New Player Acquisition Challenge

4x2 precon clan decks.
Well, black hand edition precons are quite good, I used some of them myself years ago.
With 2 of my friends we were moderately successful when teaching new players with the 3 small precon tournament-illegal decks. However, those were not well-balanced, black hand starters would be much better.
So the 2 questions (I will answer more questions actually):
WHEN:
There is a local magic the gathering club with people I know running it. Ideally, during a pro tour qualifier or a pre-grand prix tournament, when there are many people.
Or: during a fantasy festival, usually 2-3 times a year. One of my friends and a former VTES player is one of the organizers.
WHO:
Since VTES is more complicated, people who are not 10 y.o. So a bit older, at least 14 and up and with decent English.
ACTIONS:
I would let the precons the way they are. 3 teachers and 2-4 players. Each new player has his/her tutor to explain the rules in Slovak. We have done it already that way, it really helps, if there is somebody who can explain generally to all (usually me) and then everybody has a tutor for getting advice, such as: "Okay, so he wants to hit your vampire for 3 damage. Look at your hand and try to find out whether there is anything you can do about it. How to save your vampire, cos you will need him." (and e.g. you can see Soak in the hand to save the vampire from going to torpor).
If they like the game, they can join our small local group to try other types of decks to learn more and if they come, say 3 times, they can choose the clan out of those four - and get the two precons for free.
Also, it is quite common here, that new players get useful commons from other players. E.g. I have more than 50 copies of Enchant Kindred. For a new player playing Presence having 4 copies may be too litle. 6 is much better
What do you think? Is it a good idea?

Ylly wrote:

What do you think? Is it a good idea?

Very good.
I'll contact you via PM to get some more details.

With the help of Prince of Helsinki I was planning on running demo at the store I work in. With two people running demo(s) we'd have capacity to run a demo for 2-10 players.

I was planning on doing this on the Helsinki weekly gaming day so that after the demo the newbies could immediately be directed to the pub upstairs where the weekly games are being played.

The regular players will also be alerted about this recruiting session beforehand and will be asked to bring some extra straightforward simple decks along for the newbies to play. They'll also be instructed to stop their own games if newbie(s) appear so that these can be immediately incorporated into a new game.

At the annual anime convention, A-kon 24 May 31st - June 2, 2013, I will be runnning Vtes demos, Friday and Sunday, a Vtes draft, Friday evening, and a Dallas Storyline event, Saturday.

Here is the info on the website:
www.a-kon.com/?p=3306