As I missed the regional DI tournament (what would have been my first DI experience) my first DI tournament would turn out to be a very interesting experience. Because of the corona virus the DI provincials would be held online. This was going to be a big challenge for all the teams involved as it totally changed what our strategies and presentation would look like in both the instant challenges and the main presentation. With all this change the process and solution for my group also needed to change. Let me tell what we did.

Before spring break had started and the corona virus just seemed like something far away in China, my group started to prepare for a provincial tournament that would not be online. We knew form the regionals what we had to change to make our solution better. Here’s what we were doing. The first thing (and the most important) was getting our invention to work consistently. In the regionals it had failed and considering that our invention is the key to our solution Mathew, Finn, Ryan and myself were brainstorming and trying to improve on the design. Kaia and grace had started to redo the impact scenery as I did not perform with the three technical methods required. Everyone was also trying to make our presentation more smooth and engaging. With all these changes underway we all went our separate ways ready for a great spring break.

The impact scenery before our solution.

The impact scenery after our solution.

 

Of course that all changed and now we had to find a way to present our solution online without any of our props and being unable to meet up. The first thing we did was FaceTime as a group to discuss our plans, we knew that for our team choice elements we could have grace wear her costume and everyone else could use the virtual background feature to show a picture of our backdrop which had kaias team-choice element on it. Having the same background would also serve to make our group feel more connected rather them in different rooms. As for the impact scenery that would be covered by me and the virtual backgrounds. After Mathew gave the cue, all group members would switch there virtual background to a picture of the same backdrop. The only difference was that the window in the backdrop had a different image that showed how our solution to our problem impacted the world. As they did this I would play a sound effect of birds chirping to further convey this change. The final thing we needed to figure out was how to show our invention closing the fridge. We orginal thought Mathew could just turn off his virtual background and close a real fridge on camera. But eventually we decided that instead I would become a fridge. That’s right, I was a fridge in my DI provincial solution. I would simply change my background at the cue Mathew gave me form an open fridge to a closed fridge.this seemed very simple and it was, but sometimes the simple solutions are the best.

The fridge open and closed.

 

Finally our presentation came and it was up to us to blow the judges away. We gave our presentation, I preformed excellently as a fridge and sound effect maker and I think we really proved to our teachers what we could do online. Almost all the solution criteria were met and we put on quite a unique show. 

Overall I am really impressed by what we managed to do as a team. Form the start I was sceptical that this kind of online presentation would work but thanks to me and my groups hard work and determination we managed to get it done. I have to say I’m looking forward to the next DI presentation, hopefully one not online, and can’t wait for the new challenge. Thanks for reading my blog and stay tuned for more posts to come. See ya!