5 steps to running your own Worlds viewing party

Worlds is coming up fast - with the first group stage game starting this week, now's the time to figure out how you're going to watch the action. If there’s one nearby, you could attend a viewing party. Or if not, you could run your own - you’d be surprised how easy it is. From living rooms to cinemas, here are the 5 main steps to run your own viewing party!

1. Invite your teammates

Do you want to meet new people or just hang out with some close friends? Deciding how big your event is going to be is your first step. A good way to source for numbers is to create an Event on Facebook. Advertise it in League of Legends interest groups, on your local comic book shop's bulletin board, or even just by messaging people on your friends list! Need a reminder of when the matches are? Check out the World Championship 2014 schedule here.

2. Choose your map

If more than 10 people have signed up, you might want to move your viewing party out of your living-room and to a more public place your guests can access. Try asking if you can run your event at locations like college campuses, bars, restaurants, PC cafes, comic book shops or cinemas. When choosing your venue, here are some of the key things you should make sure:

• Internet - Bring a laptop along in advance and test the connection to ensure it’s stable enough to run a high quality stream. It's also worthwhile to bring a back-up, like a WiFi dongle or a phone you can tether the connection to, just in case the internet drops out on the day.
• Screens - Check the quality of TV screens or projectors that are available in the venue. Confirm with your venue how many of their screens you can use - sometimes they might not have access to the video feeds of some of the screens. Finally, check that the audio is synced up with the video, and is loud and clear.
• Food and Drinks - Ask if guests can bring their own food, if you can order in or if your venue has refreshments available to purchase. If you want to drink alcohol while watching the games, check with the venue if this is okay.
• Opening Hours - If you're watching the Worlds games live this year, some of them are at unusual hours of the day (early starts for most of Europe!). Check with your venue how early you can get in to set up before the games start, and how late you can stay if your guests stick around to socialise after the games have finished.
• Capacity and Tickets - Confirm with the venue owners if there's a maximum capacity, as you don't want people turned away at the door if it's too full. Also, if you plan on selling tickets to offset the costs of running your party, find out if this is allowed and if your venue can provide on-door security to check tickets as people enter!

Once your venue is locked down, update your event and get your guests to RSVP. Now is also the perfect time to submit your event so we can show it on our Viewing Party Map!

3. Check your runes and masteries

Now that everything is organised, it's up to you to make your viewing party unique. Ask your guests what extra stuff they'd like to see or do at your viewing party. Here's some ideas for you to try:

• If your viewing party is at a restaurant or a bar, you can design a League of Legends themed menu by naming things that are currently on the menu after League of Legends items, characters or maps.
• Ask people to predict the winners of that day’s games, and reward the closest entrant with a mystery skin!
• Contact a local bakery to see if you can get a League of Legends themed cake or cupcakes made. Poros and Lulu cupcakes are pretty easy to do, see what else you can come up with too!
• Create some decorations or signage for your event - whether it's just A4 print outs of the schedule, advertisements for your next viewing party, or full colour standing banners of beautiful artwork - anything extra you add will make the event cooler for everyone who attends.

4. Start the game

It's the big day and you don't want people to just show up, watch the games and go home. You can try organising some extra activities to do pre- and post-match, for example:

• Watch the Road to Worlds documentary.
• Make a playlist of League of Legends YouTube videos to play in the background - take suggestions from your guests, or here's some of our own.
• Ice breaker activities - think of some activities to get people talking to each other, even if it's something as simple as name tags that have your summoner name, favourite champion or role on them.
• Pub quiz - make a League of Legends quiz to put people's knowledge to the test - Riot Navigator is infamous for his super difficult quizzes, covering topics like lore, champion titles and quotes, items, skills, and esports.
• Raffle - Get people to stick around to the end to take part in a raffle draw!
• Group photo - get everyone who attended together in a big group photo!

5. Victory!

Once your viewing party is over, send us pictures, videos, Vines and Tweets (#Worlds) and let us know how your event went! GLHF!