The Man Behind the Scrabble Champions Tournament
Elie Dangoor Interviews Dave Brannan
Elie Dangoor, WESPA Chairman interviewed Dave Brannan, CEO of Mind Sports International (MSI) and Living it Loving it (LiLi) in advance of the eagerly anticipated Scrabble Champions Tournament as part of the Mind Sports International World Championships, featuring Magic: The Gathering, Scrabble, Chess and more at the London ExCeL, November 19-23 - details on www.mindsportsevents.com.
Dave has had a varied career starting off working in the RAF after which he began a direct marketing services business in 1989 with £500 and sold it in 1995 with a £10 million+ turnover and 180 staff. He then started his second business, which was an international advertising agency, call centre and marketing data solutions company in 1997 after spending two years as a trouble shooter and international speaker on integrated marketing. He sold that business in 2003 with more than 200 staff and offices globally.
Now the CEO of LiLi and MSI, he is a seasoned poker player himself having cashed in several world championship events. He has organised countless World Poker Tours in Europe and The World Series of Poker in the USA, which were all televised. These high-profile poker events have brought him to many exciting venues - among Dave's favourites are Las Vegas, Canada, Cyprus, Marrakesh, Paris, Vienna and Panama. Two intriguing venues he would like to break into in the future are India and South America.
"Scrabble is certainly a mind sport," Dave says. Through MSI he is working hard to develop a market for television or web viewing of Scrabble. "There needs to be a radical change to attract a modern day audience to become excited by the sport," he says. His Scrabble Smart Board will be up and running for this year's SCT and he expects to have live commentary to help bring the game to life. UK celebrity and TV presenter, Rachel Riley will also be in attendance at the event over the course of the weekend.
All of the events at the SCT will be filmed, and he says that there will be a TV show going out next year in the UK featuring the many events encompassed by the MSI World Championship festival. Of the events hosted, Magic The Gathering is expected to be the best attended - over 400 people are expected for that.
When asked why he chose to help develop mind sports, Dave says, "My granddaughter is nearly thirteen, and I am very disappointed with the social interaction in schools and the lack of non-electronic cognitive game play. My interest grew from there into other areas and different age groups." Over time he hopes to see more live clubs that cater for people in a more social manner. "I grew up in an era of social clubs and I hope that in some small way we can encourage more communities to create clubs again that bring people together face to face." Having said that, he is also perfecting MSI's online game to help bridge the gap between online and person-to-person play, so it looks like he has that covered too.
Dave will personally be at the ExCeL event all week, so why not have a chat with him and tell him how you think everything is shaping up. There should be approximately one hundred people attending the Scrabble event, including some of the world's top players, so it's not too late to register!