Talk:Odyssey of the Mind

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Odyssey of the Mind also spawned another group, Destination Imagination. However, I don't really know anything about the relationship between the two organizations. Rhymeless 10:21, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] DI

Ahh, I can help you with that. In 1999, there was an internal struggle in Odyssey of the Mind between the group that wanted the organization to be for profit (which included founder Dr. Sam) and the group that wanted for it to be non profit. There was a lot of talk that year about if there would even be a season, but eventually they split and the non profit group formed DI, which is controlled by the OM group. Dr. Sam got to keep the original Odyssey name (but not the OM abbrivation). Odyssey is now controlled by Creative Competitions Inc.

Having been an OM webmaster at the time, I had to deal with the OM/DI split a lot. There was a huge debate because OM was (at the time, may still be) locked into a contract with Creative Competitions Inc. to provide problems for each year. A great deal of the unhappiness was due to the steadily decreasing quality of the problems and internal power struggles between CC and OM. The then-president of OM helped to found DI ("Project Phoenix") but was then blocked by court order from having anything to do with it. Many state OM associations changed over to DI, there has been something of a regression since then. --Dcclark 03:11, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Oh, I'm sad to hear about this. I was an OMer for six years in the 80s ("Humor from Homer" and "Moby Dick" remain my favorites). It was a great experience! Sorry that it got so "pro." (And what's with the trademark issue on the "OM" abbreviation? Article-wise, I wasn't clear on what trademark it was supposed to be infringing.) Sigh.Miss w 03:51, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

As noted above, OM Association Inc. was the non-profit half of Odyssey of the Mind before the split between OM Association and the profitable half run by Sam Micklus -- Creative Competitions. Like dividing up kids in a divorce, OM Association got to keep "OM" and Creative Competitions got to keep "Odyssey of the Mind." OM Association became Destination Imagination, but they have the rights to use "OM." Creative Competitions now runs Odyssey of the Mind but can't use the "OM" abbreviation. Yeah, makes lots of sense. --User101010 05:25, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

So, it's a copyright infringement of a different half of the same...

Is it bad that I giggle over this as the solution come up with by people who specialize in creative solutions to problems? No style points, man. No style points. ;)Miss w 14:55, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm thinking penalty points. The competition was delayed that year and at one point was in danger of not being held.--User101010 19:50, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Don't worry, it's not "pro." It's still an organization where the kids have fun with their creative efforts and where respect runs high. What happened in 1999 stayed in 1999. --User101010 12:38, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

That's good to hear.Miss w

I wasn't around for the split itself, but I was involved before the split and I am involved again now. The only real impact I have seen is that the number of teams in each region is now split between OotM and DI. This results in a higher percentage of the teams making it on to the State competition. Gerdofal 19:22, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Olympics of the Mind, name change?

The article cites the "late 80s" for the name change, but I seem to recall it earlier than that. My memory is that it changed between the 82-83 season and the 83-84 season--it was only "Olympics of the Mind" during my first year in the program (seventh grade), when we did "Humor from Homer"--make a comedy of a scene in "The Odyssey"--and then after that, it became "Odyssey of the Mind." I remember it mainly because I assumed they pulled "Odyssey" from the recent problem. However, my personal memory does not, as far I know, count as a legitimate source, for the good reason that I may be entirely mistaken. Does someone have a source for the "late 80s" date? Miss w 08:27, 6 August 2006 (UTC)

I wrote the part about the name change in the "late 80s". I can't find any written articles about the change, but I'm merely basing it on my memory. I participated in "Olympics of the Mind" in 86-87, so I'm deducing that the name was changed some time between 87-88. I too would like to find proof so we can have an exact date in the paragraph. If anyone finds that I am wrong about the "late 80s", please change it because I want the article to be correct. Thanks. --Mtjaws 21:19, 2 November 2006 (UTC)