Nationals: Coordinator Preparations

The National Contest is a gigantic networking opportunity and educational experience for coordinators. As either the coordinator or a designee represents every Affiliate, there are ample opportunities for exchanging ideas, learning from, and getting to know one another.

Meetings and Activities

• New Coordinator Orientation (currently on Saturday afternoon before the contest starts): This meeting, and accompanying walking tour, gives new coordinators an overview of the event and important locations before the big show.

• UMD Dinner (Monday evening):  The University of Maryland treats NHD coordinators, staff, and special guests to a dinner as a thank-you for bringing 8,000 people to campus each year. The food is good, including dessert. And, there's a cash bar.

Paperwork

• Outstanding Affiliate: Each Affiliate will have one Junior Division and one Senior Division Outstanding Affiliate winner, regardless of any other awards their students may or may not win. Coordinators can either select the entries themselves, or indicate that NHD selects the entry based on rank, by Wednesday afternoon.

• Confidentiality Agreement: If you want to see your delegations contest results on Wednesday afternoon (to prepare press releases or select your outstanding Affiliate entries) you must complete a confidentiality agreement prior to Tuesday evening of contest week. 

Awards Ceremony Seating

In May, a fellow coordinator will begin the process of seat selection for the awards ceremony. Affiliates rotate through a random order to select a block of seats for their delegation in the Xfinity Center. You will then have an exact location to share with students, teachers, and other NHD Fans from your Affiliate to watch the excitement together.

The additional obligations that you may have to your delegation and/or sponsoring institution at the contest will vary. The best way to understand these responsibilities is to look at what has been done previously and to tailor your time to meet these expectations. 

Communication

NHD will provide general information about the event in the NHD Contest App and through their social media channels. Consider using an email list of event attendees - or a text service like Remind - to reinforce official communication or send out Affiliate-specific messages. Consider the impact that the following, brief updates would have on building community:

• The Welcome Ceremony is starting soon - look for us near the flagpole!

• Good luck to Junior Division students today!

• Congrats to ### for advancing to the final-round! 

• Don't forget our visit with Senator ### today at 2 PM!

Building Awareness and Publicity

The National Contest provides you - and your institution - five solid days of content to promote the hard work that you've been doing all year. How do you plan to use your social media channels to highlight what's going on? 

Seeing Projects

Many of your fellow coordinators would agree that one of the most important responsibilities you have at the contest is to the students. Most of us try to see as many student projects as possible over the course of the event. Why?

• Having your smiling, reassuring face in the audience during an interview, or giving them a high five after they leave the interview, is priceless encouragement. 

• The photographs you gather of smiling kids, supportive teachers, and high quality projects will be useful to you throughout the year as you talk about the program. 

• You can lean on the relationships you build with national qualifiers throughout the year, by asking them to present at a workshop or provide you with a quote on the impact of the program.

Congressional Visits

Some delegations plan visits to elected officials to talk about the achievements of students from their state or territory, and to highlight the work of their sponsoring institution. These visits can be scheduled through the representatives office - and are best scheduled once you know how many students from that district will be advancing as national qualifiers. They are great opportunities for photos - and sometimes the offices can arrange for gallery passes or other opportunities.

NHD will provide a general packet of program information, which you can supplement with more information about your Affiliate program and/or sponsoring institution.

Group Activities

Some Affiliates will host their own delegation-specific activities to help build team spirit, usually pizza parties, ice cream socials, or congressional visits. You may want to refer to what your Affiliate has done historically, and when it has taken place, so you can call that out in materials you will distribute to your national qualifiers. 

• Who is coming? The attendance of at least one person - usually your Affiliate coordinator - is required as laid out in the Affiliate Agreement with NHD. Many delegations will bring at least one other person - an assistant, another member of your institutional team, etc. - to help share responsibilities at the contest. 

• Where will you stay? You can stay in the dorms and are encouraged to do so if your delegation is doing that. You will need to register for lodging/meals as part of online registration. If staying off-campus, you will also need to consider travel to and from campus for the days of the competition. 

• How will you get there? 

  • Flying: DCA and BWI are the nearest airports. From either location, you can take public transportation to the College Park Metro stop and a shuttle to campus, or may be able to take a shuttle to a hotel. Some coordinators rent a car, especially when staying off-campus or if they need to travel locally - but parking on campus can be challenging. 

  • Driving: Please be sure to look at the information on campus parking below!

• How much will it cost? Costs vary widely for your participation in the National Contest. Broadly speaking, you will need to consider housing, meals, transportation, and the costs associated with any other activities or things you plan to provide for your delegation. 

Registration Fees

Some Affiliate programs cover all or a portion of contest expenses (registration fees, lodging/meals, travel) for some or a portion of their national qualifiers. If your program plans to cover any of these expenses, you can work with the National Office to set this up in the online registration system as a subsidy. 

Roommate Selection (On-Campus Only)

Students who are staying on-campus in the dorms have the option of selecting a roommate through the online contest registration system. These dorm assignment are then made by Campus and Visitor Services staff at the University of Maryland. 

Translating what students put into the system - and ensuring the schools/families are grouped together in the way they want - can be challenging for Campus and Visitor Services staff. Many coordinators who have large numbers of attendees staying the dorms will opt to submit their own roommate list, based on what students submit to them. As the National Contest approaches, look for more information from NHD staff on how to do your own roommate selection.

• Minnesota History Day Roommate Selection Form