Blog #36 – Bits and Bytes

In the recent past the subject of the EBU’s results service has arisen at two different meetings I have attended, so I thought I would try to explain the issues that we have and why we cannot easily be compared to the fabulous service now available at some clubs.

As I have been reliably informed by Max Bavin, the EBU was a very early adopter of the use of technology for scoring its events. This has proven to be a real mixed blessing at times as technology has advanced. This is because many of our requirements are extremely unusual and none of the available “everyday” scoring programs will do what we need. Thus we have had to make do with existing (and ancient) code and then take the results of that and translate them into a format that can ultimately be displayed on a web page.

This has frequently required specialist input from EBU staff that is not always available at congress events and have thus had to wait for a working day to be resolved. Over recent years we have been able to do better than that on occasions as one of our staff, Ian Mitchell, is a whiz with Microsoft products and has produced a scheme that automates some of our requirements.

Over the last year or so, we have been very fortunate to start using specialist software developed by one of our members, Jeff Smith. He has, on a purely voluntary basis provided software that enables us to automate all but the most obscure of our congress and tournament events AND to utilise Bridgemates where possible as well, which happened for the first time at Brighton last year.

We are now hoping that Jeff can help us automate the provision of most of our results to our web site, so that we can subsequently report all of our results actually at the event, without specialist involvement. When Jeff has done this for us we will, as we run our events all over the country, still find that some venues provide little or no internet service for us to use. We have acquired mobile broadband “dongles” so that we can hopefully link up that way, but even that sometimes does not work!

We will continue to do our best to provide a contemporaneous results service, but 100% success cannot be guaranteed in the immediate future.

Blog 35 - It has been a while..

These days finding time to write blogs is more difficult. We are working hard to implement the new systems we have been asked to put in place and I am pleased to say that things are proceeding to plan.

I do find myself still having to deal with the most extraordinary documents that come my way and, I have to take the time to ensure that those of you who receive these documents are informed that they are full of misinformation.

Myths which are being circulated at the moment include that the EBU is requiring a "worm" (a sort of virus) to be installed on all club's computers so that the EBU would know what the clubs are doing and, separately, that the EBU is trying to legally bind clubs to the EBU. These stories and all similar ones are categorically untrue. Those of you who have read the Pay to Play pack of information sent to all our clubs and the club affiliation agreement enclosed with it, will know this to be so.

If any of you have any questions, or want real information on all aspects of Universal Membership via Pay to Play, please contact us by email on paytoplay@ebu.co.uk or on our helpline 01296 317200.

Looking to the future, we have started to introduce various membership benefits that are and will remain available exclusively to EBU members and we hope that this will include all those members in our affiliated clubs. The latest addition to this growing list being a new relationship with HMCA, an organisation that provides medical and other insurances to federations such as ours. If you already have private medical cover I suggest that you take a look via the link on our website at the options available via HMCA. The savings on this type of policy alone, if it suits you, could save considerably more than any money you may spend on membership of the EBU! Have a look at all the membership benefits here.

Blog 34 - England, England

I was recently invited to a celebration party for the English teams that were so successful at the World Mind Sports games in Beijing. Just to remind you, our ladies team won a Gold medal, our Open team won Silver as did our U21 Junior team. Speakers at this party pointed out that this was the most successful English team event EVER. We have won world championships before, but the overall performance of all five teams was outstanding.

While I was there I was speaking with one of the Gold medal winning ladies and I had to point out to her the strenuous efforts that we made during the last week of the competition, when it seemed we were poised to win a few medals, to obtain some media coverage. Unfortunately we almost drew a complete blank until, literally at the last minute, we were able to make contact with James Mates, the ITN news presenter (and an enthusiastic EBU member), who managed to insert a thirty second news slot at the end of the 11pm news along with a still photo of our victorious ladies and open teams (full transcript here). As a result we made some national radio news bulletins the next day….still a poor reward for such outstanding achievement.

The same speaker at the party went on to say that this should serve as a springboard for future international success for our English teams, which again led me on to think about what our members (and non members for that matter) think about the success of our international teams. This success is due in no small way to the dedication of the participants themselves to be the best they can be, and the very many volunteers who make up the support staff; the non playing captains, coaches and selectors.

It would be really nice if bridge players throughout the country showed more support for our teams; the publicity that we could get for future success will help develop our game at all levels, and perhaps bring in more money for the game. So, watch out for future events; we always highlight these events on our web site and most of these events have featured games on Bridge Base Online, where you can very easily watch live games and see how it should (hopefully) be done. You can learn from the experts, at no cost, and at the same time support your team! Which brings me to my final point – we are investigating setting up a supporters club for our international teams. Would you be willing to join? If so, how much would you be willing to contribute? Let me know (email: englandsupporter@ebu.co.uk) so we can ensure that we can build on our success.

Blog 33 - Updates

In keeping with my new slimmed down blogging profile I just want to update you on three things.

First, at the present time there is a survey running accessible to all from the main web page. This survey is to gauge views from current (and potential) tournament players. The survey results will be used to inform the Tournament Committee in their future discussion. If you have any interest at all please complete this online survey, as the more responses we get the better it is for all concerned. View here.

I can also tell you that the same committee is considering a whole set of new initiatives to involve more players in our events, especially those members who are relative newcomers to our game.

Secondly, we have begun detailed work on updating an online "teach yourself bridge" facility that has been provided to us free of charge by the American Contract Bridge League for which we are very grateful. In addition, our staff is being assisted by Fred Gitelman to update the Standard American lessons to those of our Standard English format. There are a lot of changes in this area, but I would presently expect the revised version to be available in the Summer.

Finally, early in March is the Ranked Masters event; this is a great opportunity for players of all levels to compete only with their peers. In a change from previous Ranked Master events, fractional Green points are being awarded for matches won (as in Swiss events) and there is a scheme to pay half of the regular entry fee to any member who has been promoted recently. Click here for more details.

Blog 32 - Another year older...

Last year at this time I wrote...

"We are fast approaching that time of year when we look back on the current one and forward to the next. For the EBU and me it has been a year of discovery….".

I also wrote...

"After seventy seven years it was no surprise that there is resistance to change from some, especially the noisy minority. Whatever happens next year our members should remember that this is the first time EVER that the EBU has consulted its membership, has listened to what they have said and absorbed as many of their suggestions as possible".

So here we are – another twelve months on and what is going on the real world rather dwarfs the changes that are anticipated in the EBU, following the democratic decision making process which resulted in the Shareholders voting for change in June. Since then large numbers of people, most of them volunteers, have started working on the largest changes to affect our organisation since its inception. As predicted, there are some who do not wish to see these changes go through but, for the most part, I sense that most members are prepared to see the changes in, to see how it works and to contribute to the development of bridge in England. The setting up of two key committees – the Club Committee and the Universal Membership Project Board – within two months of the vote being taken, show our commitment to putting our clubs and their players at the hub of our activities.

The next year or two around the world are likely to be very difficult for many of us whatever our situations. What we are fortunate to have in common is the ability to participate in an activity that is relatively inexpensive and is extremely good for those that play, whatever the age of the player. Even during these tough times, the Board of the Union is working hard to develop bridge in England, both now and in the future. Our new Chairman has already begun to promote the benefits that bridge can bring to society to people in Parliament, including the programme we now have in place to try and get bridge on the school curriculum, and to try to gain investment in promoting learning and playing bridge for the over 50s to protect against dementia. We are hopeful that we can get the right people to consider what we are proposing.

In the week in which the "Sports Personality of 2008" was on TV, it is appropriate to remind ourselves that three of our teams arrived back from the Mind Sport Games in Bejiing with well deserved medals. They never got a mention on the BBC’s programme because few people outside of bridge, let alone inside our community, register international success in our chosen activity. Huge credit must go to the players but also, as ever, to the many people who give up their time at all levels to ensure that our players got a chance to shine.

On behalf of the staff at the EBU I would like to wish all of our members and volunteers seasons greetings and a happy new year for 2009.

Blog 31 - Technology

These days there are bigger gaps between my blogging efforts. One of the reasons for this is that other people within the EBU are quite rightly communicating much more by using blogs and I see less need to write myself.

We are trying hard to keep ourselves up to date with our use of technology, especially as we have had a number of email issues recently. In a very short while we are moving towards the use of "cloud computing" where much of our data will reside on highly secure servers (indeed, far more secure than the Aylesbury office) remote from our office and available to be accessed by our authorised users from any location with internet access. This means that our staff will have much better access while at EBU events, improving the services we can offer members.

At the same time we are working hard on improving our web site and our internal use of information technology, always for our members benefit, not just for the sake of it!

Some of the clubs I go to are now embarking on the technology ladder, using tabletop technology to improve the bridge experience at club level, something that we certainly wish to encourage. In these internet times, we believe that technology will become central to the bridge playing population in the future, much more so than today, and I fully expect that the EBU will play its part in helping clubs move forward with technology.

Meanwhile, our own move forward may result in a blip or two as we all get to grips with the new facilities. If this affects our services to you, I apologise in advance, although we believe that these changes will benefit all members very quickly.

Blog 30 - Things just keep on changing

At the AGM on October 2nd the EBU voted in its first female Chairman. Sally Bugden takes over after being Vice-Chairman to Peter Stocken for the last two years. Her Vice-Chairman will be Andrew Petrie. By the way, Sally wishes to be known as Chairman, not "Chair" or Chairlady!

I have, naturally, got to know both of them really well. What the Shareholders have wisely done is to put in place two very talented and incredibly hard working volunteers; people that will use their professionalism and dynamism to move our organisation forward.

Peter remains on the Board so as to continue to provide his inimitable depth of knowledge and experience of the EBU. I very much enjoyed having Peter as my "boss" and I have learned a lot from him. At least he will now have more time to devote to his puzzle making!

Sally unveiled the Board's business strategy roadmap to the Shareholders at the AGM. Rather amusingly called "Bidding for the future" the document (which can be accessed here) provides details of the Board's plans for the next five years and how it intends to move these plans forward. This will involve a a great deal of consultation with the membership and research. A number of working groups will be set up to work on areas in great detail so as to cost the development and implementation of the business strategy.

Among the things that are coming along are our plans to turn the Union into a charity. As is typical with most Government changes (except nationalising banks) the new legislation that we have been waiting for has been delayed again until Spring 2009. We are waiting for a new style of charitable company called a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) to be placed on the statute book. This new style of organisation will be the catalyst for the 21st Century governance procedures that we need to have. I will be learning more about the eventual introduction of the CIO next week at a seminar.

Last weekend we tried something new at one of our events (Great Northern Pairs). The Tournament Committee will review the comments made after this event at its meeting in a couple of weeks.

Our teams are presently in China at the Mindsports Olympiad and doing very well at the time of writing. For those of you that cannot sleep, BBO coverage starts in the early hours - details here.