Timeline of what to do when setting up your first tournament

For tournament organizers using TorneoPal for the first time, here's a guideline on the typical timeline for setting up a tournament.

1. Optional: If you have, for example, a homepage where all of your tournament information can be seen, please send a link to the site for us. In most cases, your 'requirements' can be seen there, and we'll get an idea of what you're looking for.
2. Guide to Logging into the Admin Site and Navigating Menus
3. Get the result site ready for taking registrations.
   1. Create the categories. Click here for instructions.
   2. Adding Homepage text and rules (if they are ready) are helpful for teams to get to know your tournament.
      1. It wouldn't hurt to email us stating that you have added your rules. Sometimes rules are a crucial part of transferring your tournament from a spreadsheet to our system. For example, a point system called 'score draw' isn't an option that can be simply activated.
   3. Set up the registrations. Click here for instructions.
      1. If you would like to collect additional tournament fees, such as accommodation or meals, please contact us as these are not included in the help guides.
   4. Test the registrations.
      1. This literally means setting the registrations open and then registering into your tournament like everyone else. This way, you're able to see the whole process and notice if there are some details to tweak.
   5. Set the registration dates and start advertising your result site.
4. Decide if you would like to benefit from using referees:
   1. Having referees in the system gives a more professional feel, but it also increases the overall workload. Here's a short introduction. Let us know if you'd like to learn more about having referees in the system.
5. Keep an eye on the payments coming in and mark which teams are paid. Click here for instructions.
   1. This is one of the most important things during the preparations phase.
6. When registrations are nearly full, build the group and knockout stages based on your expected number of teams.
   1. If you are not sure about the number of teams you can accept into your tournament, we recommend trying out different fixtures and scheduling matches to determine the optimal number of teams for your tournament.
7. Create the pitches. Click here for instructions.
8. Start to make the schedule. Click here for instructions.
9. Once you feel like your tournament is ready for publishing, go through our help guide for final preparations.
10. Publishing your tournament.