The former Ryerson Invitational Thrill Design Competition (RITDC) returns in 2022 as the Toronto Metropolitan University Thrill Design Competition. So much happened during the pandemic. We offered a virtual capacity development edition in 2020, and saw Ryerson University renamed as TMU.
The competition has grown from a two-day, three-challenge, four-team, primarily engineering competition to a multidisciplinary four-day event hosted at Universal Orlando Resort, presented by Universal Creative™. To accommodate burgeoning interest in the competition, we introduced the Open Qualifying Competition in 2022. Based on submissions from teams, we extended invitations to 18 teams for seven challenges at the TMU Thrill Design Invitational, taking place 9 – 13 November 2022.
The schedule of the competition is ideal: for a single plane fare, participants can not only experience the competition, but attend the IAAPA Attractions Expo: the largest attractions industry expo in the world, with 500,000 square feet of products and services from over 1,000 exhibitors including many potential employers.
The success and growth of the competition is attributable to realistic, focused challenges that showcase real skill expectations for entry level professionals and interns. The challenges are created by Competition Director Dr. Kathryn Woodcock, Professor and Director of the THRILL Laboratory at Toronto Metropolitan University, and based in fictional attractions using public domain themes, not a hackathon model to solve “current problems”. The simulated design problems enable participants to demonstrate not just technical skills and knowledge of software and international design standards but also interdisciplinary collaboration, time management, creative agility, and presentation.
A hallmark of our competition is that, like real design environments, these challenges have no predetermined solution, and may have no perfect solution at all. Competitors receive only one partial reveal three weeks before the competition. The remaining challenges, and “twists” on previewed challenge, are revealed only at the competition opening, with solutions presented 18 to 48 hours later! There is no preferred solution and judges from Universal Creative™ and its partners take an avid interest in how teams approach problem definition, make trade-offs, and present their proposals.
The history of Toronto Metropolitan University Thrill Design Invitational is a story of evolution. As the competition grows and adds new elements, we hope competition alumni will look back on memorable learning experiences and professional opportunities with the networks they have developed here.