The Mid-Hudson Battle of the Books needs volunteers for the middle school and high school regional battles held at Columbia-Greene Community College in Hudson on Friday, Aug. 16 and Saturday, Aug. 17.
If you are interested in volunteering at high school battle on Friday, Aug. 16, please contact Rita Covelli (Mahopac) at rcovelli@mahopaclibrary.org.
If you are interested in volunteering at middle school battle on Saturday, Aug. 17, please contact Paul Murphy (Mahopac) at pmurphy@mahopaclibrary.org.
Volunteer Roles
The volunteer roles for both regional battles include:
- Master Scorekeeper
- Runners
- Emcee
- Judge
- Scorekeeper
- Buzzer/Timekeeper
Master Scorekeeper
Responsibilities include:
- Keeps track of scores on main scoreboard. Scores are brought to the Master Scorekeeper by runners.
Runners
Responsibilities include:
- Designated to a specific room by Master Scorekeeper. Gets score of previous game from buzzer/timekeeper in designated room
- Gives that information to the Master Scorekeeper.
Emcee
This is a senior volunteer position and has the following responsibilities:
- Checks the buzzer system at the beginning of each battle
- Makes sure the players’ numbers are clearly visible
- Reminds plays of the battle rules at the start of each round including:
- Players must wait to be acknowledged after buzzing in before speaking
- Shout-outs are not allowed
- Reads questions that have been given to them by the judge
- Acknowledges the team and specific player that buzzes in (i.e., Wappingers 2)
- Deems the answer to the question correct or incorrect
- Automatically repeats a question in full for the second team if the first team buzzed in before the entire question was read aloud but then answered incorrectly
- If both teams answer incorrectly, give the correct answer
- Declares the winner of the round
This role is typically combined with the judge role for the high school battle.
Judge
This is a senior volunteer position and has the following responsibilities:
- After checking to be sure the round number and envelop of questions match, give the questions to the emcee
- Keeps track of questions used, discarded, or substituted
- Keeps game moving in a timely manner
- Makes decisions on procedural challenges including any question of pronunciation
- Calls into question and deals with actions of emcee, scorekeeper, buzzer/timekeeper.
- In the event that a decision cannot be made by the judge, he/she will call on a member of the Executive Board to reach a decision.
- Keeps order in the designated room including audience, team members and coaches
- Stops play if necessary
- Well-versed in all six titles, brings copies of the books to the event
This role is typically combined with the emcee role for the high school battle.
Scorekeeper
Responsibilities include:
- Uses scoreboard to keep track of score for all games in designated room
- Makes sure the score is recorded by the buzzer/timekeeper before the board is cleared at the end of the game.
This role is typically combined with the buzzer/timekeeper role for the high school battle.
Buzzer/Timekeeper
Responsibilities include:
- Reset the buzzer system after a team member has been called on by the emcee.
- Keeps 10 second time for team to confer AFTER emcee acknowledges team member that has buzzed in
- Gives a loud 5 second warning by saying “FIVE”
- Announces when 10 seconds are up by saying “TEN”
- Records score of the games played in the room and gives win/loss to the runner for the main scoreboard.
This role is typically combined with the buzzer/timekeeper role for the high school battle.
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