Tabtastic is designed to be as easy as possible for convenors to get started with, this page will take you through the initial setup using the Tournament Creator, and then the additional pages explain specific features, how they are setup and how they can be used. This page assumes you have a tab site setup, and have also created a Discord server for your tournament. If you haven’t created a Discord server yet, you can use our tried and tested template here.
Commands should all be used inside of a tournament Discord server, so that Tabtastic knows which tournament you want to manage.
The first step is to log into the Tabtastic Dashboard using your Discord account, and click the create new tournament option. This will open up the Tournament Creator, which will walk you through the 6 steps of creating your tournament, explaining each option along the way. First, click the “Add Bot to Discord” button, which will redirect to Discord asking you which server you’d like to use. Once you’ve added the bot to the server, Tabtastic will try to set some sensible defaults for the options, based on your Discord server’s name, icon, roles and channels. Proceed with each step, and then make sure everything is correct at the end before creating the tournament.
If you plan to use Google Meet or Discord for debates, you don’t need to add any buildings. If you plan to use Zoom, you should read the Buildings page for more information.
After setup, you’ll be returned to the dashboard and your tournament will be visible. Now, you may want to look at some of the additional settings Tabtastic allows you to configure in the Tournament Manager by selecting your new tournament. The Tournament Manager is divided into different sections, each of which has explanatory tooltips, and most have a section in the side bar for more information.
Tabtastic supports two different modes of registration, Tabtastic’s integrated pre-reg system AutoReg and manual registration using existing tab data. Tabtastic also provides commands to easily manage registration which you can read about on the Registration page.
AutoReg combines pre-reg, tab importing, Discord invites and speaker categories into a single easy form. The AutoReg link can be sent to participants who fill out the form with their information, and are then added to the tab, added to your Discord server and linked to Tabtastic, all in one go. This takes a lot of the work out of managing pre-reg, but still allows you to easily manage participant data using the Participant Manager. If you plan to use AutoReg, you need to add institutions and speaker categories (if required) to your tab first, and then once they are all in, run /update on your Discord server. Now simply copy the AutoReg link from the top of the page and distribute it to your participants, and you are good to go. You can also set descriptions for your speaker categories in the Allocation tab of the Tournament Manager.
You can learn more about AutoReg on the AutoReg page.
If you are using a manual pre-reg system, such as Google Forms, your participants will need to register when they join the tournament’s Discord server. They can do this by typing /link <email> (e.g. /link [email protected]) in any channel in your Discord server. You will also need to manage importing data into the tab yourself, and you will have to run /update on your Discord server each time you edit the tab, as well as after you’ve added the bot, to update the participant data.
Without a plan, only organisers will be able to run setup commands in your Discord server, and AutoReg won’t allow registrations. To enable participant functionality, you’ll need to upgrade to a full Tabtastic plan. You can learn more about the plans on the Tabtastic homepage. When you’re ready to upgrade your tournament, go to the Details section of the Tournament Manager, and select the Upgrade button, next to the No Plan text. You can also upgrade from one plan to another later, only paying the difference in the two plans. If the provided payment methods won’t work for you, you can reach out to us directly on Discord for alternative payment methods.
At this stage, your competition has been setup, confirmed and is ready to go, however Tabtastic has many features which can be configured to suit different tournaments. You can learn more about these features and options on the various pages in the sidebar. Reading the pages for the features you plan to use, as well as for the debate platform you plan to use is a good idea to get the most out of Tabtastic. Most pages are quite short, and give you all the necessary information for a feature.
There’s also a Typical Round guide which takes you through running a round with Tabtastic, and also links to relevant pages along the way.
We also provide documentation for participants in the Participant Guide and Judge Guide, and a Command Reference quickly detailing the commands available in a short table.