Want to Join Odyssey of the Mind?

Membership Registration for a School or Organization
Before a team can register for Odyssey of the Mind, it must be affiliated with a registered Membership, which is typically held by a school or community organization and costs $290. 
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To learn more about Membership Registration, contact the coordinator at your school or sponsoring organization or visit the Odyssey of the Mind headquarters site.
TRYING TO SIGN UP
​FOR A WORKSHOP?

If you're interested in signing up to attend one of our workshops, check out the Workshops & Dates page.

There, you'll find dates, times and details, as well as forms to guide you through the sign-up process.
​Team Registration
Once your school or sponsoring organization has a Membership Number and you have put together a team, you can register your team. Every registered Membership provides for one team per division for each of the five problems, in addition to an unlimited number of Primary teams, under a single Membership Number. If your school or organization desires to have two teams in the same division solving the same problem, the organization must register for a second Membership, which will be assigned a different Membership Number.

Each team must register separately. The registration fee for the Magic Center Region tournament is $200 per Division I, II or III team or $100 per Primary team. Registration opens in October, and the deadline to register and pay, regardless of the year, is December 15. Please review the following documents for registration procedures:
  1. ​Step-by-Step: Team Registration Details​
  2. Online Team Registration: What You Need To Know Before You Start
  3. Step-by-Step: Registering Judges and Workers 
  4. Online Team Judge/Worker Registration: What You Need To Know Before You Start

A quick summary: Registration now is done through the Members Area of the national website and involves the three parts of registering shown below PLUS payment. The payment deadline means payment received.
State Finalists
​The FLOMA State Tournament registration fee, which applies only to teams that advance to the state tournament, is $100. Tournament registration details and payment information is provided to the coach during the Going-to-State Meeting held immediately after the Magic Center Regional Tournament award ceremony.
 All teams must provide a volunteer judge (at least 18 years old and out of high school) AND a volunteer worker. Teams will not be put on the schedule to participate in the regional tournament, even if payment has been made, if they have failed to register a volunteer judge and worker. ​

JUDGES

Judges must attend the mandatory training and judge all day during the regional tournament. Training and tournament dates are on the Dates page. Teams of judges evaluate the performance of teams in the Long-Term, Style or Spontaneous portion of a competition, as well as serving in other vital roles. Each judge is trained ahead of time in the area for which he or she has a responsibility and works alongside experienced Problem Captains and Head Judges. Because of the importance of teams being scored consistently, judges must be present for the entire tournament. Magic Center makes every effort to assign judges to the problem and  rule that most interests and suits them. The judge MAY NOT leave his or her assignment to see other teams perform, so a parent is often not an ideal choice to fill this position. Judges must be at least 18 years old AND out of high school.

WORKERS

Workers must cover a shift of usually 2 to 3 hours. Among the many tasks volunteers handle are setting up, staffing the registration table, monitoring doors, running scores to the score room, selling merchandise or concessions, controlling traffic, taking meals to judges and breaking down the site. Shifts are scheduled around your team's long-term performance time, so this role is well suited for a parent.

​If your volunteers fail to attend their shift or, in the case of the judge, the mandatory training, the team may incur a penalty.

WHERE TO FIND JUDGES AND WORKERS​

Parents typically volunteer to fill worker roles, but it can be more challenging to find a reliable judge. Some teams find judges among the faculty at their school. Some have a parent who is willing to forgo watching the long-term performance live and make sure another parent takes photos and/or a video. Some find a judge through a parent's work or social connections.

Schools with multiple teams might consider working together to approach organizations that provide team volunteer grants (see Volunteer Grant Programs sidebar at right) when groups of employees volunteer together.
Volunteer Grant Programs

   If you work for a company that offers a volunteer grant program (i.e., the company provide grants to the nonprofits for which its employees volunteer), please track and submit the hours you log with us. Many local companies offer generous volunteer grants — such as $15-per-volunteer-hour grants or a $500 grant after 20 hours of service. Magic Center can stretch those dollars to help more students in Central Florida.
   Check the policies at your employer, as they vary widely from company to company and often change, but some area companies that may offer such a program include Aetna, Allstate, Boeing, CenturyLink, ConocoPhillips, Covidien, CVS Caremark, Dell, Disney, Duke Energy, ExxonMobil, HCA, Intel, JCPenney, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, NextEra Energy (FPL), Outerwall (Coinstar/ Redbox), RealNetworks, Southwest Airlines, Sprint Nextel, SuperValu (Save-a-Lot), Time Warner, Verizon, Walmart and Wells Fargo.
   Many other area companies alternately (or even additionally) offer team volunteer grants when groups of employees volunteer together. Among them are Best Buy, BNY Mellon, Charles Schwab, ConocoPhillips, CVS Caremark, ExxonMobil, Kohl's, Siemens and Walmart. 
   If you work for a company that offers this benefit, please talk to your co-workers about banding together to support the Magic Center Region at the regional tournament.