Why is the Tournament Scheduled This Way?

• Global Finals is almost always held the week before Memorial Day
• We must allow at least 6 weeks (and preferably 8) between the Affiliate Tournament and Global Finals to allow teams to register for Global Finals, arrange transportation, and ship props.
• DI Inc. needs to know how many people will be attending Global Finals as early as possible so that the event can be planned.
• We prefer at least 3 weeks between the last Regional Tournament and the Affiliate Tournament, so that all teams have time to enroll, arrange transportation and lodging, etc.
• If the Tournament is scheduled too early (e.g. in February) we run a much greater risk of having to reschedule because of snow.
• The Regional Tournaments from each Region of the Affiliate should be reasonably close in time to each other, so as to keep things fair across regions (teams often revise and improve their solutions between Tournaments).
• Multiple Regional Tournaments must not be scheduled on the same weekend.
• Major religious holidays like Easter and the the first two days of Passover must be avoided.
• Civil holiday weekends like Presidents Day weekend should be avoided because many people travel.
• It is important to consider schools’ winter and spring breaks, again, because many people travel during the breaks.
• Will the venue be available on the date that we desire?
• Do SATs, ACTs, or other important tests conflict with our Tournament date?
• Are there other tournaments scheduled on the same time that our participants may also be participating in?
• Will other major events taking place in the same town interfere with the ability to reserve lodging?

• All teams with the same Challenge and Level must…
  • …be appraised by the same exact set of Appraisers, and…
  • …be assigned to the same IC room and solve the same IC, and…
  • …present their solution under the same exact conditions (room, lighting, etc.).
• The TC time must not be too close to the IC time (absolutely more than 60 minutes, and preferably more than 100 minutes) – so that teams have enough time for prep and check-in.
• TC rooms need to be aligned by Challenge (and sometimes split by Level).
• IC rooms should be aligned by Level as much as possible.
• The tournament must fit into the space that we have available.
• The tournament must start at a reasonable hour (preferably 8am or later).
• The awards ceremony should start no later than about 5pm, but it cannot start until…
  • …all TC and IC performances are done, and…
  • …scores are tablulated, and…
  • …special awards decided upon, and…
  • …any DIalogues (scoring challenges) are resolved.
• TC performances for each Level should be in contiguous time blocks; switching back and forth between Levels should be avoided except when absolutely necessary.
• If multiple challenges use the same physical room, there must be enough time after the end of the first challenge before the second one begins.
• There must be adequate breaks for Appraisers.
• Teams that are solving multiple Challenges must be accommodated. They must solve a different IC for each TC that they have solved.
• Team members that are on multiple teams must be accommodated. They must solve a different IC for each of the TC’s that their teams have solved.
• We often need to work around the Challenge Masters’ time constraints.
• Some individuals manage multiple teams – they usually need to be able to be at IC and TC performances for all of the teams that they are managing.
• We must not exceed the available Tournament budget. The longer we use the venue, and the more space we use, the greater the cost.
• We must be able to recruit enough appraisers for each Challenge.
• Reasonable scheduling requests from teams must be honored.

• Each team’s TC and IC should not be too far apart (not more than 3 hours) – as [most] TM’s are human and there is a limit to how long one can maintain focus.
• TC room and IC room start and end times should be staggered in time so as to keep the load upon the tournament director and the score room manageable.
• We try to schedule younger teams to perform later in the day, to ease the burden upon the adults who supervise them.
• Teams which drew a very early performance time at the Regional Tournament should not also be given a very early performance time at the Affiliate Tournament (unless they want it).
• It is poor form to schedule multiple teams from the same school to perform at the same time.
• Some teams make unreasonable schedule requests (like asking to start “in the late morning” but finish by 1:30pm). It it nice to honor these when possible.

Try to balance all of the above Tournament date constraints to figure out a date that will work. This is usually an exercise in working backwards from the date of Global Finals taking into consideration the dates on which the venues are available.

• What spaces do we have to work with?
• Are there enough rooms for Team Challenges, Instant Challenge, Awards Ceremony, Merchandising, Appraiser Break Areas, Score Room, Tournament Office, etc.?
• What are the time constraints? How early will the building open? How late can it stay open?
• How much does the space cost per hour?
• When can we access the building to set up on the day before the Tournament?
• How will appraisers be fed?

• Assume that all of the eligible teams will come to tournament, even if they haven’t paid yet, or they told you they won’t come to tournament. We don’t want to have to schedule them at the last minute when they tell us that they have changed their minds and they are coming after all.
• Try to force every team to tell us what Challenge they are doing, and what Level they are in, ASAP.
• Touch base with team managers in late January to verify that our record of their Challenge / Level is correct, and that there aren’t any special requests that they didn’t include in their online tournament enrollment.
• Don’t forget to mark teams that are very unlikely to actually show up at the Tournament as NON_COMP in the scoring program
• Make sure that the Challenge Master knows about any teams that will not actually be presenting a solution.
• Now is the time to figure out if you will need to split a Challenge into separate performance rooms by Level. There should not be more than 20 performances in a Room.

We don’t go into this in detail here, but suffice to say that for a successful tournament, we must have:

• A Challenge Master for each Challenge
• A Head Appraiser for each Room of each Challenge
• Enough Appraisers for each Room of each Challenge
• Enough other full day Volunteers to ensure the smooth operation of the Tournament (Registration Captain, Merchandise Captain, etc.)
• Enough 60 to 90 minute Volunteers to fill other smaller roles (Door Guard / Usher, Merchandise Clerk, Registration Receptionist 

All told, we find that our tournaments usually require about 150 Appraisers and about 100 other Volunteers.

These include, but are not limited to:

• Team Members that are on multiple teams
• Team Managers that are shared by multiple teams
• Unusual circumstances (e.g. 11th grade team member with SATs on same day)
• Special scheduling requests
• Teams with mobility issues (may inform challenge room selection)
• Teams traveling from far away (try to schedule them mid-day)
• Teams with parents or team managers who for various reasons should have a shorter day [schedule them later in the day].
• Teams that you know aren’t coming (see above)

First Guess

The key difference about IC is that it is organized primarily by Level, and then by Challenge (opposite of TC).

Important IC Rules

OK! Now that you have done all of the above, go back and check for the following:

• Are there any team members who must be in multiple places at the same time (because they are on multiple teams)?
• Are there any TMs managing multiple teams who have been scheduled to be in two places at once?
• Were all of the teams’ constraints honored?
• Is there overlap of TC across teams from the same organization that could be avoided?

If there are problems:

• Can the problem be solved by shifting the entire TC or IC room schedule earlier or later?
• Try to swap team times. If you swap team’s TC times, it’s easiest to also swap their IC teams.
• If you have to pick guidelines to violate, do it in this order (from most preferable to least preferable):
  • Long gap between TC / IC
  • Overlapping teams from same organization
  • Adjacent teams from same organization
  • Number of performances between breaks
  • Bouncing between levels

• Once you’ve resolved any problems, send a preliminary schedule to all of your Challenge Masters for their feedback.
• If the Challenge Masters are OK with the schedule, post it on the tournament web page as a preliminary schedule.
• Announce it to Team Managers as a preliminary schedule

• Once the schedule is posted teams WILL make last minute requests for schedule changes! Handle them just like in the “problems” section above – by swapping teams, etc.
• About 3 weeks before tournament publish a final schedule.
• If anyone comes forward after that with a requested change, tell them to handle it themselves by finding a team with whom they can swap times (TC and IC). It’s up to them to organize swaps, not up to the Tournament Director!
• All time swaps must be approved by both of the teams involved and by the Tournament Director.

If you've done all of the above well, then now is the time to celebrate:

• TC and IC rooms that run frictionlessly and on time like well oiled machines
• Teams that have just the right amount of time to perform, and to see other teams perform
• A Closing Celebration and Awards Ceremony that starts on time
• A great Tournament experience for all who attend