Council of Elrond

Hello everyone,
I've been speaking off and on with others about organizing and running a tournament. It could be called a West Coast US tournament, a US National Tournament, a North America Tournament. But I'd really like to know from players out there what it takes to run a good tournament?
I need a checklist of things that tournaments should feature and where to acquire some of those things. I'm thinking about things like prize support, cards for drafting games, and players to act as judges.
I'm thinking for the first one it can be held at a gaming convention in either Los Angeles, Sacramento or San Jose. That would take care of the venue and accommodations questions.
Any suggestion on the other aspects would be helpful.
Thanks!

Some thoughts:

- The most important thing nowadays is that there are some people willing to have fun.
- Prizes are nice of course but this shouldn't be of high priority, imho. It could be a good idea to have every participant receive some boosters, sleeves or signed cards for example. Then some extra prizes for top three or four players.
- Cards for sealed games could be acquired at various online shops, ebay etc. Maybe some of the participants still own some sealed stuff and are willing to bring it.
- A judge is needed. Usually it is one of the most experienced players or the organizer himself. Nowadays the judge usually takes part in the tournament as a player!
- The tournament fee depends on costs for the venue, prizes and maybe accomodation.
- It should be allowed to have some drinks at the venue.