Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

No question at all: Chairman's Award.

Winning the Regional Championship is a testament to your teamwork with other teams and your ability to design a "winning machine".

Putting things into perspective: it is partially dependent on others, partially based on luck, partially based on the design process (which may not have been 100% done by students on the team), and partially the skill of your drive team. That being said, obtaining the regional championship is no small feat, but not all in your control, either.

Winning the Regional Chairman's award is a testament to your team's ability to inspire others to recognize, understand, and strive towards FIRST's goal of creating more "tech-savvy" problem solvers.

Putting things into perspective once again: It is partially dependent on your team's ability to share these principles in your local communities, partially dependent on how well you communicate them within your team, partially dependent on how FIRST has inspired your team to "go beyond" -- outside of the competition.

With Chairman's, unlike Champions, the variables here are all on you -- not other teams, not a handful of robot designers, not a handful of drivers.

Now I'm not trying to belittle the importance of being a regional champion, but to me there is much more to a "Hey, look at what we have done as a team" feeling over a "Hey, look at what we did out on the field just now!" feeling.

Winning regional Champions would be great -- and an instant gratification -- but, in my eyes, winning Chairman's is much more deep-seeded and meaningful.

And besides -- there are three Regional Champions -- there's only one Regional Chairman. :)

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

My team has won many regionals and also the chairman's award but not since I have been on the team. I play a big part in the build process and I am a driver, so I would have to go with a regional win over chairman's because I work so hard on it for 6 days a week 15 hours a day for 6 weeks so a regional win would help pay that off ;). :)

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

THIS POST MAY NOT REFLECT THE OVERALL FEELING OF TEAM 1852.

Personally, I'd be very happy if we won either award. With that said, I see the Regional Competitions as a cumulation of 6 weeks of building our robot ... so I'd say a Regional Championship would be better.

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

I'd be glad to receive either honor, but right now I'm more inclined to go after the Regional Championship. Why? With few exceptions, the regional champions tend to draw more press than the Chairman's Award winners. It should be the other way around, but it tends not to be; I blame it on people naturally being drawn to the title of Champion, no matter how many times the emcee notes that the Chairman's Award is the highest honor.

The way I see it, a team that still isn't a household name could stand to get more attention (and thus have their programs reach a wider audience) with a regional championship than a Chairman's Award. That's my theory--if I get a chance to test it, I'll let you know.

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

Chairmans!

It doesn't have to go to the best team, in the competition, but to the team who has worked hard, done all their research, and has great sportsmanship.

Don't get me wrong, both awards are great, but the Chairmans is more prestigious.

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

Chairman's Award def. The TechnoKats have been around for quite a while and I want to see the team get awarded for all it has done in the past 16 years. Plus I am bias as I was one of the people that worked on the CA last year.

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

Those vote tallies are really close.

I voted for for Regional Championship because the excitement of winning an event is incomparable. For a team that is new or hasn't won an event, the feeling is indescribable. When my team won a regional earlier this year we could not believe what was happening. A regional victory can come as a surprise which is what makes it so exciting. Chairman's victories aren't exactly predictable, but teams know that they have been working hard on outreach and can somewhat see it coming. It's the unpredictability and sheer exuberance of winning a regional that makes me choose a Regional Championship over Chairman's.

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

I have to disagree with this. When they announced that we won Chairman's at NJ, it felt even better than winning the regional.

Like you said, Chairman's victories aren't predictable, but that, in my opinion, makes them 10x better. The surprise of winning it adds to the mix of emotions you feel when you win it.

Just wait until you're on a team that wins one...you'll see...;)

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

just wait until you're on a team that doesn't win 90% of it's matches... :rolleyes:

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

at this point, either one would be just wonderful for me. =]

really, a chairman's win would mean more to me. it's really showing that you're an outstanding group of kids, not just a beastly robot.

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

I'd want chairman's.

Before the season starts, you have no clue what the game is going to be. How is it going to be challenging? How's our robot going to play it? How's our robot going to size up to other teams? These questions can only be answered starting January and definitely not until your first competition.

Chairman's Award on the other hand can be done NOW. Helping the community, spreading science and technology can be done anytime during the year as long as you've got the time to do it.

Also, anyone bother to realize the order they announce the awards? Towards the end of the award ceremony, they get increasingly more prestigious.

... Regional Finalists, Regional Champions, Engineering Inspiration Award, Chairman's Award.

Also note that the Chairman's Award can only be submitted to one regional, most other awards can be submitted at multiple regionals.

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

I watched a team with a beastly robot win a regional chairman's award, once.

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

me too. read below.

yay 25!

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

I think you missed the 4 at the end of that ;)
254, great bot(s), and a Championship Chairman's

Re: Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?
 

no, sorry sean. i meant 25. =P

i never saw 254. so there.

[although i'm sure they were great too... :) ]