Regional Esports Tournament 3: Even Regionalier

    This fall brought on the third annual collegiate esports tournament at my workplace.  This event was created because I had hit a ceiling in what I could do with the pool of people and resources I had collected in the workplace and yet I still wanted to grow.  Our first event in 2024 was originally supposed to invite just a few representatives from 10-15 universities to my workplace to play a rotating set of games.  I’ve never been the deepest gamer and this would be something I’d be up for as a player; however those dedicated to esports have a game and that is what they play.  

    The original pitch was almost disrespectful looking back at it and I am glad that I was convinced to just do a 2 team tournament between 2 local universities.  This also coincided with the new esports area at a local university being opened up and  being a great showcase for my company’s products.  The event went well, we expanded to 6 schools last year (2025) but time got away from us on the game Valorant which finished at around 9PM.

    We now come to 2026 and the economy and vibes are much worse, but for lack of other ideas, I move forward.  There was some annoyance that I made some decisions about participating schools that didn’t have any active/potential projects but I’m happy with my decision.  With a budget this small it allows me some discretion and there really aren’t any better ideas from those holding the purse strings aside from “nah.”

    Due to the lack of free time and some of the volunteers no longer being with the company, we had to start early and I am glad we did.  The event was moved up a month to get it out of the way and also happen before any holiday rush.  This also hits closer to the intern recruiting period which is how I pitch the event to some of the non-sales stakeholders.  In 2025 we had really good surveys and feedback and we used that to instruct our changes for this year.​

    We cut the Valorant game that a lot of people came to play because we didn’t have any in-house intelligence and could barely support it with our systems and network.  This game being removed freed up time and systems to allow the remaining games to go in round robin format instead of double elimination.  

    Most people in my work and social circle were sick of hearing me worry about the PCs but it was drama.  Rental prices were too high for me to be comfortable with and a set of loaners I was counting on fell through.  A leading computer company stepped in but days after I had written commitment their demo program got reduced, and it took months to get full confirmation.  I told people “I had faith” but it was closer to “I don’t have any other options.”  

    The PCs came through and they were excellent, the internet on the other hand took an immediate dump which turned into a schedule change 2 hours in from round robin on rocket league to a bracket.  This caused our expected 4PM end turn into a 6:30 end.  We were tired but not near as bad as last year.

    When the internet was dying I made the call to take over facility tours which were to be filled by our volunteers.  It gave me a reason to get away from the tech and focus on running my mouth.  During the event my company had construction, executive meetings and photo shoots.  I think I disrupted the organization more than they disrupted my event.  I am proud of where I work and it gave me a chance to stunt on the kids a bit, also a few of the sponsoring companies got to sell their organizations as well.  

    That is another big change in 2026, last year we had an Energy Drink company come in last minute and do a great job adding production value and excitement to the event.  This year I reached out to 5 local businesses and 3 of them came through.  The two that didn’t were CEREAL COMPANY and the Chamber of Commerce... which were actually the ones I thought were a sure thing going into this.  

    In 2025 I counted others at my company to push the story to media, they may have tried but they didn’t follow up with me on who was reached out to.  An industry publication came and wrote a very nice story but I would have liked more.  I don’t get paid for this part of my job, so really the prestige is all I have to make anything legitimate.  This year I got a press release and poster update and took it upon myself to scatter it around.  Not a ton of response but it got ran a few times without me even knowing about it till I looked online.  

    I haven’t mentioned volunteers that much during this, that’s because they were all so solid I didn’t have much concern about them.  Most roles were double covered and heroes came out of the woodwork regarding IT and print needs.  Same thing with schools, our 2 new added schools were the most dedicated and the others knew that we had the goods to a point where it was going to be a good day.

    As this event does not have a direct ROI contribution I want people coming to it, from volunteers, players to participating companies to feel like they got away with something.  For the most part I think we did.  The Rocket League pivot really messed up a few player schedules but they got over it and there was no lack of recreational things to do.  It was great being in the same room for the whole event and seeing little pods of participation happen.  After tours started, I actually got to hang a bit and not feel like I had to push everything forward.  Much of that is due to one of the universities handling all of the virtual production.  

    What would/will I change in to 2027?  Fix the internet but something else will just break in the meantime.  I think if we can get a few more setups, increasing to 10 or 12 schools is doable.  Also I would like to just close out event at 2PM even if tournaments are still going.  This year we handed out raffle prizes at 2PM and said a few words but I should have just wrapped up the stage work and let them play themselves out.  I didn’t pay much attention to the stream this year but forcing the other schools to carry the stream on their channels would be a good distribution improvement.  

    I guess my biggest wonder, is what now?  What does this lead into aside from another yearly event?  I do not see a path for an actual external program led by my team and most of what we would be "sponsoring" would not have ROI or authentic learnings.  I've been hitting my head against this for a few years now, and maybe the answer is being content with how far we have come instead of trying to see further.

    There are 100 other things I would change but I don’t think the budget, scope or volunteer capacity would be there to support.  I was at ease going into it and I am content coming out of it.  I thank those who were involved or just listened to me rant about the event in the months leading up to it.  

    See you next year!