NPS 2012 competing teams

[amcehn]

Abs.  Slam Knoxville wants to be on the waiting list.  You should've gotten my email a few hours ago.

I responded to your PM in this forum. Did you get it?

[Vertigo Xi'an Xavier]

#41 - Lake Effect

One correction is needed there.   AKeem is no longer slammaster for Cleveland.   I took over as manager for Lake Effect this year.

[amcehn]

I have that change. Thanks.

[plunderphonics]

thanks. 
can you please post on here the teams currently on the waiting list?

[duanemadden]

Is it possible to have Inkwell Poetry Slam city corrected? We represent the city of Arlington, not Fort Worth.

[amcehn]

Teams on the waiting list IN ORDER:

Tampa- Sacred Sounds
Knoxville- Knoxville Poetry Slam
Richmond- SlamRichmond

I'll make the Change about Inkwell. Sorry about that.

[Yah Fu "the Pen Bender"]

Are there 2 Slam Richmond's because you have one on the waiting list & in the bouts

[plunderphonics]

If any teams are thinking they are probably going to drop, please do it early.  At Southern Fried this year we had teams that just didn't show up, had they cancelled earlier we could have had other teams registered in their place... 


Totally not saying this because my team is on the waiting list... but it is worth noting.

[amcehn]

The waiting list should NOT have SlamRIchmond on it, it should have Nahutal from Richmond on it. SlamRichmond IS in the tournament.

[goodclearsound]

To all who can see this,

As I new slam-master, I have to express my frustrations with PSI in a lack of communication and availability of important information for slam-masters who are new and trying to register for NPS.  I took over as slam-master for Slam Nahuatl in Richmond, VA back in January and had been in correspondence with Abby about helping me cover all my bases for registering my team and getting us to Nationals.  I made it clear that I was new and inexperienced, and she was very helpful on the phone with guiding me through the process of registering our venue, where the PSI website was not.  Overall, I have found the website to be woefully difficult to navigate and lacking in important updates of information that all slam-masters or PSI members should know.  Once Abby helped me through the venue registration, (which took multiple times sending and resending more than enough of the required "evidence," and also having to pay twice) I truly believed that this had registered our team for NPS.  Abby did not mention to me the additional $500 required to register for competition, or a due date, nor did I ever see any of this info on the website.  All of the links for, "How to get your team to NPS" only explain venue registration, leading to my assumption that this was registration for the competition.  I did not realize that we weren't registered until I saw the list of 72 posted and noticed we were not on it.  Now I have a team that is very prepared talented, that has been working and practicing their asses off all year, and we are stuck stressing on the waiting list, with no guarantee that we will be able to compete.  I take some responsibility for maybe not being as proactive as humanly possible in finding all this info, but overall as a new slam-master who is genuinely interested in becoming a part of this community and helping it to grow I have found it very difficult to find the answers I need at every turn.  Much of this slam-master stuff seems to fall under the category of, you don't know it unless you know it, and I don't really see any system in place to assist in making things accessible to new members and expanding this wonderful community.  I felt like I had to speak on this fact because I think there are a lot of poets and potential venues out there who would love to be involved in this movement, and who have wonderful things to contribute, but the current system is making it very hard for those people to know what to do.  Anyways, I saw some comments on the forum from others who missed out on registration as well, and I felt I should add my own experience in this.  Slam Nahuatl is still planning to show up in Charlotte, I have booked a hotel room, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that some other team will be a no show (not to wish any bad luck on anyone else), but being in this position has weighed very heavily on me.  I have worked very hard to keep our home venue going, and to form and prepare a team for NPS but it is looking like I have failed in that.  I just wish there was a better support system in place for new and enthusiastic slam-masters like myself.

Sincerely,
Hamilton Graziano
Slam Nahuatl
chgraz@gmail.com
goodclearsound.org

[jesster]

I just wish there was a better support system in place for new and enthusiastic slam-masters like myself.

Welcome to the forums, Hamilton! An excellent first post! We are here to help!

Feel free to ask questions here or continue to email me. If you want, we can get you set up with a mentor that can help you navigate some of these issues.

One thing you are going to want to do is read the PSi handbook. It has a lot of this information as well as important deadlines and rules for various tournaments.

http://www.poetryslam.com/forum/index.php/topic,1803.0.html

Also, check out the PSi Member files forum. It has a lot of good references, like the Important Dates thread.

Please feel free to continue to ask me questions over email and I will help as much as I possibly can.

-Jesse

[jesster]

Also, to gain access to the PSi member forum, you will need to go here:

http://www.poetryslam.com/forum/index.php/topic,627.0.html

It's the same form to gain access to the SlamMaster forum, but if you are having any confusion on gaining access there, go here:

http://www.poetryslam.com/forum/index.php/topic,3491.0.html

-Jesse

[karen_g]

Hi Hamilton,

I remember being a young & new slam master. These forums were difficult to navigate & I learned quickly to keep a folder of receipts from year to year. Even now, it's easy to lose track of this or that birthday of a poet or a slip of paper, that I'd often have to try to pay more than once, etc. Erik is working on a new & easier to navigate website, which is a pretty huge task considering the 20+ years of information to transfer & that sort of thing. I hear your frustration, I really do, as some of them have been my own over time. We are undergoing process improvement.
I have often offered myself up as a regional mentor & person to talk to about booking shows in the South East. I know Richmond has two slams. As a new slam master, whatever the past relationships have been, this might be a good chance to get on the good foot and strengthen the diplomacy between slams. I know our own slam community is strengthened by slam masters who get along.The South is strong with helpful slam masters who have been at this awhile~Kirk Hardesty--I barely know what I would have done without him & his patience. He's a great friend & will always be one of my mentors.Up the road from you in DC, Sarah Lawson is fantastic, warm, open & resourceful, also, slightly newer to the role, so she's be a good person to look up.Slam masters outside of my region have also been incredible resources and mentors to me as well. Jesse is a great tour guide. If you pop your head out, you'll see the whole net of us~be active in the forums & you'll feel more connected. 
So, whatever communications went sideways this time around, that first time is always the roughest of all the rodeos.At slam master meeting, you will meet the lot of us & hear the opinions that match your own & be able to connect that way, too.Again, I'm sorry that you & your team are chomping at the bit on the wait list.There's a lot for new slam masters to take in~evidence, W&I, etc. Jesse is on point with the links, which is an opening to all the rest that can be a challenge to navigate.
Like that campaign, it gets better, especially as you get acclimated.
I look forward to meeting you at NPS.

[Dahled]

Slam Nahuatl is still planning to show up in Charlotte, I have booked a hotel room, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that some other team will be a no show (not to wish any bad luck on anyone else), but being in this position has weighed very heavily on me.

It's great that y'all are still coming and even if you don't make it into the tourney as a competing team there will be lots of opportunities to get on the mic... actually more than there are for competitors. This is because sacrifices are often hard to find and you can sac for multiple bouts each night -and- you'd be free to read any of your poems in any of the non-competitive events without having to worry about saving anything for the competition. Ask folks that have been to multiple NPS and the vast majority will tell you it's more fun and much less stressful to go as a volunteer/spectator and not compete.

[duanemadden]

Team Inkwell just had Divine (Verb Kulture) drop from the team. We held a last chance Slam where Chris Key (Christopher Woodson) won and replaced her. Can you make updates to the roster of competing poets on the Arlington Inkwell Poetry Slam Team?