1. Why me?

People get into team managing many different ways and for many different reasons.  You might have been ‘drafted’ because you have a child on the team.  You may be a teacher or another caring adult, looking for a way to have a positive impact on children and teenagers.  Please know that however you got to this point, we are really, really glad you did.  The teams need their Team Managers (TMs) to help them stay organized and on track as they set out to solve their central challenge.

2. What’s a Team Challenge?

It’s the challenge that your team will be working on all year long.  The team will present their solution to this specific Team Challenge at the Regional Tournament, and if they advance further, the Affiliate (Statewide) Tournament and possibly Destination ImagiNation Global Finals. Your team will choose one challenge from the five different challenges offered each DI year.  The written versions of each Team Challenge are usually 5-6 pages long and outline all the components of each Challenge. Components usually include a skit, props, and costumes, and may include structures or technical devices.  About 75% of the meeting time, once your team has chosen their Challenge, will be taken up with working on the solution to the Team Challenge. The rest of the time will be spent working on Instant Challenge skills.

3. What’s an Instant Challenge?

An Instant Challenge (IC) is a brief challenge that the team solves at a DI Tournament.  The team will have never seen the Challenge before, and they will have a just few minutes (4-6 minutes) to solve it.  These Challenges require a lot of team work and rapid problem solving.  Teams use practice ICs during meetings to learn team work and quick thinking skills.

4. How much time will this take?

That will depend on how often your team wants to get together. Teams that are doing DI for fun may meet just 2 hours per week for several weeks before Tournaments, and their solutions may be relatively simple.  Teams that are very competitive and working on complex solutions may meet for 4 hours per week (even more often the weeks just before Tournaments). TMs spend about an hour preparing for each 2 hours of team meeting time. However, in general, TMs for younger/less experienced teams spend more time preparing (getting organized) than TMs for older/more experienced teams.  TMs aren’t allowed to interfere in any way with the team members developing their Challenge solution, so TM prep time amounts to getting practice Instant Challenges together, becoming familiar with problem solving tools, developing agendas for meetings, keeping parents informed and involved, etc.

5. What do you mean by “interfere”?

This is probably the trickiest thing about being a TM.  You can help the team stay organized; you can teach them problem solving skills, you (or other adults) can teach them how to use power tools, etc, BUT YOU CAN’T DO ANY OF THE WORK ON THEIR CHALLENGE FOR THEM.  This is called Interference.  All ideas, scripts, props, costumes, devices, structures, etc. have to be the team’s ideas and creations from start to finish. Everybody (parents, TMs, teachers, friends, siblings) needs to understand this from the very beginning.