Announcements

Announcements allow tournament organizers to communicate important information to teams and track whether teams have seen and acknowledged critical messages.

Announcements for Organizers#

Creating Announcements#

To create a new announcement:

1. Go to your tournament dashboard
2. Navigate to Team Panel > Announcements in the sidebar
3. Click New Announcement
4. Fill in the announcement details:
   • Title - Clear, descriptive title
   • Short Description - Brief summary shown in lists
   • Content - Full announcement with rich text formatting
   • Published At - When to publish (leave empty for draft)
   • Pinned - Keep at top of the list
   • Requires Acknowledgment - Teams must confirm they've read it
   • Acknowledgment Deadline - Optional deadline for acknowledgment

Announcement Status#

Announcements can have different statuses:

• Draft - Not yet published, not visible to teams
• Scheduled - Will be published at a future date
• Published - Visible to all teams

Tracking Team Acknowledgments#

For announcements that require acknowledgment:

1. Open the announcement
2. Go to the Teams tab
3. View the status for each team:
   • Whether email notification was sent
   • Whether the team has acknowledged
   • When they acknowledged
   • Who acknowledged (if tracked)

Sending Email Notifications#

You can notify teams about announcements via email:

1. Open a published announcement
2. Go to the Teams tab
3. Click Send to All Unsent to email teams who haven't been notified
4. Or click Send Email next to individual teams

Emails include:

• Announcement title and description
• "Action Required" alert if acknowledgment is needed
• Deadline information if set
• Link to view the full announcement

Best Practices for Organizers#

Use Clear Titles

• Make titles descriptive and action-oriented
• Example: "Required: Submit Roster by Friday" vs "Roster Update"

Pin Important Announcements

• Pin time-sensitive or critical information
• Unpin old announcements when no longer relevant

Set Deadlines Wisely

• Give teams reasonable time to acknowledge
• Consider different time zones
• Send reminders before deadlines

Track Acknowledgments

• Monitor which teams haven't acknowledged required announcements
• Follow up with teams who miss deadlines
• Use the teams status table to identify stragglers

Announcements for Teams#

Viewing Announcements#

Teams access announcements from their Team Panel:

1. Log into the Team Panel
2. Click Announcements in the sidebar

A red badge on the navigation shows how many announcements require acknowledgment.

Announcements List#

The list shows:

• Star icon for pinned announcements
• Title and short description
• Status badge:
  • Info (blue) - No acknowledgment needed
  • Action Required (red) - Requires acknowledgment
  • Acknowledged (green) - Already acknowledged
• Published date

Announcements are sorted with pinned items first, then by date.

Reading an Announcement#

Click on any announcement to view:

• Full announcement content
• Publication date
• Acknowledgment deadline (if set)
• Current acknowledgment status

Acknowledging an Announcement#

If an announcement requires acknowledgment:

1. Open the announcement
2. Read the full content
3. Click the Acknowledge button
4. Confirm in the dialog

The status will change to "Acknowledged" and the organizer will be notified.

Overdue Acknowledgments#

If an acknowledgment deadline passes:

• The announcement shows an "Overdue" warning in red
• Teams can still acknowledge after the deadline
• The organizer can see that the acknowledgment was late

Best Practices for Teams#

Check Regularly

• Look for the red badge indicating unread announcements
• Check the dashboard for pending announcement alerts

Acknowledge Promptly

• Don't wait until the deadline
• Acknowledge as soon as you've read and understood the message

Read Carefully

• Full content may contain important details
• Links or attachments may be included

Dashboard Notifications#

Both the team dashboard and the main announcements page show alerts for:

• Announcements requiring acknowledgment
• Overdue acknowledgments

These reminders help teams stay on top of important communications.