If you're doing this for the first time, don't plan on doing the tournament in two days. That's a lot more logistically problematic than you may want to handle, and most teams are not used to such a schedule. Some kids have other activities after all. If your field is 12 or fewer, I strongly favor straight-up round robin play (provided you have enough questions). If you split teams into divisions, the smallest number per division should be 6 to give all teams 5 games to play. Yes, most teams are accustomed to a handful of games and you're done, but I have problems with teams paying good money to play two games. This advice I think is assumed "general knowledge" for all HS-comp TO's out there (though I'm sure it applies to college-comp TO's too): Make sure that your tournament format benefits the kids as much as possible. Why do I suggest full-RR for fields < or = 12, that's to give teams enough experience and practice to compare themselves against others. If you split the field into divisions, set up a playoff system in which the most "quality" teams are involved; divide the field so that good teams don't get screwed. Make sure that everyone has a good time and a positive experience because they'd (1) return to your competition and hopefully (2) refer others to compete at your tournament, not to mention (3) the kids would want to do it more. Yes, your decisions cannot completely inconvenience your ability to run the tournament well, but once you know those logistical constraints, you can set up your tournament so that everyone has a great time.
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