requently Asked Questions

In order to help save your valuable time, we have provided this list of frequently asked questions. We will update this list of questions on a regular basis. Before contacting the State Office via telephone or e-mail, you may want to search for your answer here. The list of questions is grouped by topics. Click the topic for the list of questions that relate to that particular area.

Conference Registration	General Information
Competitive Events	Torch Awards
Student Schedules

 

Conference Registration

Q. What is my password to the BPA Scheduler Web site?

A. Your password to access the BPA Scheduler Web site is your six-digit chapter number. The number starts with "04-XXXX." The dash (hyphen) must be included when entering your password. If you do not know this number, please logon to the membership registration system at http://www.registermychapter.com/bpamem/.

Q. The Payment Summary Form indicates that the Delegate Summary Form and Hotel Reservation Form must be submitted with payment. Those forms do not exist. What forms do I submit to the State Office?

A. Submit the following documents along with your payment to the State Office: Payment Summary Form, a printout of the student listing from the BPA Scheduler Web site, and a printout of the Hotel Reservation Listing from the BPA Scheduler Web site. If necessary, send in a Special Needs Request Form as well.

Q. I am getting an error message on the hotel registration page because it will not accept the arrival date and time. I keep getting the message, "Invalid data. Arrival date and time must be a valid date and time." What is the proper format?

A. The correct format is d/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss AM (PM). Example: 3/13/2008 3:00:00 PM.

Q. We are sharing rooms with another school, how do we submit this reservation?

A. When individuals from two schools are sharing a hotel room, follow these steps below. Only ONE school should submit the reservation for the shared room.

1. The school submitting the reservation for the shared room should indicate in the Comments section of the general hotel information section of the online reservation form that an individual from another school (providing the individual's name and school) is sharing that hotel room.

2. The school that is NOT submitting the reservation should select the Event/Contest called "Hotel: Sharing with another school" when building the list of competitions that the students are in. In addition, this school should put a note in the Comments section of the general hotel information section of their own online reservation form that an individual from their school (providing the individual's name) is sharing with another school (providing that school's name).

Q. I forgot to print my Tax Exempt Form before submitting it. What do I do?

A. As long as the information was submitted online on the BPA Scheduler Web site, the hotel will print a copy of your tax exempt form. Just put a note in the packet that you are mailing to the hotel indicating that you forgot to print your tax exempt form but it was submitted online.

Q. How do I pay for our conference registration by credit card?

A. Michigan BPA accepts MasterCard and VISA. Submit a completed Credit Card Authorization Form which you may download from the documents page by clicking here.

Q. If I only have one student attending, do I need to bring other students to serve as voting delegates?

A. No. You do not have to bring any students above the number that you wish to bring or that qualified to attend the conference by winning a regional competition.

Q. Can I bring extra students to the conference that did not qualify to attend?

A. A chapter may bring up to two (2) additional members who did not qualify to attend as a regional winner, Statesman Torch Award recipient, or state officer candidate.

Q. In my copy of the SLC registration booklet, the conference schedule ends on page 27 in the middle of the day on Saturday. Doesn't the schedule run through Sunday?

A. Yes. There was a mistake in the booklet. An updated SLC registration booklet was posted online on 1/9/08. You can download a new booklet and print page 27a for the rest of the schedule. Also, the schedule posted on the documents page of this Web site on 10/23/07 is correct and complete.

Q. What do chaperones receive for their registration fee and can they see any of the events?

A. Chaperones receive everything that advisors and students receive EXCEPT the conference souvenir. They can attend the opening session, awards ceremony, dinner session, legacy launcher workshops, and other events. Obviously, they are NOT allowed to sit in on any competitions.

Q. I was just notified by my regional advisor that a student is eligible to attend and compete in an event OR an additional event at the state conference. How do I register him for the conference OR add this event to his list of competitions?

A. If the student is already registered for the conference, send an e-mail message to the state director requesting that the additional contest be added to the student's schedule. Provide the name of the additional contest in the message. This information will be verified by the regional advisor. If the student is not registered for the conference and your chapter's registration has been submitted, download the Delegate Addendum Form & Instructions by clicking here.

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Competitive Events

Q. Where do I find the hands-on projects for the Information Technology Events?

A. The hands-on technical tasks for C++ Programming, VB.NET Programming, Java Programming, Cisco Network Administration, Microsoft Network Administration, and Novell Network Administration are located on a password-protected Web site. Detailed instructions on how to access this Web site was sent to all chapter advisors via e-mail on January 16, 2008, in a message with the subject entitled "URGENT: Mail-in/Hands-on Computer Event Tests."

Q. My student qualified to compete in Desktop Publishing at the state conference. When will we receive his/her test?

A. The Desktop Publishing test is located on a password-protected Web site. Detailed instructions on how to access this Web site was sent to all chapter advisors via e-mail on January 16, 2008, in a message with the subject entitled "URGENT: Mail-in/Hands-on Computer Event Tests."

Q. When are the mail-in events due?

A. All mail-in events must be postmarked to the State Office on or before February 1, 2008.

Q. What should I send in when I mail our mail-in events to the State Office?

A. Download the instructional memo for your event on the documents page of our SLC Web site by clicking here.

Q. Can we mail all our mail-in events in one package to the State Office?

A. Absolutely YES. The State Office prefers to receive all your mail-in events for your chapter in one box. This reduces the amount of mail we must open.

Q. Can I change team members from the group of team members that competed at the regional conference?

A. Yes. As long as at least one original team member remains on the team, you may add or remove other team members as needed.

Q. How do I submit team member changes?

A. Send a list of ALL team members to the State Director via e-mail.

Q. If a team member drops off the team from the regional level, do I have to substitute that student if I still have the minimum number of team members that are required for the event?

A. No. As long as you have the minimum number of team members for the event, you do not have to substitute a team member for a new team member.

Q. When will we receive our student's contestant time schedules and appointment times?

A. School Reports with all student time schedules, appointment times, etc. will be sent to the chapter advisors via U.S. mail during the week of March 3rd.

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General Information

Q. What are voting delegates?

A. Each chapter is allowed to have two students serve as voting delegates. These students are the voice for your chapter in terms of electing state officers and voting on important decisions for the association. Voting delegates must attend the annual business meeting on Friday evening and the campaign rally on Saturday afternoon.

Q. Does my chapter have to have voting delegates?

A. Although it is not required that a chapter has voting delegates, it is strongly encouraged that you register two students to serve as voting delegates. This gives students an opportunity to represent their chapter in terms of electing our state officers and deciding other important business for the association such as bylaw amendments.

Q. Who are considered "delegates" from my chapter?

A. The term delegate refers to any BPA student member, advisor, or alumni. Any non-BPA member who registers as a chaperone, guest, exhibitor, judge, etc. is simply considered a conference attendee.

Q. What time will the Awards Session end on Sunday, March 16, 2008?

A. Traditionally, the Award Session has ended between 11:00 - 11:30 a.m. There is no set ending time because it is all based upon the traffic flow of students going onto and exiting the stage to receive their awards.

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Torch Awards

Q. Why didn't I receive notification of whether or not our chapter's resumes were approved? How do I find that out?

A. Michigan BPA now uses an online system for the Torch Awards Program that allows chapters to check the status of their resumes in real-time, from the moment they are received. To access this system, visit the MichiganBPA.org home page, or Advisor Resources page, and follow the link to the Torch Awards Results System. It is the chapter advisor's responsibility to visit that page and check for their chapter's results in time to submit any corrections that may be necessary.

Q. Once I submit my chapter's resumes, how long will it take to find out whether or not the students' resumes were approved?

A. Results are provided to chapters through the online system (see above) in the same order in which they are received by Michigan BPA. Each chapter's results are posted to the site individually, immediately after the resumes are evaluated. For the 2008 Statesman Award, all local chapter results will be posted no later than February 12. Again, most will be posted well before this date, but this is the absolute last date that the final ones will be made available.

Q. My school had a weather-related closing on the day of the deadline. For this (or any other) reason, can we have an extension to the postmark deadline for our chapter's resumes?

A. Unfortunately, extensions to any Torch Awards Program deadlines cannot be given for any reason. This way, we can keep the program requirements and rules uniform for all Michigan chapters. We apologize for the inflexibility of this rule, and encourage you to submit your chapter's resumes early. Doing so will allow us to evaluate your resumes, and subsequently provide your results, much sooner.

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