This is a week-by-week action plan from 90 days out to the post-event week. Use it as the timeline behind the interactive 90-day checklist. The work is real and specific — there's no week where nothing needs to happen.
Lock the format. Confirm the venue. File any required permits (IMPESCA or equivalent). Get the tournament website live with the registration page ready. Open registration with an announcement post. Start sponsor outreach. Begin judge recruitment. Confirm the prize and trophy budget. Confirm insurance.
This is the heaviest week of foundational work. Don't move past it until everything in this list is real, not in-progress.
Publish the rules document. Lock species, points, and scoring rules. Sponsor outreach should be producing first responses now — convert the warmest leads to confirmed agreements. Continue judge recruitment. Draft the captain briefing agenda. Confirm the ceremony venue.
Sponsors confirmed and placement agreements signed. Judges confirmed and training scheduled. Captain briefing pack drafted. The next 30 days will be operational rather than foundational — anything still open needs to close this week.
Review registration progress. Chase incomplete registrations. Confirm payment from registered captains. Finalize sponsor logos and placement specs. Schedule social media content for event week. Test the leaderboard URL on multiple devices and networks.
Close registration. Confirm all entry fees collected. Send captain briefing packages. Configure DockScore (or your platform) — scoring rules, species list, categories all verified live. Complete judge training. Test catch entry on the actual phones the judges will use. Publish the public leaderboard URL and share it. Upload sponsor logos to the platform (Pro). Schedule social media posts for event week.
Send any final reminder emails. Confirm catering, prize delivery, ceremony AV. Re-test the catch entry app and the leaderboard. Run a dry-run with judges if you haven't already. Confirm radio plan and assign channels.
Day 1: arrive on site. Set up dock stations. Final equipment check. Captain briefing the night before lines-in.
Tournament days: monitor jury queue. Walk the dock. Greet sponsors. Handle exceptions outside the system.
Final day: ceremony. Trophies, awards, Calcutta reveal if applicable. Final social posts as winners are announced.
Monday: lock final results. Export authority report (IMPESCA if required). Generate sponsor delivery report and email to every sponsor. Publish recap social post. Send captain thank-you with link to permanent results archive.
Rest of week: respond to sponsor follow-ups. Review what worked, what didn't. Start a "next year" notes document.
The interactive version of this timeline is at our 90-day checklist. Click items to mark them done — your progress is tracked per device. DockScore handles the operational pieces (registration, scoring, sponsor reports) so you can spend more weeks on the human work.
Get DockScore →The full organize a tournament guide covers the operational details behind each week. The interactive checklist is the work surface.