Month: February 2017

One of the hardest-working tournament organizers in the FGC is Alex Jebailey from Orlando. Having started CEO from the humble origins of salvaging a cancelled event in 2010, it has since grown into one of the largest fighting game events in the world, and has given Jebailey more responsibilities within the community.

While he was at Frosty Faustings IX, I was able to sit down and talk to him about the events, as well as his support of the scene.

Corey “Missing Person” Lanier: Alex, you have a lot going on now. You not only have CEO to worry about, but you have three events to plan for. How are you doing juggling these three events?

Alex Jebailey: I’ll let you know when I’m done with it. [laughs] Seriously though, now that I’m focused on CEO full time, it’s much easier. So far it’s been good. Over the years, I’ve amassed some of the best friends of my life that have helped me. Now, I can delegate better than ever. So now I have people on the promotional side. It’s no longer just me doing the shameless promoting anymore. Word of mouth helps. The community helps. So far, I’m happy.

Sometimes I have to motivate myself. That sort of thing happens when Evo announces their lineup, so I have to get excited about CEO and what I’m going to do with that event. But it hasn’t been easy. It’s funny, because I quit getting nice paychecks from great companies for working twice as hard for less money. But so far, I’m really happy with it. I’m a lot less stressed actually. I’ve lost 15 pounds, which I had gained due to all the stress of working then putting together CEO.

So let’s see how I do with each event. This is the first year for CEO Dreamland–an event just for the Smash community–so I’m going to do it the way they like it. So far, thing are going smoothly. Registration through Smash.gg is so helpful. It’s a great company to have promote your event through social media. It takes a load off of you. It’s more interactive for the community to use and register for events.

Missing Person: How is the community reception so far with Dreamland?

Jebailey: I was at Genesis last week–which is one of the biggest Smash tournaments. A lot of people came up to me that I had never met before and said, “Hey, Jebailey. I’m really excited for Dreamland.” That gets me excited because I do it for the players. But Smash in Florida has always been huge. If it wasn’t for the local community, CEO wouldn’t have grown. If it weren’t for the local Smash community, I wouldn’t have even taken a risk on it.

But it has been a pretty positive reception. And the Smash community is happy, because they see the event and think, “This is perfect. He’s going to do it right, because it’s just our games.” And that stinks, because it’s hard for a lot of people to understand. When you do a large mainstream event like CEO or Evo, you have to do your best for eight or nine different games. But with this event, I can focus solely on them. Plus the other platform fighter communities like Brawlhalla and Rivals of Aether are excited. Hopefully the Brawl community also shows up.

I’m really looking forward to doing this event. I also have a lot of local people that put together the Smash weeklies involved and ready to do it. They have already been involved in bigger events. A lot of the staff that does CEO’s Smash tournaments are involved, and they have also done work with Evo and Genesis. So you have the same people working together to make every event bigger and better. Every event I’ve been to has just been improving. And it motivates me to do better.

Missing Person: Do you feel like Dreamland could take away from the attention Smash gets at CEO?

Jebailey: I think so. A lot of the players really care about doubles play. So I said, “Dreamland is your chance to have doubles, because CEO is going back to focusing on every big game in Singles play.” I think it will take away from CEO. The other problem with CEO is that the venue is the same as last year, and we exceeded capacity. I don’t want it to take away from CEO, but if it does, then I’m okay with that.

With the first year of Dreamland, I’m trying to make it affordable. A lot of Smash events are priced way higher than we are. Rightfully so, because a lot of events need to spend more due to the amount of work we are doing. I still think Smash will be big at both events because the players are hungry, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it does take away from CEO. However, I’m looking at ways to give you a discount to CEO if you attend Dreamland. I’m trying to figure that out right now to make it the most cost-effective.

But with all the pro tours happening for all the titles at CEO, I would be okay if it takes away somewhat. And if somehow it completely detracts from CEO, then I can look at splitting up the two events distinctly. My only concern is that with CEO moving to Daytona Beach to a 20,000 square foot venue next year, I don’t personally want it to completely take away, because I will be able to house so many more people in 2018.

Missing Person: Last year at CEO, you had one of the best exhibition matches of the year between Kenny Omega and Xavier Woods. How do you top that at CEO 2017?

Jebailey: I honestly don’t know how we’re going to top that. That was just a perfect coincidence. We had been talking Xavier Woods for months, but we weren’t sure if he was going to make it. When they announced the WWE show in Orlando on Sunday, it worked out that he booked a red-eye flight Friday, and came in Saturday morning. He let me know that he was coming. We snuck him in and got the exhibition. It worked out amazingly.

As far as this year, we know that Kenny Omega does want to come back. He says he’s 100%. He’s now one of the best wrestlers in the world, so I’m glad I got him before that. We’re going to try to get more wrestlers involved with exhibitions. If it happens, it’ll be amazing. It’ll be hard to top it. He may have to put me through a table this time instead of superkicking me. I’ve been working out, so I’ll look better this year. Last year was just one of those perfect moments that came together perfectly. But I’m going to try to do another exhibition of some sort, and hope it comes together well.

Missing Person: You’ve been well known for running a pro wrestling theme at CEO. What inspiration does pro wrestling give you in running your events?

Alex Jebailey: I just love the crowd reactions. The storylines of WWE are good and bad here and there, but I still keep watching because the performers put on a great show. I think the way CEO is themed helps bring out the personalities of a lot of players. Like when you see K-Brad and Dieminion’s entrances, you can see that. But you’re playing a fighting game–two people head to head with each other, winner survives. It’s the same thing in wrestling. There’s no big bumps or spots like in wrestling. People like to entertain and have fun on stage. I like seeing the pop-offs, and I think the theme really is the perfect mold for fighting games.

Actually, after the exhibition with Kenny and Xavier, the Squared Circle subreddit was posting about CEO. People who watch pro wrestling didn’t know that fighting games were as popular as they are. So then they also become interested in the events. But it’s just perfect synergy.

Missing Person: What would be your dream pro wrestling fighting game exhibition? Let’s just assume hypothetically that they can all play fighting games.

Jebailey: Shawn Michaels–who is one of my favorites–and Chris Jericho would be an amazing person to have at the event. The Miz and Seth Rollins both play video games. A lot of them game now. I met Sasha Banks in person and she loves gaming. I also have a friend who is close with her significant other, so I think any of those would be entertaining and would love to have them out.

It would be awesome if all of The New Day would come out. But Kenny vs. Xavier was so amazing that any other wrestler would have a hard time topping it. Just the fact that they were both good at Street Fighter V and they knew what they were doing. It wasn’t just a crappy match for entertainment. That was actually where the face of “Jebaited” came. When I was watching, Tempus Rob took a picture of me. So I don’t know how it can get better than those two. But other people? I would consider The Rock obviously as well as Stone Cold. Anybody would be awesome.

Missing Person: So perhaps a team exhibition between The New Day and The Bullet Club would work?

Jebailey: A team exhibition would be awesome. I don’t know how good the rest of them are, but we’ll see what we can do for this year.

Missing Person: You’re one of the few tournament organizers that show up to other events over the course of the year. What’s your biggest motivator for that?

Jebailey: I’m still a player. I still love to compete. I’m actually in Top 4 of Capcom vs. SNK 2 at Frosty, and also made Top 4 in Soul Calibur II [Jebailey finished 2nd in CvS2, and also made Top 4 in Divekick at the event], so I’m big into the old man games. I haven’t gotten into Street Fighter V like I did with Street Fighter IV, but Balrog is better in season 2 so I’m trying to get better.

But I also like supporting other TOs like Rick from Combo Breaker, and he goes to a lot of the same events I do. We’re busy guys, but if it weren’t for these communities, our events wouldn’t exist. And Mike from Frosty Faustings, is also the lighting guy for Combo Breaker and CEO, so I want to support him as well, because he did a great job at CEO for the entrances.

This will probably be the last event I get to travel to that isn’t work related for quite a while. Combo Breaker will likely be the next I go to. With Dreamhack and all the event planning I’m doing, I have a lot of work to do. So this my last real weekend to have fun. Once I get back to Orlando, I’m going to be hard at work on CEO. I just enjoy being out here with the community. I still eat like crap when I’m on the road. That and losing sleep is the downfall, but just going to these events and meeting people.

It’s different now. When I went to events before, no one really knew who I was. Now, it’s really cool when I go out, and people say, “Hey, Jebailey, I love what you do. I love CEO,” and I ask, “Have you been out to one?” They usually say, “No, not a one.” [laughs] But I still enjoy these events.

Missing Person: As a TO, when you travel to events, do you find stuff that you can incorporate into your events?

Jebailey: Definitely. Everything I have learned has either been from competing in professional collectible card game events back in the early 2000s, early Final Rounds, or going to Evo every year. I’m always taking things in. I learned a lot of new stuff from Genesis last week. So my mind is always figuring out how to make things better.

That’s another big reason why I go to these events. I like to see how they work, how they do their scheduling, how they organize their documents, and their preparation. Everyone has their own style. But you need to keep your mind open. I keep telling people that being a TO is sometimes a thankless job, but the experience that you gain that you can translate into an actual job is amazing. Just to name a few, you can learn things like travel planning, organization, project management, social media skills. There are so many things that a TO is responsible for that is really going to help you. Whether I’m doing this in five years or not, all of this experience has already changed my life.

You always want to take feedback and learn from that and just have an open mind. You may be doing something for years that you think is great. But somebody could find a way to do it better that you could also adopt. I learn something new every single time I go to an event.

Missing Person: Speaking of constructive criticism and improvements, you caught a lot of heat last year for some of the criticism you had for Final Round 19. Do you think that this is something that Larry [Dixon] has listened to and possibly has helped improved the event for this year?

Jebailey: We, unfortunately, haven’t spoken since then. But I know that all the people around him are wanting to do a great job this year. I–unfortunately–won’t be there, because Killer Instinct World Cup is running at the same time. I would certainly love to help him out, and hope it’s a great event.

I don’t ever wish bad on any events. I just wish sometimes that things would change a little bit. They’ve been doing it for many years. My advice though would be to never do what I did. I turned a lot of people against me, but a lot of people also spoke up and said, “Thank you. I thought no one would listen to me, and you said what I was thinking.”

Missing Person: But as a fellow TO, when you see something you perceive as wrong, you feel the responsibility to speak up, right?

Jebailey: Absolutely. I wouldn’t consider myself a control freak, but I believe that I can do things right and know people that can also do things right. I want to see that passed along to other people as well. Our events are growing faster than ever. One of the things I criticized at Final Round was their lack of space, but then I went past capacity the same year. There were a lot of things that happened at Final Round that I also experienced. The pressure was on, and I did the best I could to bounce back from it. The event still turned out great. But I wish Final Round well, and hope it does well this year. But from now on, I’m going to be more hands off on the negative side of other events. If they want to run things their own way, and it doesn’t go well, let the community speak up. If they listen, great. If they don’t, it’s on them.

But every event has stepped it up lately. NEC looked amazing this year, and the Pokkén community have been really happy with the way things were handled at NEC and Final Round. But never do what I did. I did it out of passion, and as a customer, I felt like I had a right to speak up. But I could’ve done it differently. In hindsight, I had to say something. And now, I hope they take it as constructive criticism and improve. I know I also made mistakes last year, and I intend to do my best to fix them.

Missing Person: CEO actually started seven years ago out of the worst of situations. A big tournament, called G.A.M.M.E. cancelled under very shady circumstances, and you stepped up to salvage a horrible situation. Did you think that CEO would grow to the proportions it is now out of that?

Jebailey: Not as fast as it did. I knew that with the experience I had, I knew that it could be big. One of the biggest inspirations–and not many people know about this–has been that Evo spoke to me around 2012, and they told me that they were proud of what I was doing, and to keep it up. The Road to Evo was around the same time as this, and that started to connect the community together.

But to be humble for a second, when I started CEO, I was just a fan of fighting games. Fast forward six years later, I worked with Iron Galaxy on Killer Instinct. I’ve worked with Esports companies. I’ve worked with Nintendo. I’m on the Capcom Pro Tour. I’m a character in a fighting game. I never thought in a million years that I would accomplish all of that. And I’m still going.

I’m not sure how big CEO can get, because there’s always comparisons. I always go to Evo every year and support it. But people always think, “You’re never going to be huge, why think like that?” I disagree. You should be the best event you can be. So I’ve always wanted to grow, and I dreamed big. And now in 2018, I’ll have the opportunity to see what I can really do with space. It’s not going to fill a 20,000 person capacity. If I can hit 4,000 or 5,000 people in a new city, that will be a success. We hit 4,900 people at CEO last year. I didn’t think we’d get there that fast.

I’m also happy that Combo Breaker is as big as it is now. We need more events like this. And now that Capcom’s supporting all these different events, I expect that other companies will jump on board. Never in a million years did I expect to be doing this full time. When I started, I was working a family business, seven days a week, no weekends off. I could barely travel. Now I’m traveling the world. Iron Galaxy sent me to Japan. I’ve done so many amazing things. I’m grateful for it; I honestly am.

Now with all my events, my goal is to teach other people to do what I do. I’m an open book to anyone that has questions. I love to pass my knowledge down. I’ve even considering starting a podcast soon, where I get to give advice and talk about some of the fun interactions I have with some of these players.

Missing Person: Any initial advice that you’d give to aspiring TOs?

Jebailey: The first thing people always ask me is, “How do I put on a huge event on my first try?” It doesn’t work like that. I did maybe 30 or 40 locals before CEO. It takes time. When people ask me how much it costs to put on a tournament, I tell them, “Whatever it takes.” If you want to put on a good event, you need to invest whatever you can afford. Once you create a positive experience, it turns into something bigger.

You’re going to lose sleep putting on these events. Learn to trust people right away. It took me a few years to start delegating down. I was still handling registration at the event at CEO 2010. I was still running brackets and calling them out 2 to 3 years later. But now, I trust people. Definitely give opportunities to people coming to you eager to help. Those are the guys that really want to help and want the event to succeed.

Don’t burn bridges like I did. Network a lot. I have a business card for nearly everyone in the industry now. Just take it slow, and build it up. It’s very difficult to catch up to the established majors. In Smash it’s different. Shine was a major success. But after Genesis, Smash had a major TO summit meeting, and after that meeting, several people came up to me and said that they got started being a TO because of CEO.

So any time that any one has a question about running events, all they need to do is come ask me.