How well is Regionals run?

[gneissisnice]

hehe, ok ok, Im sorry. I guess I didn't realize all the work that was put into the award ceremonies. Im guessing you're one of the tournament coordinators?

[gneissisnice]

And actually, that did happen to me once, having a medal awarded wrongly. I got the gold medal in experimental design at invitationals but it turns out they made a mistake and gave it to the wrong team. I actually got last Never did that event again.

[sachleen]

haha, gneissisnice, did you give it back?

[gneissisnice]

haha, yes I did! Though one of my teammates refused so we all had to yell at him until he did
It does make for a funny scio story though.

[Mr. Cool]

haha, yes I did! Though one of my teammates refused so we all had to yell at him until he did
It does make for a funny scio story though.

lol, It was just an Invitational. It's not like it mattered.

[Uncle Fester]

Matthew's explanation is dead-on, except for one tiny detail: it assumed things went right. Many's the time that people-in-charge have gone up to me and said, "Jerry, scores are screwed up. Go out and kill time." The dozen or more times I've done that, I've never had more than thirty seconds to come up with something, and yes, I've walked up to the podium with no idea whatsoever. But, the Gods of Esso always gave me a topic between the sidelines and the microphone.

Worst one was two years ago; I was approached by someone with the old "we have a screwed up event result and you gotta talk", whereupon I replied, "I know-- it's my event that's screwed up."

Score Counseling is a stupid title, and I really give the people in that room a hard time every chance I get. Especially over their paranoia towards visitors. 'I'm coming in with my score sheet-- Please don't shoot me" and "Shouldn't someone be blindfolding me and spinning me in circles?" "The five scores in last place are the only ones that need counseling." "Final tiebreaker is darkness of their ink." The time I pretended not to know English (Me have score! Heap many score! All good! All fine! Goodest win mostest big shiny!) they chased me out when they figured out I was faking it.

Matthew was actually soft-soaping it when he mentioned what happens when mistakes are made. It's a very serious black mark on your invisible SO record. Whether running an event, filling out the master score sheet or running the whole shebang. I've heard (several times) the ultimate put-down at committee and admin meetings: variations on "Oh yeah? How can you possibly know for sure? you tried to send X place team to Nationals!"

I can truthfully say that my Brains Trust had done an admirable job with scoring. As Matthew can personally testify, I modified self-correcting paperwork procedures from my Nuclear construction days for Mission Possible back in the late 90's. The infamous "Seven Steps", which even I hate. It's a meticulous process, a real pain in the brain (and elsewhere!), and appears at first glance to be a waste of time. But it works, and yes, it's caught errors before they became problems. If you've done Mission at any of my tournaments, you saw step one, where we hold up your score sheet and ask you, "Is this your score sheet, and are names and team numbers correct?"

[Matthew]

hehe, ok ok, Im sorry. I guess I didn't realize all the work that was put into the award ceremonies. Im guessing you're one of the tournament coordinators?

No need to be sorry! I just wish that everyone could see what's going on in the background when you're watching the West Point promotional video for the seventh time in a row...

I'm not one of the tournament coordinators, but I have helped run events. I've known several of the event coordinators for quite a while, competed in NY for seven years, and still love SO. As a result, I volunteer for New York, Indiana, Nationals, and occasionally other states like Maryland/DC and Florida.

Matthew's explanation is dead-on, except for one tiny detail: it assumed things went right. Many's the time that people-in-charge have gone up to me and said, "Jerry, scores are screwed up. Go out and kill time."

I remember the time this happened at an invitational in Indiana, and they told Jerry to go out and kill time. So what does Jerry do?

"Hey everyone! I want you all to meet some people really important and dedicated to Indiana Science Olympiad!"

Jerry then proceeded to pull myself, DeltaHat, and Jim_R onto stage and point out that we had left Washington, DC the night before and driven to South Bend, Indiana non-stop in my old Subaru WRX (at a quite illegal speed, in the snow) to make the 0600 tournament start time. The whole time I was whispering to the prattling MC "Jerry, stop it! These kids are good at maths and they'll figure out we drove 90 mph on the turnpike to get here!" Once Tina (Indiana State Director) figured out we had recklessly endangered ourselves for an invitational, we all got on the Indiana University business expenses account and were told to buy plane tickets next time...

[eak227]

Ah, I believe I remember that one. If that was the same one Jerry started rambling on about SO Summer Camp as well. Good thing it was just an invitational and everyone wasn't in an anxious mood demanding those scores.

Hey Matthew, have you ever been involved in Massachusetts SO at all? I'll be out there this year, but I don't know anything about the state or how to go about volunteering or any of that stuff.

[Pleiades]

Hey Matthew, have you ever been involved in Massachusetts SO at all? I'll be out there this year, but I don't know anything about the state or how to go about volunteering or any of that stuff.

What division are you doing? I'm from Massachusetts

[Mr. Cool]

I remember the time this happened at an invitational in Indiana, and they told Jerry to go out and kill time. So what does Jerry do?

"Hey everyone! I want you all to meet some people really important and dedicated to Indiana Science Olympiad!"

Jerry then proceeded to pull myself, DeltaHat, and Jim_R onto stage and point out that we had left Washington, DC the night before and driven to South Bend, Indiana non-stop in my old Subaru WRX (at a quite illegal speed, in the snow) to make the 0600 tournament start time. The whole time I was whispering to the prattling MC "Jerry, stop it! These kids are good at maths and they'll figure out we drove 90 mph on the turnpike to get here!" Once Tina (Indiana State Director) figured out we had recklessly endangered ourselves for an invitational, we all got on the Indiana University business expenses account and were told to buy plane tickets next time...

haha. Nice story!
Oh, by the way. What events did you help with at Nationals in DC? (if any)