WF Competition Information

UPDATES IN PROGRESS FOR 2025

We will also provide a list of updates here as and when they are available so keep this page bookmarked!

Coaches checklist for Team

Read all the information provided on this website. This is the general summary, we will keep updating as needed.

Read our Advice for World Finals Teams. This document has been compiled with advice from seasoned coaches and Odyssey officials. Even for coaches who have traveled to WF before, there is Michigan-specific information and tips.

Download the entire advancing team packet (ATP) which includes information about housing, dining and much more.

A lot of information at the national website about World Finals that will be very useful in due time. Assign all your team parents to read through it as well.

Team Registration

A lot of information at the national website about World Finals that will be very useful in due time. Assign all your team parents to read through it as well.
Register your team for World Finals, right away. The process is the same as for State. Advance your registration the sooner the /better. It indicates intent to participate. The deadline is two weeks after the State competition (by April 15th, 2023). This places you on the competition schedule. The firm deadline is by April 26th but waiting until then may get you in the second round of scheduling.
Instructions for Team Registration here.
If you choose to book a WF housing package, make reservations and send payment by April 26th. Complete this task the sooner the better, even with tentative information, you can still make changes later until the deadline.
Instructions for Housing Registration here.
Housing Information and check-in here.
The typical housing package offered by CCI is for 4 nights from Wednesday arrival to Sunday departure. $650 per person in double-occupancy. There is another package for Tuesday arrival to Sunday departure at $735 per person.
- Anyone can stay in the dorms at the package rate: team members, coaches, family members, etc.
- You can have a mix-and-match of different housing packages within your party.
- The packages include room, meals, shuttles around campus, access to all events and the registration fee.
- There is no minimum to the number of housing packages you can purchase, but you need to meet the count of team members + 1 at least, in order to get your WF facility fee waived.
If choosing to say off campus, the WF facility fee is $3000 per team, if registered by April 26th. This fee includes everything mentioned above other than room and meals.
For those seeking off-campus accommodations, a special webpage has been created to guide you through the local options.
ALL payments of housing packages or facility fees are due by April 26th, 2023. Once you have registered, you will get an online invoice with a link for each family to pay their share.
Buddy teams are paired with a National or International team to welcome them, show them around campus and "be there for them". We do not recommend that you apply for a Buddy Team if your team is affiliated with other sibling or kin teams. You can indicate your interest in your regular team registration. Not all teams who apply will be assigned a buddy team.
Pins & T-shirts
Place your order for pins and t-shirts (opening soon) while supplies last. Orders will open a few days after the State competition, expect an email with instructions. One order per team, one team per order. Place one order for additional WF ceremony shirts and pins together in order to pay the handling fee once. ALL teams pay a handling fee, even if you pick-up your order (the website lists it as a “shipping” fee). Specific shirts are worn by all TX teams at specific events.
Depending on inventory, we sometimes open a flash sale right after regular pins sales close with special trader packs at discounted price. This is typically open for two days only and is not guaranteed every year.
Due to time constraints, t-shirts and pins are ONLY available online with credit card pre-payment.
Transportation
Delegate someone to make travel arrangements for the team. Prices go up fast as the flights from Texas fill.
If you are flying, we recommend DTW instead of regional airports. There is a frequent shuttle with Michigan Flyer from the airport to E. Lansing (Marriott) that also serves the competition needs ($50 per person RT, Discounts for travel buddies). Book through this link by April 30th or sooner - especially if you have a red eye return flight on Sunday. We hear that they have a shortage of drivers so they will only have 9 rides per day.
Dean Trailways is also offering DTW shuttle Transportation to Michigan State University’s International Center at a rate of $50.00 per person each way (more expensive).
If you are staying on campus, you should not need your own transportation. There will be a free shuttle service throughout the competition connecting the residence halls, central campus, and the competition sites. Parking on campus is limited. You may have to park in a specific lot and take the campus OM shuttle to/from venues.
UPDATED: The Michigan Flyer from DTW to MSU will drop off at Marriott first then continue to International Center where teams are dropped off for Team Registration. Make sure that you stay on to the next stop and then get off with all your gaggage.
For the return to the airport, you must make your own way from campus to the Marriott to pick-up the Michigan Flyer from there. Check-out the campus shuttle schedule for this purpose. Caution: the earliest Sunday morning shuttle may not be early enough for you if you have an early bird flight.
Make arrangements for team props to be transported. Each region has internal communications about shared trucks that go to WF one-way. The ATP also has information if you wish to ship your props yourself.
You can indicate interest for truck co-op here by Apr 23rd.
Coaches have the option to participate in the Coaches and Officials competition at WF. No advance registration necessary. Just show up one hour before. Details in the ATP.
Plan some fundraising. Sometimes, fundraising goes on till summer to reimburse sponsors who helped fund the trip. It takes a village to send a team to World Finals. Don't be shy about asking for help. It will be more effective if the team "works" for it. The national website has some ideas shared here. Don't forget car washes, this is Texas!

Prepare:

Administrative Forms

CCI prepared a portal for teams to submit your administrative forms electronically ahead of time. This is done through your team registration. Pre-check-in must be completed by April 26th. For each of these forms, you should perform the following preparation:

a) Download the blank form as specified. Some forms include the entire team, some forms are needed per team member.
b) Get these forms filled in either paper or electronic form. Keep forms separate.
c) gather forms and scan them/collate them BY FORM TYPE to a single PDF for each type of form.

Free resources to combine multiple PDF files:
At Adobe online, or at PDFill online.

d) Save/upload your 4 team files to a cloud storage of your choice (google drive, microsoft onedrive, iCould, etc.). The files can be multi-page files, one page per student, where needed.
e) Copy the 4 URLs for your files on a document.
f) Follow the instructions here to add the URLs to your team registration. You must add all four URLs at the same time.

The four administrative documents for your team pre-check-in are:

Required Team Contract at WF. It was included in your ATP. You only need one copy of this form, signed by the entire team.
In addition, you should prepare a Media Release for each team member and each coach. This is different than at Region or State where all you had to do is mark a check box during online registration. This form was also included in your advancing packet.
The Medical Release form is different at WF as it is issued by the hosting campus. Please make sure that you prepare this ahead of time.
The Insurance Waiver form (PDF) or (DOCX) was introduced last year and must be completed in pre-check-in for everyone who is staying on-campus.

IF YOU CHOOSE TO SUBMIT IN PAPER FORMAT, you can still bring the forms at team check-in. Make sure they are collated by form type. You will go through regular team check-in line, not the Express check-in. Make sure that your forms are collated by FORM TYPE, not by person.
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Finally, if you have team members from more than one school, you need a written confirmation in any format from the Principal of the other schools. For example, team A has one member from school B, then the coach needs to carry with them a written authorization (or email) from Principal of school B.

· Review scores and discuss with the team. Remember that the team can choose to change/improve areas of weakness or even start from scratch for World Finals.

· Prepare a new set of team forms (outside assistance, cost form, style form, team required form, etc.). See the Team FORMS tab in the navigation bar. You can choose to keep the same forms as you had at State or change them.

· Whether you rent, share a truck or ship your props, make sure they get to Michigan within the guidelines set by the WF organization. Several TX teams usually share trucks. If you choose to ship, make sure you follow their procedures for labeling, packaging, etc. If you ship through MSU, they deliver directly at staging area for each problem. Be mindful of deadlines.

· For family accommodation off-campus, book soon. Hotels fill FAST.

· Arrange for travel. By air or road. Make plans as soon as possible. This is a very large event! The most common hub is Detroit Airport. While peripheral airports may have flights, the vast majority of us fly through DTW. Calculate that the distance to Lansing (MSU) is about two hours. In addition, Detroit is a large airport and it takes a long walk to the baggage claim (allow one+ hour before your shuttle). If you do not have a car, you can book the shuttle to campus here. The Michigan Flyer is a great resource and they have a great track record with our Odyssey tournaments. Round trip tickets between Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) and MSU are $50.00 and one-way tickets are $30.00 (discounts for 2+ travelling together).

AT WORLD FINALS:

· Teams must check-in upon arrival at WF. Dorm assignments are provided at that time, as well as dining hall. See details in ATP.

· Review location of your long-term competition site, spontaneous, Creativity Festival, as well as all other exciting activities. Map out a plan for each day allowing time to get across campus. Remember, this is a college campus. A free shuttle service is offered within the campus. Here is a site map that we have compiled (coming soon). Inside the program that you will receive at registration is a more comprehensive map which also includes all the local shuttles.

· Props are stored in designated locations within the same building as your competition venue. Teams are welcome to go any time and assemble, repair their props. If you are carrying your props with you, plan to drop them off there from Tuesday onwards. You should NOT wait until competition day (delays in shuttles, rain, etc). WF prop storage area is crowded/busy.

· If you have shipped your props c/o MSU Facilities, or sent them on a shared truck, they will be delivered at the designated prop storage for your performance venue. Plan to open the boxes and assemble ahead of time. Don’t forget your toolbox.

· It is recommended to take an old bed sheet to cover your props "pile" and add a team identification sign in large print in order to avoid accidents. Competing teams have right of way, especially on busy days.

Other information at World Finals

· Teams do not provide a judge however, there are volunteer expectations as follows. Each team will have a choice of 2 volunteer activities:

a) provide a volunteer for a shift at the Texas Creativity Festival booth in Michigan, OR

b) provide a volunteer to help chaperone the Texas delegation in the Opening Ceremonies Parade or the Float & Banner Parade (typically assigned to teams with members walking in the parades).

· All shift times at Creativity Festival or parade chaperoning will be assigned to team based on their competition schedule and their Howdy schedule to ensure that there are no conflicts. Team volunteers should register here (coming soon) and give the following information:

Volunteer First and Last Name
The email address that they check most often
The school membership name, problem and division (for example: School of Odyssey/12345 - P1/D3)
A cell phone number so that we can contact you in Michigan.
This is for one person, approx. 2.5 to 3 hours shift. Deadline to register as a volunteer for WF is May 3 so that we have contact details for your team volunteer.

· In addition, we ask that every team shows "Howdy Spirit" by watching several other teams perform. Once the schedule is published, we will be assigning your team two performance slots for team and entire family to go cheer on. This is a TEAM TEXAS Requirement. We hope you will consider supporting even more teams than just the assigned slots. Go Texas Odyssey!

· Texas Odyssey have prepared a Howdy welcome gift pack for each WF team. Feel free to pick-up from our TX booth at Creativity Festival any time from Thursday noon to Saturday 10 am. Any team volunteer can pick-up. Teams cannot pick up another team's gift packs.

· Consult the national web site to find your team schedule for spontaneous and long term performance. Make sure that you check again after the schedule is final as changes do happen that could impact your preliminary slots. Check the World Finals FAQ for a link and dates when the schedule is posted.

· We know you are even MORE excited and overwhelmed so ……… delegate, delegate, delegate!

· If you have questions about T-shirts and pins, contact preorders@txodyssey.org.

· If you have questions about team process and administration or general information, contact anyone in the World Finals Committee who send you weekly newsletters, at wf@txodyssey.org. Please include your team name (school/ member #/ Prob/ Div) in all correspondence. This year’s WF Committee comprises of:
Sam Pollicove, Chair (CF and Howdy Rep at WF), Lilian Wannall (Sr. Association Director), Gaby Komm (Pins & T-shirts Committee Chair).