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Create your competition

Start a draft

  1. Go to My Competitions and click Create.
  2. If you've hosted before, a "Start from a previous competition?" card offers a Clone from dropdown. Cloning copies last year's classes, fees, divisions, scoring rubric, and awards — and can even auto-name the new event with the edition bumped ("36th Annual" → "37th Annual"). Strongly recommended for returning hosts.
  3. Otherwise just enter a Competition Name (e.g., "37th Annual Marching Festival") and the Date.
  4. Click Create Draft.

You now have a draft competition and land on its Manage page. A draft is invisible to directors — take your time.

Work through the Settings tab

The Settings tab is one long form saved by Save Changes at the bottom. The Setup Checklist at the top tracks the essentials (name, date, at least one class) and holds the button that eventually opens registration. Cards to fill in, top to bottom:

  • Event Details — name, date, First Performance time, venue, city, state, and Venue Timezone; plus an optional Ticket Link and Weather / Refund Policy (Tickets & policies).
  • Registration Settings — the base Registration Fee, Max Total Bands, and the date Registration Closes.
  • Schedule Defaults — slot length, transition time, intermission, warm-up buffer, the Schedule Strategy, and the Performance Order Policy; plus an optional Dinner Break target time. These drive the auto-generated lineup later — decent guesses now are fine (details in Build the schedule).
  • Paid Shoutouts — enable fan shoutouts, set the Price per Shoutout, and optionally Require gate check-in (QR) so only people at the event can send them. The full fan-side setup is in Fan portal & QR posters, including the audience-voted Fan Favorite award and the Drum Line Battle sub-event.
  • Day-of Logistics & Contacts — coordinator and day-of phone numbers, check-in and parking instructions, a site map link. All of this shows to directors on the competition page, so the more you fill in, the fewer phone calls you field.
  • Competition Format — Competitive (normal scoring and awards), Festival (written commentary only, no scores published), or Exhibition only.
  • Tournament Structure — Single round, or Prelims → Finals with a rule for how many advance.
  • Mailed-Check Payment — fill in Check payable to and the Mailing address for checks if you'll accept checks; directors see these instructions verbatim.
  • Edition & History — edition number and inaugural year, rendered as "36th Annual, since 1992" on your public pages.

Announce, then open

Two buttons on the Setup Checklist move you forward:

  • Pre-announce (optional) — makes the competition visible as Coming Soon. Directors can click Notify Me When Registration Opens, building you an audience before day one.
  • Open Registration — the big one. Directors can register immediately. The button stays disabled until the checklist is satisfied (at minimum, one class defined — see Classes, fees & scoring setup).

Changed your mind?

You can Close Registration any time, and the Danger Zone at the bottom of Settings can Send Back to Draft (bands are notified they'll need to re-register) or Cancel Competition (restorable). These are deliberately scary-looking — read the confirmation dialogs.