This article was machine-translated from the Japanese version.

Participated as a staff member on 8-9 December.

8 December

Met up at 9:00. Received my T-shirt and tag. We decided on our roles among the staff.

This year I was in the balloon team, blowing up balloons for the practice session. We prepared 60 balloons each for problems A to D, but about half were left over, which was a bit sad. However, since you can’t predict the difficulty beforehand—and if it’s too easy, everyone finishes them all in an instant—the preparation is necessary.

I think I was carrying balloons during the practice. I don’t have much memory of it already.

After the contestants left, we cleaned the desks and floors and set out the materials for day two. Dismissed around 18:00.

9 December

Met up at 8:00. Prepared the venue according to our roles from day one. I was helping set up the reception desk.

While the contestants were entering, I monitored the cloakroom queue. There weren’t many people ignoring the DO NOT PASS signs, so I was quite bored.

During the main event, I handed out balloons and printer paper and patrolled the venue. No major issues occurred.

After the contestants left, we cleared up the venue at high speed. We had to hurry because we needed to finish the Closing Party setup before the contestants returned from the other venue. Once finished, I headed to the other venue to watch the Yes/No guy.

Had some food at the Closing Party and was dismissed around 19:30.

Thoughts

  • Glad there were no major problems.
  • The venue wasn’t too big, which made getting around convenient.
  • If you can’t speak concise Japanese on a daily basis, you can’t speak concise English.
  • Making balloons is hard work.
  • Don’t forget to bring your T-shirt and tag on the second day (I almost did).

I’ll probably be there next year too. See you then.