Note: This is a candidate page for a Judge Foundry Election. Information on this page is provided by the candidate, and does not represent the opinions or positions of the Elections Committee or of Judge Foundry. For more information about this election, see the schedule and index for the 2024 Regional Advocate Election.
- Name: John White
- Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Election: Regional Advocates 2024
- Running For: Southwest RA
Nomination Statement
I first passed the test for L1 in 2004. Through a comedy of errors, I officially certified in 2013. All that time, I was doing exactly what a L1 judge does: I stayed up-to-date on the rules, I ran FNMs and small tournaments for local store, and I welcomed new players into the community. My passion for judging only grew in those nine years despite never getting the benefits of certification. One reason it took me so long to be officially certified is that I wasn’t connected with the judge community during that time and I didn’t know how to get my foot in the door. I don’t want that to be a barrier for aspiring judges now. My passion has always been for the community—both the judge community and the Magic community at large.
At the end of your first six months as Regional Advocate, what does “success” look like?
In the first six months, I would like to establish an official regional discord or other communication channel where we can come together as a region, get to know one another, bring new members in, provide mentoring, and bring ideas forward. I do not believe I will always have the best ideas so I want to hear from everyone about how we can do things better. It will be my job to bring issues and improvements to the board and I can’t do that effectively if I don’t hear from all of you. Secondly, I would like to help bring conferences, get-togethers, mock tournaments, study groups, and other community building and mentorship opportunities to the region. This will require help from the Area Communicators, so I will be looking for individuals who can do that job.
What skills/experience do you bring to the role of Regional Advocate?
In the legacy judge program, I was a mainstay at the conferences. I started as just a presenter, but made my way to being the IT and right-hand person of the conference organizer. In my personal life, I work on projects, so time and resource management is one of the key elements in my job. I will use these skills along with my mentoring skills to make sure to foster the right kind of growth and community that we need in the judge program.
Describe your plans to recruit and utilize Area Communicators.
Area communicators will be chosen based on their connection to a geographic area and the judges and stores within that area. I don’t know how many areas will need communicators, but I plan to start with the basic areas that existed prior to Judge Academy with 3 or 4 in Texas and 1 for each of the other states, though that can be expanded or condensed based on the feedback of the communicators. Also, as indicated in the title, I will be looking for individuals who can communicate well, both to me as well as to stores and other judges.
Another RA has proposed a “Judge Growth” competition between your region and theirs. Would you participate, and how would you design the event to avoid quality issues or creating more judges than Organized Play in your region is able to support?
Yes, I would absolutely participate in such a competition, but there are a few caveats. Judge growth can mean a lot of things. It doesn’t necessarily mean making more judges or advancing more judges. In my opinion, growth is about making judges better at what they want to do. If a judge wants to do competitive events, we should encourage and help them move to level 2 and level 3. For others, it may mean getting better at the rules so they are better at judging the FNM, Commander, and Prerelease events at their local store. For others still, it may be wanting to move into leadership positions within the region or as part of a project. I would work with the RA of the other region to define how we will measure growth and come up with metrics to define that growth.
In terms of outgrowing Organized Play in the region, I don’t think we should have a cap on certifying judges for any level. If they are capable and have met the requirements, they should be able to advance. Instead, I would focus on the quality of the judges at all levels. If we need to set higher expectations within the region to slow growth but make better judges, we would do that. It is something that worked well in the legacy judge program. We would also improve quality by running conferences that are focused on learning–not just on attending to get more foils/swag/whatever. This may mean smaller conferences or get-togethers, running workshops instead of presentations, or engaging the audience in other ways. This, of course, will require encouraging leadership growth at the local level to run and organize these conferences as I may not be able to attend all of them, but I will work with the organizers to make sure that the goals of the region are being met.
What is your plan for reaching out to and helping judges in Organized Play dead zones?
We will have Area Communicators to cover all areas of the region, so judges in any area will have someone who is familiar with the area and the stores in that area to be able to help them. That being said, we have a very large dead area which covers South and West Texas, South and East New Mexico, and Southern Colorado. I will be looking for judges who are willing to travel to these areas as necessary to help with judge growth. We will encourage growth in these areas by visiting local stores and providing contact information for the AC and RA. We can use these stores to advertise a conference to bring in those in the area who are interested in becoming a judge. Once they are connected to judges in the region, finding a mentor and getting them tested should be much easier. Also, since a large portion of the dead zone is along the border with Mexico, we can help and get help from Mexican judges to improve coverage on both sides of the border.
But this is just a general idea of how I think it can work. Each area is different and if there are things that you think will work better in your particular area, let me know. I’m always willing to listen to new ideas and take them into consideration. I’m here to advocate for the region and I can’t advocate for you if I don’t hear from you.