Selling a chess tournament: the proposal and the contract

A company is not buying chess. Understanding that changes both the proposal and the price - and explains why «a tournament for 20 people, 5 rounds» does not work as a proposal.

• A finished event with no work of their own. The person you are writing to already has ten tasks; the value is that you arrive and do everything.
• A format quiet people take part in. Ordinary team building engages the loud ones; chess does the opposite, and that is a strong argument.
• Content. Photographs and a story for internal communications - often the main result in the client's eyes.
• Absence of risk. That it will be comprehensible, that nobody will be bored, that it will fit the time allotted.

So the proposal is written about the outcome of the evening, not about the regulations. Round counts and time controls belong in it, but not in the first paragraph.

A proposal is read in a minute and forwarded onwards. Anything longer than a page is read only by its author.

1. 1
   What it will be

   Two or three sentences: a chess tournament for N people, so many hours, everyone plays at once, no preparation needed. No jargon
2. 2
   How it runs

   A short timeline: arrival, rules explained, rounds, prize-giving. The client needs to picture what people are doing for three hours
3. 3
   What you provide

   Equipment, arbiting, host, pairings, standings, prize-giving, photo report - as a list. This is the product
4. 4
   What you need from them

   Room, tables, chairs, time. As a separate block, so it is not discovered on the day
5. 5
   What it costs

   A number. Not «from», not «calculated individually» - at least a range tied to the number of participants
6. 6
   What happens next

   One action: «reply to this email and we'll send the agreement». Without it the proposal stalls

Attach two or three photographs from past events. They convince more than the text: the client needs to see what it looks like in a room resembling theirs.

Cost it by line even if you quote a single figure to the client - otherwise, when they push back, you do not know what can be removed.

Quoting actual figures here would be meaningless - they depend on the country, the city and whether your arbiter is hired or is you. What matters is the structure: count your hours by line and do not omit preparation - club economics.

• A fixed fee per event, not per head. Your costs barely change between twenty and twenty-five people, and per-head pricing turns the conversation into haggling over the list.
• A range by size. Up to 20 participants one price, up to 40 another - at that point you genuinely need a second person and more equipment.
• Name the number first. An organizer who waits for the client's budget usually hears a figure below their own.
• Do not underprice the first booking. Next year starts from that number, and raising it is harder than setting it correctly.

The agreement exists not for a courtroom but so that nobody is working out who brings the tables on the day. The minimum set of clauses:

• Subject. What exactly is being run: format, number of participants, duration.
• Date, time and address. Including the time you get access to set up, not only the start time - you need the room an hour early.
• Who provides what. As two lists. The single most useful clause in the document, and the one that removes most disputes.
• Fee and payment terms. Amount, deadline, deposit.
• Cancellation and postponement. What happens if the client cancels a day before; what if a week before.
• Force majeure. A standard clause, but worth reading for what counts as one.
• Photography and video. Permission to shoot and to publish in your own materials - without it there is nothing to build a portfolio from.
• Signatures and details. Who signs for the client, and whether they are authorised to.

A caveat: this is the list of what usually gets discussed, not legal advice. Business forms, invoicing rules and taxes differ from country to country and are a question for an accountant rather than an article.

The most painful part of corporate work: the event is cancelled two days out, and you have already turned down another booking and committed an arbiter.

• Take a deposit. Even a partial one. It is less about money than about status: a paid-for event does not get cancelled on a change of mind.
• Cancellation within 24 hours - deposit not returned. Normal practice, and clients accept it when it is written down in advance.
• Postponement is not cancellation. Allowing one free postponement is sensible: companies need it more often than you would think, and rigidity here costs the client.
• Payment after the event - with a stated date. «On completion» with no date means two months later.

One thing worth knowing: long payment terms in companies are usually not an attempt to avoid paying but how their finance process works. Find that out beforehand rather than treating it as a problem afterwards.

And the biggest one: not asking the client what the event is for. A tournament to bring a department together and a tournament to produce photographs for the company blog look different, and that has to be established before the date is fixed - tournament FAQ.