[FRC Blog] 2017 Championship Planning

[Hallry]

Posted on the FRC Blog (http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/blog), 10/12/15: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/blog-2017-Championship-Planning

2017 Championship Planning

Blog Date: Monday, October 12, 2015 - 10:22

In this blog (http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/blog-Your-Chance-to-Help-FIRST-with-the-2017-Championship), I said we were looking for a volunteer from the community to help us plan what geographic areas would be assigned to which FIRST Championship in 2017, and help us find a potential way in which teams may volunteer for and be selected to attend their non-home Championship.

We received some wonderful applications. Thanks to all who applied! It was not an easy selection, but we have picked Brandon Holley, mentor for FRC Team 125, Nutrons, from Boston, Massachusetts, USA, as our community representative. Congratulations, Brandon! We look forward to working with you!

Other members of the committee are as follows:

Gail Alpert, District representative, President of FIRST in Michigan

Karthik Kanagasabapathy, Hall of Fame representative, FRC Team 1114, Simbotics, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

John Larock, Woodie Flowers Award winners representative, FRC Team 365, MOE, Wilmington, Delaware, USA

Chuck Kennedy, Regional Director, Regional representative, FIRST

Beth Hamilton, Volunteer Resources Coordinator, FIRST

Naomi Mancuso, Team Support Manager, FIRST

Me

The intent with the representatives above is that they actively represent their affiliated groups, not just the teams or geographic regions they happen to be associated with. As an example, Gail will be tasked with representing all Districts, not just Michigan.

The committee will be starting work in the next few weeks. I’m sure, with the top-notch volunteers we have on this team, we’ll be successful!

Frank

[mwmac]

Was hoping for someone west of the Mississippi to have a voice. That being said, I wish them well with the task ahead...

[JB987]

Was hoping for someone west of the Mississippi to have a voice. That being said, I wish them well with the task ahead...

+1

[MattRain]

Was hoping for someone west of the Mississippi to have a voice. That being said, I wish them well with the task ahead...

+1 (or +2 :P)

[EricLeifermann]

Was hoping for someone west of the Mississippi to have a voice. That being said, I wish them well with the task ahead...

Agreed, but Boston is much closer to New Hampshire than the West Coast so cost and ease of travel probably played into their decision.

[mwmac]

Agreed, but Boston is much closer to New Hampshire than the West Coast so cost and ease of travel probably played into their decision.

All work to be done remotely according to the referenced blog post

[Bob Steele]

Was hoping for someone west of the Mississippi to have a voice. That being said, I wish them well with the task ahead...

+3

[Lil' Lavery]

Considering Brandon is our community representative, send your concerns/viewpoints to Brandon to best allow for him to have a well-rounded and informed perspective. If west coast teams provide him with the information he needs, I'm sure he will do a fine job representing them.

[PayneTrain]

Was hoping for someone west of the Mississippi to have a voice. That being said, I wish them well with the task ahead...

There are teams west of the Mississippi?

Pretty sure there is a great group of people representing the community besides Brandon, who is probably the best person to get the spot.

I hope these people can create a solution that comes about in spite of the conditions they have been placed in.

[Jared Russell]

I am not at all worried about the likes of Brandon, Karthik, and John forgetting about western teams.

[GeeTwo]

Here in Slidell, we're actually more north of the Mississippi than east of it, so I feel really left out. Oh, wait, Karthik's even more north of the Mississippi, so I guess he's my rep ;->.

Seriously, this sounds like a great solution - put good people in charge of the process, rather than create a detailed process to be in charge of people.

[EricH]

There are teams west of the Mississippi?There are teams EAST of the Mississippi? I knew there were competitions (IRI and a couple of previous championship venues), but teams?

I am not at all worried about the likes of Brandon, Karthik, and John forgetting about western teams.

Who says it's those three we're worried about? It's the rest of 'em. The three named all have CD accounts--see "spam PM" (guys, don't do that to them, please).


And honestly, the best way to make the western teams happy is to move the Houston event out this way in 2021. (Or the Detroit event in the same year.) Somewhere that maybe we have a chance at driving to within one day. Otherwise... we're flying. For the West Coast, the best bet for determining their home event is to figure out which championship event is cheapest to fly to, and stay in a hotel at. Figure that out, and then it's a tad bit easier on the teams out here, seeing as we've got to fly anyways if we go.