Tournament time in North Alabama has finally arrived! The staff of your Regional Tournament is ready to greet and meet you for the March 6, 2010 Tournament. Mrs, Sharon Willis, Principal, and the Staff of Discovery Middle School (DMS) are eager to see all your splendid solutions and they join with me in welcoming you to their school. We are especially grateful to the DMS staff and administration for supporting us in the midst of the recovering from last month’s tragedy. I can assure you that the DMS family is moving forward and not allowing this event to define us!

We invite you to read carefully all information included on this page so that your Destination into Imagination this year will be a successful trip. Please join us in urging each Creative Thinker to have a great and safe day while always remembering to show consideration and respect for the facilities and campus of DMS. Volunteers will be available all day to guide team members and guests around the campus.

A few notes about additional details before the tournament: Be sure to submit the name of the one Volunteer person (one untrained worker that will work a 1-1.5 hour shift helping with general tasks at the tournament) for your membership, if you have not done so yet. Just send that person’s name and email address to Kim Balzer, Volunteer Coordinator, via e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it as these helpers are vital to the success of the entire day. Before the tournament, we will post volunteer assignments on the web site, and last-minute volunteers may check in at the Volunteer desk anytime between 7:30 and 9:00 on tournament day to receive their assignment if not received.

Full Tournament Schedule

Download the PDF Below:

REGISTRATION (8:00-9:00)

Please begin your tournament day by sending ONE REPRESENTATIVE PER TEAM to the Registration Table located in the central hallway of the Main Building. The registration area easily becomes congested and keeps the team from being regis- tered on time. PLEASE make arrangements with everyone (ahead of time) attending with your team to join you at an- other location on campus to gather your team and get the most up-to-date information for your tournament day!

NOTE: This year we will continue the special paper checking service at registration. One team member may bring all required paperwork to the Checker Table and visit with Gary Brown for a review of the team’s paper work. Other team members and helpers should begin the unloading of props and getting oriented while registration is being completed.

At registration, we will collect the Media Release forms (on web site) from your team (filled out in advance and signed by parents) so that the Media staff of DMS can put together a video slide presentation for the Half-time events and also to allow team photos to be posted on DIAL Online.

APPRAISERS AND VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers should check in between 7:30 and 8:30 AM near the Registration area. Any volunteers who were not contacted prior to tournament day should check in at the Registration area to receive their assignment for the day.

Each team’s two Appraisers should arrive on campus NO LATER than 7:30 AM in order to check-in, report to their Challenge site, receive materials and instructions, and be ready to appraise the first team as early as 8:45 AM!! Because of some unavoidable conflicts when we moved this year’s Appraiser Training, we are allowing a bit more time before the tournament starts to do some last-minute training and give instructions so that our appraisal teams are ready and prepared!

Challenge Masters will confirm exact report time with each Appraisal Team Member via email prior to the tournament if an email address has been provided to him or her.

To see all the available Volunteer Jobs, check out the Volunteer List.

UNLOADING/LOADING PROPS (7:45-1:00)

There are loading areas near each Challenge venue! Please move vehicles to the parking area near the football field (north of the building) after all props are unloaded. Because props will be stored in hallways and would require that someone be with them in order to ensure that they were not inadvertently damaged, please do not unload props more than 2 hours ahead of your team’s scheduled Performance Time.

SPECIAL NOTE TO TEAMS PERFORMING IN THE SENIOR CENTER: There is only room for THREE teams' props in the center, the performing team and TWO more. Please plan ahead for this in order to respect the safety and comfort of all!

CONCESSIONS (7:30-2:00)

• BREAKFAST—Coffee and Krispy Kreme donuts – main lobby/information area from 7:30-9:30
• Gym lobby concession stand from 10:00-3:00
  • Cookies, drinks, chips, candy, popcorn
  • LUNCH—Pizza, Hot Dogs, Nachos from 11:00–1:00 (or later if not sold!)

We encourage teams to stay on site to eat lunch in order to maximize your time to support other teams and also to support DI.

Tournament programs (including maps and complete schedule) will be available at the Information Table, which will be located in the main lobby (under skylights). There will be volunteers familiar with the building and with DI at this table throughout the day to answer general questions. First Aid assistants will be available here as well, but we hope they will be very lonely!

If the team begins its day with the Team Challenge, please be in the Prep area at least fifteen minutes before time listed in the schedule. IC staff members will be happy to greet teams in IC in advance of assigned times as well. We endeavor to keep the day on schedule and we appreciate your help in making a smooth day!

Once the team completes all aspects of their competition, we invite them to enjoy the day. Other Challenges and sites are located as listed below.

*SPECIAL NOTE: Teams members performing in the gym should not wear high heels or other shoes that might damage the gym floor. Please email Robin Dauma ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) if you have a question or concern about shoes!

CAMPUS MAP

Instant Challenge Promise Form

At the Regional Tournament we will ask that all teams sign and submit the Instant Challenge Promise Form in place of doing the Instant Challenge Pledge in the rooms. It saves us valuable time and allows us to spend more time doing the Instant Chalenge and working with the kids.

It is available for download below. We will ask to see these at IC registration and they will carry the forms to the IC rooms with them as an aid to make sure we have the right teams going to the right rooms. Additional copies will be available at IC on the day of the tournament.

Download the Instant Challenge Promise Form:

SCORES

All scores will be posted in the gym lobby and also in several locations in the hallways upstairs immediately after the Awards Ceremony- please bring paper and pencil to copy scores – do NOT take scores off the wall! You will receive a copy of your team’s scoresheet within 30-45 minutes of your team’s performance, be prepared to return to find the Head Appraiser or Challenge Master of your challenge along with at least ONE team member, to retrieve those scores. Side Trip scores and IC scores are NOT revealed until after Awards. We do NOT release the individual judges sheets from the IC scoreroom, because of the need for confidentiality (the scoresheets are filled in by hand). Of course, your team will have a great time reading all the sticky notes and building on your successes for next time!

APPEALS

Team managers - please review the procedures for Appeals in the event you are unsure about your Challenge scores. TEAM MAMAGERS, BE ESPECIALLY AWARE: No appeals will be accepted except those allowable as set forth in the Rules of the Road. The Challenge Master of each challenge is there to help interpret scores and explain them fully.

AWARDS

If you and/or your team members leave campus, please make sure that everyone is back in the gym and ready for the Awards Cere- mony by 1:45. Prior to that time, we will have some great entertainment for everyone to enjoy, including our first ever “DI’s Got Talent” showcase (look for more information by March 1!). We hope you’ll be patient if we are running a bit late, but the last few years our computer scoring program has allowed us to be ready for Awards within about an hour of the last competitive perform- ance, so we should be on track to start by 2:15, at the very latest.

As a last minute reminder, be SURE to have all paperwork ready and copied — copy machines will NOT be available at DMS this year! - and read over the Rules of the Road once more to make sure your team has followed all the rules, especially those regarding the Expense report, safety, and interference.

We are excited to welcome everyone for this great DI adventure. We’ll be ready; we hope you will be too.

The Destination is always Imagination for Creative Adventurers!