{"id":324,"date":"2024-08-15T13:28:11","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T13:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/?page_id=324"},"modified":"2024-09-01T17:09:56","modified_gmt":"2024-09-01T17:09:56","slug":"tobias-vyseri-candidate-for-board-of-directors-2024","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/tobias-vyseri-candidate-for-board-of-directors-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Tobias Vyseri &#8211; Candidate for Board of Directors 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/2024-regional-advocate-elections\/\">the schedule and index for the 2024 Regional Advocate Election<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-content-justification-space-between is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-1 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Name:<\/strong> Tobias Vyseri<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Location:<\/strong> Barriere, British Columbia, Canada<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Election:<\/strong> 2024 Annual Meeting<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Running For:<\/strong> Member of the Board of Directors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/files\/2024\/06\/Profile_Photo.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/files\/2024\/06\/Profile_Photo.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-131\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Nomination Statement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Hey all, I\u2019m Tobi, many of you may have worked with me, and if not, hopefully we get to work together in the future! I\u2019m a circuit judge and have been a judge since 2014, though I wasn\u2019t particularly active until becoming an L2 judge in 2016. Ever since becoming L2 I\u2019ve written a tournament report for every Comp REL event I\u2019ve judged, which you can find on my website <a href=\"https:\/\/vyseri.com\/TournamentReports.html\">https:\/\/vyseri.com\/TournamentReports.html<\/a>. I don\u2019t have a ton of grand plans if I get on the board, I have a few things I\u2019d like to see happen, and some ideas of how to do that, but I\u2019m not going to make any promises I might not be able to keep. I\u2019m honestly not even really sure whether you should elect me onto the board, there are a lot of other great people going up for election here, and I know for sure that a few of them are easy first picks over me. The reason I\u2019m still applying is because I want to make sure there\u2019s someone on the board who listens to people and can advocate for judges who don\u2019t feel they have a voice. I also feel like I\u2019m generally pretty even-tempered and I think that\u2019s a valuable asset in meetings where a lot of strong feelings can potentially get thrown around.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q1: Specializations \/ Focus Areas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Question: Board Members work on a wide variety of tasks and projects. What would your &#8220;specialty&#8221; or main focus area be as a Board Member?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I like making swag, so I\u2019m probably going to make some cool stuff for the merch shop (this is probably going to happen regardless of whether I get elected to the board or not) I also kind of want to take a look at figuring out how to lower the cost on some of the merch shop stuff. I also think we need some kind of code of conduct so that if someone misbehaves egregiously something can be done. It would be nice if the judge certification also carried a baseline moral expectation as well as a skill-based one. I have a feeling this isn\u2019t possible, since it\u2019s commonly a hot topic and JAC and JF have vaguely mentioned some reasons this isn\u2019t possible. But maybe there\u2019s some kind of orthogonal approach we can take that circumvents the issues?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q2: Certifications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Question: Many questions related to the value of Judge Foundry membership. First, regarding certifications: How would you ensure that Judge Foundry Certifications have value in the eyes of TOs and other stakeholders?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is such a tough question, especially since I\u2019m not sure how much of this stuff has already been done, I think Laughing Dragon and Face to Face already have a fair amount of respect for the cert, so nothing really needs to be done there, I\u2019ll ask the hiring managers at NRG, SCG and Pastimes what would make a JF certification meaningful to them, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s anyone that could better tell us what these orgs want than the people who literally do the hiring. If the TOs give me a goofy answer like \u201cnothing would make it worth it\u201d or something that doesn\u2019t give me a clear roadmap, then I think my plan is to be sad, but then after that, I\u2019d try to ensure that levels <em>mean something<\/em>. And the way to ensure levels mean something is to ensure that the holders of those levels all perform to a consistent standard. I think the current tests do some of this, but I also think they are highly imperfect. Some of this will smooth out with time, we\u2019ve already seen the abolition of some terrible questions and the addition of tons of new questions. But the judge program is full of brilliant minds, I\u2019m sure we can iterate on our processes and create something even better! I also think our interviews for candidates might need some work, there are some guidelines on the JF website, but I feel like those are thin and maybe a clearer more standardized interview process would be helpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q3: Member Benefits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Question: Second, outside of certifications, how do you think Judge Foundry should best use its limited resources to benefit the members?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hmmm this is a hard question. I think, in the most broad terms, JF should use its resources to generate value for its members. This is super vague, so let me zoom in a little I guess, I think as an organization for judges our primary goal should be getting people hired based on their JF levels\/membership. We had a super cool thing in Canada where JF shipped some swag with the RCQ kit to encourage stores to hire JF judges. I think more initiatives like this, that give TOs kickbacks or incentives for hiring organization judges are great. I think we also need to be doing something for L1s, the biggest complaints I\u2019ve heard from Canada\u2019s isolated L1s are \u201cwhy am I paying for this, it gives me nothing\u201d which is like, fair. They don\u2019t even get update exams, which sucks a lot because I like those exams they are really cool. For the L1s in my area I try to connect them with judging jobs, and try to train them when I can, but it\u2019s really rough. I know judge classes have been run in the past, and maybe that\u2019s something that we could put more effort into. If there were a predefined rubric available on the JF website, that anyone could run, I think that might really help.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q4: Legal Commitments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Question: Judge Foundry as an organization and Member Directors individually are bound by several Non-Disclosure Agreements, prohibiting disclosure of information gained as part of their duties as a Member Director, including in some cases disclosure of the existence of an NDA with a particular organization. Violating these agreements may have consequences for the individual and for the organization. As a Director, will you abide by any agreements that Judge Foundry has signed, and will you personally sign NDAs with other organizations as needed in order to pursue and maintain partnerships with other organizations?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, while I\u2019ll be sad I can\u2019t disclose everything to everyone all the time, I understand the need for these things and am happy to comply \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q5: RCQ Judge Demand<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Question: In the post Covid era of Magic, the amount of qualified L2 judges seems to have declined, but demand for judges at competitive REL events has grown with the advent of RCQs. Is there a solution you would pursue to prepare enough judges for Comp REL demand?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whenever I\u2019m in a lead role that has some input on staffing I take judge growth into serious consideration, someone who is isolated but running a lot of RCQs might get paired up with an experienced event grinder or IPG savant with the explicit purpose of training and mentoring. Beyond that, I think we\u2019re going to try to spin up conferences in Canada, but with our geography, it\u2019s a bit rough to try and get people to travel in any capacity. We\u2019re planning an in-person conference attached to the Calgary RC and an end of year online conference to hopefully reach some of our even more isolated folks. Canada has many challenges, but overall I\u2019m very hopeful for the region, we have so many enthusiastic judges and a real culture of mentorship and empowerment, so I think we will be able to raise some excellent judges in the coming months.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US seems to be suffering from more fatigue, the few dedicated judges are getting ground down and frustrated with the state of things. I think we\u2019re lucky in Canada where we have on consistent TO, which makes it easy for judges to grow and have their growth recognized. In the turbulent scene of the US with a multitude of TOs it can be difficult to have your growth recognized and acknowledged, which I think is causing many judges to feel trapped in their previous ability category. I have to admit, I\u2019m not as clear on training for US judges. I know Brook is doing some amazing things with mentorship, and training, and likely has a better idea of what is good for the US scene right now.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q6: Judge Work Opportunities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Question: What efforts, if any, would you support in order to increase work opportunities for judges?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Canada if I find out a store is running an RCQ but doesn\u2019t have a judge, I try to find a nearby judge and connect them with the store. I also know that in Canada, and especially the west, we have not a lot of judges for our largeish events, so it\u2019s very easy to get newer judges a slot at a commandfest or on sides at an RC or something.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Q7: Judge Foundry Areas for Improvement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Question: Pick one area you strongly feel Judge Foundry needs to improve and tell us your idea for doing so. Is it feasible? Is it achievable? How will you make it happen?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>M e r c h.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is going to come across a little dumb and frivolous but I have a lot of experience making and selling stuff. I feel like our merch offerings could not only be a little cheaper but also a little broader. This is super easy for me to do&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second thing I want to fix is more substantive. I think testing is a bit wonk right now. I really don\u2019t know why we aren\u2019t testing rules again at L3, even if it\u2019s just \u201cpass the L2 test again so we know you haven\u2019t forgotten everything\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I also feel the current L3 test, while it\u2019s settling in, still has some far-out questions. These are slowly getting the edges sanded off, but I\u2019m happy to help push on behalf of folks for questions that actually are unreasonable to be removed from the pool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. Nomination Statement [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[28,8],"tags":[10],"language":[],"class_list":["post-324","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-2024-board-of-directors-elections","category-candidates","tag-board-of-directors"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/324\/revisions\/384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/jfelections\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}