20for20: Joel Gluskin

Joel Gluskin

Joel Gluskin is NAQT’s Vice President of Logistics. His logistical prowess inspired the Chuck Norris Facts parody account @GluskinFacts. A refined products trader at Shell, Joel lives with his wife, Talya, in Houston.

How did you get involved with quiz bowl?
I first became involved with quiz bowl during my freshman year of high school at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois. My chemistry teacher was the coach of our freshman/sophomore team so some friends and I went to the meeting because he was our favorite teacher and we enjoyed trivia. After one or two practices, I was hooked. Mr. K. actually died this March, so I want to thank him for getting me involved with quiz bowl…I wouldn't be here today without him.
What was your playing career like?
My favorite quiz bowl memory was winning the IHSA state championship my senior year of high school (the first in Stevenson's history). At that time, Illinois high school quiz bowl was a single-elimination tournament. We beat two of the top four teams in the state (New Trier, Loyola, IMSA, and Streator) to make it to the state championship tournament and then other two in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Four of the five players on that team came in as freshmen together and we were great friends and teammates. Three of us ended up going to Wash U together and playing throughout college.
In college, I moved more from the playing side to more of the admin side of the Wash U club. I do remember a “welcome to college quiz bowl moment” playing against Andrew Yaphe and Chicago in my first college tournament. I was never really the best quiz bowl player; I only played in one ICT [2003] at Wash U, so my other favorite memories involve all the friendships I made throughout quiz bowl. It's fun to look on Facebook and realize that I know people in all areas of the country and I love having a reunion with everyone every spring at the national championships. Just this February, I joined many other Wash U Academic Team alumni returning to St. Louis to staff the 20th iteration of our high school academic challenge.
How did you get involved with NAQT?
We hosted a few NAQT tournaments while I was at Washington University in St. Louis plus the 2001 ICT, but my senior year, we were again the campus host for the ICT. I served as the host contact for that tournament and worked very closely with Matt Bruce on the logistics for that event and then continued to help him with ICT and HSNCT logistics. Eventually I became a logistics director.
How did you make the transition from local tournament director and NAQT staff member to logistics director, then VP of Logistics?
Matt Bruce pulled me into the planning side of tournaments after I helped with the ICT at Wash U. At that time, there were only two championships a year, which seems almost easy at this point (it definitely wasn't then). A couple of years later, I took over the planning of tournaments and then eventually, the logistics of our events became so big and complicated that it was no longer feasible for one person to handle the logistics at every event. The membership decided to make VP of Logistics an officer-level position and I was elected to that role.
What does being the VP of Logistics entail?
As the VP of Logistics, I, along with my team, am responsible for all the event planning that takes place before, during, and after the tournament. We recruit and train staff, handle all room setup and planning with the hotel, assign staff to their roles during the tournament, run staff meetings, create all tournament documents, and generally focus on ways to improve the experience of the event for the participants and volunteers. For example, I was the one who first introduced the large, printable bracket that now gets filled out every playoffs at national championships. I'm also currently behind our efforts to give coffee vouchers to staff, increase the recognition our staff receive, and try to create social activities for staff at our tournaments.
What was your experience with your first HSNCT like?
The first HSNCT I staffed was in 2004 in Houston. It was the first time I had ever been to Houston. I remember being picked up at the airport by a staff member who had my name on a placard since we had never met before. I remember rooming with Steve Frappier and reading the playoffs with Ken Mitchell, two of my teammates at Wash U. The tournament seemed huge to me at the time, but looking back on it, it was only 64 teams!
What did you think the HSNCT was going to be like [today] when you signed on to be the Logistics Director?
I don't really have a great answer to this question because the first HSNCT I was solo logistics director for had 128 teams. Every time we try to expand the tournament, I'm usually the one who tries to slow down the process. Can we really find that many staff? Can we really staff that many rooms? The answer has always been yes. I certainly didn't foresee a tournament where we would have to split the field for prelims, but this is a new format that will allow HSNCT to continue to grow and expand.
What part of your involvement with the HSNCT do you wish more people knew about?
I wish everyone knew how hard all the behind-the-scenes logistics team members work to make sure that all tournament participants have a great time and that the event runs smoothly. The events only succeed due to the amount of time we spend planning and thinking of contingencies. By now, we've got a pretty good toolkit for how to get the event back on track when things look like they could fly off the rails. Within days after the tournaments, we're already jotting down things that we could improve to make every tournament better than the one before.
What do you think the HSNCT is going to look like 20 years from now?
I hope there's a team representing every state at HSNCT. I also think the tournament will continue to grow, but we may have to have regional competitions before the main event. I don't foresee planning a 2,000-team event in one weekend! I also think technology will play more of a role in the administration of the event. I'm all for reducing some of the manual labor behind the event so we can focus more on enhancing the experience for the players and coaches.
What is your favorite thing to do at the HSNCT?
My favorite thing to do at the HSNCT is actually nothing. I know that's going to sound like a weird answer, but if our preparation for the tournament is done well and the tournament is running smoothly, then, as a tournament planner, there's not much for me to do. I enjoy talking to the staff I've known for years between game rounds and going to meet teams in the hallway to make sure they're having a good time at the tournament. If I'm running around like a crazy person, that probably means we're trying to put out a fire.
What do you like to do at other NAQT national championships?
Nathan Murphy and I are lucky to be fans of some rather successful hockey teams over the last several years (the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks, respectively). Running national championships are very stressful for us, but about once a year, one of our teams have a game on a Saturday night during one championship. I always enjoy throwing a small pizza party where we watch our hockey team. In 2015, I got to be in Chicago (at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare) and watch the Blackhawks win Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals…two weeks later, I was back at the same hotel the night after I got married, and I watched the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup.
What's your favorite memory?
It's hard for me to have a favorite memory from the HSNCT because the only games I've seen in the last 12 years at HSNCT have been games I've read to help get the tournament back on track. That said, my favorite moments involve annual reunions with my teammates from Wash U and other friends from around the country that I only see a couple times a year. In terms of the teams, one of my favorite memories involves the coach of a team that finished 2–8 coming up to me and telling me how much fun her team had and how much they were looking forward to studying and coming back the next year. We expect a top-ten team to have enjoyed the tournament, but to see a team that didn't do particularly well rave about their experience was really special.
I also love our time at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare. When we had the HSNCT at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare one year, I was riding in the elevator with the hotel's meeting planner taking a tour. The elevator stopped and Ken Jennings got on the elevator. When we got off and Ken had walked away, the meeting planner turned to me and said: "He looks familiar…how do I know him?" I got to tell her that was Ken Jennings, who won 74 games on Jeopardy!, and he was a member of NAQT. I've also directed pilots around the Hyatt Regency O'Hare because I know that hotel so well!
What advice do you want to share with players?
Above all, have fun and remember quiz bowl is just a game. I wasn't the best player, but I continued to stay involved with quiz bowl because I enjoyed learning and I enjoyed the friendships I made. You don't have to be the best player in the country to find little things to work on if you want to improve your game…if you dedicate yourself to it, you will see progress (compete against yourself, not the competition). As for friendships, one of my high school and college teammates was recently a groomsmen in my wedding.
Also, listen to your coaches. My high school coach would recognize things that came up in questions that we missed over and over and he created study guides for us to learn from. A few of these things came up in our 2000 run to the state championship and almost 20 years later, I can still tell you the Mohs hardness scale.
What about with the coaches?
Above all, let your players have fun (sound familiar?), set reasonable goals for them, and push them to be the best players they can be. Many of the skills you teach them will be valuable life skills. As far as it comes to my job as logistics director, please remember that the staff members at our national championships are all volunteers who are giving up their weekends to let you and your players participate in an activity that everyone loves. People are going to make mistakes because they're human but please don't compound their errors by yelling at them or making them feel horrible (trust me, when I talk to them, I can tell you that they already feel horrible).
What are your hopes for the HSNCT this year?
Big picture, my hopes are the same as every other year. I hope no one reads to the wrong set of cards/teams, everyone has fun, and that we crown a worthy champion at the end of the event. I am a little more apprehensive about this year because this will be the first year of our new preliminary format and there are several additional moving parts to get right this year and which we have no experience with. I'm confident we will have no problem rising to the challenge.
Any last thoughts?
I want to thank everyone who has staffed a national championship over the years; our tournaments could not and would not be successful without all of your efforts.
I want to thank all the hotel meeting planners that we have had the pleasure to work with throughout the years, but especially Alyssa Malamos at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare. We've been working with Alyssa since 2012 for multiple events every season and it's extremely easy for us to run tournaments at the HRO because of all the help and support we get from Alyssa.
Also, thanks to the creators of @GluskinFacts. Follow them on Twitter for some laughs at the HSNCT.

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