Volunteer Area

for Regional Tournaments

Please come back in January for 2025 Volunteer Registration.

What is an untrained volunteer?

Each team provides one or two volunteers depending on the Region. Most jobs are on tournament day, and they span from 3 to 4 hours. Some examples of jobs are putting up signage and set-up, icing drinks, selling merchandise, judge hospitality area, hallway monitors, pin inventory, tear-down, awards set-up.

In Central TX Region, volunteers work a 2-3 hour shift with times varying from 8 am to the end of competition.

In Houston Area Region Odyssey (HARO), volunteers work a 2 to 4-hour shift that can start at different times. They are called Volunteers, they are not the same as trained Tournament Staff (TS). Volunteers are provided by/credited to the Team, whereas TS are assigned a larger responsibility and are provided by/credited to the School/Membership.

Untrained Volunteer Registration

Step 1: Gather All Information

Team Membership Number and School Name
Problem #
Division #
Coach Name
Coach Email Address

Step 2: Register Online

Watch TXNews for announcement when registration opens for your Region.
** Link for REGISTRATION here **.

Register in the national database (odysseyofthemind.com) for Houston, Central and North Region tournaments. Coaches, please do NOT register on behalf of your volunteer. This causes confusion.
If you do not complete Step 2, your team will not receive credit.
Please refer to the calendar web page for Volunteer Registration dates, typically opens two months before and closes 3 weeks before tournament. We need time to organize our Volunteers! You can select your task later.
Please register as a volunteer by the posted deadline for your specific region for your team credit.

Step 3: Volunteer Confirmation Email

Print and Save your Volunteer Confirmation email.
No confirmation email? You aren't registered!!! You will receive a VOLUNTEER confirmation email after you successfully register. (The email can take up to an hour or two to be sent.) If you do not receive a confirmation email, please check your spam folder. (For questions, please contact houstonvols@txodyssey.org or your Regional Director).
If you know that your email provider has a strong spam blocker, you may want to add “odysseyhq@odysseyofthemind.com” and “mail@signup.com” to your contacts list [before you register] and keep them until the tournament.

Step 4. Pick your Volunteer Task

Central Region volunteers will pick tasks here (coming in February 2024).

North Region volunteers can pick tasks here (coming soon).

HARO Volunteers - additional information below:

Register online (step 2 above) by February 5th, 2024 (HARO) to provide team credit.
Half-Day volunteers representing PRIMARY teams can select eligible jobs here .
Untrained volunteers representing COMPETITIVE teams (Problems 1-5) teams can select eligible jobs here (Jobs before, during and after competition day are available).
Pre- and Post- tournament jobs will be posted in January and tournament day jobs will be posted in early February.
Pick your Task.
Use the same email address that you used in step 2 for registration/team credit so that they can be matched.
Select your task by February 10th, 2024 [extended to 2/14 for Primary and 2/17 for competitive] but the longer you wait, the fewer choices you will have.
If you do not select a task yourself by the deadline, the Volunteer Coordinator will assign you a task, around your team's long-term schedule. Choices will be more limited then.
You must perform TWO steps: Register in the national database (odysseyofthemind.com) and pick a job (signup.com).