at each event.
 
If we want the WBO to keep evolving and heading in the right direction. With the proper input from parents and the community continuing to come together, we as a community will have an even better and more family friendly experience.
Oct. 03, 2016  1:01 AM
 
I was not too sure where you were going with this at first, but yo, it is so true that there are several people who never post and we never get their feedback after the tournaments either. Whether about introducing new Bladers better, getting their input on trial bans or even on upcoming proposed changes, we should always reach out to them and try to collect their comments before they leave and only come out at the next event hah. We should also ask them how they wish to be contacted about tournaments in the future, in case they never come back, like in many cases.

Basically, there are reasons to hand out surveys to any type of participant at tournaments, at least half of our current userbase mostly only posts about or goes to events, and I am sincerely shocked that I never thought about that solution hah.
Oct. 03, 2016  1:13 AM
 
(Oct. 03, 2016  1:01 AM)Kai-V Wrote: I was not too sure where you were going with this at first, but yo, it is so true that there are several people who never post and we never get their feedback after the tournaments either. Whether about introducing new Bladers better, getting their input on trial bans or even on upcoming proposed changes, we should always reach out to them and try to collect their comments before they leave and only come out at the next event hah. We should also ask them how they wish to be contacted about tournaments in the future, in case they never come back, like in many cases.
YA the beginning was a bit random. Will fix that later on. It was the start of another thread I'm working on.

Quote:Basically, there are reasons to hand out surveys to any type of participant at tournaments, at least half of our current userbase mostly only posts about or goes to events, and I am sincerely shocked that I never thought about that solution hah.

We will have the surveys at BattleCry!!! And of course the information will be sent off to the committee. Ive been to several non Beyblade events where surveys were done to get a better idea of how successful the event was/how to do better.
Oct. 03, 2016  8:05 PM
 
I don't know how key adult's imputs really are considering we've never had it for all the years that the site has been operating and no one thought of it in all that time.
Oct. 03, 2016  8:14 PM
 
(Oct. 03, 2016  8:05 PM)Ultra Wrote: I don't know how key adult's imputs really are considering we've never had it for all the years that the site has been operating and no one thought of it in all that time.

Whether adults or Bladers of any other age, tournament goers have always been a slice of our userbase who partly do not post on the forums much, despite being numerous. I would say that anyone's input is valuable, but whatever concerns tournaments and keeping the grip on families attending deserves actual event participants' input the most.

We may have been operating for many years, but we cannot boast that we were perfect doing so.
Oct. 03, 2016  9:39 PM
 
Thanks for posting this!

I agree with everyone that some type of feedback survey would make sense for everyone, not just parents. One idea I had was to send an email or PM the day after each tournament to everyone who attended asking them for comments, feedback, and if there were any issues.

Quote:I've been to some tournaments where it did seem like some of the newer Bladers may not have felt so welcomed. Overall I don't think tournaments don't have a negative atmosphere. But I do feel we could do more to help make new Bladers feel welcomed at tournaments and on the forums.

This has never been my experience so it's pretty unfortunate to hear. However, it would probably be best to reach out to the players themselves than the parents (and of course, many players who felt unwelcome might not have parents with them or might be adults).

However, I have considered at least making a small section on the site for parents, since they do sign up here sometimes and it can be a lot of information to take in if you're just looking to get answers to some basic questions.
Oct. 03, 2016  9:50 PM
 
(Oct. 03, 2016  9:39 PM)Bey Brad Wrote: Thanks for posting this!

I agree with everyone that some type of feedback survey would make sense for everyone, not just parents. One idea I had was to send an email or PM the day after each tournament to everyone who attended asking them for comments, feedback, and if there were any issues.
I think this would be a great idea. It would be something simple we cold implement.

Quote:However, I have considered at least making a small section on the site for parents, since they do sign up here sometimes and it can be a lot of information to take in if you're just looking to get answers to some basic questions.

I definitely think this would be a great idea. It would be an easy way to help parents with the forum.
Oct. 03, 2016  9:52 PM
 
(Oct. 03, 2016  9:39 PM)Bey Brad Wrote: I agree with everyone that some type of feedback survey would make sense for everyone, not just parents. One idea I had was to send an email or PM the day after each tournament to everyone who attended asking them for comments, feedback, and if there were any issues.

Considering the trouble we have reaching parents like Marcus' though, I do think we should try to collect their feedback on the day, while we know they are there and reachable hah.
Oct. 03, 2016  10:02 PM
 
(Oct. 03, 2016  9:52 PM)Kai-V Wrote: Considering the trouble we have reaching parents like Marcus' though, I do think we should try to collect their feedback on the day, while we know they are there and reachable hah.

Yes, in the case of parents and not players, it would be smarter to ask them when they are there.
Oct. 04, 2016  2:05 AM
 
I agree with this idea. It would be nice if hosts can print out specific surveys and hand them out to parents on a day of a tournament and ask them to complete it after a event.
Oct. 04, 2016  5:06 AM
 
Seems like good idea to me. I sometimes ask if parents how they liked event (well at first 2 events I hosted, feedback wasn't that good beyhehe (due to events took little bit longer then usual). But after that its much better now). I really liked idea of giving them printed surveys to give there feedback like Brisk told.
Oct. 18, 2016  4:32 PM
 
May I make my own surveys for tournaments and print them out? Please let me know. Smile
Oct. 18, 2016  4:33 PM
 
(Oct. 18, 2016  4:32 PM)Brisk AquarioHD Wrote: May I make my own surveys for tournaments and print them out? Please let me know. Smile

Sure, that would really help test out how well it gets received and what sort of feedback people give. Could you just share what you will hand out?
Oct. 18, 2016  4:43 PM
 
(Oct. 18, 2016  4:33 PM)Kai-V Wrote:
(Oct. 18, 2016  4:32 PM)Brisk AquarioHD Wrote: May I make my own surveys for tournaments and print them out? Please let me know. Smile

Sure, that would really help test out how well it gets received and what sort of feedback people give. Could you just share what you will hand out?

Thank you and of course! I'm thinking about asking questions first and foremost, about the tournament such as:

- Was this tournament enjoyable?
(Y/N)
- Would you or your child participate in another one?
(Y/N)
- Did the host(s) do a good job of handling this tournament?
(N/Y)
- Would you say this tournament had a friendly environment?
(Y/N)

These are just some examples that I'll most likely add to the survey regards to a tournament.

Other examples, for future tournaments, events, etc would be:

- If you or your child would like to participate in another tournament, what format would you most likely be interested in?
(MFB, Burst, Limited)

[While I am aware that they will most likely not be familiar with these formats, I will add a section explaining them briefly]

Other:

If you enjoyed this event, you should check out worldbeyblade.org for future events!

I will be adding a translated version on the back of the survey as well. (since there will be Spanish speakers)

That would be a short example of how my survey will be typed out. Let me know your thoughts. Smile
Oct. 18, 2016  4:50 PM
 
Oh, actually I would also for sure add a staple question on any survey to get printed: "If you would like to attend future tournaments in the region, what's the best way to keep you informed about them?"

The rest sounds good, and obviously you want to keep the survey as short as possible otherwise it will discourage people from filling it out hah.
Oct. 18, 2016  4:57 PM
 
(Oct. 18, 2016  4:50 PM)Kai-V Wrote: Oh, actually I would also for sure add a staple question on any survey to get printed: "If you would like to attend future tournaments in the region, what's the best way to keep you informed about them?"

The rest sounds good, and obviously you want to keep the survey as short as possible otherwise it will discourage people from filling it out hah.

Ah, definitely. I can just add my email separately on a paper for them. In turn, they can write whatever contact information of theirs on the survey.

I will keep it short, at least to about 4-6 questions at most. Thanks for your feedback. Smile
Oct. 18, 2016  5:10 PM
 
I am really interested in hearing how the survey turned out and how it was received.

Hm, either we should have a second sheet where no username or contact information is asked, to keep it anonymous, or there should be some text to explain how to report an issue, cheating, etc. to the Committee.
Oct. 18, 2016  6:16 PM
 
I'm working on both on-site follow ups to tournament attendees and way for both organizers and players to file incident reports online. However, I'm not against on-site paper surveys too, especially for parents. Feel free to make your own survey Brisk, just keep us in the loop about what you do. We'll probably use it to inform our surveying approach going forward. Smile
Oct. 18, 2016  6:37 PM
 
I will provide the finished survey here later today. As for the second sheet, Kai, could you please elaborate on that? Just a little confused about reporting a issue, etc. Who's doing that? The parents?

And thank you Brad! Will do and I appreciate that. Smile
Oct. 18, 2016  6:45 PM
 
(Oct. 18, 2016  6:37 PM)Brisk AquarioHD Wrote: I will provide the finished survey here later today. As for the second sheet, Kai, could you please elaborate on that? Just a little confused about reporting a issue, etc. Who's doing that? The parents?

And thank you Brad! Will do and I appreciate that. Smile

I think it would be better to encourage people to report incidents of cheating etc. to you (the organizer) directly, and for you to report those incidents yourself.
Oct. 18, 2016  6:48 PM
 
(Oct. 18, 2016  6:37 PM)Brisk AquarioHD Wrote: I will provide the finished survey here later today. As for the second sheet, Kai, could you please elaborate on that? Just a little confused about reporting a issue, etc. Who's doing that? The parents?

Parents, players, even the host. Besides the big scandal recently, I have also heard of other instances of cheating from people who hesitated to report them, so if everyone is given that second anonymous sheet of paper and that everyone has to give both sheets back at the end of the tournament, hopefully people might feel more free to report them. Obviously if it involves the host, we might never hear about it online hah, but that sheet could at least include the information on how to report issues online directly, anonymously or not.
Oct. 18, 2016  7:57 PM
 
Ah I see. That's good! Do I need to make the second sheet for that or will you guys work on it? I'm perfectly okay with making it on my own.
Oct. 18, 2016  8:12 PM
 
For now you would have to make your own, as our methods are not ready yet.
Oct. 18, 2016  8:24 PM
 
(Oct. 18, 2016  8:12 PM)Kai-V Wrote: For now you would have to make your own, as your methods are not ready yet.

I guess you mean our. haha
Oct. 18, 2016  8:45 PM
 
I totally did; weird hah.
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