Projects, that one word may bring a lot of memories during your school and college days, and it may even be true at your workplace.

A project would require a lot of effort and deadlines which may seem be to be a deadly combo. Now, imagine my reaction when I was still a judge candidate…

What???? PROJECTS!!!!

But after I became a certified judge, I can’t seem to stop myself from volunteering to be part of a project that interests me.

After a few years in the program, something made me wonder, “Why is it that some judges are not even part of a project? What’s stopping them?”

I figured it would be best to ask other judges about their thoughts on the matter. So, I created a Google Form survey which then I sent to some judges. Then Riccardo Tessitori replied and he suggested that I should talk to Alfonso Bueno about the survey form that I have. So I emailed Alfonso then few exchange of emails soon followed, then he posted the form in the JudgeApps forum.

After going through all the submissions, allow me to share 5 reasons why a Judge should be part of a project:

You’ll be part of a collective effort

The community is built upon projects. Yes, just imagine a machine with a lot of moving parts, all working for a particular purpose with varying goals in mind.The Ask the Judge Facebook group might be the most famous out there, it’s a great platform for players to park a question and a judge will definitely help them out in minutes. The Magic Judges Twitter showcases judges at work, pictures during the event and judge group photos. Judgecast is a bi-weekly podcast that updates judges on the latest happenings in the program. Knowledge Pool, Mentoring per Region projects, Translations for various languages, Magic Judge Monthly and other Regional Blogs similar to this one. I could go on and on with the list of projects and try to explain each one, but I believe this quote would best describe it.

“Because the judge program is what we all make together. If we want a nice and helpful program we need to add our efforts to create it.” – Alfonso Bueno

You’ll get to do what you like , something that you’re passionate about

You might be wondering, aside from actually judging events what could it be? Something that I like??? Well, if you’re into writing there are a lot of projects that would definitely love to have you around. You can even do some illustrations; the Judge Tokens project spearheaded by Milan Majerčík, a judge project wherein a good friend of mine Zie Aun Tan does cool illustrations of various creature types of the game, print them to create a token and give them out to players. A useful token and a very informative one, since it educates a player how to do send in a feedback for a particular judge. Really cool right?

You’ll be (more) involved in the program 

There is more to the Magic Judge program than just judging at events. We’re all part of a big community and your skill may actually benefit the program. Just picture this, Imagine you’re having problems with designing the cover photo for your blog, do you know that there’s a dedicated project that can help you design that for you?

That was my story back then, when were just starting things out with this blog, the SEA Regional blog. The cool thing is I had the opportunity to work with him this year during the Philippines Nationals, he was visiting the country then and he decided to join the PH nationals judge team, his name is Neil Pendon. Such a great guy, who would’ve thought that some months after, I’ll get to the meet the person behind the banner and we became friends.:)

You’ll gain experience through the creative process

When we’re doing things that we really love and enjoy, at times it would seem that time just flies. You might be wondering, what creative process am I talking about? One example I have in mind is, here in our Regional Blog we have this what we call as “Exemplar Highlights”, normally weeks before that gets published, members of the regional blog team will look into the nominations within the region and discuss why do they think such nomination should be part of the article (as much as we want to include all of them 🙂 ). An article, a podcast or an initiative from a certain judge project, would involve a lot of discussions, preparations and of course through exchange we learn something.

Yes,we’re exerting effort as we go along, at times it may even demand our energy and time but that just teaches us the importance of “time management”. You may look into a Judge’s Profile and see that “WOW! This judge have a lot of time in his hands” or even wonder why “How does he do it?”. When you’re really “into it”, trust me time just flies so fast, you may not even notice it.

“For many, it’s a great way to channel your energy and enthusiasm for the good of the entire Judge program.” –Scott Marshall

To have fun

“If you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong.” – Groucho Marx

Always remember to have fun. The Magic Judge program is a good place to meet a lot of great people, I’ve made a lot of friends in the program, a good number of them from different countries. It’s a fun-filled learning experience.
Working with people that you can learn from, not just as a judge but as human being is not just “fun” experience but a very rewarding one at that.

“Just to have fun. The judge program is a good place to be the best version of yourself. And to reach this goal it might help to join projects you are interested in and to find a place where you can bring up your own ideas for a better judging enviroment.” – Max Tiedemann

I would like to say “Thank You!” to all those who participated in the survey, I appreciate it a lot. To Riccardo for the suggestion and of course to Alfonso for helping me spread the word. Thank you!!!

Thank for taking the time to read this post. You can browse through the projects currently looking for help or projects that may interests you by clicking the link here.

Thank You So Much!!! 🙂