How to improve online CFC-rated tournaments and participation there?

I wanted to share some ideas with the CFC community about the success (or not?) of the recent string of CFC-rated online tournaments. First and most important, I want to make clear that: a) I am new to CFC (just paid for my first CFC membership 2 months ago), and b) I am a mediocre amateur player. So, take my comments at low value.

Anyways, at least I have been consistent with my intentions, having paid a CFC membership in a time when it looked as a "waste", and also having participated in 3 CFC-rated tournaments over the past 2 months (and several non-rated tournaments with several Canadian clubs). The 3 CFC-rated were the only ones that I was aware of since I became part of the CFC, otherwise I would have participated in more (actually there was another CFC-one that I knew of, but I did not participate in that one because the entry fee was too high).

I have joined the Maritime Chess Club CFC rated tournaments 3 and 4, and just yesterday the first one from the Hamissauga club. I have noticed that the numbers of players have gone a bit down since I started -hopefully that has nothing to do with me joining the CFC! :-)

What is going on? I see a few, potential issues: 1) Nice weather outside, especially after the quarantine, means that everyone (me included!) is just desperate to go outside and spend time there. 2) Perhaps not enough “marketing” outside of the club participants of these online choices, and only recently some mentioning in the CFC website. 3) Most of the online tournaments that are taking place now are NOT rated. How could we try to improve on those issues?

1) Not much to do against the nice weather outside. But perhaps the rated tournaments could be held in weekdays evenings instead of weekend mornings/afternoons? Or perhaps Sunday evening? Or perhaps asking players what would work best for the majority and taking that into consideration?
2) Having more coordinated efforts would also help. There is no reason to have an “Ontario Club tournament” online (just using Ontario as an example, it could be any place), when people from all over Canada could participate. Perhaps more coordination and support between clubs could be encouraged? Cuvo.ca is a nice first step, but there could be more.
3) If we are having mostly non-CFC rated tournaments, many people may stick to just playing in Chess.com or Lichess. Why? Because if there is no rating involved, playing on any website is WAY more flexible, as you can play at any time of the day, any day, and versus a planetary team… But if CFC provides more opportunities for CFC members to play and get more rated games (yes, online ratings) that cannot be provided by any other platform.

I know most people here are just longing for the return of OTB tournaments. Hopefully is not too far away... But online could and should be improved in the meantime.

One last note: as far as I can say (and TD can prove me wrong) cheating has not been a problem with any of the CFC rated tournaments. So, not too bad, eh?

Cheers,
Jose Fernandez-Triana, Ottawa

Hello everyone, I just wanted to add that I have exchanged a few emails with Jose, and he seems to have some insights into this area (my regrets Jose that I have not been able to respond more often and with more timeliness, but just busy, etc.)

Anyway, I believe that Jose has some good ideas, and/or ideas that could be good. I know that one of the challenges we have with Canadian chess is a very small number of people wearing a whole bunch of different hats. Can Jose help us here?

Would there be a CFC Executive member who could help Jose build on his ideas?