FOCAL 2016

Discussion and announcements relating to unofficial Countdown competitions, held online or in real life. Observation, discussion, reflection, and other stuff ending in -ion.
Zarte Siempre
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FOCAL 2016

Post by Zarte Siempre »

Hello ladies and gents.

It's been a while since we've said anything about the year-round Co-event league idea that was mooted earlier in the year, and so it may have seemed that nothing was happening with it, but it's with great pleasure that I can announce with at least a fair amount more detail, the first yearly Finals Of the Co-event Annual League, or FOCAL.

For those who weren't in the loop before, the idea is very simple. A number of events across the year already exist, and so there seemed to be a great opportunity to tie a number of them together and form an annual calendar and overall table of results to determine the best performers over a year.

The way of doing that will be to have a scoring system across all these events and tabulating the results to generate the top 8 performers across the course of a year. These 8 players will be invited free to an event on the 3rd December 2016 in Birmingham where they'll compete in a round robin + final to determine the FOCAL champion. This event will be run alongside an event for anyone else who wishes to attend, which will have a lower than average entry fee. We hope that this will create a big atmosphere, and we can view it as a Countdowners end of year shindig :) The way that we'll be running this event with a less than average entry fee, is by each involved tournament organiser putting £1 per player from their tournament(s) into a central pot which will be used to pay for the final event.

The scoring system has not changed much from when it was originally mooted. We ran various suggested methods through spreadsheets to try and see what generated a good balance between allowing the best players to make the finals, whilst also giving those who have shown unwavering commitment to the support of these events a chance to do so. The winning player of each tournament will receive a points score of 2*y where y is the number of people who entered the tournament. Each player underneath that will receive 2 points less than the player before. In the event of 2 players finishing in exactly the same position, they will receive the average of the amount of points on offer for the 2 places they occupy. The number of events from which attendees can take points will be capped at the closest value to 66% of the number of events in the year.

Each tournament will be very much encouraged to maintain their own feel and identity, there will be very little standardisation of format, and indeed some events, either current or future may prefer not to be involved for various reasons. We will look to make sure that such events can exist quite happily within the year and not try and compete against them - ultimately we're interested in as many people getting to enjoy these events as possible.
We have a provisional calendar of events for 2016 - these MAY change, however we're confident that the bulk of what you see here will remain true.

30th-31st January - Lincoln, Lincoln Hangover (Ben)
27th February - Bristol (Mark/Jeff)
30th April - Leeds (new event) (Callum)
28th May - Kings Lynn (Mike)
2nd July - St Albans (JRJ)
23rd July - Nottingham (Ben)
20th August - Milton Keynes (Zarte)
10th September - Dublin (Eddy)
8th October - Huddersfield (JRJ)
12th-13th November - Glasgow, Glasgowonthen (Alan)
3rd December - Finals - Birmingham (Combined Effort)

All in all, this will be 11 events, plus the grand final in December.

In addition to this, Reading will take its usual spot on the Easter weekend in March, but this will not form part of the FOCAL points calendar at this point.

To try and get this done as smoothly as possible, a committee was created with a selection of current and former event organisers. This committee, if anyone is interested, will be publicly joinable by election on an annual basis - it was just felt the formation of it should be done quickly. Mark Murray'll be chairing it until after the first finals, Jeff Clayton is vice-chair, Chris Marshall is treasurer, and James Robinson is secretary. In addition, myself, Alan Young, Ben Wilson, Callum Todd, Eddy Byrne, Jen Steadman and Mike Brown are all involved.

Any questions, please ask :)
Last edited by Zarte Siempre on Tue Jun 28, 2016 12:55 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by JimBentley »

Zarte Siempre wrote:...Jeff Clayton is treasurer...
Well, that rules a few people out of the running for starters.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Ben Wilson »

Obviously, COLIN is proud to take its place as the first ever event of FOCAL. The hangover is proud to be the second ever event of FOCAL, or will be when its eyesight recovers from the night before.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Good stuff. I've heard that quite a lot of work has gone into this so congratulations on getting it all sorted out. I'm looking forward to see how this plays out.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Gavin Chipper »

JimBentley wrote:
Zarte Siempre wrote:...Jeff Clayton is treasurer...
Well, that rules a few people out of the running for starters.
I'd heard that this no longer applied. Hatchets buried etc.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Zarte Siempre »

Gavin Chipper wrote:
JimBentley wrote:
Zarte Siempre wrote:...Jeff Clayton is treasurer...
Well, that rules a few people out of the running for starters.
I'd heard that this no longer applied. Hatchets buried etc.
Yeah, if the implication was that people are banned by Jeff, that's long over :)
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by JimBentley »

Zarte Siempre wrote:
Gavin Chipper wrote:I'd heard that this no longer applied. Hatchets buried etc.
Yeah, if the implication was that people are banned by Jeff, that's long over :)
That's nice to hear. Next time you encounter him though, would you ask him what the fuck he thought he was doing banning certain people from "his" events in the past, as he doesn't seem to want to talk to me any more. Cheers for that.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Zarte Siempre »

Gavin Chipper wrote:Good stuff. I've heard that quite a lot of work has gone into this so congratulations on getting it all sorted out. I'm looking forward to see how this plays out.
Cheers btw Gev - hope to see you at a few of them :)
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Callum Todd »

Good to see it all up and running after all the work Zarte, Mark, and co. have put in. Glasgow's place of honour as the last opportunity to grab some qualifying points could make it even more interesting. Next year's co events should be all the better for this.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Mark Murray »

This 2016 end of year event is going to be fantastic with great work from all of the committee who have spent a lot of their own time in ensuring that this gets off the ground. :)
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Zarte Siempre wrote:The winning player of each tournament will receive a points score of 2*y where y is the number of people who entered the tournament. Each player underneath that will receive 2 points less than the player before.
I still don't really get this. You're over-penalising winners of smaller tournaments. Coming in the middle of 40 players is not as good as winning out of 20!

If you've run this system on previous tournaments to see how the points come out and it gives reasonable results, it's still not surprising because any finish-higher-up-and-you-get-more-points system is likely to average out to something similar over the long haul, but it still has the potential to throw out unfairness that could easily be avoided.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Zarte Siempre »

We tested it, we tested others. It worked. Others didn't.

If it throws up massive miscarriages of justice in the first year, then we can look again, but for now, it seems to be working :P
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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jon Corby »

Gavin Chipper wrote:I still don't really get this.
What's your alternative Gev? I haven't thought about this much so you might be right - but the stated aim is a balance between rewarding placings AND consistent attendance - which this seems to do, doesn't it?
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Zarte Siempre wrote:We tested it, we tested others. It worked. Others didn't.

If it throws up massive miscarriages of justice in the first year, then we can look again, but for now, it seems to be working :P
That's fine but just out of interest can I ask what other systems you checked? I'm thinking of dropping the whole thing - honest!
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Jon Corby wrote:
Gavin Chipper wrote:I still don't really get this.
What's your alternative Gev? I haven't thought about this much so you might be right - but the stated aim is a balance between rewarding placings AND consistent attendance - which this seems to do, doesn't it?
Well, since Jono talked me round... Actually I did post about this before in another thread, and I'm finding it hard to believe you haven't read my entire posting history.

Basically I'd want a system where your points relate to how far proportionally you are down the field. I initially suggested a linear scale and it's probably best for simplicity, but it doesn't have to be.

But to describe it again briefly, I'd have a theoretical minimum of 0 points and maximum of 100, although it would make no difference to the overall order if you made the maximum 7.12349867123409781293. If there's one player, they would automatically score 50. Two players would score 66.7 and 33.3. Four would score 75, 50, 25. So the middle player would always get 50. According to my post in the other thread the formula for someone's points is 100 - (position/(players + 1)*100). It's basically someone's percentile, using the properest of the systems out there.

Edit - You can still have the thing about only a certain number of scores counting so people aren't penalised for not going to every event.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jon Corby »

I see. To be honest I hadn't read the bit about "only a certain number of scores counting", which actually might make me change my mind. I'm not sure. I've got a cold and can't think properly at the moment.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Zarte Siempre »

Gavin Chipper wrote:
Zarte Siempre wrote:We tested it, we tested others. It worked. Others didn't.

If it throws up massive miscarriages of justice in the first year, then we can look again, but for now, it seems to be working :P
That's fine but just out of interest can I ask what other systems you checked? I'm thinking of dropping the whole thing - honest!

Your system was tested, a tennis style system was tested, the system from Indy racing in America was tested... think there was another but can't remember off the top of my head.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Zarte Siempre »

Jon Corby wrote:I see. To be honest I hadn't read the bit about "only a certain number of scores counting", which actually might make me change my mind. I'm not sure. I've got a cold and can't think properly at the moment.
Where the cut off point would be for that, based on this year's tournaments, would only affect about 3 people, 1 or 2 of which would actually make the top 8 even without it. It's a high cut off point just for more extreme cases. It's a really really fine balancing act, but we're pretty confident we've got it right. Or at least right enough that the first one will work suitably well enough to test everything for a year :)
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Zarte Siempre wrote:
Gavin Chipper wrote:
Zarte Siempre wrote:We tested it, we tested others. It worked. Others didn't.

If it throws up massive miscarriages of justice in the first year, then we can look again, but for now, it seems to be working :P
That's fine but just out of interest can I ask what other systems you checked? I'm thinking of dropping the whole thing - honest!

Your system was tested, a tennis style system was tested, the system from Indy racing in America was tested... think there was another but can't remember off the top of my head.
What bad things happened with the rejected systems?
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Zarte Siempre »

From memory, the sports style progressions ended up giving far too much weighting to people who'd won something and done fuck all for the rest of the year.

Whereas yours I think went the other way and ended up giving too much weight to people just turning up all the time and also looked a fucking mess on a spreadsheet. It also didn't go far ENOUGH to distinguish the merit between winning a tournament with 10 people and one with 50.

Yours also meant I didn't qualify when I'd had a really good year, you bastard. (I think that's true, but it wasn't a factor - we ruled out a different one that made me look really fucking good, too.)
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Heather Styles »

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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Zarte Siempre »

Delighted to announce that Co Dublin will now NOT just be a one-time event.

After the success of this month's event, Eddy has decided to turn it into a fixture on the Co-event diary, and furthermore, we're all delighted that he wishes it to be a part of FOCAL. The date for next year's event is provisionally set at September 10th.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Andy Wilson »

That's appropriate, as focal is the Irish word for, word.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jon O'Neill »

I thought it was Northern for nothing, as in: "how many points do you have in this year's Co-Event league?".. "FOCAL".
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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Jennifer Steadman
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

The FULL current FOCAL standings are now up on the website - click HERE to see not just the rankings, but a bevvy of familiar faces in the brand-spanking-new top 8 gallery! Want to see your face up there? Then get to more events and get your points total up! :)

There are 10 more events left this year - you're spoilt for choice. Find your nearest event here, and see the full calendar for the year here.

The website's undergoing a bit of renovation at the moment, with plenty of exciting content and pictures planned. Stay tuned, and don't forget to follow FOCAL on Facebook and Twitter!
"There's leaders, and there's followers, but I'd rather be a dick than a swallower" - Aristotle
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Heather Styles »

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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Jennifer Steadman wrote:The FULL current FOCAL standings are now up on the website - click HERE to see not just the rankings, but a bevvy of familiar faces in the brand-spanking-new top 8 gallery! Want to see your face up there? Then get to more events and get your points total up! :)

There are 10 more events left this year - you're spoilt for choice. Find your nearest event here, and see the full calendar for the year here.

The website's undergoing a bit of renovation at the moment, with plenty of exciting content and pictures planned. Stay tuned, and don't forget to follow FOCAL on Facebook and Twitter!
Nice work with the website and the rankings.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

Gavin Chipper wrote:
Jennifer Steadman wrote:The FULL current FOCAL standings are now up on the website - click HERE to see not just the rankings, but a bevvy of familiar faces in the brand-spanking-new top 8 gallery! Want to see your face up there? Then get to more events and get your points total up! :)

There are 10 more events left this year - you're spoilt for choice. Find your nearest event here, and see the full calendar for the year here.

The website's undergoing a bit of renovation at the moment, with plenty of exciting content and pictures planned. Stay tuned, and don't forget to follow FOCAL on Facebook and Twitter!
Nice work with the website and the rankings.
Cheers Gevlaaaa. Ben's report from COLIN is now up, complete with video fairy Matty Artell's cut of the crucial conundrum in the main event final. Read all about it HERE.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

So this FOCAL lark is all well and good, but who are the puppet-masters pulling the strings behind the scenes?

(Pretend you don't already know)

There should be a fully-fledged page on the website about them or something.

Oh, wait! There already is!

CLICK HERE to find out more about the FOCAL team!

Learn what Ben Wilson's favourite food is, which famous London landmark I've climbed on the roof of, and how many canines make up Mark Murray's menagerie (not a euphemism).

Oh, and look at the rest of the website too, including its newly updated pages on CoKL and CoMK.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Andy Wilson »

Heather Styles wrote:Andy, you think we didn't research the Irish meaning of the word focal before settling on the name? ;)
Forgive me Heather! And Jim is actually fairly close with the pronunciation. Forget any ideas you have of pronouncing it like vocal... it's fuckal. If you're having trouble getting it, sing along to a cult Irish hit with Richie!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hesT13bVjOo
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

The post-Bristol standings have now been updated - CLICK HERE!

Our next event is in Leeds on Saturday 30th April. Details can be found elsewhere on C4C or on the FOCAL website here. Sign up now to avoid disappointment!
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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Jennifer Steadman wrote:The post-Bristol standings have now been updated - CLICK HERE!
I do love the work you've put into the website and I like the fact that you have the top eight with pictures, but if I had one suggestion, it would be to include the top eight in the "main" list as well, because it makes for easier comparison.

But excellent work to update it so quickly.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Gavin Chipper wrote:
Jennifer Steadman wrote:The post-Bristol standings have now been updated - CLICK HERE!
I do love the work you've put into the website and I like the fact that you have the top eight with pictures, but if I had one suggestion, it would be to include the top eight in the "main" list as well, because it makes for easier comparison.

But excellent work to update it so quickly.
Duly noted and taken care of, not just by copy and pasting it in, but by MAKING A BRAND SPANKING NEW TABLE OF RESULTS THAT LOOKS APPROXIMATELY A MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN IT LOOKED YESTERDAY with how many points everyone's got per event, sign-ups for forthcoming events shown, and who's won each event (shown via the medium of emojis).

Unfortunately Wordpress is stupid and won't let me C&P the code in, so I've had to print screen it all on and will have to do so every time I want to update it. But it looks good, so YOLO.

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW AND BEAUTIFUL RESULTS TABLE!!!
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Heather Styles »

Thanks for the focal pronunciation guide!
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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Jennifer Steadman wrote:
Gavin Chipper wrote:
Jennifer Steadman wrote:The post-Bristol standings have now been updated - CLICK HERE!
I do love the work you've put into the website and I like the fact that you have the top eight with pictures, but if I had one suggestion, it would be to include the top eight in the "main" list as well, because it makes for easier comparison.

But excellent work to update it so quickly.
Duly noted and taken care of, not just by copy and pasting it in, but by MAKING A BRAND SPANKING NEW TABLE OF RESULTS THAT LOOKS APPROXIMATELY A MILLION TIMES BETTER THAN IT LOOKED YESTERDAY with how many points everyone's got per event, sign-ups for forthcoming events shown, and who's won each event (shown via the medium of emojis).

Unfortunately Wordpress is stupid and won't let me C&P the code in, so I've had to print screen it all on and will have to do so every time I want to update it. But it looks good, so YOLO.

CLICK HERE FOR THE NEW AND BEAUTIFUL RESULTS TABLE!!!
Excellent work as always. (Obviously I think it's crazy that Jack Hurst is fourth of those who have been to one event despite winning and those above him coming second, fourth and seventh.)

Is there a list of positions for each individual event?
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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Gavin Chipper wrote:Is there a list of positions for each individual event?
No. I kind of wanted to put that info up but it massively clutters the table - I'm probably just going to link to the respective Wiki pages from the finished event pages (maybe the events calendar page too).

The inaugural CoLeeds (Saturday 30th April) is less than 2 months away now, and there's been a flurry of sign-ups for it in the last week. Sign up now to avoid missing out! You never know, you might see some of the Countdown Team members turning up too...

Don't forget about Countdown in King's Lynn (Saturday 28th May), either! East Anglia's only Co event returns to a beautiful, historic coastal town. Make a Bank Holiday weekend out of it :)
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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Jennifer Steadman wrote:
Gavin Chipper wrote:Is there a list of positions for each individual event?
No. I kind of wanted to put that info up but it massively clutters the table - I'm probably just going to link to the respective Wiki pages from the finished event pages (maybe the events calendar page too).
Could be worth making a page on the wiki, with the table there. Then you can sort by whichever column you want. (And by "could be worth", I mean for someone who has time and can be bothered).
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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Jennifer Steadman wrote:
Gavin Chipper wrote:Is there a list of positions for each individual event?
No. I kind of wanted to put that info up but it massively clutters the table - I'm probably just going to link to the respective Wiki pages from the finished event pages (maybe the events calendar page too).
OK cool, but I was thinking on the pages of each individual event (stuck at the bottom out of the way) rather than on the page with the overall position table.
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

Ooh OK. Yeah, I can see what I can do (I'm still waiting on a table of results from Bristol, I think).
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Re: FOCAL 2016

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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

After a long and bumpy road, Ben finally has a venue for Nottingham! More details to follow soon, but if you want the basic info, head to the website for venue, timings and entry cost...
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Re: FOCAL 2016

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"There's leaders, and there's followers, but I'd rather be a dick than a swallower" - Aristotle
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

Post-King's Lynn standings here.

There's also a report and videos from the excellent CoLeeds - hoping for similar info from King's Lynn in due course, but for now, just find links to both the full results/standings from the event, and the Storify version of the final, on the event page.

Bit of a break now before the 2 July events, St Albans and Nottingham. Details are up on the website for every forthcoming event this year apart from Huddersfield and Glasgow. On the Birmingham page, you'll find booking forms for a limited offer hotel deal we've got for the FOCAL Finals, in Birmingham on December 3rd.

Sign up for future events! Hoping to have some exciting new pages on the site soon 8-)
"There's leaders, and there's followers, but I'd rather be a dick than a swallower" - Aristotle
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Jennifer Steadman
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

All change at FOCAL! We'd like to warmly welcome Chris Marshall as the newest member of the FOCAL team, as he takes the reins as treasurer. Community legend and St Albans/Huddersfield organiser James Robinson has also shifted role, from treasurer to secretary. The Who Are You? page has been updated accordingly, so have a look and see what Chris has to say for himself!

Less than 4 weeks to go until the next FOCAL tournament. Countdown in St Albans is on 2nd July; it's just £15, which includes 7 games of Countdown and a game of Pointless! More details are HERE - it's typically a big event, so sign up now to avoid disappointment!

If that's too far south, you only have to wait 3 weeks for the next tournament, in Nottingham! That's on 23rd July, entry is £12, and the fab Robin Hood-themed logo has been designed by Heather Styles. Want to see it? You'll have to come along! (Or look at the Facebook event if you're a spoilsport.) Find all the details you need to sign up HERE!
"There's leaders, and there's followers, but I'd rather be a dick than a swallower" - Aristotle
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Jon O'Neill
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jon O'Neill »

Jennifer Steadman wrote:All change at FOCAL! We'd like to warmly welcome Chris Marshall as the newest member of the FOCAL team, as he takes the reins as treasurer. Community legend and St Albans/Huddersfield organiser James Robinson has also shifted role, from treasurer to secretary. The Who Are You? page has been updated accordingly, so have a look and see what Chris has to say for himself!
What's the purpose of all the roles? Is there an organisational chart anywhere? Was there a secretary before Robbo? I'd be interested to know what everyone does.
Heather Styles

Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Heather Styles »

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Last edited by Heather Styles on Tue Jun 28, 2016 12:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
Gavin Chipper
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Heather Styles wrote:I was the FOCAL secretary before Robbo. This page https://focalcountdown.co.uk/whoweare/ says who does what behind the scenes.

I'll also send you a message with all the role descriptions :)
Why not publicly?
Mark Murray
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Mark Murray »

Thanks for the messages. In a nutshell, the purpose of having a committee in place is to ensure that tasks are carried out linking up the events and ensuring that the finals event happens at the end of the year. The overall committee consists of 11 members (organisers) of the Co events and within this 5 named roles (myself-chair) overseeing the overall committee, making decisions on anything related to the final event, looking at anything really that is linking up the individual co events to the finals and (vice chair jeff clayton) who would step in if I am not available..secretary James Robinson takes notes at monthly meetings, sends out agendas any group messages etc, Chris Marshall (treasurer) manages financial income/outgoings, looks after focal bank account, responsible for taking in contributions from Co events for final and people's bookings for hotel stay over as well as expense forecasting.. and Jen who is responsible for all social media twitter etc and the focal website.

We have monthly meetings to see where we are and check on track for where we need to be at the end of the year

In a nutshell that sums it up. We are not meaning to be purposely hiding ourselves but at same time want to out on a finals event without any of you really having to worry about any of the work that goes on behind the scenes either. :)
Heather Styles

Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Heather Styles »

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Heather Styles

Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Heather Styles »

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Heather Styles

Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Heather Styles »

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Heather Styles

Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Heather Styles »

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Gavin Chipper
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Heather Styles wrote:.
Heather Styles wrote:.
Heather Styles wrote:.
Heather Styles wrote:.
I agree.
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Jennifer Steadman
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

UPDATED CURRENT STANDINGS!

Spoiler alert: there's a new leader.

You can sign up to the rest of our summer tournaments now!

Countdown in Nottingham is on 23rd July

Countdown in Milton Keynes is on 20th August

Countdown in Dublin is on 10th September

You can also sign up to the FOCAL Finals tournament in Birmingham on 3rd December. (Time to do a new thread for that one.)

Oh, and like our Twitter and Facebook pages while you're at it xoxo
"There's leaders, and there's followers, but I'd rather be a dick than a swallower" - Aristotle
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Jennifer Steadman
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

Nearly 200 Twitter followers! If you haven't already, follow us at @focalcountdown for our very educational 'Perfectly Clean Countdown Word of the Day' tweets, event plugs and updates, and some conundrums and teasers when I get round to them.
"There's leaders, and there's followers, but I'd rather be a dick than a swallower" - Aristotle
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Jennifer Steadman
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Re: FOCAL 2016

Post by Jennifer Steadman »

The latest updated FOCAL standings are HERE.


*~*~ FORTHCOMING EVENTS ~*~*

Just 11 spaces left for Countdown in Milton Keynes, on 20th August; sign up ASAP to avoid missing out!

The sign-ups ball is well and truly rolling for Countdown in Dublin, on 10th September - why not treat yourself to a Countdowny holiday in lovely Ireland?

Countdown in Huddersfield is now accepting sign-ups. If you want to meet star guest Jason Larsen, this is your chance!

And don't forget the FOCAL Finals in Birmingham on 3rd December - remember, you don't have to make the finals to be a part of it; there's an open tournament running alongside it that anyone is free to enter and play in.
"There's leaders, and there's followers, but I'd rather be a dick than a swallower" - Aristotle
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