California Creativity Silicon Valley Region

Destination ImagiNation® 

www.californiacreativity.org/silicon-valley 

Volume 18   Issue #2                                            November 2006     

New and Advanced Team Manager Trainings 

New Team Manager Training 

New Team Manager Training, part 1:  “Overview of D.I. and Getting Started” is scheduled for Wednesday, November 8, at the Fremont High School library from 7:00 to 9:00PM. 

New Team Manager Training, part 2:  “Solving the Central Challenge” takes place the following Wednesday, November 15.  Attendance at both parts is necessary for complete training.  If your school forms teams after the November dates and you need New Team Manager Training, please contact John Cardosi.

Advanced Team Manager Training  

Advanced Team Manager Training:  “Instant Challenge” will be offered on Saturday, November 18 at the Fremont High School library.  There will be a morning session from 9:00 to 11:30 featuring “Properties of Materials” and an afternoon session from 12:30 to 3:00 on “Principles of Performance”.  You may attend either one, or both trainings. 

 Advanced Team Manager Training:  “Creative Problem Solving Tools” will take place on Saturday, December 9.  As soon as we have confirmed a location, we will update the regional calendar with all the details.  This full day training teaches techniques you can show your team for coming up with multiple ideas and for choosing which ideas to develop further. 

Instant Challenge Festival 

The Instant Challenge Festival is a wonderful opportunity for your team.  Teams will be given several instant challenges to solve.  They will be able to see other teams’ solutions and get feedback from the Appraisers.  The festival takes place at Peterson Middle School on Saturday, January 6.  Primary and Elementary teams participate from 8:30 to approximately 10:30.  Middle and High School teams from 10:45 to approximately 12:45.   If you cannot make the time set for your team’s level, you are welcome to request the other time.  However, younger teams will feel more comfortable if they are grouped with similarly aged teams, so we encourage you to try and make the designated time. 

 Because of space limitations, parents will be unable to observe the teams during the festival.  More complete information will be included in the December newsletter. 

January 20, 2007 is the deadline for purchasing Destination Imagination team memberships. 

Please make sure your school or sponsoring organization completes the membership application process, including payment, by the January 20 deadline.  Without a valid membership number your team cannot participate in any tournaments.  The program materials are not available until the membership has been activated, so it is especially important to finish the process early.  Membership purchase is done at www.shopdi.com. 

In order for team managers to register their teams with the Silicon Valley region, the coordinator or person who originally purchased the organization’s membership must provide the team manager with their team’s membership number.  With this number, the team manager goes to the state web site at www.californiacreativity.org and creates a login account.   

The first time you log in, you will be provided with a one time password.   Change the password to one of your choosing.  Then, click on team registration on the left hand side of the screen and registration info. 

It is not necessary to have all of the team information at once.  However, you should go back and update your individual team information by January 20 – a week before the Team Manager’s Tournament Walkthrough.  This will enable us to streamline the tournament registration process and get important information to you more quickly.   It also helps us to plan the tournament and make it the best possible experience for kids. 

Teams are encouraged to come up with a unique team name.   Although the team number is your official identification, teams will be referred to at tournament by whatever name they choose to call themselves.  This promotes team camaraderie and helps differentiate multiple teams from the same school. 

Tournament Appraisers 

Teams must supply a trained appraiser to participate in the tournament. 

This year we are asking you to provide us with your team’s Appraiser information by January 20.   Instructions on how to do this and what information is needed will be included in the December newsletter.   

Please make sure that your Appraiser really wants to do this.  They should take the commitment seriously.  In the past we have had team-provided Appraisers not show up for training or, even worse, not show up on tournament day.  Our DI kids have worked hard for months, and we want them to enjoy the fullest appreciation at the tournament. 

Appraising is a lot of fun.  Appraisers get to see many teams perform and to see how different teams interpret the same challenge.   Remember, however, that your Appraiser will not be able to see your team perform. 

Appraisers must attend two trainings on the mornings of February 3 and 10.  These will take place at the Fremont High School library.  This format gives your Appraisers time to absorb what they have learned and to look over challenge materials before attending the second half.  Appraisers must also be prepared to spend the entire day of March 10 at the tournament.  Depending on the challenge and venue, Appraisers could be asked to show up as early as 6:30am or stay as late as 5:30pm. 

Teams advancing to the State Tournament on March 31 must also provide a trained Appraiser.  If your team’s regional Appraiser is unable to accompany you, you will need to find someone else who has appraised regionally. Team Managers’ Tournament Walkthrough January 27 is the date for our

Team Managers’ Tournament Walkthrough. 

Don’t miss this important event.  This is your opportunity to find out what will happen on tournament day.  We will explain the procedures, give you the chance to experience the process, and divide up into groups to meet your challenge master as well as other managers sharing your challenge.  This takes place at Peterson Middle School from 8:00AM to 2:00PM.  Lunch is included. 

January 27 is also the deadline for completing tournament registration and for payment of the $80 per team regional fee. Tournament registration information will be included in the December newsletter.  The regional fee pays for all of the trainings, printed materials, instant challenge materials, the Instant Challenge Festival, tournament space rental, challenge set up materials, insurance costs and much more.