Possible OffSeason event in August in Michigan [Archive]

Steve Ketron

28-04-2007, 08:08

Team 1528 and 1023 are currently looking into hosting an offseason event towards the end of August in Monroe, Michigan. I am looking for feedback from teams out there that would be interested in participating in this event.

Mike Martus

28-04-2007, 08:45

Off season events take a great deal of planning and up front financing. Getting the FIRST field would be important and there is a cost.

If you have a great plan, location, and many people to carry it off, including a person that knows the IFI control system give it a shot. Keeping the cost within range of most teams would be another consideration.

Team 47 would consider participating if you get the details together with enough time to plan.....remember school ends soon.

johnr

28-04-2007, 09:14

it would be nice to drive an hour instead of hours to an event. august is a tuff month. siblings going off to college, getting ready for high school, people on last chance vacations. if 910 can attend i am sure we would. new drivers need some time behind controls. my hats off to you for trying to start one.good luck.

Katie Reynolds

28-04-2007, 12:51

Depending on the cost of the event and when it was, team 857 would consider the 11 hour drive down.

Branden Ghena

28-04-2007, 14:11

Event in Monroe Michigan!!!:eek: I live in Monroe Michigan! That would be SWEET!

KTorak

28-04-2007, 17:05

aha, I got beat to it. We are working on getting it all together. However, i'd be interested in knowing how many teams are interested in attending.

Note: I kinda wish this was in another forum to get more attention - not everyone reads this one.

Tristan Lall

28-04-2007, 17:07

Talk to FIRST soon about getting a field. Also, FIRST was liquidating its stock of tubes; you likely need to order them immediately in order to ensure that you have enough.

KTorak

28-04-2007, 17:16

Talk to FIRST soon about getting a field. Also, FIRST was liquidating its stock of tubes; you likely need to order them immediately in order to ensure that you have enough.

We already have spoke with Andy Baker about this. He is holding a field for the Midwest to use. We will be in further contact with him soon enough.

cire

28-04-2007, 19:40

I would be interested in going, Im sure my team would be too.

KTorak

29-04-2007, 09:33

Team 1528 and 1023 are currently looking into hosting an off-season event towards the end of August in Monroe, Michigan. We know that date may be tough for some, but we are looking for feedback from teams out there that would be interested in participating in this event (maybe even the best time to host it). We would also be interested what you would like/not like to see so we can help make this a great event in his inaugural year.

Mods: I know this is already in the another forum, but we felt that not everyone read that one and it would get more notice in GD.

Chris Fultz

29-04-2007, 22:46

234 will do our best to attend.
It would likely be a partial team due to other activities at that time,
but the location (close) and time sound good.

ClareG

30-04-2007, 04:19

Sounds like fun. But end of August is when school is starting up again, is it not? Sounds like a hectic time to have the event.

KTorak

30-04-2007, 08:51

State laws says school cannot start until September after the holiday. (Or it did last year at least).

65_Xero_Huskie

30-04-2007, 08:55

State laws says school cannot start until September after the holiday. (Or it did last year at least).

Our school started in August last year. Ive never heard of a law like that.

milliga9

30-04-2007, 09:10

There is a law in Michigan about starting school after the Labor Day holiday. One of the reason's not all schools started this last year is because of teacher contracts and school calenders that were set in place before the law was passed. Schools are to honor the contracts until they expire - after that they have to push back the start date. For example, last year my district started August 25th, next year we won't start until September 4th.

My only comment about doing an off season event in late August would be that teachers usually have professional development in the couple of weeks leading up to the start of school and its a pretty crazy time. Mid-August might be a better time.

Andy Baker

30-04-2007, 09:11

Indiana teams would be interested, but many would need 2+ months of notice on a confirmed date and location in order to get school board approval to attend.

School starts in Kokomo on Aug. 15th. Other Indiana schools start about the same time, I think.

Andy B.

KTorak

30-04-2007, 09:27

We are working on confirming the location as I speak, and we will release it within the next few weeks. It's currently looking like mid-august for the event.

Edit: A little bit more info - the city we are hosting it has many new or recently remodeled hotels within a reasonable distance, so lodging should not be an issue.

ClareG

30-04-2007, 16:08

State laws says school cannot start until September after the holiday. (Or it did last year at least).

I don't remember when we started. I only have a vague recollection of starting after labour day.
Either way. End of August/beginning of September is still rather hectic, I'd say.
But I'm all for it. And hopefully my team will be too.

KTorak

30-04-2007, 19:36

A confirmed date, location, and possibly name will be released within a week (my best guess) once we get a few more things sorted out.

Also, do any teams thinking about attending have access to any of those large tarps used to cover gym floors? If you do, PM me and I'll forward it to Steve Ketron so he can talk to you about maybe using it. Thanks in advance.

1596guy

01-05-2007, 09:39

Team 1596 would most definitely consider coming down.

Allison K

01-05-2007, 11:25

Sounds like fun :) 226 would consider attending.

EHaskins

01-05-2007, 13:03

Sounds interesting. 1103 and 930 would both consider it.

KTorak

01-05-2007, 15:08

Awesome, I am thrilled to be getting such a positive response from the FIRST Community. We look forward to adding more teams to the list and possible event attenders. Again, we will be posting more detailed information within the next few weeks!

Steve Ketron

01-05-2007, 16:07

Dates Are Set:

The Michigan Advanced Robotics Competition (MARC) will be held at Monroe High School in Monroe Michigan on August 17/18. More Detail will given when available.

Jim Zondag

01-05-2007, 20:38

Team #33 would certainly be interested in this event. If you need any help, let us know. We have refereed, inspected, and judged at many robotics events.

KTorak

01-05-2007, 20:47

Dates Are Set:

The Michigan Advanced Robotics Competition (MARC) will be held at Monroe High School in Monroe Michigan on August 17/18. More details will given when available.

To all who have volunteered services, we will be setting up a committee to handle volunteer coordination and we will post with information on how to volunteer. But your offers are already greatly appreciated.

Branden Ghena

01-05-2007, 21:01

How would we sign up to volunteer at the competition? Sounds fun and at Monroe High its only a ten minute drive from my house.

KTorak

01-05-2007, 21:21

How would we sign up to volunteer at the competition? Sounds fun and at Monroe High its only a ten minute drive from my house.

We have not set up the committee to coordinate the volunteers, but it will most likely be "email this person with what you can do/when" and they will set up a large spreadsheet and place everyone in time slots. But, this will occur within the coming days.

The event is now listed in CD EVENTS!

KTorak

01-05-2007, 21:25

The event is now listed in CD EVENTS.

EDIT: I have added more info to CD Events, including two white page documents for interested volunteers/assistants/teams. There are still several big ticket items we need help getting to the event, as well as major roles to be filled.

cbale2000

01-05-2007, 22:10

I'll have to talk to my team about it, it's only a two hour drive from Saginaw luckily so that will help! (it's sure better than the 5 hour drive to IRI)

The only issue might be cost as we're hoping to go to both IRI and the Kettering Kickoff. But again, I'll talk to them.

It's always nice to see another off season event around. I've been trying to get my team to try and get one started up near us but no ones really gone for it. Kudos for getting this off the ground! :)

Steve Ketron

01-05-2007, 22:23

Team #33 would certainly be interested in this event. If you need any help, let us know. We have refereed, inspected, and judged at many robotics events.

Please e-mail me at ketron@monroe.k12.mi.us and I will keep you informed of our needs. We will greatly appreciate your teams experience in this adventure.

KTorak

02-05-2007, 15:54

I have added more info to CD Events, including two white page documents for interested volunteers/assistants/teams. There are still several big ticket items we need help getting to the event, as well as major roles to be filled.