Reader qualifications

[QuizBoss]

Given the discussion in the other thread, I thought it might be useful to start a new thread about what we expect from our readers at various levels of competition.

What do you expect at a regular season OAC event? NAQT/other tossup-bonus event?

What do you expect at OAC Regionals?

What do you expect at OAC and NAQT State?

How can we help improve the readers that already exist, and what can we do to get more readers to volunteer?

Do readers at the Regional level and/or State level need to be paid in order to reward (and ensure) competency?

Does there need to be a certification, similar to the OHSAA or IHSSBCA, in order to read at a post-season level? If so, how is that assessed?

[AlexConnor]

It may be useful for events to starting having reader evaluation forms like HSNCT has done. It's difficult for a tournament director to know how good each reader is, aside from how fast or slow their room moves (not all fast readers are good and not all slow readers are necessarily bad).

We may need a semi-official organization of experienced readers. Registering wouldn't obligate any of them to read, but rather they could be kept apprised of all upcoming events including OAC events. This could include current and former coaches, alumni, and parents. Tournament directors could recommend their best for regionals, and the best readers at each regional would be asked to read at states. This would require circulating the dates at the start of the school year so the readers we want can set aside those dates.

I can try my hand at writing a reader manual, if one does not exist already. Any reader at an OAC event would be expected to have read the manual and be familiar with it.

[swwFC]

It may be useful for events to starting having reader evaluation forms like HSNCT has done. It's difficult for a tournament director to know how good each reader is, aside from how fast or slow their room moves (not all fast readers are good and not all slow readers are necessarily bad).

I think this would be a very good idea, and very easy to implement too (for States, at least). Would you suggest doing this at Regionals at well. I can't imagine it would be a bad idea, but with that said, even if a TD knows some of his/her Regionals readers aren't up to snuff, they probably have very limited options for replacing that reader.

[Get Lynned]

Any non-regional/state event that befits the "typical Saturday tournament" label in my opinion should all be approached with the mindset of that acting professional is of the utmost importance regardless of who the teams in your room are. If there ends up being a manual or certification being made in the future for moderators, I am going to argue that decorum should be addressed and emphasized because evidently some people fail to use good judgment and said errors can end up having consequences when considering the interpersonal aspect of quiz bowl. Perhaps there is confusion on what good judgment is, what is tasteful and what is not, but let's try and establish for future reference some very important do's and do not's when it comes to being a reader and get that straightened out.

A reader that can read near-flawlessly and at a good pace doesn't make a good reader if they are interjecting opinions that aren't being asked for or acting as if them reading at a tournament is of such inconvenience to them. In the first tournament I ever played in, game five/the last before lunch featured a since-graduated member of OSU's team declare that half-time should be skipped and our request to have a time-out and scorecheck in the second half of a decently-tight game had to take a backseat to him wanting to get to lunch - despite the fact we were perfectly on time - a few minutes quicker. I have no idea how the hell Kirun came to the conclusion that was even remotely acceptable to do, but obviously we will never know. Every high school team is paying $$$ to have as enjoyable and beneficial of a Saturday tournament that they possibly can, and that kind of [blank] gives off the worst vibe and leaves poor impressions on people. To a similar extent, this also can apply to those that make comments regarding political questions or questions that pertain to their specific interest (the first reader that immediately springs to my mind that did this constantly was Paul Nelson). Regardless of one's political views, such discussion/commenting during a game is immaterial to the game itself. **I will say that compared to experiences at the national tournaments at D.C. and probably an instance or two between tournaments I've played at UK-Lexington and U. Pitt that as a whole, Ohio readers do a pretty good job of getting games over in an efficient and timely manner by not editorializing question content, but its instances like the ones I do mention that need to never happen again if we want to add to the pool of readers that can best represent Ohio quizbowl at the regional, state, and national levels.

/rant

I think it is also important to keep in mind that for the vast majority of teams, any competition with "regional" or "state" in its name is probably the end of their season since only the minority of schools in the OAC field do nationals competitions, so I'm going to argue that the emphasis placed on the regional-state competition from schools such as St. Clairsville (who brought an notably large fan following despite how far they traveled) is likely going to be slightly different than that of a team that plays 10-11 weekends out of the year IN THAT schools that don't play as much (for whatever their reasons are, not the point) have the duration of their season contingent upon advancing round-by-round in an elimination format tournament, rather than participating a couple times per month. And I think with that comes their own expectation they are getting the best reader/scorekeeping combination possible to ensure they aren't at the risk of their season ending (in their eyes, prematurely) because a reader botches up a question or two, or the reader accidentally clears out a locked-in buzzer before recognizing on a buzzer race to the effect of "name this first president" (this is entirely possible).

As for

How can we help improve the readers that already exist, and what can we do to get more readers to volunteer?

Do readers at the Regional level and/or State level need to be paid in order to reward (and ensure) competency?

I think the only way there can be worthwhile collaborative community effort toward making already existing readers into better readers is if we give readers feedback... even if it is not positive and bank on the notion that said reader will take the criticisms to heart or if just makes them not want to be involved.
In my opinion, I think my reading has come a long way from when I first read in part because I impart to every team I have read for that I want to receive criticism when I read: whether I read too fast, too slow, too quiet, too loud, whether or not I'm able to be understood. At the risk of grandstanding, I approach each opportunity I get to read as a way to get better. I know that I'll make mistakes and I can only get better by screwing up now and being more mindful toward what it is I screwed up. As is any officiating, more often than not the best of the best are willing go out of their way to help the young guns, but some just get discouraged or are content with being sub-par because they don't see any incentive to move up the ladder given the work it requires... a great example of this is the amount of OHSAA-certified referees that decide to stay in Class 2 for years (middle school up to JV) because Class 1 means they have to take a test and get vouched for by multiple Class 1 officials to get considered for that license. (OHSAA has three classifications for officiating, but the mobility for Class 3 to Class 2 is as simple as reffing a set number of games)

As for what can be done to get more readers to volunteer... are you referring to non-coaches that are members of the Ohio quiz bowl community at large, or are you asking about coaches that are capable readers to come out and volunteer? I don't have an answer to either of those two questions, but to go off something Alex brought up earlier: in the grand scheme of things, it would be nice to have enough capable readers and directors that are independent of school quiz bowl teams (in other words, non-coach) not only during the regular season, but also the regional stage to where coaches can actually coach.