Streamlined Events
 

You might want to check this out. FIRST is having some budget problems and it might affect your competition.


http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/stre...ventletter.htm

Wow, thats not good. At least they're just getting rid of the unimportant stuff for now, instead of raising registration fees or cutting teams.

i was against the party to begin with, but they can't get rid of the big screens, and the video feeds, those are really important to our teams strategy, and they look cool

Correct me if I'm wrong but this is only going to affect some regionals, the ones that will take on the title as streamlined, right? Well if it will only affect some regionals then I think they should just cut the team parties from all the regionals and keep the video feeds everywhere, because that is important not an extra socialization thing. I know that our team didn't stay for the team party in Seattle and those who went to it at LA said it was just decent. I know its supposed to be fun and all, but there are other ways for socialization that dont' require having to make cuts on other things.

I feel the same way. The three team parties I went to including the one at the Championship weren't what I was expecting them to be. So keep the screens and forget the parties. Or are we calling them "SOCIALS" now??

If I'm not mistaken, most of the regional sponsors are at the regional level. It would be kind of strange to take money from a company for regional A and send some of it over to regional B. That would be my guess as to why they don't do that.

True, but if everyone's gonna be paying the same price for a regional, then they should be getting the same ammenities. I mean, if the problem is company recognition at a specific regional, they could always give 1/2 to one and 1/2 to another and be given credit at both.

Anyone know if Johnson&Johnson are have money troubles? I hope not :) Rutgers rules. Although they can kill the team party...I'm a geek, I'm socially inept.

as fun as the "social" could be at the end of a hard competitive day i also agree that maybe the social should be done away with. i went to the nyc regional and fl national parties for my first time and they were not as fun as i thought it would be. yeah i managed to still have a good time but there was something missing from each party,

as for the big tv and video feeds they MUST stay. my team relies on these feed both on tv and the net to view how other teams play the new game b4 we actually go play it. basically watching these feeds give us an idea of how to play the game and how the rules are followed etc. so its quite helpful to the unexperienced team. besides i have bad eyes and must wear glasses. in order to see things i need to see BIG all the time everywhere i go or i will be one lost soul.


kinda what i already am now

Wasn't the profit of the 3 segways Dean sold suppose to go towards FIRST costs? Didn't each of the segways sell for over $100,000? That's a lot of money :confused:

yes but considiring the fact that each regional costs $250,000 that doesnt go too far.

My guess why they wouldn't send money from Regional A to regional B is quite simple: The sponsor that is sponsoring Reg A wants the money to stay where they are sponsoring it.

For example: OPG is a huge sponsor at the CR, and because of that OPG logo's are all over the event. If OPG's money somehow ends up going to the GLR, the money will go down to the GLR, but their logo's won't.

Also, IMHO, the regionals that raise a ton of money should be able to enjoy the money for their regional. Money doesn't just drop the the sky (for the most part), people have to work hard to get it, so is it really fair to take it and put it somewhere else? I vote no.

As for scrapping the team parties: In comparason to the video screens, the parties are cheap. All the equipment and people that are needed to run the screens cost a lot more than the parties do. So getting rid of the parties would save some money, but I doubt it would be enough (unless you got rida ALL the team parties from everywhere, and as I mentioned I don't think thats right).

well that's definately not cool. all i did during Motorola Midwest and West Michigan regionals this past year was dance in front of the cameramen and try to get on the big screen. now what am i going to do?

in other matters, though, it's going to be a lot harder to see the matches going on from way up in the stands. this stinks.

About the team socials...
 

You have to remember that the team "socials" will no longer include any dancing whatsoever. None. Zip. 0. Therefore, one of the main reasons a team would attend the party is gone.

I think the social should be done away with. It's a hassle to run, it has already caused injuries, and pop culture and FIRST don't mix (as Dean has said, many many times). There are plenty of other, good, dance clubs in town.

The audio/video wall was cool, because you got to see some additional action. However, the crack cameramen aren't really required - if you want to cut costs, just have a single camera give a top-down view of the field on the wall (which I feel must remain to give teams a good sense of what's going on, audio cues can be easily forgotten).

Any comments?

Definitely don't get rid of the video! You could do without cameramen easily. Topdown and from the sides would give you plenty to look at.

Personally, I don't care all that much about the parties, it really wouldn't be that hard for us on here to set something up if it really mattered that much.

Well, I know for sure last year that a lot of teams had more fun just messing around in the hotel rooms. I think that the team party is definately expendable. You can always find something fun to do.

On the other hand, I think the cameramen are great. A lot of teams, especially at venues like that of Motorola Midwest at Northwestern University, have to sit way way up in the bleachers and sometimes can't see what's going on. Although there are other methods like SOAP and such to find out a team's weak and strong points, as long as the camera is fixed on the matches and not people out in the stands, I would like to keep them. A lot of times that is how a team's 'secret weapon' is exposed and adds a lot of strategy to one's gameplay.

Can't dean chip-in a lil

He's morgaged his house 2 times to pay for company bonuses. He's doing everything he can.

Also, A/V wall ISN'T a nice addition, it's a REQUIREMENT. Why? With no A/V wall, that means no instant replays or any "anxious untill score is displayed" moments. It would but a strain on the announce to repeat things multipul times, and many teams will miss things.

Drop all the team party's. Nobody goes to them and they have progressivly gotten worse over the years.

I think it would be better to scrap the parties. This being my first year at FIRST (no pun intended) I ahven't managed to catch too much but I have been to a competition and it seems that energy is more fun than any party could ever be. And like the others said, the A/V wall seems pretty important. If it costs around the same for each just cut the parties and divert it to the wall. I hope my first time won't be messed up by keeping the parties around


See ya,
Matt

Hell, ditch some song licences and just play a few songs, then a moment of silence, then play another.

I hope that all the parties are being cancled first before they start taking away the camera and lighting. Not to sound like i did not appreacite (sorry for spelling) the though of the party but i really did not like it any way.

Keep in mind that it is not FIRST themselves that are obtaining the licenses(as far as I know,) but rather the DJs themselves, who are contracted by each site to provide the music. I have a feeling that you would be hard pressed to find a DJ who would say, "ok, i'll charge you half as much if I only play half of my songs..."

I think it's almost unanimous- everyone loves the A/V board. Tell me now... how are teams going to fare at nats on the Einstein Field? That will certainly be a sight (pun intended).

Although I realize that FIRST is a program that takes up a lot of time and money, I think sometimes there is inefficient funding uses going on. A DJ isn't necessary... I'm positive one of the teams would volunteer and play songs from their own Morpheus lists and home CD collections. I believe music like at IRI this past year was the exact same quality of the official FIRST competitions. I wonder how much money they're blowing on someone to play a couple techno songs and the macarena?

Also, the team party looks as though it's been voted out by this forum. I realize that FIRST is only trying to integrate fun in the competitions, but I think I had more fun playing Twister on the plastic grass in Florida than I did at any team party. FIRST goes through a lot of hard work and effort to provide teams with those parties, but sometimes they just seem unnecessary.

Lastly, I realize that everyone loved having an event like Mandy Moore at the end of nationals this year. How many people would like to have the A/V board instead of a show at the end? Personally, I thought the concert was incredibly cool, and I did stick around for a part of it, but after while I just wandered into Epcot to have some fun. I think I'd rather see what's going on in the matches than have Mandy Moore tell me she wants to be with me.

All in all, I feel a little ungrateful for all that FIRST has provided in the last year. I love all the little bonuses and extras that we get when involved with the program, but if worse comes to worse, they could really cut back in the extras and still provide accurate and helpful things (like the A/V board) for teams.

over and out.

That would be highly illegal. The last thing anyone would want is a lawsuit by the RIAA against FIRST.

Yikes! Calm down! no RIAA!!!!!!!

RIAA = bad.... they sue the wrong people :o :mad:

Alright, stupid comment on my behalf. Still, I bet just between teams, everyone has more than enough music for the weekend.

Point taken.

over and out.

I'm much in agreement of scraping the team party in an effort to keep live A/V. DJ's aren't needed and dont play enough 'good' music because nobody has the same tastes. Even during the competitions scrapping liscensed music and possibly playing techno mixes teams can make and more play-by-play announcing would be sufficient.

Drop the DJ costs, keep the A/V.

I can't even imagine how incredibly boring the competition would be without high-energy music. It helps keep people excited, encourages them to dance and act like fools, and covers up those akward moments when teams fail and no one cheers. Ditch the party / social, keep the DJ & the big screen. As most of us know, unfortunately that whole money thing is a big issue for companies these days :( .

Mike

ps. if I hear another person say that Dean has a lot of money and he should pay for everything I'm gonna scream

Just by reading the letter, it seems like the team social is essentially out (not that it matters based on the response in this thread), but as far as the a/v wall goes, there are plenty of alternative setups which can be used. Someone mentioned earlier in the thread something about just posting stationary cameras on vital portions of the field. That's a good idea. My 2 cents as an a/v nerd- don't use digital betacam cameras. They are far too expensive. Comperable picture quality can be produced by a 500$ mini-dv cam. Theory- use less expensive equipment, nix the camera men, rent the projectors and screens, and you're all set. Total setup like that for one regional wouldn't break 5,000 at the most, and when compared to the 250,000 required to run a regional, that's small beans.

The screens are absolutely neccessary in places like Drexel where there are walls between the pits and the fields-

What I was trying to say is that teams should chip in- most teams could easily get a few volunteers and cameras- I'm sure others could donate a projector and a white sheet- there's no reason to let a shortage of money stop us

SOAP relies on the video feeds from the camera crews. This would pose problems for us as well. Also for those who mention the use of cheap overhead fixed camera, FIRST already does this at nationals for the indoors fields. Even on the large screens it can be hard to figure whats going on. I would recommend a fixed overhead camera and 1 roaming cameraman. Then you can keep tabs on the overall amtch as well as still catch the details. Even without the screens, at the very least we can set up some lcd projectors (most high schools have plenty of them) and the nearest convenient walls in the pits. Then we are down to the cost of 1-2 people to run the cable and camera. Except for the cameras and cabling equipment, teams can volunteer to loan first equipment. It may not be the most professional looking setup, but itd be better then nothing.

Dont Worry
 

Personally I dont think we really have to worry because FIRST knows what they are doing and they will get things straighted out. Im sure they will pull through with an A/V wall and video feed. As for team parties I couldnt really care less... I liked the team party last year at MMR but if there is no dancing or anything that people could get hurt at, what fun could it be? I think this year will be just as fun as years in the past and we shouldnt worry about it.