Last night and this morning, instruction and adjudication, and tour event partnership became the focus of the annual DCI weekend meetings in Pasadena, Calif. Division II & III directors and administrators have also been meeting throughout the weekend proceedings.

Tour event partner advisory committee chairman Bruce Brown dons a Steelers jersey to go with this weekend's TEP theme.
Here's a roundup of what those groups have been up to. Judging, instructing Last night, DCI executive director Dan Acheson gave DCI instructors and judges an inside look at the DCI operation during an open session. John Phillips said this discussion was necessary. "A lot of these guys are on the road throughout the summer, and they're really intensively working with their students, so they're not aware of the big picture. Dan did an overview for us last night, which was great," Phillips said. A judging task force also met last night, to elect five new members and renominate a sixth, Phillips said. Instructors Jim Ancona (Cavaliers), Jaime Holly (the Academy, Blue Devils), Jonathan Schwartz (Cadets), Ron Hardin (Santa Clara Vanguard) and Paul Rennick (Phantom Regiment) were all elected as new members of the task force, while Wayne Downey (Blue Devils) was renominated. The members of the judging task force consult with the adjudicators on issues relating to the judging system, and specific judges, according to Phillips. "I'm looking forward to working with them as a judge administrator," Phillips said. This morning, Phillips and longtime judge/DCI Hall of Fame member George Oliviero are leading a session about "How the future of DCI judging might look," Phillips said. "We're going to examine some possibilities for future systems, and that's going to inform our task force on how they can move forward," Phillips said. The session will end with a roundtable discussion. Tour event partners Bruce Brown, a tour event partner from Cincinnati (and chairman of the tour event partner advisory committee), said that rookie tour event partners were given an overview yesterday. "We had a lot of new people here on the West Coast. So we're off and running, and we're expecting more great sessions today. We're enjoying ourselves out here in sunny Pasadena," Brown said. Tour event partners shared dinner with corps directors, corps staff members and DCI staff members last night, which included a roundtable discussion. Many tour event partners have embraced the football theme of this year's meetings, and have been donning jerseys and referee uniforms to look the part. Brown said that tour event partners are greatly anticipating the 2006 season. "We're looking forward to a great, exciting opportunity. We know the corps come out strong, and from June 17 on we know they're going to get crowd appeal, so we're expecting a good time next year." Division II & III The Division II & III judges administrator and the Division II & III instructors' task force gave reports to the Division II & III board of directors yesterday, and the board approved a new method by which corps get paid, according to DCI Division II & III coordinator JW Koester. "It was a modification to an existing process," Koester noted. Today, Koester will be giving corps directors the 2006 summer schedules, shows and lineups. The Division II & III board will also hold elections for two Division II & III advisory board positions today, according to Koester.