Okay, folks,

Ken's done for the summer, you can return to doing your normal things at 7pm, or whenever. Or perhaps I can offer you an alternative something to do?

I want you to consider something. Ken's run is the greatest boon to quiz bowl in terms of interest by the general public that you or I have seen in our lifetime. Now I'm sure there are arguments that a couple people would make for other times, but none of them combine all of the following:

1. National exposure
2. Daily media saturation
3. Timing (this one is what makes it unique, and in my view an opportunity unmatched.)

In other cases (NYTimes article, Kevin's Millionaire run, Dave Goodman's), the events were occurring away from recruiting season, and in the championship season. They provided a boost, but you couldn't capitalize on the boost until the next autumn.

Well, now, you're going to be right there, starting your year, gathering new freshmen (if you're in college, 8th/9th/10th graders if you're in HS), and smack in the middle of this, you're going to have people discussing Ken as he comes back. Some will be intrigued, some will be amazed, some will be envious, some will think they could have done it, and some will think they could if they knew a little more stuff. Well, guess what? In every case, you, and your team, are their target audience. What better way to make the case for quiz bowl to new people than to be able to point to success stories they've been talking about themselves? People will be asking "How does this Ken guy know so much?", you have the answer. And it's not like you have to couch your words, you can very easily say, "Yes, this is how he got that good. If you want to do that, this is the best training out there."

So what does this mean for you? Well, if you have a team, you do need teammates, it's the unescapable fact of the game. And for a change, you'll have a readymade, excited population, wanting to get involved, even if they've never played before. So you've got to be prepared. If you've never been overwhelmed by the first practice when twice the people that you expected showed up, be ready. And if you have had that trip, imagine it's going to be twice that.

Be ready, have all your materials ready. If you poster up, have it ready, and realize you'll probably have better luck pointing to his success. If you have a folder that goes out to freshmen, make sure your organization is in it. If there's an activities fair, have people there, have a buzzer set up. If you don't have an intramural, consider it. If you have one, advertise the crap out of it. Certainly write questions, you'll need to take these people to tournaments at some point.

This year, you'll have more people interested, and more people who could be interested. Now, of course, you'll have to aim for retention, and that's much harder than getting them in the door, but by having a concrete example, the way is shown, and you'll have better luck retaining people as well. I don't find it inconcievable that, with proper care and resourcefulness, the number of players on the circuit could double.

Now, I know people will look at this, and go "all we're going to get out of this is people looking to get better on game shows." Well, sure, that's how some of them will start off. How they develop is up to you, in guiding them, and up to them, in their approach.

So now you've got two hours and thirty minutes every week that's been freed up. What are you going to do to prepare?