Location: St Mary’s Academy – Middle School Building
Address: 4545 S University Blvd
Englewood, CO 80110 (Map)
Date: February 11, 2012

• Parking: There is a large parking lot on the North side of the property. Parking around the back will give you easy access to the Middle School building.
• Please DO NOT show up any more than 15 minutes before your scheduled First Challenge time. There is no place for teams to wait indoors without disrupting the teams who are working. You will have to wait outside until we begin the check-in process. EVEN IF THE WEATHER IS COLD!
• No more than two (2) adults may attend with your team. We have found bringing parents, siblings, babies etc hinders the teams learning experience. Only the team and 2 adults will be allowed into the building, all others must wait outside.
• Because this is a learning opportunity we suggest you video the team as they go through the four challenges.  It’s difficult to remember everything the appraisers say to the team. This also gives you the opportunity show parents what Instant Challenge looks like.
• The appraiser representing your team will receive a separate email with instructions, times etc.
• If your Check-In Time is 9:30 – First Challenge begins at 9:45  – Finish at 10:45
• If your Check-In Time is 11:00 – First Challenge begins at 11:15  – Finish at 12:15
• If your Check-In Time is 1:00 – First Challenge begins at 1:15 – Finish at 2:15
• You can download a copy of the schedule here: IC DAY 2012Final

Appraiser Information:

As part of the registration process for IC Day each team must provide an appraiser for the day. We CANNOT provide adequate training without this appraiser support. We very much appreciate your time being donated to South Metro!

Instant Challenge training will begin at 8:00 am in the Middle School Building located next to the gym on the St. Mary’s Academy Campus.

We will do a general Instant Challenge Training and then break  into your core group to review the challenge you’ll be doing with the teams. We’ve tried to schedule everyone to be able to work with the team that you are representing. Teams begin checking-in at 9:30 am and challenges begin at 9:45. There will be two morning sessions, then we break for lunch, followed by one afternoon session. Coffee/tea and donuts will be available in the morning. Lunch will be provided as will water. If you’d like something else to drink feel free to bring it with you. Below is your room assignment and the Core you’ll be working in:

We are also looking for volunteers to help with the sales table, helping out in the appraiser lunch room, score room etc. If you have a student needing community service hours we love to sign those volunteer sheets!

Join us for one of the training dates to learn about the challenges, new scoring guidelines, and what to expect on tournament day.

7:30 – 8:00 a.m. – registration for new appraisers
8:00 – 9:00 a.m. – Introduction to DI
9:00 – 9:15 a.m. – registration – experienced appraisers
9:20 – 10:20 a.m. – All appraisers (new and experienced)
10:30 – 12:00 noon – Challenge breakouts

7:30 – 8:00 a.m. – registration new appraisers
8:00 – 9:00 a.m. – Introduction to DI
9:00 – 9:15 a.m. – registration – experienced appraisers
9:20 – 10:20 a.m. – All appraisers (new and experienced)
10:30 – 12:00 noon – Challenge breakouts

Also, the email information for Ron Dutton handed out at the Team Manager Meeting was incorrect. Please contact Ron at: rdutton76@gmail.com

Date: Wednesday, January 11th, 2012

Location: Cresthill Middle School (map)

Time: 7:00 pm until you’ve got all your questions answered

Agenda:

• Turn in registration forms form for Tournament, Instant Challenge Day and shirt/pin order forms.
• General Question and Answer time
• Code of Conduct
• Instant Challenge Q&A and Instant Challenge Day information
• Teamwork Q&A
• Breakout with individual Challenge Masters

We are looking forward to seeing everyone there!

On line or paper registration and sales forms can be found here: Forms

This may include but is not limited to having designated duties for different team members – timekeeper, summary person, questioner, reader, etc. With a young team, try to come up with different “roles” or jobs for each to have responsibility during the Instant Challenge. Please don’t assign these roles, but to describe them and discuss with the group who they think would be good at this role or like to try it? If more than one person, you can have TWO in a category – can’t hurt. If nobody volunteers, have them draw “roles” from slips of paper for a few times and see if they find an area they are comfortable. Or if they’ve chosen roles and it doesn’t seem to mesh, that’s the time to insist everyone try a new role.

Possible Roles and Responsibilities:

1. The Rule Person – This person reads the Instant Challenge and throughout the working time is the person who refers back to the written challenge to be sure they are solving as directed and following rules. Many an Instant Challenges has run aground when a team has an amusing presentation, but talks in a nonverbal, or touches the tape that can’t be touched, or changes the item that “can’t be changed.” The rule person keeps the focus on what is allowed.
2. The Points Person – This person makes sure the team is getting the most points possible. Example: If the challenge said 10 points for a skit and 50 points for each creative costume, the rule person would remind the team that costumes were important, point-wise. Especially if they got stuck writing a skit and forgot to dress up! –Yes, rule person and points person might seem redundant, but you WANT two kids checking the rules and paper and points throughout, so there are two slightly different roles that overlap.
3. The Timekeeper – This role can take two forms. One – The designated Timekeeper’s role is to continually ask the appraiser how much time is left in the challenge. This is generally used with younger teams where watches are harder to use. Two – This person must have a watch and must get used to checking it and telling the team when they are half-way through, or have a minute left, whatever is appropriate. You can always have two Timekeepers, each one tracking the time both ways.  REMEMBER: If you are using your own watch/device it will ALWAYS be the Appraisers timer that is the official time. Make sure there are no bells, ringers, alarms etc. armed on the device the team is using. This needs to be a verbal countdown by the team member.
   
4. The Laughmeters – Often more than one person volunteers for this, but this is a job to be sure that the skit or whatever is funny (assuming it is supposed to be funny) and suggests quirky actions, character voices, funny lines and whatever else tickles their fancy. While we tell Appraisers that “kid humor” is different than “adult humor” it’s best to remind team members that if your grandma wouldn’t find it funny…. most likely the Appraisers won’t either.
5. The Brainstorm Facilitator – This is the moderator of the group, who makes sure that everybody is participating and encourages the less-outgoing kids to speak up, and asks the babbling kids to “hold that thought” while another idea is heard. This person makes sure that there is some order to the teamwork and participation; if several people want to talk, this person identifies people in turn to speak, so that everyone gets a turn. This team member is a future diplomat!
6. The “What If?” Person – If you don’t use up all your kids with jobs above doubling up, add a “what if?” person. This person listens to the first two ideas and then says “what if…” and adds on or changes one of the ideas. Even if they don’t do this in a meet, this is great practice for thinking outside the box. There can be more than one “what if?” person. Example: Someone says the skit can be animals in a zoo. The “what if?” person says, “or what if it can be animals on a farm?” or “what if?” person says “what if it was an ANT farm?” and so on…..

Hearing:

Another factor to keep in mind is that in Instant Challenge the Appraisers must be able to hear a team’s brainstorming in order to accurately score them on team work. Remind your team not to whisper when they are brainstorming. This is not the time to pretend you’re in the library. Practice Idea: Have one of the team members try sitting away from the team while they brainstorm. Afterwards, discuss as a team if the team member sitting out could hear everything.

Time:

It’s hard for even adults to know how long 2 minutes is or how much they might get done in that length of time. Practice Idea: Using a stopwatch have the team sit in a circle, ask them to raise their hand when they think two minutes is up. Don’t call out time until everyone has raised their hand. Is it longer than you think or shorter? What about 5 minutes? Use a practice Instant Challenge and talk through what can the team can do while the clock is running.

Thank you Mutts comics for today’s humor. Are you thinking outside your box?

On December 6, 2011, Colorado citizens will come together again to raise millions of dollars for nonprofits like ours. Last year, the goal to raise $1 million for Colorado charities was exceeded — $8.7 million was distributed instead!

Destination ImagiNation Colorado has a goal of raising $5,000 this first year of our participation. That $5,000 will help train team managers across the state, provide seed money to start a creativity day camp this summer, and help us reach communities and students across Colorado who may not have access to the Destination ImagiNation program.

Please include us in your holiday giving plans!

To make a donation, click here: Colorado Gives

A DI eXtreme event!

Are you ready for the most creative night of your life? Gather up to seven of your friends or team members, head over to Henry Middle School on Friday, December 9, 2011, work all night, then show us how creatively you think on your feet!

When: December 9, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. – December 10, 2011 at 12:00 noon. Yes, this in an overnight event! Students will be locked in and not allowed to leave for the evening.

Where: Henry Middle School
3005 S. Golden Way
Denver CO  80227

Who: High school students (minimum of 4 team members and up to 7 members per team) and ONE responsible adult per team.

Cost: $35 per team member, up to a maximum of $175 per team. Responsible adults are free!

What’s Included: The materials you will need to solve the challenge, coffee, soda, pizza, snacks, breakfast, adult supervision, and fun!

To Register: Download the Registration Form or go to the State Website, roll over the picture of the team manager on the left to find the link for the registration forms.

Registration Deadline: December 4, 2011

• November 5th at Eldorado K-8, 3351 S. Indiana Street, Superior. (map)
• January 7th at South HS, 1700 East Louisiana Avenue, Denver, CO (map)

Time: 7:45 until 3:00

Agenda: Team-Manager-Training-2010-2011

The agendas for these trainings will be identical. You will:

• Learn about DI
• Meet your Challenge Master
• Practice Instant Challenges
• Choose classes on Creative Problem Solving, Storytelling, Conflict Management and many other topics chosen from Team Manager suggestions.

Can you be a Team Manager and not attend a training?

Of Course…. but why would you want to? Why would you miss all the great information to give your team the best advantage? Why would you make the Destination ImagiNation year harder on yourself by missing all the wonderful tips and trick? Why miss hanging out with other adults taking on the same challenge your team has taken on?

Best of all…. we’re just a really fun group!

An exciting challenge designed to be solved and presented in just four short hours!

When: November 4, 7:00 pm – 11:00 pm.

Where: Dunstan Middle School, 1855 South Wright Street, Lakewood (map)

Who: Middle school students and their adult Team Manager (limited to100 students). Students may register individually or as a team. Individuals will be placed together to form a team, or added to an existing team.

What: Come and see how great you are thinking on your feet. Your team will be competing against other Middle School students to solve a challenge using your DI skills.

Why: This is a great opportunity for your team or individual DI’er to practice creative problem solving, strengthen their team work, and learn that DI is still cool in middle school.

Cost: $10 per team member or individual participant. Adult team managers are not charged, but must attend.

What’s included: All materials you need to solve the challenge, beverages, cookies and chips, adult supervision and a whole lot of fun.

To register: Download the registration forms
Then mail the forms and payment to:

Colorado Extreme Creativity
40 W. Littleton Blvd, #210-137
Littleton, CO 80120

Deadline: October 28, 2011 – no late registrations will be accepted

Questions? Email Kate