During the Saturday of the Brussels Grand Prix I was able to get an interview with Dieter Schoeters, the European Events Manager for Wizards of the Coast. Dieter's been involved with some of the biggest Magic: The Gathering events ever held, including the Madrid and Paris Grand Prixs this year.

Alltern8: So, Dieter; what's it like hosting an event as large as a Grand Prix?

Dieter Schoeters: It' pretty exciting. Obviously it's always nice to have so many people show up. Nice to see people are interested whether it sealed, constructed or whatever format; they're here to have fun playing the game.

Alltern8: How much time and effort has gone into the preparation and organisation? Obviously events like this don't just happen overnight.

DS: Well, we start with printing and publishing everything: flyers, posters, etcetera to get people's attention. I'd say we start about a month and a half beforehand. There's contracting the venues, hotels and travel for all the staff and then we need time to work out the logistics of preparing a venue for several hundred people to play Magic in.

Alltern8: How many people did you expect to arrive and participate?

DS: We expected around about 1,500 to show up but I didn't think it'd be as popular as Madrid was. We prepared for 1,700 just in case and just shy of that number showed up. Whilst not as chaotic as Madrid or Paris it's still the fourth largest Grand Prix of all time, so that's not too bad.

Alltern8: 1,667 people is still a large number. How many staff and crew members are involved to keep everything under control and keep the event moving?

DS: I would say with Wizards of the Coast suppliers, venue staff and Judges we have around 150 people working. Somewhere around 80 of those are official Judges.