Case Study: North American Bridge Championships

Jeff Johnston is a busy man. As the director of bridge operations in the meetings department for the American Contract Bridge League, he’s responsible for planning the organization’s three North American Bridge Championships each year. The ACBL recently wrapped up its spring championship in Reno, Nev., and he shared with us what he looks for in an event destination and how he handles a week of competition with more than 4,000 bridge players (including Bill Gates).

The event: From March 11-21, roughly 4,200 bridge players of all ages descended on Reno’s Grand Sierra Resort for the Spring 2010 North American Bridge Championships.

The plan: Provide enough space, light and food for thousands of bridge players. “We’ve been going to Reno every six years for as long as I can remember,” says Johnston. The Grand Sierra Resort has changed names and ownership since the first NABC in Reno in 1989, but the venue has everything Johnston needs: 1,200 rooms on peak night, 100,000 square feet of space, bright lighting (essential to play cards), cash concession services and late convention hours. “Very few of our high-level games begin before noon or finish before 11 at night,” he says. Some players appeal game results, and those appeals meetings sometimes start as late as 1 a.m. “Casinos are more flexible on hours,” he says.

The result: Players cruised through more than a week of competition without any major snafus. “The special challenge that I have is that the tournament is 10 days of bridge,” says Johnston. Add a board meeting, set-up and tear-down time, as well as pre- and post-convention planning, and Johnston needs two weeks of uninterrupted space and venue rental. The Grand Sierra accommodated all of Johnston’s requirements.

Bill Gates drops in for a photo op with young bridge players.

The special appearance: Microsoft founder Bill Gates dropped by to play for a few days, and not because Johnston paid him anything to make a feature appearance. “If we are close to his house or in a city with something Microsoft going on, we can count on him attending,” he says. “He plays for three or four days and plays for seven or eight hours a day. He blends right in to the crowd … It’s one of the few places he can go and just be one of the guys. The bridge players are much more concerned about their bridge game than the celebrity sitting across the table from them.”