Interlake Virtual Build Video Exchange - open to all teams, no travel required

[watermydoing14]

I would like to invite you to the 1st annual Interlake Virtual Build Smackdown! The purpose of this competition is to compare scores and build designs with teams from across the country. Teams are allowed to submit either only their scores for their builds, or they can submit both scores and videos of their builds. If teams submit videos, they will receive access to all the other videos that are submitted by other teams. It's a great opportunity to get new design ideas, see where you stand among other schools, and to provide your team an incentive to get their builds done before their next competition!

The submission period for materials is February 7-13 (how's that for lucky numbers!), so get ready to film and score your builds before the end of that period.

Follow these links for registration and more information:
Rules and Procedures
Registration Form

[samlan16]

When is the deadline for registering?

[chalker]

This seems to happen every year or two, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but SO does NOT allow virtual tournaments/events in any form. Please see the policy here: https://www.soinc.org/invitationals

[Unome]

This seems to happen every year or two, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but SO does NOT allow virtual tournaments/events in any form. Please see the policy here: https://www.soinc.org/invitationals

I've always seen this interpreted as that a virtual tournament cannot be considered an invitational (or theoretically Regional or State) tournament, but that they can still exist, so longer as they aren't affiliated with a Science Olympiad organization. Am I missing something in the policy?

[InfiniCuber]

This seems to happen every year or two, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but SO does NOT allow virtual tournaments/events in any form. Please see the policy here: https://www.soinc.org/invitationals

I've always seen this interpreted as that a virtual tournament cannot be considered an invitational (or theoretically Regional or State) tournament, but that they can still exist, so longer as they aren't affiliated with a Science Olympiad organization. Am I missing something in the policy?

This is exactly what I got from reading this. It seems to me that it can't be called an "official Science Olympiad Tournament", this just seems to be a little fun thing to rank people and see new designs. To me this seems fine ...

Also, just curious, how is Science Olympiad to know if a team is holding an online or virtual tournament? I'm guessing it's just an honesty policy kind of thing.

[samlan16]

This is exactly what I got from reading this. It seems to me that it can't be called an "official Science Olympiad Tournament", this just seems to be a little fun thing to rank people and see new designs. To me this seems fine ...

Also, just curious, how is Science Olympiad to know if a team is holding an online or virtual tournament? I'm guessing it's just an honesty policy kind of thing.

Agreed. There were no repercussions for Bearden's invite, so why now?

[InfiniCuber]

This is exactly what I got from reading this. It seems to me that it can't be called an "official Science Olympiad Tournament", this just seems to be a little fun thing to rank people and see new designs. To me this seems fine ...

Also, just curious, how is Science Olympiad to know if a team is holding an online or virtual tournament? I'm guessing it's just an honesty policy kind of thing.

Agreed. There were no repercussions for Bearden's invite, so why now?

Or the Iolani tournament as well. They have run if for many years now.

[Bazinga+]

This is exactly what I got from reading this. It seems to me that it can't be called an "official Science Olympiad Tournament", this just seems to be a little fun thing to rank people and see new designs. To me this seems fine ...

Also, just curious, how is Science Olympiad to know if a team is holding an online or virtual tournament? I'm guessing it's just an honesty policy kind of thing.

Agreed. There were no repercussions for Bearden's invite, so why now?

Soinc states that "Virtual/Online/Cyber events cannot be classified as sanctioned Science Olympiad Tournaments." This means virtual tournaments are allowed, but cant be classified as sanctioned scioly tournaments

[watermydoing14]

We just received an email regarding the Virtual Competition policies. From my reading of the policies, we can't call this an official Science Olympiad Tournament, but quoting https://www.soinc.org/invitationals, "Teams may write their own original materials and share them with others as practice, not as a Science Olympiad Tournament." We cannot charge a fee (which we used to have for shipping costs and fundraising, but have now removed), but according to this policy, it seems to me that we can still videotape our own devices and share our designs and scores with other people. Our team just wants to provide an easy way for teams to share build designs and scores with other teams.

When is the deadline for registering?

You can register up to the end of the submission deadline, assuming that we're still allowed to do this?

[chalker]

Just wanted to chime in on a few things (and as always, what I state here isn't official, just my personal opinions / insight):
-Sharing materials amongst teams is clearly encouraged and allowed. It's when there are fees or funding or medals or trophies or rankings or etc. etc. involved that it turns into an event or tournament and crosses the line.
-In most of the cases that have been cited, there was extensive behind the scenes discussions and generally the events were either canceled or significantly altered to have a physical presence. This is not a new policy and it's repeatedly come up over many years.
-This policy it really for the protection of the entire SO organization. While you might view your particular idea as 'harmless', it could open up a huge slippery slope of other people creating tournaments that aren't 'officially sanctioned'. There are all kinds of issues such as insurance liability, copyright infringement, etc. etc. that come into play then. It would be horrible for SO if there was a fracturing of the community due to groups deciding to kinda play by the official rules but not exactly - it ends up impacting everyone, not just those that are partaking in these 'virtual events'.