Good morning, campers!
Registration is open and ready to go - please read this whole email before jumping into the thick of it because it might help solve some problems before they occur...
If you are a new sponsor this year please send me an email (don't touch that Reply All button!) and I'll send you the login info and reset the password so you can go in and edit it all to match what you want. I will be available to help you walk through that if needed but this also serves a dual purpose of allowing you to set it up as you want and getting you familiar with the system and login stuff. Don't get too overwhelmed or freaked out about it, it's not that hard it's just new (to you).
PLEASE NOTE: T-shirts have to be logged in under the SERVICES tab - even if you select it up top where it shows up next to the student you will still need to add them into services to get them. There will not be enough extras to cover an entire troupe if you fail to properly register the number of shirts that you need. I will do my best to get you some and you'll need to pay for them at the festival so, really, for the sanity and safety of everyone, just make sure you put the shirts under the Services tab.
But, Jason, where do I even go to register? What is happening?! AAHHH!
I'm glad you asked, here's the address for where we go to register: https://floridadist01.cothespians.net/
I went in today and started to register the IEs for a student who went to last year's festival (for the first time) and was confused as to why they weren't there then I remembered, WE REGISTERED LAST YEAR ON A DIFFERENT DISTRICT'S WEBSITE - so your Juniors and Seniors who have gone previously will probably pop up but anyone who went to festival for the first time last year or is new this year will NOT pop up automatically and will need to be re-entered. I apologize for this minor inconvenience but it's not a system error and there's no way around it, I apologize. Take a deep breath and remember that given the full scope of how crazy the world is right now, we're still thankful to have a festival and to be able to see each other this year and having to enter a few student names again isn't the steepest of prices to pay, all things considered.
If you have any conflicts or confusion that you can't solve please feel free to email or text me with any questions or concerns you might have. I'm nearing tech week for my production of Puffs so my candles have all been tossed into the fireplace (I don't have time to burn them at both ends) but I will always make time to help you all make these opportunities available to your students and troupe and do whatever I can to help ease your load and stress. If I am unable to answer the question (though I may play the fool quite convincingly there are quite a few bits and baubles of knowledge kicking around in this pink haired head of mine), I will ring up the ladder to the head honchos and get an answer for you ASAP.
REMEMBER: we want to register our biggest IEs first and then work our way down to the individual IEs - this will prevent schedule conflicts and chaos. And trust that your actions are all time stamped and recorded and that's the first thing they check when there's a problem - you will get a better response and be easier to help if you follow this rule.
REMEMBER: check are made payable to FLORIDA STATE THESPIANS (NOT to District One and if you make it out to me personally, I will thank you for the cash tip but you will still need to pay to register your troupe). Those checks will be sent to:
Fort Walton Beach High School
c/o: Jason Blanks, District One
400 Hollywood Blvd, SW
Ft Walton Beach, FL 32548-4599
REMEMBER: all of these REMEMBERs are important but this one is vital - do NOT hit submit until you are done done and have double or triple checked everything. Once you hit submit it is all locked in and we're assuming you're good to go. We discussed a few scenarios in which weird COVID things might happen and we know what we're doing on our end with those kinds of unexpected situations but we don't want to mess with the system - it's a fragile little thing at times. If Randall has to go in to unlock your previously submitted registration you will need to delete and re-enter your IEs completely - you can't just change the name, you have to delete the event and re-register the whole event in a new session and possibly a new time. It just creates a hassle on both ends so, again, as much as possible (and Thespis knows that the unexpected happens and we can only control that which we can control) make sure you are good to go and locked in on all of your choices (students, events, titles, etc) before you hit submit. This isn't a race so don't rush through it - if anything it's a casual stroll through a well marked minefield - it's weird and surreal but safe if you follow the instructions :)
FINAL THOUGHTS and THINGS: Thank you for reading this whole email, sorry, I know it's a lot of info but I wanted to toss a wide net and try to answer as many questions as possible right away so we can all calmly and carefully register. If a student misses their assigned IE time the judges have access to all the info for the whole day so they will just have to come into the room and wait patiently for a break - the rooms shouldn't be so tightly scheduled this year so it shouldn't be a problem. Your student should just be able to approach one of the timekeepers who will communicate with the judges who will squeeze them in.
Finally, please take a look at the attached file which will serve as a helpful walkthrough/FAQ for registration.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk, please let me know if you need anything - feel free to call or text (I'm easier to reach via text, honestly).
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Jason Blanks
District One Chair
Florida State Thespians