Bad Event Coordinators

[Chemistmax]

For Anatomy, the issue was that there was National material on the State test. One of the teams appealed for the results to be thrown out, but the appeal was shot down because "all the teams were at the same disadvantage". However, the teams that already knew they were likely to go to Nationals had already studied the material and therefore had an advantage over the rest of us. I take issue with this not because of messed-up rankings (we did horribly anyways) but because of the reason they denied the appeal. All the teams were not at the same disadvantage...you can't expect the schools that have gone to Nationals year after year to wait until after States to start studying for Nationals. And you can't expect the schools that have never gone to Nationals to study the National material.

That's what happened to one of my astronomy friends

[andrewwski]

I generally don't like to complain about coordinators, especially having been one myself, but I do feel that when volunteering to do the job, you should expect to have to become familiar with the rules and specifications for the events - to actually do some preparation. A few years ago there was a supervisor that was not checking a certain specification on WS planes. We appealed, and it was turned down on the grounds that "the supervisor was not aware of the rule prior to the start of the event." That's just bad. Really bad. I'm still a little bitter about that, three or four years later. It was the difference between 1st and 5th places - the top 4 teams were in violation of spec.

[Flavorflav]

For Anatomy, the issue was that there was National material on the State test. One of the teams appealed for the results to be thrown out, but the appeal was shot down because "all the teams were at the same disadvantage". However, the teams that already knew they were likely to go to Nationals had already studied the material and therefore had an advantage over the rest of us. I take issue with this not because of messed-up rankings (we did horribly anyways) but because of the reason they denied the appeal. All the teams were not at the same disadvantage...you can't expect the schools that have gone to Nationals year after year to wait until after States to start studying for Nationals. And you can't expect the schools that have never gone to Nationals to study the National material.

That's what happened to one of my astronomy friends

There is no National-only material on Astronomy.

[zyzzyva980]

Those idiots can't do anything right
The judges for Crime Busters @ regionals last time sucked
and the road scholar ones need to learn how to read a god <censored>
map

Those are strong words. I think most of us have had bad experiences with an event coordinator and one time or another BUT I think we can all agree that the number of good judges and events that have gone off without a hitch greatly outweighs the one or two bad experiences we've had. Overall, most adjudicators do a fine job.

[quizbowl]

doing experimental at regionals was the entire basis of my opinion here. The event did not start until 9:00 exactly, but people got there at 8:50 and were allowed to start. We got there at nine, and were dumbfounded while several teams were already doing the experiment.

[French_Toast]

I've never had any issues with bad coordinators, but I've heard stories from teammates, especially about building events.

That said, our team studies national level stuff even though we're not likely to go to Nationals, because hey, we're in Ohio, we've gotta work hard or we'll be in last place.

[packer-backer91]

I have had my fair share of "bad" event supervisors but like some have said they are volunteering their time to be there so show quite a bit of respect to help the supervisor out if they are lacking to follow the rules. There were times that I have seen huge infractions at the State/ Regional level that have happened to see nothing done in some events. One problem is that it would be my guess that for the most part the judges don't spend too much time studying the rules so don't know what exactly how to run the event. Also it seems that tech events are usually the first to have problems which I remember telling the judge that he somehow miss measured the track in electric vehicle because I know that the vehicle would stop a +/- 1mm for the most part for stopping but during the run our vehicle was almost 1/2 m short. This brings up my next comment we all are humans and will make mistakes so even when these things happen never get made at a judge just tell them where you believe they deviated from the rules and explain what should be done. People would be much more likely to respond positively than with acting angered or blaming when you question them.

In my case in EV we got him with the help of one of my coaches and I to re-measure the track and we found the exact spot where the track was to end was where our vehicle was so he adjusted the track and was thankful for finding his error. My Regionals are really kind of sad because I would take the rules seriously and plan accordingly but 50% of the time the rules were not followed correctly so by my last year of SO, I prepared quite well so I was looking forward to some surprise rules. If you know rules will not be followed well than plan somewhat for that as long as whatever is done, I learned this from my coach after my Freshman-Junior years where I would report all the errors and he would not care too much he knew that some stuff would go wrong. By my end of SO I was looking forward to see what they would do and my coach and I could would laugh at some of the funny stuff they tried to add.

Finally, for every person that has ever complained about supervisors would become one themselves there would be less poorly run events. I'm still really interested in becoming a State/Regional Supervisor I would like to become a supervisor for my regional especially because events where run poorly. For most part I believe that in my case most of my supervisors where college professors with degree's in similar topics to the event but that really doesn't make a great combination if you don’t fully understand the rules so past SO alumni can make good supervisors because we already know some of the things that made all of us mad at one time or another so we will stop this from happening to further people in Science Olympiad.

[jander14indoor]

<SNIP>Finally, for every person that has ever complained about supervisors would become one themselves there would be less poorly run events. I'm still really interested in becoming a State/Regional Supervisor I would like to become a supervisor for my regional especially because events where run poorly.<SNIP>

Ding, ding, ding, ding....

Your desire can be fulfilled, we're ALWAYS looking for qualified event supervisors.

In fact, a willing, but not familiar, event supervisor is how I got so involved in SO. Note, I didn't say bad, because I got to know the person later and they just did not know what students could do with Wright Stuff and messed it up trying to 'help' the students. And that was for my daughter, who is also now a regional and state event supervisor (though still in college), for similar reasons to yours. In fact at least three Michigan board members are former Sci Oly alumni.

So, how can you get involved? Contact your regional and state directors. Here in Michigan we run 15 regionals and the state tournament. That means 16 X 46 or 736 capable volunteer event supervisors every year, not including trial events that can add another 50 plus. AND volunteers to help on top of that!! All coordinated by mostly volunteer staff. A BIG task as you can imagine, and spread that across 50 states.

So, how to contact the directors? Here in Michigan, you can reach us through the state web-site at http://www.michiganso.org/ Contacts on the bottom of the page through Facebook and Twitter. Or you can just drop me a private e-mail and I'll get you hooked up.

Jeff Anderson
Michigan SO Executive Director
Livonia, MI

[Liv]

Experimental Design at States.

1. They thought we were cheating
2. They didn't give us any warning
3. We weren't cheating
4. They disqualified us in the wrong manner

[Flavorflav]

doing experimental at regionals was the entire basis of my opinion here. The event did not start until 9:00 exactly, but people got there at 8:50 and were allowed to start. We got there at nine, and were dumbfounded while several teams were already doing the experiment.

Which region? WLI?