Talking to entrants
PlayTour already writes to your entrants about anything that happens to their entry. You write the rest: the briefing, the parking instructions, the message that Saturday pools now start an hour later.
What PlayTour sends, and what you send
Read this first. Half the work clubs still do by hand is already done, and the other half only happens if you do it.
Sent for you, about an entry
- A teammate has been invited into a pair or a squad
- An entry has been confirmed
- An entry has gone onto the waiting list
- Somebody has moved up off the waiting list into a place
- An entry has been declined
- An entry has been cancelled by the organisers
- The organisers have changed something on an entry
- An entry has been handed over to somebody else
Sent for you, but by email only
- The playing schedule has been published after the draw
- The playing schedule has been recalculated
- A payment has come in
- A reminder to a squad that is still incomplete
- The weekly summary for your own committee
Yours to send
- Moving one match: tick "notify entrants" or nothing goes out
- Anything that is not about one entry: the briefing, the changing rooms, the parking
- The hall opens an hour later, finals day shifts, something has gone wrong
- Writing and publishing your rules and terms
- Uploading documents your entrants need
- Questions about the rules, the prizes and the catering
Somebody who withdraws themselves gets no confirmation message. That is deliberate: they have just done it.
Sending an announcement
Four steps, and the third one cannot be undone.
- 1
Choose who reads it
From the tournament, an announcement goes to everybody entered anywhere in it. From a category you can narrow it: that whole category, one stage, one pool, one pair or squad, or only the captains.
- 2
Write it
A subject of up to 150 characters and a message of up to 5000. Plain text, so no formatting and no images; what you type is exactly what lands in the inbox. The email goes out from a PlayTour address and in PlayTour styling, not from your club address. Write as though it will be read on a phone, because it will be: put the important thing in the first sentence, because that is what shows as the preview in the inbox. A subject like "Saturday: pools now start at 10:00 instead of 09:00" works better than "Important announcement".
- 3
Send
One press, and it goes out as email, as a message in the app and as a push notification to the phones that have it switched on. You do not pick those channels separately; it is all three at once. There is no draft, no option to send it later and no button to pull it back, so read it twice before you press send.
- 4
Check the count
After sending you see how many people received it. That number stays in the list of sent announcements, together with who sent it and when.
What an announcement looks like
One screen: choose who reads it, type what you have to say, send.
Who reads it is chosen at the top of the same form
You write the message in a single screen and pick there whether it goes to everybody in the tournament or to one category. The subject and the body are plain text, so what you type is exactly what lands in the mailbox.
- Everybody in the tournament, or one category
- Subject and message in the same form
- No formatting, so no surprises in the mail
Everything by subject
Announcements
How many announcements may I send in a day?+
There is a brake on it: five announcements per tournament per day. That is not an allowance to use up, it is a protection for the people on your entry list.
Who is on the recipient list, and how many people is that?+
Everybody with a live entry inside whatever you picked. Withdrawn, cancelled and declined entries drop out, and a draft does not count. Somebody entered three times in the same tournament gets it once. How many people that comes to only appears after sending, because there is deliberately no dry run beforehand and no list of names is kept: the platform records how many people received it, not who.
Can I write to one entrant?+
Not through announcements. The narrowest choice is one pair or squad. For a single person, use the contact details on the entry. Anything you change on an entry already writes to that entrant by itself.
Do entrants I typed in myself get it too?+
Only if they have a PlayTour account. Somebody you added as a guest without an account cannot be reached through announcements. Worth knowing if you have just typed a whole squad in from a paper form.
Can somebody opt out?+
Yes. Every entrant can tell a club they want no more announcements from it. Messages about their own entry keep coming, because those are about something they set in motion themselves.
What goes out to entrants
What goes out when I publish the playing schedule?+
An email to entrants with their matches. No push notification and no message in the app. So expect people to find it in their inbox, and add an announcement as well if it matters that everybody knows tonight.
And if I move one match?+
Nothing happens unless you say, while moving it, that entrants should be told. That tick box is off by default, so you can straighten out ten matches without waking the hall ten times. Do not forget it on the change that matters.
Who gets that message?+
Everybody with a live entry on both sides of that match. The opt-out does not apply here: this is about that person’s own match. The time in the message is on the venue clock.
Are entrants told when I rerun the planner?+
Yes, by email, the same as publishing. Matches the planner could not place are shown separately to you with the reason, so you can clear those first.
What does the push notification show on a lock screen?+
Only the tournament name and the reason. Never an amount, never another entrant name, and never the text of your announcement. Whoever wants to read it opens the app. A lock screen is public.
Your own rules and terms
How do I attach my terms to the entry?+
Per tournament you publish them one of two ways: paste the text in, or give an https address where they live. Entrants see them while entering and agree there.
What exactly is recorded?+
Which account agreed, to which version, and at what moment. Nothing else. No IP address and no browser details are stored: they prove nothing about who was behind the screen, and would only pile up more personal data.
How does the version number work?+
The first publication is version 1, and each one after that adds one. A published version is never edited. Publish the same text again and nothing changes, so the version stays as it was.
What happens to agreements when I change the terms?+
They stay attached to the version they were given for. Anybody agreeing afterwards is shown the new text first; the platform never lets somebody agree silently to something they have not read. So if you change the terms mid-entry, you know the older agreements are about the older text.
Can I see which version somebody saw?+
Yes. An agreement carries its version number and whether that is the current one. Old versions are not published as a list; the version somebody saw stays reachable through their own agreement.
Documents
What can I upload?+
PDF files, up to 10 MB each and no more than twenty per tournament. Each one gets a title, optionally a short description, and a place in the order they are shown.
Who may read it?+
You choose per document. "Public" is for anybody who can see the tournament, including somebody still deciding whether to enter: the entry regulations, the directions, the site map. "Entrants" is only for people holding a live entry: the briefing, the vouchers, the start list.
Can an outsider see the title of an entrants-only document?+
No. A document for entrants is absent from the list somebody outside sees, and cannot be fetched either. A title like "finals start list" sometimes gives away the whole thing, so it is not shown.
Can I replace a file?+
You can change the title, the description, the audience and the order. Not the file itself: for that you delete it and upload again. That way a link you have already shared cannot quietly start pointing at a different document.
Are entrants told about a new document?+
No. Uploading sends nothing. If you want people to know, send an announcement alongside it.
Next in the guide
Communication hangs off your entry list. That is where you see who is in, who has paid and who is still waiting for a place.