at my club the prizes are chess books and equipment: little magnetic boards, clock etc...
I think giving money prizes is more for a higer level or for professional and big tourneys.
How much should I invest in prizes if its a big tourny. But its unrated?
Money attracts competition. I would play a tourney that offered $150, but I wouldn't bother with one that offers a prize of a set, clock and books... I already have those ;)
Lol, but that would mean that there would have to be alot of people show up to give out that kind of money. Considering the low entrence fee.
That's only first prize. 2nd might be $50 and 3rd might be $20.
Total prize pool: $220. If you can get 50 competitors, a $5 entry fee would be sufficient to net you a small profit of $30.
This is why I said:
IF you have the facilities and equipment to do it, and the avenues to publicise the event.
You 'd need lots of boards and sets and the abilty to market the event to lots of people.
It's still easier to charge 10 people $1 per visit. Over 3 weeks you'd make the same money with much less effort.
Membership fees and visit fees are the answer for your tiny club imo.
I have chess boards and I have rooms and I am planning on putting a membership fee. But most of the competitors will be children should I just put them all in one section or should I branch them out?
I would rather have a dirt cheap entry fee and no prizes than pay the typical $30-$100 entry fees to compete for a few hundred bucks that I'm unlikely to win.
at my club the prizes are chess books and equipment: little magnetic boards, clock etc...
I think giving money prizes is more for a higer level or for professional and big tourneys.
How much should I invest in prizes if its a big tourny. But its unrated?
Hold rated tournaments. More fun! Many times, 70-80% is held out for prizes and the rest goes to paying the TD for his time or to the general club fund, whatever. It's good to have a nice TD who will do it for free or maybe do it for free entrance into the tournament. Just ideas...
Sponsors, sponsors!
Research the tax laws for your area that will allow people to donate money and gain a tax deduction-offer to put up posters at the tournament site or other brief promotion for/acknowledgement of your sponsors.
Prize funds based solely on participation/entry fees will be disappointing and reduce participation, which in turn reduces prize funds.
Example: I once passed on a chess tournament where (after entry fees, and USCF membership) first prize in each section was about $10 less. than what I would have spent just to play. Not counting food of course. Fortunately this was a tournament where I could have ridden my bicycle to, it was about 30 minutes from my house by bike. Most tournaments require several hours of driving, gas costs and so on. But still. It's hard to get interested in a tournament if there is a pathetic prize fund.
Is there any business in particular or should I just start asking everyone? And how would I go about asking?
Maybe I should do the first one for free? You know to attract attention.
Compared to most tournaments, $30 to enter would be a rare bargain
This is highly dependent on your local area. I don't think it's rare at all in NY city for example. Even here in the middle of North Carolina there are two events per month for $25 and $30 (within 30 minutes driving for me). There are also a handful of annual tournaments within an hour drive for me that are in the $70-$100 dollar range. This past year there were a handful of longer time control events played one game per week with an entry fee of $10.
A couple of years ago, one of the TDs in the area ran some tournaments with $2-3 entry fee and no (or virtually no, I can't remember) prize fund. A few dozen people turned up at these tournaments (the two I attended drew 26 and 39 players).
Where I am from the average for rated tournaments is 12 to 16 dollars but I think thats asking to much!
There are definitely barren spots where it's hard to find a USCF rated event. I spent about 13 months in Tallahassee, FL and didn't play any USCF rated games while I was there because I would have had to drive to Orlando (and pay a large entry fee). This was despite the fact that every Saturday there were 5-8 players at one of the local coffee shops (ratings 1300-1900) who would play for hours. Plus the University club (FSU) with 4-5 more regular attendees each week.
The biggest difference I see between the Florida Panhandle and North Carolina is that here in NC there are tournament directors that bust their tails to put on events. I have no doubt that a well advertised, inexpensive, monthly tournament in Tallahassee would have drawn good attendance.
But I don't think there necessarily has to be a large active well run club either. There isn't one where I live now and you can see from my last post there are plenty of rated tournaments and the prices aren't all sky high.
Like most other cultural activities, if you don't live in a significant population density, you won't have all the options.
I live in the lower part of TX it is called the Rio Grand Valley witch has about a million people in it. I have only gone to one tournament that was huge and was not school related and it brought 200+ people I think but there hasnt been that much activity since then and I was kind of hoping to bring in even bigger croweds considering its a collage club. A place for events is no problem since I can reserve huge places! But how long does it take to plan an event like that?
Its going well we've already made a contract to teach a local elementry school in the fall and we also plan to have a summer contract in the works with the same school. Also we got some people to donate us a nice chess board which I plan to give away in a free tourny we are going to have!
There are definitely barren spots where it's hard to find a USCF rated event. I spent about 13 months in Tallahassee, FL and didn't play any USCF rated games while I was there because I would have had to drive to Orlando (and pay a large entry fee). This was despite the fact that every Saturday there were 5-8 players at one of the local coffee shops (ratings 1300-1900) who would play for hours. Plus the University club (FSU) with 4-5 more regular attendees each week.
The biggest difference I see between the Florida Panhandle and North Carolina is that here in NC there are tournament directors that bust their tails to put on events. I have no doubt that a well advertised, inexpensive, monthly tournament in Tallahassee would have drawn good attendance.
But I don't think there necessarily has to be a large active well run club either. There isn't one where I live now and you can see from my last post there are plenty of rated tournaments and the prices aren't all sky high.
Like most other cultural activities, if you don't live in a significant population density, you won't have all the options.
Sorry to hear about your bad experience here in Tallahassee. I'd just like to say that things are changing here now. I've set up a website (http://tallahasseechess.com) and blog (http://tallahasseechess.wordpress.com) for the Tallahassee Chess Club and we are now putting on monthly tournaments. Not only do we meet at the Black Dog Cafe on Saturdays, we also meet on Wednesday nights at a Burger King. I am in the process of getting us signed up as a USCF affiliate and becoming a club TD. I am in discussions with other members about setting up an annual Tallahassee Open that will be USCF rated and setting a large enough prize fund to attract strong players from surrounding areas.
IMO, what it takes is someone willing to put in the work to organize and publicize the chess club and tournaments. Most chess players just want to play and are not interested in organizing. It's a lot of work.
Dancing girls will ensure a large attendance of (male, middle aged) players. 
IMO, what it takes is someone willing to put in the work to organize and publicize the chess club and tournaments. Most chess players just want to play and are not interested in organizing. It's a lot of work.
Absolutely agree. Along the lines of what I said earlier in the thread, there are organizers here in NC that make things work. And they work hard for it. I was a TD for a few years and directed a handful of events over a couple years. It's a fair amount of work to put on a good tournament and the only reward is helping to build the chess community.
I actually noticed that you had a lot more activity in Tallhassee these days. Best of luck with it.
The first thing you need to do is realise that it is no different than running a business. That being said, the first thing you do is research- Basically, find out if what you want to do is viable- competition, interest, personnel availability, funding possible, tax laws etc. Once you believe these to be a go, then the next step would be organizing the following-
1. Structure - Name, type of entity, ownership, registration, personnel structure, objectives, mission statement etc.
2. Open a bank account. Make sure you put in place an account system to avoid fraud eg. Multiple signatures required for approval, secure all valuable assets, frequent checking of account position and accounts etc.
3. Create a budget- Income and Expenses, and how will income be raised and spent, as well as how deficits/profits to be dealt with.
4. Marketing- To increase members, interest, website, sponsors, advertising and promotions etc.
5. Planning- Games, activities, tournaments, accomodations, etc.
6. Fundraising- to achieve income target.
This would be the basic model you can start with, and expand as you develop. It is hard work...and this is why "personnel choice" would be your main consideration.
Best of luck.
"4. Marketing- To increase members, interest, website, sponsors, advertising and promotions etc." also I just like point it out "by word of mouth" work well.
Be careful with fees, don't follow the USCF model.
If you must charge membership and entry fees to tournaments keep them CHEAP. People are turned off by high fees, especially if they don't feel they are getting a fair return (example=USCF) for their money.
What kind of prizes should I give?
at my club the prizes are chess books and equipment: little magnetic boards, clock etc...
I think giving money prizes is more for a higer level or for professional and big tourneys.