Houston Region specific Information

Updated 11/09/24

Welcome to the Houston Area Region Odyssey (“HARO”) page. You will find here additional details that are specific to Houston, in addition to all the general program information that is explained on this website. To renew old memberships, visit our membership page with new instructions here.

NEW 9/29/24: Teams must register their roster with the Regional Director. This will also help coaches get access to a temporary Member’s area and download the full term problems.

This step is not limited to competitive teams, and will also be used when it is time to enter for competition. ALL teams must register by the time they start with the long-term.

NEW 10/30/24: If you receive an email from OdysseyHQ about “Creating a Team for Your OM Membership“, hold off for a couple weeks until we get the competitions configured. We will let you know if there is any action to take. For now, continue to register your teams in TX.

Updated 11/05/24: See announcement about monthly open forums to be held by OdysseyHQ on Tuesday evenings. You can register to participate and ask questions, or watch the recordings later. Next topic on Nov 19th: Spontaneous Secrets. Details in our Member Area.

Quick links to general information on our website:

NEW! Team REGISTRATION

Tournament Staff for HARO

What’s Happening in November 2024:

Coach Training Season is over. If you are just starting, feel free to use our Coach Training materials here.

Team Registration is now OPEN for teams that are ready to work on their long-term. Details are available here. This is required for ALL teams that are working on Odyssey of the Mind problems, even if they do not intend to participate in a competition. Participating in Competition is not required; but Team Registration is.

Teams are usually well into their long-term problem solving. A good target is to complete the first draft of the script by mid-December and work on a list of tasks that must take place within their solution, backdrops, props and costumes to be built.

Key dates for Houston season

Link to our Google Calendar to add events to your personal calendar. Please note that rsvp is only accepted through the specific sign-up links below.

The list below includes all dates mentioned in newsletters:

Month	Date	Time	Type	Details
August/ September 2024			Key date	Annual membership renewal* to access the current year full problems and program guide. Purchase/renew your annual membership* here.
September to February		Ongoing	Key date	Team meetings under the direction of their coach to determine their team solutions, build their own sets and costumes, write their scripts and practice presenting them in an 8-minute skit.
September	Thu 12^th	7:30 pm - 8:30 pm	Event	Odyssey of the Mind Orientation* for New Parents and Teachers. Live webinar. Sign-up* HERE.
September	Sat 21^st	4:00 pm 5:00 pm	Event	Odyssey of the Mind Orientation* for New Parents and Teachers. Live webinar. Sign-up* HERE.
September	Sat 28^th	8:30 am 1:30 pm	Event	Interactive Coach Training* session on-site. Presbyterian School, Museum District. Sign-up* HERE.
September	From Sun 29th	Ongoing	Key date	Coaches register their team as soon as they start discussing the long-term problems. Start here.
October	Tue 1^st	7:30 pm - 8:30 pm	Event	Odyssey of the Mind Orientation* for New Parents and Teachers (late starters). Cancelled.*
October	Sat 12th	4:00 pm 6:00 pm	Event	Coach Training session online (late starters). Live webinar in addition to self-training by video. Sign-up HERE.
October	Tue 24^th	10:00 pm	Deadline	Last date for Teams to register for Spontaneous Workshop (Track B).
October	Thu 26^th	10:00 pm	Deadline	Last date for Coaches to register for Spontaneous Workshop (Track A).
November	1^st	10:00 pm	Deadline	Last date for Annual Membership Renewal/ Purchase HERE.
November	Sat 2^nd	8:30 am 1:30 pm	Event	*Spontaneous Workshop*: Track A for Coaches to get additional training and judge the teams (all morning). Sign-up HERE.
November	Sat 2^nd	10 am OR 12 pm	Event	*Spontaneous Workshop*: Track B for Teams to practice and learn competition procedure (up to 90 minutes). Sign-up HERE. Workshop is FULL for teams.
Late Nov/ Early Dec			Key date	Online Tournament registration in the new OdysseyHQ database. Please wait untill we announce that it is ready for Texas teams.
December	Opening Early Dec		Key date	Team judges register for competition to give their team credit (competitive teams only). The deadline is in January but do not wait that long as people s schedules fill up.
December, 2024	Sun 15^th	10 pm	Deadline	Online Tournament registration closes for all regional competitions
January 2025	Wed 15^th	10 pm	Deadline	Payment for HARO competition fee. Late teams are not guaranteed to be on the competition schedule. Instructions here. Invoices will only be issued upon request.
January	Wed 15^th	10 pm	Deadline	Deadline to include any qualified scheduling requests within the Tournament Registration.
January	Wed 15^th	10 pm	Deadline	Deadline for registration of team judges for HARO competition.
January	Wed 15^th	10 pm	Deadline	Deadline for registration of team judges for SOUTH TX teams.
February	Sat 1^st	2 to 5 pm	Event	On-site Judges Training at San Jacinto College, South Campus, 13735 Beamer Rd, Houston 77089.
February	Wed 5^th	10 pm	Key Date	Pre-requisite to complete online general training and test, for attendance to Virtual Judge Training make-up session.
February	Sat 8^th	3 to 5 pm	Event	Virtual Judges Training. Make-up session with limited scope. Pre-requisites apply.
February	Tue 11^th	7:30 pm	Event	HARO Competition Walk-through for Coaches. Virtual one-hour session. No rsvp needed. Join here.
February	Sat 22^nd	8:00 am - 4:00 pm	Competition	HARO Regional Competition, Pershing Middle School, 3838 Blue Bonnet Drive, followed by the Awards ceremony on-site.
March	Sat 1^st	10 pm	Deadline	Payment for STATE competition fee. Late teams are not guaranteed to be on the competition schedule. Instructions here.
March	Sat 29^th	8:00 am - 4:00 pm	Competition	TX State Competition, at San Jacinto College, South Campus, followed by the Awards ceremony on-site. (Advancing teams)
May	Wed 21^st evening to Sat 24^th	three full days	Competition	World Finals, Michigan State University, in Lansing, MI. (Advancing teams)