We had our first local tournament in Hong Kong recently. Traditionally, the draw would be pinned up and the tournament organisers would write the results of matches on the paper. People would then crowd around the board to see the update. This recent tournament was a bit different. We were given a QR code that linked to a google sheet. In that sheet had all the rules/regulations and the draw for each division. When I was talking to another parent during the competition, I pulled out my ipad to discuss the draw. Then I noticed all the results of the matches played so far had been updated on the google sheet (I had it on hotspot) I felt that was really good and really convenient not to have to crowd around a board (good for covid, right?). It added a feeling of more involvement knowing the scores of different matches earlier. It just so happened I had brought my ipad - it’s a bit difficult get a whole overview of the draw on a smartphone. I also mentioned it to the tournament organisers complimenting the convenience. I suppose there are not many local tournaments going on in other countries right now but did you see this for your local tournaments in other countries before covid?
We started doing google sheet quite a few years ago. Aside from having a few monitors on site, we also advertise the link to the team captains. Later on we moved to tournamentsoftware and setup a easily remembered URL. http://www.bacbc.net . tournamentsoftware is nice as most badminton fans are already familiar with it and it captures a lot more information than google sheets. QR code is a good idea to post on the wall instead of just a URL.
I am not sure how many parents here in HK are familiar with tournamentsoftware. Probably those who are more into following international tournaments would have more familiarity. Is tournamentsoftware free? The QR code was posted up on a wall and on the facebook page.
Here, it's quite common that the results are online already during the tournament, it's just not a Google sheet, it's turnier.de, which (as far as I know) is the same as tournamentsoftware.com. I think it's not free, but affordable for the clubs to use. I'm sure @phihag can say more about this.
