Region 4 Director

The ACBL Board of Directors held its summer face-to-face (F2F) meetings from Monday, July 21 to Thursday, July 24, in Philadelphia. The Board, Committees, and Task Forces continue to meet regularly online via Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

A QUICK WORD FROM YOUR REGIONAL DIRECTOR

I wanted to bring you up-to-date on some of the latest news from ACBL just prior to our “regular” Summer NABC Board of Directors meeting—things are happening so quickly, that it is difficult to keep current.  My Report from the “Montreal NABC” Meetings will be posted to the D6 website by the end of July. 

The ACBL Board of Directors (BOD) met officially on June 17 for the third time so far this year.  In normal times, we meet face-to-face (FTF) for four-five days in the week preceding the three NABCs.  All meetings this year have been and will be virtual.

• During Columbus (we still use the intended location of the NABC to differentiate the meetings, even though all on-site NABCs have been canceled for 2020), we met for five days for four-six hours a day, depending on the number and length of Committee meetings in addition to the four hours of daily full-Board meetings.  
• Since the end of March, we have had dozens of Task Force and Committee Meetings as well as one six-hour and one four-hour full-Board meeting, the first in May (Thursday, May 28 and Saturday, May 30) and the second on Wednesday, June 17.
• The next BOD meeting will be for five days, July 13-17, on the same days it would have been during the start of the Montreal NABC.  In addition, at least one more Special Meeting will be scheduled in late August/early September.
• Special Meetings must be called and noticed to the members 30 days in advance with a published agenda in order to be able to submit motions to be voted on.  During this uncertain time, the ACBL President decided it was important to meet more frequently than just three times a year, since events are moving at such a rapid pace.  Hence the Special Meetings.

The remainder of this report is provided in PDF format due to special formatting for tables, etc.

Report from your District 6 Director Margot Hennings

Prologue:  This report is somewhat delayed in being readied for posting to the D6 website.  As with all events affected by the Coronavirus, the pace of activities at ACBL has been fast and furious with a great deal of effort having been expended on getting Virtual Club Games up and running.  Going forward, now that face-to-face tournaments have been canceled through the end of 2020 and most face-to-face club games seem unlikely, the emphasis will be on creating special games for clubs, allowing “local cohorts” when running online silver and red/gold point games, and working on team games for all levels of play.

The information that follows is slightly outdated, but I thought many of you would be interested in some of the “back story” of what has led to the many recent announcements by ACBL of online games, guidelines for club re-openings, and cancellation of face-to-face tournaments.  The information below covers both the “regular” Spring NABC meeting, held online over five days on the days that the Board would have met in Columbus, and the first of two Special Meetings held since then, on May 28 and continuing on May 30.  For the most recent news, please see my June Special Meeting Report, also posted to the D6 website.

Another Great NABC

Following on the heels of Toronto and San Diego would have been ahard act for any city, but our neighbors to the north in Philadelphia did a tremendous job in another good venue. The snow that fell at the beginning of the Spring NABC in March did little to dampen players’ enthusiasm for playing, and the final total table count ended up about 500 above estimate at 10,317½. The regional event playing site was at the Convention Center, with the shortest distance to where the games were played not easily accessible through the connecting walkway, but even that did not stop large numbers of attendees from playing in the pairs and team/KO events held there.

The District Director files a report after each Director meeting at the North American Bridge Championships (NABC). These archived reports are available in PDF format.