2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

I did this last year, thought it would be fun to do again:

Spreadsheet Link

• Green denotes an existing district
• Yellow are states/regions where size could potentially allow a district/mini-district
• Red are smaller regions

Also keep in mind that this is currently under-inflated as it does not include wild-card or waitlist teams, just the allotment established at the beginning of the season. I will update to include this after championship registration has closed.


*Big thanks to Andrew Schreiber for helping me clean up the process this time around.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Most under-represented regions:
- Minnesota, -16
- California, -7
- New York, -6
- Israel, -5
- China, -5
- Kansas, -5

Some random thoughts I had after seeing this:
- Is there a reason Minnesota hasn't gone districts yet?
- Am I the only one who didn't realize China has 23 teams!?
- I'd love to see Israel go to districts on an Indiana scale.
- New York districts ASAP, please.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

I would love to see Israel go to a District model too. They seem ready for it; just like those of us in Indiana were ready for it. Districts work amazingly too! I think any State/Country that can go District should.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

I'm curious, what is the reason the rest of the PA teams haven't been pulled into MAR?

Also, can I assume that DC was included in Virginia's count?

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

I think Indiana has proven that a "mini" district model can work very well. I am curious why you listed Indiana as the smallest possible district? I think that the model could be used in even smaller settings.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

My guess is because it has been proven to work at that size, so anything smaller is theoretical.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

I've always assumed western PA isn't part of MAR just because of geography. It would make a lot more sense to lump the Pittsburg and Erie teams in with either Ohio or western NY.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

From what I have heard from our RPC, the biggest roadblock right now is our volunteer base. While we are actively expanding our key volunteer base, we are simply not in a position to jump from 4 events to ~12 events right now.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

I can buy that, but VA, MD, and DC are going to be separated by basically the same distance. However, the geography would make more sense with Ohio and Western NY and the numbers would probably work out well.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Maybe that's because your volunteers are always competing because there are only 2 weeks of events. If I lived in Minnesota I would never be able to volunteer but there are enough events around me that I can volunteer when I'm not competing with my team.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

I've always had the opinion that you aren't going to expand your volunteer base until the need is actually there. It may be painful for a year or 2, but without the spots to fill you can only pull in so many new volunteers.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

To prepare for Districts in Ohio we have been doubling and tripling up the Key volunteer positions at the Regional s to on board more folks in those roles. We have been doing the same thing at the Off-season events.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

That is a good strategy, and one that our region seemed to be doing this year too. What are the plans for Ohio and districts?

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Not so quick Sparky... as a proud member of the Otherians, I state emphatically that we are the most underrepresented region at the Championship and call on First to implement a plan for the conversion of the Otherian region to the District model forthwith...

(Couldn't resist...humor, its good for what ails you.)

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Thanks Navid - it's really interesting to see the differences in Regional and team distribution.

Districts don't make as much sense if the team population is lower than ~150% of a event size, allowing 3 district events + district championship. Typically District events are 40 teams although PNW has smaller events.

A district of only 30-40 teams would mean both events + district "championship" had every team competing, so it's not really a championship in any traditional sense*

This puts a practical lower limit of around 50 teams for a District.

* too soon?

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

We shared at Buckeye and QCR meetings for OhioFIRST that we are looking at two options:

1. Ohio, Western PA, WV
2. Ohio, Western PA, WV, Western NY

We are pulling information together to be able to present to FIRST within the next 6 months our proposal with the hopes of switching for the 2017 competition season.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Very cool. Good luck.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Thanks, good luck to you all as well!

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Thanks, it seems like it is happening no matter what now. Just gotta make the transition as smooth as we can for teams.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Bingo, the colors are fairly arbitrary...

Just for you, Idaho now has it's own category on the spreadsheet. ;)

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Navid, last I checked Indiana is sending 14 teams, not 10. (3 are from wildcards, though). Also, 11 was theoretical, not 10, since we were given 10 spots from FIRST plus our legacy team (45) goes every year.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Yes, that is correct (waitlist):

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Michigan is sending 90 teams.

A fair amount of teams got through on the wait-list.

Two world champs from last year and 3 Legacy teams.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Hey, let's work on adding "Actual Attendance" on tonight. I'm pretty sure there's a clean way to do it with another query to a supporting sheet.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Can we get a confirmation that DC was lumped in with VA?

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

I'm assuming it is because he has 2 VA regionals listed.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

It was. The query that populates the event counts operates off of the Location of the event. DC regional is "Fairfax, VA USA" which means it snags VA USA as the state.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Did the DC team count get lumped in with Virginia then?

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

For MN, I can tell you that our key volunteer base is actively growing, and is also our biggest concern with switching to districts. Back in 2011, there was 1 PRO in the state, and 3 events. Let that sink in for a minute.

Since then, I became an LRI in 2012, and have identified (so far) 5 additional LRI's, two of which handled events this year, one was in training this year and will have an event next year, one is figuring out work stuff this year, an will hopefully be able to commit next year to training, and the last is getting ambushed at champs next week to be asked to step up.

Thats huge growth in the key volunteer base (from an inspection point of view), and it means that we're approaching feasibility (I see feasibility as requiring no volunteer to do more than 2 events, plus the championship). The remaining problem is... Which key volunteers (almost all of whom live in the cities) are going to be the ones to drive up to Fargo or Duluth (for example) to handle events? A vast majority of our events are staffed by volunteers from the team's at that event - if the teams from the cities don't travel, then we have a real staffing issue in those out-state events. I probably wouldn't have been volunteering in Duluth all these years without my team competing there. It will be painful the first few years we go to districts, but will hopefully then resolve itself.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

I would assume so, but I'd have to wait for Navid to comment on that one. I didn't help him with that chunk.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

If a DC team went to the "DC" event they are counted as VA. If they went to Chesapeake they are MD>

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

What if they went to both?

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

That escalated quickly...

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

No, this can't be right. The spreadsheet is not that elaborate. There are truly ~75 active teams in VA, like the spreadsheet says. The 13 DC teams are probably filed under "Other" (sorry Wetzel).

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Just to clarify for those outside of MN, 'cities' is local short hand for 'Twin Cities' which is short hand for Minneapolis/St. Paul (and in this case, surrounding suburbs)

Oh, and with the exception of Fargo (ND), Duluth, MN and other potential future locations in MN are actually 'in' state, not 'out' state. (A peeve of some of us from MN but not from the 'cities')

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Here is a spreadsheet of ACTUAL championship representation by State/Country:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Yep, nailed it Nate.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Using the same strategy, I built a quick map showing the USA team representation visually at championship.evanforbes.net.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

This is amazing stuff ! it would be awesome if we could do this year by year to see how the colors change.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

I don't have historical data at my fingertips currently.

If someone does and can provide me with a spreadsheet in a form similar to below I can add it to the map eventually.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Poor Nebraska, someone really should help them at least get started down this wonderful rabbit hole of a journey.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

They have a rapidly growing FTC program-- this time last year, there were almost no teams in the state (I think there may have been one), and now I believe there are more than 10. I'd be surprised if a new FRC team didn't spring up sooner rather than later.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

One request, could you change the states with no teams from grey to black? The grey is very similar to the light pink that many states have.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

As an 'out' state team, we would be willing to travel for the district model. It would be NICE to have a local event but not necessary. We would definitely sacrifice to go to the district model!

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Nebraska is the only state with no teams, and it seems pretty distinct from the rest as far as I can tell.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

True, however, these areas can be lumped in with nearby districts. For example, here in West Virginia, we only have 4 teams. We hosted the state's first ever FRC event last summer in the off-season. But as stated above, we will likely be going into districts with Ohio and Western PA in 2017.

Districts will eventually happen everywhere. Because it's a hard sell to rural teams (who are already disadvantaged in that aspect) to pay 5,000 to go to an event and an additional several thousand if you want to go to another event that is really far away (think the next closest area with a regional), when more "urban" teams (or teams in districts) get a cost break, and more matches for less money. Districts will happen everywhere, even if that means that the "remaining" teams will lump into a nearby district. It is not really sustainable otherwise.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Navid, speaking of West Virginia, why are we not represented in the spreadsheet? Is it because there is no event in WV? There are four teams here, and three of them are registered for the championship.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

I guess this means I should fire up postgres and write that query.

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Because West Virginia is small and doesn't have an event. I added it to the spreadsheet now for you though :P

Re: 2015 CMP Representation by District/Region
 

Haha, I was just curious, I figured that was the reason; no biggie. Thanks though :)

Usually, it's because people don't know that WV is a state (you'd be surprised) or they lump us in with VA by mistake.

It's small now, but just wait :ahh:

Be sure to show that to our Regional Director. It makes a great argument for OK going to a district model.