Live Draft Day party at my place...HELP!

[1KCfanNVA 0]

So, I think getting the guys together for a live draft sounds like a blast. I see the commercials and read about how much fun a live draft can be and I think it looks and sounds like something everyone in my league would enjoy. So, I decided to tell the guys that's what we are doing this year and I am hosting. Now, I want to throw one heck of a draft day party and that's the problem. I don't know how to host a live draft day party. What all do I need? I checked out FanDraft.com and that looks really cool. I might go with that. I see and hear about home made draft boards but I'm nervous about doing that because I'm scared I will leave something important out and it would be rendered useless.

 

Please, give me some ideas and share your experiences with me so I can plan a great draft day party for my league. Thanks in advance for all your help.

[DeaLerZ 0]

So, I think getting the guys together for a live draft sounds like a blast. I see the commercials and read about how much fun a live draft can be and I think it looks and sounds like something everyone in my league would enjoy. So, I decided to tell the guys that's what we are doing this year and I am hosting. Now, I want to throw one heck of a draft day party and that's the problem. I don't know how to host a live draft day party. What all do I need? I checked out FanDraft.com and that looks really cool. I might go with that. I see and hear about home made draft boards but I'm nervous about doing that because I'm scared I will leave something important out and it would be rendered useless.

 

Please, give me some ideas and share your experiences with me so I can plan a great draft day party for my league. Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

BEER.... lots and lots of beer... and live nude women .... guarentee it will be the best Live Draft anyone has ever had... give everyone a party gift of 20 (ones) when they walk in the door too.... you can't beat T & A in your face, with a beer in one hand, and a roll of one's in the other hand while you pick your player... NOW thats a party hah

[1KCfanNVA 0]

BEER.... lots and lots of beer...

 

 

Yes, of coarse...I got the beer, wings, pizza and hot women to serve us all those great things...I need help on the actual steps of completing a successful draft...

[1KCfanNVA 0]

BEER.... lots and lots of beer... and live nude women .... guarentee it will be the best Live Draft anyone has ever had... give everyone a party gift of 20 (ones) when they walk in the door too.... you can't beat T & A in your face, with a beer in one hand, and a roll of one's in the other hand while you pick your player... NOW thats a party hah

 

 

haha...wow, you added to your original post...not sure the wife will go for the live nude women part...but, her and some of her friends (wives and girlfriends of other members of the league) have agreed to serve us for the night...

[WhiteWonder 2,172]

large piece of poster board, hung up on a wall, divided up into a spreadsheet with X rows and X columns depending on how many teams and rounds are in your league. Don't forget to have one extra row and column for team names and round number. As host you should probably be the designated draft board guy, standing up there writing all the picks as they are made. For the extra yard, use a different color sharpie depending on position to make it easy for others to see what teams have how many QB's, RB's, WR's etc.... (tho they should be keeping track of this on their own right?)

 

to be extra awesome, set up a spreadsheet on excel on a laptop and grab a comp a/v cable and project it onto a big screen TV. Same exact concept but you get bonus points for being high tech and its easier than hand writing all the names. Only downside to this is not being able to have something football related playing on TV while drafting. Unless you have multiple TV's in the room.

 

- also should have a stopwatch or something if you have a pick time limit set

 

- if the draft lottery has not happened yet, have a bowl full of names (pieces of paper, ping ping balls or whatever) ready to go and do the lottery 20-30 min before the draft kicks off.

 

- get all the food and beer into the draft room so people don;t have to leave the room unless they gotta pee. A cooler for the beer should work and a table with all the food on it.

[The Next Generation 10]

A draft board is fun because it requires a guy to actually go up and post his pick. But, it does make the draft last a little longer. Maybe play some Texas Hold-em afterward. Other than that, you sound like you've got it covered.

[DeaLerZ 0]

Yes, of coarse...I got the beer, wings, pizza and hot women to serve us all those great things...I need help on the actual steps of completing a successful draft...

 

1.get a big billboard from Staples... get the black thin tape to make the columns and rows necessary for the amount of teams/rounds in your league....

 

2.Have one of your hot lady friends be the person who keeps the draft rolling so that such distractions as laughter and drunkness don't delay the draft from taking extremely too long.. if their eyes are focused on T & A at the front of the room by the draft board they can't get too distracted...

 

3.If someone gets pissed at another player for taking the one they wanted.. allow them to fight it out for that player, or arm wrestle barring the amount of square feet in your house.. violence is always the best solution

 

4.if anyone wants to trade draft picks.. make sure all pick changes are done prior to the draft

 

5.give everyone a fair amount of time... like 5:00 on the stop watch to pick their player... some people don't like all eyes watching them... usually the nerdier ones and they will buckle under the pressure... FAIRNESS is the key

 

6.if you have a guy that keeps trying to distract another person from being able to make the best possible choice.. like making squacking remarks everytime that person comes up... give him a "SHUT UP" warning, and if that doesn't work... see #3 for violence is the best solution.. a punch in the face might work to keep things rolling smoothly

 

7. Have another hot lady friend bring around a portable urinal since there will be a lot of beer drinking going on.. nobody wants to have to get up to use the restroom during such a stressful time.... "NOTE" this same hot lady friend can also bring Snacks aka (Doritos, Celery and Ranch is lovely, and a possible BJ while assisting your guests with their food requirements)... if some guests are shy.. give them a mini table with the appropriate table cloth so that the lady may get on her knees under the table so that guest will not feel like everyone in the room is watching them get off

 

7a. *VERY IMPORTANT* have a urinal anywhere in the room with a pipe that goes outside and drains to the grass... NO ONE and I MEAN NO ONE is allowed to leave the room during these precious 2 hours.. MAKE THAT A RULE... often collusion occurs in the bathroom or the kitchen area if you allow this to happen.. *VERY IMPORTANT*

 

8. Finally Make Sure.. that you yourself appear to be the most drunk out of anyone... Others will follow suit.. thus giving you the chance for a clean sweep in the draft while others are too busy thinking about T & A, Getting BJ's under the table, or pissing in the variety of urinals you have set up in your room...

 

IF you follow these instructions... YOUR GUARENTEED TO HAVE ONE HELL OF A SUCCESSFUL LIVE DRAFT

[cyclone24 1,814]

Definitely beer......we usually will grab a stripper as our sticker girl (hey....i know a couple....might as well use em)

 

This year....there is a slight chance im getting Shawn Johnson as our sticker girl....haha.....i dont beleive we'll have her strip.

[shutdown 40]

So, I think getting the guys together for a live draft sounds like a blast. I see the commercials and read about how much fun a live draft can be and I think it looks and sounds like something everyone in my league would enjoy. So, I decided to tell the guys that's what we are doing this year and I am hosting. Now, I want to throw one heck of a draft day party and that's the problem. I don't know how to host a live draft day party. What all do I need? I checked out FanDraft.com and that looks really cool. I might go with that. I see and hear about home made draft boards but I'm nervous about doing that because I'm scared I will leave something important out and it would be rendered useless.

 

Please, give me some ideas and share your experiences with me so I can plan a great draft day party for my league. Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

I did this for several years before we moved it to a local pub. It is a blast. I had a few things I did to try to get everything set up so there were no hang ups.

 

1) Draft Board is very helpful. If need be you can make one yourself with large paper and computer printed labels. The board itself is just a grid of teams and rounds. Since I use CBS, I get their draft kit that has all that but they are easy to make. If you make it yourself, buy different colored labels for each position and have some blanks and a marker on standby for when some drafts a player you don't have a label for.

 

2) Food- you provide the main course (we've done BBQ, wings, etc) and have others bring side items. Heve everything out prior to the draft and then schedule a 15 minute break in the middle of your draft for guys to re-load.

 

3) Drinks - easiest is to let everyone bring their own so they can have their coolers at their feet while they draft

 

4) Sticker Girl - Find a female friend or girlfriend to run your draft board. Give her free food and drinks for her time. This gives you more time to focus on your draft and may distract some of your competition.

 

5) Timer - Because these things are fun and generate a lot of smack talk its easy to lose track of time during picks. Have someone responsible for this. You don't have to be a nazi about it, but its a good idea to keep picks on a time limit and warn the owner as they approach the limit. It keeps your draft moving.

 

6) Review draft rules prior to the draft. If you've got any special rules about positions limits or something like that, go over it with your league before you start drafting.

[1KCfanNVA 0]

Thanks for all the responses...I am starting to feel a little more like I can pull this off...Please, keep the ideas and past experiences coming...

[Phurfur 70]

This is a word of advice about serving alcohol. I would advise having everyone bring their own drinks. We have done this for years and everyone understands why. Depending on where you live, if you over serve a guest and they get in an accident or in trouble you can be held liable. I would also let everyone know that they are welcome to drink as much as they want but if they get drunk they will be sleeping on your couch or taking a cab home. Bad things happen when people drink and drive so I would have an alternate plan. Would one of the wives want to be the DD?

[The Next Generation 10]

Would one of the wives want to be the DD?

 

Why, you offering to pay for them with your fantasy football winnings or something? HEY NOW!

[Turf CamelToe 1]

Shots & after draft yeyo

[Chad32676 0]

Thanks for all the responses...I am starting to feel a little more like I can pull this off...Please, keep the ideas and past experiences coming...

 

 

1. Buy a draft board, too much work to make one. Draftbboard.com

 

2. I use a bingo timbler to pick numbers, some use cards, dice, etc.

 

3. Get a draft clock. Find a cheap one or go to commishkit.com

 

4. Food, set a break time to eat and regroup.

 

5. Constiution: Type up your league rules and point system, add to eachyear as problems arise, becuase they will.

 

6. Beer, let everyone else get drunk though. 1 or 2 guys will mess up.

 

7. Tables and chairs for everyone to sit.

 

Run a good draft and league, because everyone talks about how it goes.

[9-Route 0]

the live draft i attended:

 

festivities: most people brought a medium food item/heavy appetizer type food [wings, tenders, quiches, shrimp, even sushi], while the host handled the drinks [beer, soda, liquor] and main dish foods ie brisket, jambalaya, wraps. we took a semi-official 5min break every few rds to get a reload and what not, but people free flowed during the auction [draft area was within reach of kithcen/dining room, so u could participate/bid.]

 

draft: draft boards look neat, but seem outdated. everyone is on computer now, and its handy, esp if u do an auction. we had a projector linked to a laptop, where we put the master spreadsheet onto a wall, showing the entire draftboard, teams, dollars spent and remaining, and even an internet link to open player stats/info.

[Phurfur 70]

Why, you offering to pay for them with your fantasy football winnings or something? HEY NOW!

 

Sorry this one went right past me?????

[Evil Genius 0]

I prefer to not have the food thing for the Draft - I save it for the Mid-Season and SuperBowl parties.

 

Food distracts from the task at hand. Conversely, the purpose of the parties is to eat and drink and be merry. If they bring beer, it's BYOB. Clean out your fridge so you have room for their brews. If they must eat, chips and snacks only, or order Pizza after.

 

This year, we are doing the first League Draft at a Bar, but for years as the Commish I have hosted:

 

0) If you can, schedule the Draft for a Friday night - everyone will be more likely to want to party afterwards. Make sure you clean-up the joint a bit first - have some freakin' pride.

 

1) Get a big draft board. If you're on CBS, they send you one. If not, you can get 1" grid paper at Staples - works great.

 

2) Get a buddy's girlfriend (not your OWN) to be Vanna White and do the board. If you have to run it, it undermines your own drafting efforts. If Vanna is assertive, she can run your draft clock too - better to have her call the warnings for 'Time' than you. Nobody busts her a$$, whereas you can get accused of being a goof. Make sure you have a clear time limit for picks, and tell her she's not being a b1tch to call 'Time' - she's helping out the integrity of the League, is the way I usually phrase it. Sounds authoritative. Give her something for her efforts - usually I get her a nice bottle of wine.

 

3) Get some Index cards (for Draft cards) and write down the position requirements and Owner's first name on each. Before you draft, have them put their last name, phone#, e-mail address on it. When you collect their Entry Fees, mark 'Paid' on their Draft card. You will need pencils and chairs. Keep those Draft cards afterwards, and put them somewhere safe. You can drink the rest of the night and input the rosters the next day.

 

4) Discuss any changes to rules and scoring, payouts, BEFORE you start drafting. Afterwards is a bad time.

 

5) Take a break every 1/3 to 1/4 of the Draft to allow for washroom breaks. And beer refills.

 

6) If a guy gets 'Time' called on him, let the pick slide to the next man, then back to the guy who got called. He won't mess up again, I tell you that. Happens once per Draft only, usually, policed only from the ridicule.

 

7) Add 30 seconds extra for each pick in the back half of the Draft, when the talent is running thin. We usually run 90 seconds, then 2 minutes. Works fine. Guys should be in the Game and ready to pick.

 

8) If it's an auction, we have a rule that governs time: any Owner can call 'Going Once...Going Twice' to attempt to end the bidding once it stalls. The rule is if that you call 'Going Once...' you may no longer bid. The bidding polices itself - works excellent and keeps it crisp. Have your Vanna White write down the values paid, and have another guy track the values on a Laptop at the same time - if there is a discrepancy, you have the draft card, the Board and the Laptop to cross-reference. One dollar can make a huge difference!

 

9) Get some Taxi's or a DD and get the party gone from your house once the draft is complete. Have fun.

[RamslovaMartzhata 3]

As someone who has hosted and commished a league several times... I can say with great conviction all you have to do is get people there. The beer, food and entertainment will work itself out. We normally just say bring your own beer, and we'll order pizzas.

 

It's the friends and football that make the draft fun... not other things.

 

 

Breasts never hurts anything though. Well except some marriages.

[skittles 0]

I'll be hosting our draft here shortly, and our setup will be as follows:

 

No food. You want food? Bring it. This is about football, and drafting. I don't need your greasy ass hands smearing up everything in my living room anyway.

 

Draft Board. We used to be with CBS, and used their rinky dink Draft Board and 2 inch stickers. One year, they lost the draft board in the mail, so we were forced to improvise. Now that we're on MFL, no more free draft board, so we made our own. I got an 8 foot x 4 foot piece of styrofoam insulation, just under an inch thick. Its very light, easy to mount on the wall, and shows off beautifully in the room. We drew our grids on there, don't forget to measure and add at least an extra space for Round Number and Team Name (i.e., our draft is 12 teams, 20 rounds, so we made space for 12.5 x axis, and 21 y axis.) Each team walks up to the board and writes in their own pick (each position has a specific colored marker). Everybody loves the interactivity of "posting" their pick, without rifling through stickers.

 

Online Drafters. On the opposite of the draft board, I have a flat screen TV that will be hooked up to the "commish computer". This will show the online draft room, where we will have 3 of our out-of-state owners drafting from. This makes it easy, so everybody can see their picks without someone having to broadcast it to the room. We are toying with the idea of having a webcam in the live room, and also the 3 out of town owners on webcam, but we'll probably start drinking beer and say ###### it.

 

Plenty of Outlets. Our league will have probably 8 owners using their laptops either for cheatsheets or just general info. Make sure you have plenty of available outlets, extension cords, or power strips, if this is the case. Oh, and obviously, wireless internet.

 

And thats about it. I know I'm a bit lame on the side of no food, no crazy beer special, and no half-naked chicks....but we're here for football.

[lindust20 2]

Our draft day just consists of beer, chips and a huge a$$ draft board that has our name at the top in order of picks then round on the left side with lines between them. pretty simple, just writes down the last name, team, and position....easy as that....even without the chicks we have a blast and take an occasional p!ss break in between a few rounds.

 

also usually we all bring our own beer and a few of us will buy chips since the host should just have chairs and tables available.

[cooolbreeze 0]

As someone who has hosted and commished a league several times... I can say with great conviction all you have to do is get people there. The beer, food and entertainment will work itself out. We normally just say bring your own beer, and we'll order pizzas.

 

It's the friends and football that make the draft fun... not other things.

Breasts never hurts anything though. Well except some marriages.

 

 

Here is your answer...don't over think it. A draft poster board is nice but, these days everyone has a laptop with them. The best thing to do would be to hook up a laptop to the tv, if you don't have the connection buy it at radio shack.

[lindust20 2]

these days everyone has a laptop with them.

 

no they don't...some of us are broke college graduates who can't find a job.

[Phurfur 70]

no they don't...some of us are broke college graduates who can't find a job.

 

How did you get through school without a laptop?

[Dug565 0]

Online Drafters. On the opposite of the draft board, I have a flat screen TV that will be hooked up to the "commish computer". This will show the online draft room, where we will have 3 of our out-of-state owners drafting from.

 

Skittles, just wondering how you do that... does the commish control the other 9 players? What site are you using? Interested as we will have some online drafters this year.

[remote controller 133]

A draft board is fun because it requires a guy to actually go up and post his pick.

You have a Beer Wench do the posting of the pick!!!

[The Next Generation 10]

You have a Beer Wench do the posting of the pick!!!

 

Sure you do...

[skittles 0]

Skittles, just wondering how you do that... does the commish control the other 9 players? What site are you using? Interested as we will have some online drafters this year

 

We're using MFL where the Live Draft Room allows the commissioner to pick for any owner. So for any player who is live in my house, I'll post their pick on the Live Draft Room as they post it on the Draft Board. That allows the 3 owners online to see it, and be able to keep up with what is going on. Also allows the people live at my house to watch as the Online Owners post their pick.

[lindust20 2]

How did you get through school without a laptop?

 

My desktop in my room, the one in the living room that connected to everywhere else on campus and the library. computer.

[WhiteWonder 2,172]

Who the hell doesn't have food at a draft party? Gald I'm not in your leagues.

 

Gotta do it right.. football and drafting is the main draw but who doesn't feed guests? At the very least provide one type of food and have every owner contribute something even if its just a bag of chips.

 

If you invited buddies over to watch a game, would you just sit there and not eat?

[Phurfur 70]

My desktop in my room, the one in the living room that connected to everywhere else on campus and the library. computer.

 

opps, you should have bought a laptop instead of a desk top.

[PackYourNut 47]

Shots & after draft yeyo

 

 

After? During makes people pick quicker.... lol

[Evil Genius 0]

Who the hell doesn't have food at a draft party? Gald I'm not in your leagues.

 

Gotta do it right.. football and drafting is the main draw but who doesn't feed guests? At the very least provide one type of food and have every owner contribute something even if its just a bag of chips.

 

If you invited buddies over to watch a game, would you just sit there and not eat?

 

 

Somebody's in a mood.

 

Feed them if you want, let them bring food if you want.

 

As for myself, I feed these lazy ba$tards steak and ribs twice a year as it is.

 

For the draft: let them eat cake

[R8RMick 242]

So, I think getting the guys together for a live draft sounds like a blast. I see the commercials and read about how much fun a live draft can be and I think it looks and sounds like something everyone in my league would enjoy. So, I decided to tell the guys that's what we are doing this year and I am hosting. Now, I want to throw one heck of a draft day party and that's the problem. I don't know how to host a live draft day party. What all do I need? I checked out FanDraft.com and that looks really cool. I might go with that. I see and hear about home made draft boards but I'm nervous about doing that because I'm scared I will leave something important out and it would be rendered useless.

 

Please, give me some ideas and share your experiences with me so I can plan a great draft day party for my league. Thanks in advance for all your help.

 

 

Parties are fun, but auction drafts can be lengthy... I have a pool and cabana in my backyard. We'd get beer, use the wireless, wifey would make snacks, we'd have a blast and everybody would get home around 11:00pm...

 

After a couple years of this we now go old school. Spartan tables and chairs in a meeting room at work, and we've cut hours off the process.

[lindust20 2]

opps, you should have bought a laptop instead of a desk top.

 

I had the desktop well before i decided to go to college

[akareckas 0]

MacGregor found this site: www.btfsports.com

 

Offers a device that connects to hand held devices for auction bidding and interacts with software usable over hte internet. Pretty cool.

 

If it's not an auction, I'd go with the Draft Buddy via laptop hooked up to an In Focus projector and MSN Messenger for the stragglers. Surely one of you has a laptop and a job that allows you access to a projector. This is way easier than some manual draft board.

[WhiteWonder 2,172]

Somebody's in a mood.

 

Feed them if you want, let them bring food if you want.

 

As for myself, I feed these lazy ba$tards steak and ribs twice a year as it is.

 

For the draft: let them eat cake

 

not in a mood I just think it's lame to have people to your place for a fantasy football draft (what we would all consider a big event) and not have food and drinks.

 

Im not saying the host has to buy everything, all owners can coordinate on what to bring. But some people in this thread were saying no food at all because the point of being there is football....

 

thats why I asked if you had friends over to watch a game would you not be allowed to eat or drink because the point of being there is football?

[Phurfur 70]

not in a mood I just think it's lame to have people to your place for a fantasy football draft (what we would all consider a big event) and not have food and drinks.

 

Im not saying the host has to buy everything, all owners can coordinate on what to bring. But some people in this thread were saying no food at all because the point of being there is football....

 

thats why I asked if you had friends over to watch a game would you not be allowed to eat or drink because the point of being there is football?

 

Do guys do this now? Everyone I know would rather buy it all rather than coordinate who brings what.

 

Maybe we’re just lazy?

[Evil Genius 0]

not in a mood I just think it's lame to have people to your place for a fantasy football draft (what we would all consider a big event) and not have food and drinks.

 

Im not saying the host has to buy everything, all owners can coordinate on what to bring. But some people in this thread were saying no food at all because the point of being there is football....

 

thats why I asked if you had friends over to watch a game would you not be allowed to eat or drink because the point of being there is football?

 

 

You are missing the point entirely...

 

The Draft is about the drafting of rosters. Parties are about the consuming of food and appropriate beverages. I have one draft and two parties per League. That should explain my hosting priorities well enough...

 

At the Draft, if somebody feels the need to eat whatever, I don't hold him back. But I do not entertain with food at these events. In fact, I find food a distracting bad idea - like a TV, or music on in the background.

 

Maybe your buddies use the Draft as an excuse to have a pot luck, talk about decorating, do your nails or whatever - we use it to have a few beers, talk football and draft teams. Afterwards we eat if we're hungry, and drink if we're thirsty. Whether you like it or not, this is my advice to anyone else hosting a Draft:

 

Draft first, eat later.

 

Enough said.

[Spec7ral 6]

A few of these are spot on. I've hosted both of our drafts. A few pointers:

 

Make sure people know to be punctual. Last year we had one over webcam, one over phone, so if you are cuaght up in that, try to have someone around (preferably not doing any drafting) to update them on a spreadsheet or over phone/comp to keep things moving at an acceptable speed.

 

Cooler is a definite must to keep people from running around too much.

 

Smoke breaks may have to be worked out depending on if your friends smoke or if you allow it in your residence. Same thing for weed breaks etc...

 

Keep in mind for these types of breaks, the first couple rounds fly by, then the later ones slow right down. More breaks later on, you probably won't need one for the first 3 or four rounds at least.

 

If you are using a whiteboard with dry erase (which I would recommend) get different colours for different positions so people can more easily read their teams. Although at least a couple people will totally disregard the colour coding due to inebriation.

 

Put out some pretzels. People will get drunker and you can get some sneakeier late round picks

 

It's probably the last time you've all been together since last draft (I am good friends with all the people in mine and I know it will be for me) so be sure to re-announce the winners and present any trophies or loser gifts etc... (Maybe get a tampon for last years loser)

 

But really it is just about getting everyone together and drafting your teams. Some beer, some smack talk, food as necessary... AND SOME YAY-YO to finish it all up! That'll really get ya sitting around talking about everyone's teams

 

Have fun!

[DC 9]

haha...wow, you added to your original post...not sure the wife will go for the live nude women part...but, her and some of her friends (wives and girlfriends of other members of the league) have agreed to serve us for the night...

 

BJ's between rounds?