Thought, everyone please give input

[Leon Machado IV]

I've been to a number of competitions between regular season, plus I'm looking to go to a number over the summer. If you'd rather chat with me personally, email me at lee4th@comcast.net and tell me which competition you want to talk at, or if you would rather not post publically.

Anyway, there was an idea that came up about building an alliance system between teams, to help more so on those non-technical issues such as management, finance, marketing, HR, etc.

We haven't gotten far into the actual development of this idea. We're looking for members who might be willing to work on it (mostly through email) and start laying the foundation of it. The summer is the perfect time to start working on this stuff, and we're looking for lots of input on this. This could be the start of an amazing alliance.

Please let me know any thoughts, comments, questions, etc. as you think of them. I will try to keep as much as posted publically, but in honesty we don't have a lot laid yet, so we're looking for other peoples ideas in this.

Many thanks to everyone who gives us ideas, and even more thanks to those who want to help us out.

Yours in FIRST,
Leon O. Machado IV
lee4th@comcast.net

[Aignam]

Well, it could be a website-based resource.

Amongst the featured resources could be a Fundraising Database, similar to that located at http://www.chopshop166.com/cgi-bin/fundraiser2.pl, but more extensive, a Project Cost Calculator with tips for finding a realistic estimate in terms of a season of FIRST's cost for a team's particular situation, samples of letters, presentations, etc. (for Sponsors, Community, etc.), sample organization maps for various possible team structures, coach necessities (documents, lists, links to resources, etc.). What do you think?

EDIT (more ideas!): Dug up some old ideas I had that never went anywhere...

A FIRST HowTo Database, which will offer comprehensive answers to a number of questions that are frequently asked by both rookie and veteran teams alike. Individual users could submit information into the database. Imaging "How to Build a Rookie Gearbox" by Andy Baker or JVN, "How to Structure a Team" by so-and-so, "How to Find Sponsorship" by so-and-so, etc.

[Leon Machado IV]

Sounds like a great idea.

Needless to say (and I forgot to say it originally) I think we would need people of all different backgrounds as part of this. Everyone's skills will be put to use.

Just so everyone knows, I'm a Business Management major with a concentration in Operations. So I know how to organize, run, execute, plan and lead.

I know we need webprogrammers, but we've had trouble finding them. Anyone care to step up to the plate on it?

Thanks.

[Aignam]

Sounds like a great idea.

Needless to say (and I forgot to say it originally) I think we would need people of all different backgrounds as part of this. Everyone's skills will be put to use.

Just so everyone knows, I'm a Business Management major with a concentration in Operations. So I know how to organize, run, execute, plan and lead.

I know we need webprogrammers, but we've had trouble finding them. Anyone care to step up to the plate on it?

Thanks.I can do HTML, JavaScript, Flash, some PHP and MySQL (learning quickly), and I can image design in Adobe Photoshop 7.0. Oh, and since I like you, I can host the entire website for free on my personal UNIX webhost. ;)

EDIT: Read the EDIT to my above post, Leon.

[Leon Machado IV]

Sounds great. We have a webserver currently, but I do believe it might be limited in scope. If you would contact me at lee4th@comcast.net, we can discuss personally how you can intergrate into our system. I'm going to contact our webperson, so hopefully by the time you email me, I'll have more answers for you.

Thanks again.

Leon

[Astronouth7303]

A FIRST HowTo Database, which will offer comprehensive answers to a number of questions that are frequently asked by both rookie and veteran teams alike. Individual users could submit information into the database. Imaging "How to Build a Rookie Gearbox" by Andy Baker or JVN, "How to Structure a Team" by so-and-so, "How to Find Sponsorship" by so-and-so, etc.
Check out the FIRSTwiki (http://www.firstwiki.org) How-to section (http://www.firstwiki.org/index.php/How-to). We are desperately needing articles that aren't on the 'hard' things, articles on management, fundraising, recruiting, etc.

[Leon Machado IV]

Looks great. We'll probably be able to reference when we get up and running, if that's OK. It looks like you have part of the system up and running well. We shouldn't need to try and trample over each other, part of the reason we suggested an alliance. Many thanks.

Leon

[LauraN]

Anyway, there was an idea that came up about building an alliance system between teams, to help more so on those non-technical issues such as management, finance, marketing, HR, etc.
Team 30 is currently working on pretty much all of these areas of our team. Keep us updated on the forums or feel free to PM me; I'd be more than happy to help you organize the project and/or contribute something along the lines of what Aignam has been suggesting.

[Leon Machado IV]

Sounds great. Email me at lee4th@comcast.net if you don't hear from me in a while, just in case I get caught up in things. I'm hoping to post updates in this forum for everyone to see. TTYL.

[KathieK]

I think many teams are thinking along the same lines! After many many e-mails and private messages on Chief Delphi, sharing thoughts on the non-technical side of mentoring a FIRST team, Jenny Beatty of Team 007, Cheryl Miller of Team 294 and I founded the FIRST NEMO organization.

FIRST NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization) is a support group and information exchange for those non-engineering mentors who help with all the behind the scene glue that holds the teams together. Travel (hotels, endless meals), parent involvement, fundraising, business plans, dealing with the FIRST logistics. All the "unfun" stuff, as one of the students labeled it. We hope to seek out all the NEMOs who don't realize they are part of a large community.

We want to make it easier for rookies, so they don't have to reinvent stuff that others already have learned, sometimes the hard way. We want to help FIRST get constructive comments from a group of NEMOs. We have met many NEMOs over the past 3 years. We have a lot to learn from each other. We have started a forum on Chief Delphi to exchange information and hope to host workshops at the FIRST Regional events next year.

If you are a college or adult mentor interested in joining NEMO contact Red Head Jokes (Cheryl, Beach Cities Robotics, Team 294), KathieK (Kathie, RAGE, Team 173) or Robomom007 (Jenny, Parkville Robotics, Team 007) by private message or email to sign up. Please include in your message your name, Team number, Chief Delphi screen name, who you are (i.e. college mentor, adult mentor, parent, etc.) and any skills or background you bring to the team (i.e. science teacher, programmer, travel coordinator, chef extraordinaire etc.)

Together we can make our jobs a lot easier! Join FIRST NEMO today!

[Leon Machado IV]

I think many teams are thinking along the same lines! After many many e-mails and private messages on Chief Delphi, sharing thoughts on the non-technical side of mentoring a FIRST team, Jenny Beatty of Team 007, Cheryl Miller of Team 294 and I founded the FIRST NEMO organization.

FIRST NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization) is a support group and information exchange for those non-engineering mentors who help with all the behind the scene glue that holds the teams together. Travel (hotels, endless meals), parent involvement, fundraising, business plans, dealing with the FIRST logistics. All the "unfun" stuff, as one of the students labeled it. We hope to seek out all the NEMOs who don't realize they are part of a large community.

We want to make it easier for rookies, so they don't have to reinvent stuff that others already have learned, sometimes the hard way. We want to help FIRST get constructive comments from a group of NEMOs. We have met many NEMOs over the past 3 years. We have a lot to learn from each other. We have started a forum on Chief Delphi to exchange information and hope to host workshops at the FIRST Regional events next year.

If you are a college or adult mentor interested in joining NEMO contact Red Head Jokes (Cheryl, Beach Cities Robotics, Team 294), KathieK (Kathie, RAGE, Team 173) or Robomom007 (Jenny, Parkville Robotics, Team 007) by private message or email to sign up. Please include in your message your name, Team number, Chief Delphi screen name, who you are (i.e. college mentor, adult mentor, parent, etc.) and any skills or background you bring to the team (i.e. science teacher, programmer, travel coordinator, chef extraordinaire etc.)

Together we can make our jobs a lot easier! Join FIRST NEMO today!
Can you post any more information about this? Thanks.

[KathieK]

FIRST NEMO is for sharing ideas about the non-technical side of things. Like how to approach new sponsors, successful fundraisers, generating team spirit, team organization, etc.

It's the other half of a team - the yin to the engineering/technical yang side. We think both sides are necessary to have a successful team.

If you are interested in knowing more, PM me.

[Aaron Knight]

Don't know for sure what I could help you with, Leon, but I'm willing to help with whatever I can...

Let me know, acknight@syr.edu

[Clark Gilbert]

Maybe something like one of those email/news service (news groups?) things can be set up. I'm not quite sure what they are called, but I know you can add them to email programs like Outlook and you constantly get new "emails" regarding different things. Since there are so many websites out there trying help people, maybe this could be a different twist.

[Ryan Foley]

Question

We already have FIRST Wiki, which is a "How-To/ DIY" site for FIRST stuff. Wouldn't it just be easier to use that Leon, instead of making another organization/ website that (from my understanding) does the exact same thing? There's no need to "re-invent the wheel" as a friend of mine put it.

Perhaps I am not understanding the concept, but to me it sounds like what FIRST Wiki is/ does.

I don't mean to burst your bubble, I admire your wanting to help, but if we have too many similar websites that do the same task, things could get really confusing.

[Astronouth7303]

That's not all we are, but we do have a How-to (http://www.firstwiki.org/index.php/How-to) section. And it is in desperate need of articles!

[LauraN]

Question

We already have FIRST Wiki, which is a "How-To/ DIY" site for FIRST stuff. Wouldn't it just be easier to use that Leon, instead of making another organization/ website that (from my understanding) does the exact same thing? There's no need to "re-invent the wheel" as a friend of mine put it.
I see your point...and I'm not sure if this is how the idea was originally intended, so maybe I'm modifying it a bit...

But what if it were less a collection of articles and more a collection of people? Sort of like a really big collaboration project. Like FIRSTwiki meets ChiefDelphi.

Getting ambitious now, aren't we? :D

I think Ryan makes a good point, but I don't think we need to totally abandon this idea. With some modification it could be a really useful project. Does Leon have any comments?

[Leon Machado IV]

Just so everyone knows (cause I haven't replied in 30 seconds) I have a ton of comments to this. Some of your responses are good, some of you have missed the point of an 'alliance'. I'll post later tonight. TTYL.

Leon

[KathieK]

But what if it were less a collection of articles and more a collection of people? Sort of like a really big collaboration project. Like FIRSTwiki meets ChiefDelphi.

FIRST NEMO is intended to be a resource for people - a "collection" of people if you want to view it that way - to discuss the "soft side" of managing a FIRST team.

FIRSTwiki is a place to post papers, etc. and FIRST NEMO is a place for mentors to share ideas and bounce ideas around.

I think, anyways. Is that what you had intended to create Leon? If anyone wants to talk about it more in person, I will be at WPI on Friday and Saturday for BattleCry...

[Leon Machado IV]

I will be more then happy to discuss it at BattleCry. I'm going to be posting more ideas. There are some things that I think many people have missed in this, and I'm not sure if I can get them across in writing, but I will try. I'm going to try to work on this tonight, and hopefully at battlecry you can find me and we can discuss this further. See you at BattleCry.

[Leon Machado IV]

OK, now to try to explain this more (and yes, I know there will be stuff I will still leave out)

First of all, for those who don't know, The Inspiration Foundation Inc. (the company I'm the President of) is a non-profit company in Massachusetts. There have been many advantages that people have thought of for having an established non-profit company (although we're still working on the 501(c)3 status) that could help teams who don't have the status. Some teams have inquired to us helping them, but the essential part of it is we don't have the HR to commit to anyone. Sadly I have never seen a project (including Chiefdelphi sadly) that has come close to the HR commitment I would love to see to help teams.

The next big thing is crossmarketing. This type of project would maximize the use of the google search engine algorithm.

The other thing is the maximization use of resources that could be crossreferenced between systems. I've seen teams that lived literally 15-20 minutes away from each other and never realized that they had resources that they could share.

I think those are my major points for now. If anyone wants to hunt me out at BattleCry, I will be around, probably in the stands. If anyone would care to try to setup a slightly more formal meeting, just tell me when and where and I'll be there.

Hope this helps some, but it might be needed to be explained through speaking and then someone else can attempt to translate it into English. Again, I don't mean to step on toes. I want to create an alliance to help everyone and maximize our output. Good luck to everyone at BattleCry.

Leon

[Leon Machado IV]

Just to let everyone know, we're going to BattleCry@WPI. Hope to see many people there. If you want to talk to me about the alliance thought, feel free to jump me there. I'll probably be hanging around rather high up. If you want to tell me where you are, I will attempt to seek you out as well. Hope to see you all there.

Leon