TD Trainer's Guide

TD MANAGERS
damitdonkey cakeeeeee Reed.Tardicus
TD TRAINERS
stevesprettyangel_8 sunnything_4fun xlxjenny_rocksxlx
bj7528 loves_animals2oo8 nasta_angel_in_training
jenjen19589 Badgirl.Kimber snooopee2008


WELCOME TO THE TD TRAINING GUIDE
Returning staff members may put in applications after they have completed 25 games in 4fun, and new staff may apply after completing 100 games in 4fun.

When a new TD Application is received, TD Management will review the application and then approve/deny the application as they see fit. Once an applicant is approved, TD management will get the TD added to the TD forum.

***PLEASE NOTE*** NO TD WILL BE REMOVED FROM "IN TRAINING" TO "ACTIVE" STATUS OR WILL HAVE ANY TRAINING STARTED UNTIL THEY HAVE JOINED THE TD GROUP http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/just4funtd
If a new TD has any problems joining, please contact a TD Manager to help sort this out.

As a Trainer in 4fun we ask that you refresh yourself on the TD Guide often so you are able to reinforce the Guide in your training.

The next step taken is that the TD manager will post in the trainer forum for a trainer for the new td. We need to try to split these trainee's up (they can't all be trained by one person), so please speak up if the td's times for training match up with yours!
If you can NOT take a new TD, please do NOT commit to do so.

Once a td is assigned to a trainer, the trainer needs to go thru the td guide with the new td. Again, this is why it is so important to know the td guide well.

If you do commit to training a new td, they are YOUR responsibility. You are responsible to sit with them for their training tourneys up to their doubles. After you feel that they Know the rules and are good to host without a Trainer at table you give them the ok to host the remainder of their 10 on their own with a TRAINER or ADMIN in the lobby.


Training tourneys are tourneys where the trainer needs to be at the table with the new td.

It is up to you to determine what your trainee needs and what their strengths and weaknesses are. You are also responsible for posting any problems that they may have to the Training board.

If you have set up a training tourney with a td and find that you cannot be here you should ask another trainer to sit with them. If a trainer is not available then please ask an admin to sit with them. If you are unable to find a trainer or an admin to sit with them, then they need to host their tourney at another time.

Please Do NOT set up a training tourney with a TD and THEN find someone to sit with them for it.
The only time that another Trainer should be with the td is if :
1. Their trainer has informed the TD they are good to host on their own with a Trainer in the lobby and the Trainer posted in the forum the ok for other Trainers to be in lobby with the TD just in case they need assistance. .

2. Sometimes the trainers and trainees times do not match this is no ones fault and we do prefer that the Trainer ask another Trainer to help them out with the new Trainee if they find they have a busy week.

Our goal is to get the Trainees trained as fast as possible and a Trainee should have their first 10 tourneys completed in no more then 3 weeks on staff.

If a TD Manager finds that a new td has been inactive too long they will contact the Trainer and the Trainee to find the reason.

TRAINING YOUR NEW TD

When you are assigned a new td here is a check list of things you should do with them prior to hosting their first tourney.

Have each new TD that you train add ALL admin to their messenger. Make sure they also know the other HTD's that are on the training team. A good idea to suggest to them would be to make groups on their messenger for the different staff areas (ex. Admin, HTD, TD, Members).
Make sure that you send your trainee the important links that he/she will need for hosting. This includes TD Help page and the TD Forum (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/just4funtd/). Please make sure that they have been invited to the TD forum. If they have not gotten an invite, alert a TD Manager and we will get them added. Also, sending your trainee a list of the current staff and their job duties (whether they are admin or htd, and what groups such as SE, League Ops, Member Support, Training team or TD Managers they are in) will help out a great deal.

As well pass the TD the guide for their training so they understand the rules about hosting while playing and when they can and cant make tourneys.

For the guidelines for Returning HTD's please refer to RETURNING STAFF on this page.


Depending on whether your trainee is an experienced hoster or a first timer, you may need to utilize the TD Training site. Instructions on how to use the Training site may be found on the main page of that league. The TD Training site can be found here: http://www.myleague.com/tdtraining

Make sure that your trainee has some sort of Macros program before you set up a tourney with them. Short Keys offer a free Lite version that can be dnloaded. Your trainee may have another program with which they are comfortable, and if they choose to use it, that is fine.

KeyText*

http://www.mjmsoft.com/index.html

Short Keys Lite

http://www.shortkeys.com/lite.htm

*Note on KeyText, from what has been said by other staff members,
an unlock code cannot be shared with KeyText.
Once you have done any necessary training at the site (and gotten a macros program downloaded with your new TD), you are ready to help them create their first tourney. You should also go over how to make a spam (lobby, table, etc). You also need to ask to see the spam!!! Don't wait until it's time to spam the lobby and see them.


Even though a TD Manager may have gone over the guide with your trainee when they were approved, you should also go over it again with your trainee to make sure all areas are understood. Some of the key areas you should focus on are:

1. Calendar rules. ( Doubles time spots, Race day rules, most SE tourneys can't be buddied unless they are invite only such as TOC , Multi tourneys Can't be buddied , Training Tourneys can not be buddied) Make sure that all training tourneys are marked "TR" this includes Swiss, DE and Multis.

2. Refresh page before closing tourney, Refresh page before starting tourney to make sure that doubles tourneys are even.

3. Table making timers 3 min for singles and 5 min for doubles please make sure the td does NOT put invite me last in their spams.

4. MIA times for singles and for doubles .

5. 3800 Rule

6. What to do for DQ's

7. Leaving tables . All reports should be made to Kimber (badgirl.kimber) as well as any issues that happened in their tourney such as dq's on purpose these should all be submitted to Kimber.

8. Hosting and Playing while doing their first 10 tourneys. That they are only allowed to host 1 at a time while in their first 10. And when they have completed their 10 give them the rule for hosting and playing for all staff.

9. The number of Lines allowed for their tourney spam IS NOW ONLY 2 lines.

10. Kibitz rules should be on their Doubles page and they should be in there Rules spam as well .

11. Remind them about enforcing the new slow play rule. Remember lagging is not slow play.

You should always check the TD's tourney page to make sure there are no problems in the rules and in the colors on the page.

When you're setting up tourneys with your trainee, ask them questions that would be pertaining to the tourney they are hosting. Don't tell them to make a specific tourney at a specific time. Give them a time to host, a few choices of what they can host, and have them make the decision based on rules and set dbls tourney times.

**Make sure your trainee knows that they may only host ONE tournament at a time during their first 10 tourneys and that they may NOT host and play at the same time till those 10 are completed.**

Please do NOT let your TD host on their own until you are sure they are able to host singles and doubles tourneys. Once you feel they know the rules and are good to go you can let them host as long as they make sure there is a trainer or admin in the lobby. If they would prefer to set up the tourneys with you that is fine.

This is the order that we are asking trainees be trained:
1st Tournament - A Skill Tournament
2nd Tournament - A Doubles Tournament
3rd Tournament - NTC Tournament
4th-10th Tournaments - Trainers Discretion

After 20 Tournaments are Complete:
Double Elimination
Swiss
Multi

Please remember that as their Trainer, you decide when the trainee is ready to move on to hosting on their own and to the specialty training. DO NOT move someone forward if they are not able to handle it. If a trainee is not ready, that is fine, better to keep on training then for a trainee to be uncomfortable hosting what they are not ready for.

We are now allowing trainers to host while training their trainee's (exception is multi's...multi trainers still may not host while training for these)...HOWEVER... we want you to please keep in mind that your trainee needs you and they are relying on you to be there for them and help them. Please do not host if you feel you cannot do so AND still actively help your trainee. BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS ABOUT HOSTING WITH BRAND NEW STAFF TRAINEES!

The Trainer should also make sure that the Trainee knows how to take Screen Shots. To make sure they know how, we are asking that your trainee send a sample screen shot to the TD Managers Reed.Tardicus and damitdonkey as well as their trainer so that it can be shown that they understand and know how to do this. For instance if there is an issue at a table or in the lobby that involves a boxable offense, the screen shots will need sent to the League Ops team which consists of reed.tardicus@gmail.com and cakeeeeee@yahoo.com.au with detailed information on the email on what took place. If your trainee is having problems taking screen shots you can try and help them by offering either one of these screen shot program. http://www.webtree.ca/newlife/printkey_info.htm or http://www.gadwin.com/printscreen/ What I suggest is that they make a screen shot folder in my documents. Then download the print key and when they take their SS they save it as jpeg and put it in the SS folder , it will stay as default.

After the Training in Doubles is complete and the Trainee is good to go we ask that the Trainer goes over hosting Paper Tourneys with the TD. (see link at bottom of page).

Once the TD has completed their 10 tourneys it would be nice for the trainer to send them a Card congratulating the td on completing their initial training.

It is YOUR job to make sure these new TDs are trained properly. Being as involved as you can in your trainee's first tourneys does so much more than you think. This makes the trainee feel like someone cares, and it gives you and the training team a much better idea of how the TD is going to do alone.

RETURNING STAFF

The Training Guidelines for Returning STAFF (former 4fun td, htd, or admin) are different than the above guidelines. When a TD Manager assigns you a new training assignment we will inform you as to whether the Trainee is a returning STAFF or not.

TRAINING RULES FOR RETURNING STAFF

Former returning STAFF ...Only need training in their 1st Tourney with a Trainer. For this 1st Training Tourney the Trainer is at the tables. After this tourney is completed, the trainer may then decide (based on how this tourney went) whether the returning staff trainee requires more "training' where trainer sits at table with them. If they have any problems with spamming, rules, etc., they should be held for more training. If they are released on their own, then the returning staff does not need a trainer in the lobby for the rest of their tourneys and can set up the non training tourneys on their own. They must STILL follow the hosting and playing rule for their 1st 10, meaning they are not allowed to play while hosting. Returning STAFF can host up to 3 non training tourneys ONCE THEY ARE RELEASED ON THEIR OWN. Even though the HTD is returning you should refresh the rules with them.

SPECIAL TOURNEYS

For Special Tourneys such as DE, SWISS and MULTI. A returning HTD/ADMIN is required to be retrained in these tourneys. If the trainer does a DE with the returning HTD/ADMIN and finds that the HTD/ADMIN did well in this tourney there is no need to make another one. Same with Swiss and Multi. If the Trainer feels that a little more practice is required then they should make another one of these tourneys with the Trainee(returning htd/admin). They must complete a minimum of 1 DE, 1 SWISS, AND 1 MULTI.

Training In Specialized Tourneys

Paper Tourneys

Paper tourney's are very easy to train. Tazer ( a Cases Staff Member) has created a paper tourney site which sends any paper tourneys that are hosted to Cases staff for them to report. He also has a tutorial on the site that is a great walkthrough when you're training. Please do NOT have them submit a paper tourney when you are doing training with them. The site for paper tourneys is:

http://www.tazer54.com/papermenu/papermenu.html



Swiss and Double Elimination Tourneys


Swiss and DE trainings will be assigned by a TD Manager, however all Trainers will be authorized to train in both tourney types. If you are training a td in Swiss , DE or Multi; please make sure you pass the links for the running of these tourneys to the tds.



DE:


http://users.igl.net/mlp417/Double_Elimination.htm



Swiss:

http://users.igl.net/mlp417/Swiss_System_Tournaments.htm



Multi:
 http://users.igl.net/mlp417/MULTIPLE_TOURNEYS_GUIDE.htm



A Note for Swiss Training


When you are training a new TD in Swiss, please make sure that you are not in the "adjust matches" section of their tourney when they are ready to accept pairings for a round. In the past, this has caused pairings to not be accepted by cases and resulted in playing duplicate matches that could have been avoided. A suggestion with this area would be to copy and paste the suggested pairings into notepad/word etc., then leave the area and help the td with their pairings from your pasted copy. When training a td in Swiss , they need to run 1 true Swiss and 1 regular Swiss. We allow both types to be run so we feel that they should know how to do both types of Swiss formats offered.




We Hope that this guide is helpful in assisting you in your training.

Regards your TD Management Team :

Reed.Tardicus, cakeeeeee, damitdonkey




Useful Links For Your Trainee