This section provides some pointers and guideline for scoring a Destination Imagination tournament. It focuses on what a regional director needs to coordinate for a tournament to be success. This section is a set of guidelines. Use it as a check list to assure you have not forgotten anything. Adapt these guidelines to suit the needs of your region.
As with most aspects of a DI tournament, success requires proper planning.
The section includes the following topics:
The roles needed to score a tournament include:
The Score Master is the person in charge of scoring at the tournament. This person should be identified well in advance of the tournament so she can prepare. It works well to give this person equal status to the Challenge Masters for the tournament. Appoint them at roughly the same time. This person needs to:
The Head Appraiser is responsible for running a Team Challenge or Instant Challenge site. From a scoring perspective, the Head Appraiser is the ultimate authority on how points are awarded for their challenge. They will not spend much time in the score room, but the score room staff must seek them out when there is a question about how points are assigned.
The Number Cruncher or Appraisal Team Organizer is also a member of the appraising team at the challenge site. Their job is as follows:
This responsibility largely depends the scoring strategy you choose and, in particular, where and at what point the scores are entered in the DI Scoring Program. Unlike previous years, the Number Cruncher might be playing the role previously held by the computer operator. Or, as the Appraisal Team Organizer might be the person responsible for verifying that all component scores are accurate, but not performing any calculations.
For more information, see Plan Your Scoring Strategy.
A score room needs at least two computer operators. Their job is as follows:
This year, the DI Scoring Program lets you enter all scores into the computer at the challenge sites. As such, the computer operator's role in data entry might change, and is likely to vary widely among tournaments. In some tournaments, the computer operator might be responsible only for collecting files, checking and merging scores, and for printing the final score reports. Or, the computer operator might be the roving technical assistance expert for DI Scoring Program users. At tournaments in which the computers are connected by a network, the computer operator might be responsible for maintaining shared directories and for periodic backups of all of the tournament directories.
Conversely, at tournaments in which each appraiser's subcomponent scores are entered directly into the DI Scoring Program, the computer operator's role in data entry might increase. In fact, the additional data entered might require that former score checkers, who no longer need to check scores manually, become computer operators.
Two computer operators are used to reduce data entry errors. Errors are reduced by entering all the data into two separate computers. This tends to catch clerical errors. Use of two separate computers further guards against computer malfunction. It makes the most sense for the computer operators to provide the computers. This lets them install the software and the tournament directory prior to the tournament. They can also practice using the DI Scoring Program so they know just how it works before tournament day.
A Destination Imagination tournament generates a huge amount of paperwork. And the score room is where most of this paperwork ends up. It's actually quite logical. A good bit of the paperwork consists of the forms used for scoring. It also makes sense that you keep as much of the teams' paperwork together as possible. Thus, the score room becomes the filing cabinet for the tournament.
The Paperwork Manager make sure that the paperwork flows in an orderly fashion through the score room. They know when all of the paperwork has been processed and must be able to locate any specific form when needed.
Every scored item must be checked for accuracy. The Score Checkers in the score room check all the number crunchers' work.
In tournaments in which the appraiser's uncombined scores are typed directly into the DI Scoring Program and validated by the program, Score Checkers might be needed to return errors to the challenge site and to help the challenge site team resolve the error. Or, score checkers can assist the Number Crunchers and Computer Operators.
Paperwork generated at the challenge site must make its way to the score room. Both types of rooms get very busy during the competition. The Score Runners collect scores from the challenge sites and deliver them to the score room. This job requires no advanced training. You just need someone you can count on to deliver the goods without snooping at the content or sharing with others. High school students and mob hit men come to mind.
Most Destination Imagination regional tournaments are held at local schools. In this case, a classroom that is off the beaten path will work out best. You'll need:
Regional tournaments often have a gathering room for the tournament officials. It is frequently the nerve center of the competition. This room should be far from the score room and the score room should never be used as a meeting room. The number of errors goes up with the number of interruptions.
If you plan to post scores for Team Managers to review after the tournament, post them in a classroom. Use a room near the score room for this. It's best to leave one computer system up and running and to keep the paperwork accessible in case a Team Manager finds something you need to check or change. Because the score posting room is full of people, it is not a good environment for discussing sensitive topics. Move all DIalogs to the Tournament Director's office or another private place.
Here's a minimum list of materials. This material list is for a small tournament. Large Regional tournaments or Affiliate tournaments may be best served by more computers spread across the tournament site:
As you can see, scoring is not something you first consider the week before the tournament. Identify your Score Master as early as possible but at least a month before the tournament. You can then share the work of preparing to score the tournament with them. Setting up the score room typically takes about an hour. Since it takes the judges an hour or so to produce the first scores, you can begin setting up when the performances begin.
Make sure that the score room staff is familiar with all of the scoring forms, especially the ones for Instant Challenge, and for any score that might be problematic, such as a calculated score.
The level of activity in the score room builds as the day progresses. The efficiency of your team likewise increases as the day goes on. In my experience, a well run score room should not have a problem keeping up with the flow of data into the score room. If work starts really backing up, it is typically because someone doesn't understand what they need to do or is trying to fulfill too many roles.
Arrange for the computers well in advance of the tournament. Laptops are a great choice. (For help, see Find Computers, especially the System Requirements section.)
If possible, do not use the computers provided by the school at which a tournament is held. You do not want to be held responsible for any damage to the computers, especially when installing new programs. Many schools have protective software that prevent installing new software unless you have the proper authority. You will need to verify well in advance that the computers can run the DI Scoring Program and can print the results in a reasonable period of time. The DI Scoring Program should be installed and tested long before the tournament. Whenever possible, the tournament directory should also be loaded in advance so users can search for errors. The computer operators must be very familiar with the quirks of their computer before tournament day.
You may want to consider other items, too. Use 9x12 brown envelopes or color-coded file folders to hold each team's paperwork. This reduces the likelihood of misfiling. The folders and envelopes start at the challenge site and are used to collect paperwork and transport it to the score room.
Computer-generated labels that list a team's team number, name, town, challenge, level, and team manager also are valuable. One label goes on the envelope and others on each form submitted by the appraisers. This saves the appraisers 30-45 minutes during which they would otherwise be writing this information on the forms. Furthermore, it reduces the likelihood of any incorrect (or at least, inconsistent) information.
Training for these score room roles typically happens at different times. Pick your Score Master early and be sure they are be capable of doing all jobs and training the people who will do the jobs. Train the number crunchers and score checkers together. In some states, each team has to provide an appraiser for their regional competition. These appraisers are trained several weeks before the tournament. Frequently, one of the score room personnel (score checkers, computer operators or Score Master) takes on the role of paperwork manager.
I've also seen tournaments where people are asked to work in the score room for a few hours, rather than for the whole day. This doesn't work particularly well. As soon as the person becomes efficient at the job, the shift is over.