Hosting a preliminary⌗

Hosting a preliminary contest not an easy endeavour to do. Starting from scratch is not trivial. This article outlines some basic starting points of a contest. These instructions are guidelines for a contest, but you are free to drop requirements if this is blocking for the hosting of a contest.

The format of the contest⌗

A programming contest has a very common recipe. The ingredients are:

• A problem Set (if you are lucky, they will be provided by you by the smart people of the jury)
• Participating teams consisting upto 3 members
• A Contest Judging System like DOMjudge
• For every team have a single PC

A contest takes usually 5 hours, with the last hour when the scoreboard is not updated. During the contest team members should not communicate with other teams. The teams should have no access to internet. The teams require compilers and IDEs installed. An example for what to provide can be found here. If you want to provide such an image please ask other universities for their setup so you don’t need to re-invent the wheel.

The format is formally written in the Regional rules. Not everything is relevant for a preliminary. You are also allowed to diverge from the rules. For example, rather than limiting the documentation, a contest can be beginner-friendly by allowing to bring all documentation.

Considerations for hosting a contest⌗

Where do I hold my contest? How many teams can I host?⌗

Keep in mind that enough a team should have enough space for all members to work. More teams also requires more supervision and more balloons.

How to do registration?⌗

For the BAPC preliminaries you can be given a site to deal with teh registration of your contest. This has the advantage that for all followup contests the same system is used. The downside is that the system is a bit complex then you might need. Ask in the Slack for more information on this. Teams registered in the ICPC system are considered for the allocation of the world final slots.

Will you offer the participants snacks and drinks during the contest?⌗

You can ask a small registration fee to finance this. You can also buy medals or a prize for the winners of the contest.

How do I organise the systems?⌗

Check if you have the ability to limit internet access and supply my own system setup. In the past it has happened that it was not possible to make the system work. Teams were then allowed to participate on their own laptop(one per team) and based on trust the contest was conducted.

Do you want to do a test session?⌗

A test session is a good way to get teams familiar with the contest environment, but requires a wipe of you system afterwards.

Volunteers⌗

During the contest, have some volunteers (runners) available to help with bringing prints and balloons and watching the contest area to ensure participants don’t communicate outside their team. Try to project the scoreboard if possible.

Ceremonies and afterparty⌗

Be sure to have a location to the introduction, jury explanation (slides provided by the jury) and results. For the results, you can use the Resolver. It is always nice to have a social gathering place after the contest, like a bar of restaurant for post contest talks and socialising between the teams.