The NH-DI Affiliate Tournament will be held the weekend of March 11-13 at Souhegan High School in Amherst. The number of teams this season should allow us to have everyone share their creativity on one day at one site.
Although we are hoping for a traditional tournament, it appears much more likely a Low Contact Tournament will be the safest way to hold our Affiliate Tournament. The safety of all participants and volunteers is extremely important. We know that being able to interact with each other is an important component for both teams and Appraisers. The Low Contact Tournament will allow this to happen.
Should things change between now and mid-February, we may be able to hold a traditional tournament (or—and we really hope this doesn’t happen—become fully virtual). Planning for all alternatives is ongoing.
The Low Contact Tournament will keep our Teams, Team Managers, and Appraisers safe. While this will be different from our traditional in-person Tournaments, it will permit teams to safely present their Challenge solutions to appraisers and then talk with the Appraisers about their unique approaches to the challenges.
The Affiliate Tournament will kick off on Friday evening, March 11, with a virtual Opening Ceremony to recognize all teams participating, briefly review the Tournament procedures, and more. On Saturday, March 12, teams will show the Appraisers everything they’ve done for their Challenge solutions and will have their in-person Instant Challenges. The schedule will be arranged so that both the Challenge presentation and Instant Challenge are about an hour apart. Due to the need to keep the number of people in the building at a minimum, no spectators will be permitted. However, we are hoping to be able to video all Challenge presentations to share virtually with the whole NH-DI community. The virtual Closing Ceremony will be on Sunday, March 13.