PB11: some comments on packets

stipenn · Sat, 27 Oct 2001 10:59:30 -0700

First off, one last reminder that the first
packet deadline is this Monday, 29 October 2001. Since I
have not received any packets yet, I will sweeten the
deal: anyone who submits their packets by 29 October
2001 will also receive a free set of PB11 packets
after the tournament.

[Also, the priority
registration deadline is 31 October 2001. We have 66 teams, 12
of those on the wait list. While historically some
teams have always dropped out, that is no guarantee
that it will happen this year. So if you're going to
register, please do so now, at
<a href=http://www.pennbowl.org/pennbowl11 target=new>http://www.pennbowl.org/pennbowl11</a> , rather than later.]

At any rate, for
those of you working on PB11 packets, I'd just like to
point out a couple of things that tended to be
recurring problems last year:

(1) Difficulty. All in
all, the packets submitted to PB10 ended up being
lower-scoring than I had hoped; both the TU conversion rate and
the bonus conversion rate were about 10% lower than I
would have liked.

This is both a function of
editing and of the difficulty of Qs themselves. As a
general rule, if I (as someone who's been on the circuit
for seven years) didn't recognize the answer to a
question, neither did your average team.

So,
especially with tossups, remember that you're writing
predominantly for undergraduates. This doesn't mean that every
lit TU needs to have a well-known author as its
answer, etc.; what I'm saying is that, for example, if
you want to write a question on John Knox's "First
Blast of the Trumpet (Against the Monstrous Regiment of
Women)", you'd be better served working it into a bonus
somewhere--along with some easier parts (remember, not every bonus
part is supposed to distinguish between the #1 and #2
team in the bracket)--then trying to write a TU on
it.

(2) Distribution. There's quite a bit of "give" in
the distribution guidelines, so please try to stick
to them. Again, the golden rule is this: you can
write *one* question on any topic you want. However,
you should NOT have two questions on a topic unless
that topic would come up at least once every other
round. So, having two TV questions is OK, but two
questions on 1990s ABC sitcoms is not; likewise, having two
questions on zoology is OK, but two TUs on poisonous
animals is not.

(3) Formatting. Minor
deviations are OK, but it makes my job more difficult when I
have to spend time I could put towards editing into
reformatting. [I have developed the style in which I format Qs
for about six years now, so I can say with some
confidence that I know exactly what I'm doing, and why I'm
doing it.]

(4) Length. Finally, as a rule of
thumb, a good moderator should be able to read the text
of a TU in its entirety in no more than 20 seconds,
and the longest bonus shouldn't take more than 25 or
30 seconds (plus consultation time). [This is the
basis for the length limits on PB11
Qs.]

Most of the packets I received had some excellent
questions, along with a few questions that were unsuitable,
for one reason or another. I hope that this year, I
get more of the former, and less of the latter. If
you have any questions or suggestions, please let me
know.

--STI