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Madison 23-04-2007 12:18
New Regionals in 2008
 
I just thought it might be nice to have somewhere to talk about the announced, new events for the 2008 season and the potential for other, as yet unannounced events in other cities. At the Championship Event, four new events were officially announced for the 2008 season.
  • Seattle, WA
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Honolulu, HI
  • Oklahoma City, OK

There's been some discussion about how the Seattle event will affect the existing regional in Portland, OR and, specifically, whether teams from this region would be likely or willing to attend both. Seattle was home to Pacific Northwest Regional before it moved to Portland, so there's some precedent for shifting the location of a regional, but what little I've seen, heard or read about this new event suggests that it's meant as an additional opportunity to demonstrate FIRST to the community, not as a supplicant to what already exists.

I'm interested in what others teams from the northwest think about attending events in both Seattle and Portland. It seems these events will make it possible for a lot of teams to compete more frequently and further improve the level of competition in the region, as previously, the closest competition outside of Portland we could compete in was Davis, CA -- a significant distance away. On the other hand, however, our team would very probably not be interested in competing in both Portland and Seattle, as we've found this season that exposure to other parts of the country can be vital to making a trip to the Championship a justifiable, worthwhile expense.

What's the story behind Minneapolis? FIRST has been pretty weak up in Minnesota in the past, so who's leading the charge to bring more teams to the area?

Hawaii is the new event everybody's abuzz about already, no doubt because it represents a fantastic climate to escape to during dreary, boring March. I'm expecting this event will take place in the final week of events such that it'll be possible to punctually ship robots to and from the mainland. Who're the folks that are seriously considering going to the inaugural event? My team is excited for it and we're already devising the fundraising activities we'll need to have to be able to finance the trip -- and weighing the value since it'll almost assuredly come at the expense of another trip to Atlanta, GA. I'm less excited since I don't like water very much and would be happier being nearer to Disneyland (by attending the Los Angeles regional) than I would be near a beach. :p

Koko Ed 23-04-2007 13:03
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by M. Krass (Post 621374)
I just thought it might be nice to have somewhere to talk about the announced, new events for the 2008 season and the potential for other, as yet unannounced events in other cities. At the Championship Event, three new events were officially announced for the 2008 season.
  • Seattle, WA
  • Minneapolis, MN
  • Honolulu, HI

There's been some discussion about how the Seattle event will affect the existing regional in Portland, OR and, specifically, whether teams from this region would be likely or willing to attend both. Seattle was home to Pacific Northwest Regional before it moved to Portland, so there's some precedent for shifting the location of a regional, but what little I've seen, heard or read about this new event suggests that it's meant as an additional opportunity to demonstrate FIRST to the community, not as a supplicant to what already exists.

I'm interested in what others teams from the northwest think about attending events in both Seattle and Portland. It seems these events will make it possible for a lot of teams to compete more frequently and further improve the level of competition in the region, as previously, the closest competition outside of Portland we could compete in was Davis, CA -- a significant distance away. On the other hand, however, our team would very probably not be interested in competing in both Portland and Seattle, as we've found this season that exposure to other parts of the country can be vital to making a trip to the Championship a justifiable, worthwhile expense.

What's the story behind Minneapolis? FIRST has been pretty weak up in Minnesota in the past, so who's leading the charge to bring more teams to the area?

Hawaii is the new event everybody's abuzz about already, no doubt because it represents a fantastic climate to escape to during dreary, boring March. I'm expecting this event will take place in the final week of events such that it'll be possible to punctually ship robots to and from the mainland. Who're the folks that are seriously considering going to the inaugural event? My team is excited for it and we're already devising the fundraising activities we'll need to have to be able to finance the trip -- and weighing the value since it'll almost assuredly come at the expense of another trip to Atlanta, GA. I'm less excited since I don't like water very much and would be happier being nearer to Disneyland (by attending the Los Angeles regional) than I would be near a beach. :p
Wasn't there a 4th location revealed at the championship?

JaneYoung 23-04-2007 13:06
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Koko Ed (Post 621390)
Wasn't there a 4th location revealed at the championship?
O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A - Oklahoooommmmmmma!


Edit: Oklahoma City is awesome.
They will put on a great regional. Wish I could stop singing now...Okla-homa, Okla-homa, you're doin' grand Oklahoma, Oklahoma, O-K

now I'll stop...maybe

Madison 23-04-2007 13:07
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Koko Ed (Post 621390)
Wasn't there a 4th location revealed at the championship?
Yep -- I added it to the original post. I couldn't find video of the announcement, so I guessed at what I remembered.

Koko Ed 23-04-2007 13:07
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneYoung (Post 621391)
O-K-L-A-H-O-M-A - Oklahoooommmmmmma!

(I think)
Yup! That's the one!
Interesting.
All the new regionals are out west.

JaneYoung 23-04-2007 13:13
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
'bout time Ed, 'bout time...come on out!

Edit: ok, just this one - YEE HAWWW!

Vikesrock 23-04-2007 13:16
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by M. Krass (Post 621374)
What's the story behind Minneapolis? FIRST has been pretty weak up in Minnesota in the past, so who's leading the charge to bring more teams to the area?
To say FIRST has been pretty weak in MN probably isn't quite right. FLL has been going strong here since the pilot. FRC however, has never been strong here in MN.

This year MN ballooned from 2 to 16 teams. Boston Scientific and Medtronic were a huge part of this growth with 11 of the 16 teams receiving sponsorship from one of the two companies.

FRC got quite a bit of exposure when 1816 "The Green Machine" demoed their robot at the MN STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Conference at the Science Museum of Minnesota. 1816 also helped start/mentored 3 or 4 of the rookie teams this season.

They also worked with Boston Scientific and the University of Minnesota to host the first MN FRC Kickoff.

Our team hopes to aid the effort to continue the program growth here in MN so our state can make a good showing in our hometown regional in 2008.

Lavapicker 23-04-2007 15:50
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Aloha 488......

We plan on doing our own regional in Hawaii of course but hope to get enough money to come to your neck of the woods in Seattle too. Do you know when they are planning on holding it? We went their our first year in 2003 before it moved to Portland and loved all the things we could do around there. I hope to get our old number back...1056 although 2024 has been a good one for us this year.
BTW, if you folks are coming over here lets get together. We're on the Big Island and would love to do a tour for your gang in some lava tubes or the lava flow (assuming its still going then??)

Aloha,

Ryan Dognaux 23-04-2007 16:00
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
A lot of Minnesota teams went to the Wisconsin Regional this year, only adding to the greatness of the regional. However, I think with a new regional starting in Minnesota, teams will be split between Minnesota and Wisconsin and will have to make a choice. I'm very excited to see even more teams spring up next year, hopefully as a result of Boston Scientific and Medtronic sponsoring even more teams. They did a great job this year.

KTorak 23-04-2007 16:25
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Portland vs. Seattle is the same GLR vs. DET regional debate. Some teams only choose one over the over (for MANY reasons) and some teams go to both because they can do it without over night expenses. Team 1023 goes to GLR because we have been there since our team was founded and we have a great presence (many teams and volunteers know us year after year). Then our 2nd regional is usually one we like to travel to so we don't attend DET.

WahooWa 23-04-2007 16:55
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Finally we have a regional in Oklahoma. Everybody was shooting for one this year because of the Oklahoma Centennial, but we are all excited to have one in 2008. Big thanks go out to the Chickasaw nation, who will be the main sponsor for the event. All the teams should think about coming, I've been hearing some pretty cool things about the regional and can't wait for it to be here. OOOOOOOOOKLAHOMA!....

Peter Matteson 23-04-2007 17:12
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by M. Krass (Post 621374)
There's been some discussion about how the Seattle event will affect the existing regional in Portland, OR and, specifically, whether teams from this region would be likely or willing to attend both. Seattle was home to Pacific Northwest Regional before it moved to Portland, so there's some precedent for shifting the location of a regional, but what little I've seen, heard or read about this new event suggests that it's meant as an additional opportunity to demonstrate FIRST to the community, not as a supplicant to what already exists.
This is similar to the New England Regional which was in Manchester, NH until UTC took over the sponsorship and moved to Hartford where their corporate headquarters is (Almost across the street from the current venue). Then BAE Granite state Regional was added in Manchester and Hartford kept the New England name until this year. It was finally changed after adding Boston to minimize confusion.

Surprisingly these events don't really cannabilize each other for teams as many teams go to one and a farther away event.

AndyB 23-04-2007 17:22
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux (Post 621427)
A lot of Minnesota teams went to the Wisconsin Regional this year, only adding to the greatness of the regional. However, I think with a new regional starting in Minnesota, teams will be split between Minnesota and Wisconsin and will have to make a choice. I'm very excited to see even more teams spring up next year, hopefully as a result of Boston Scientific and Medtronic sponsoring even more teams. They did a great job this year.
I have already received word that the Minnesota and Wisconsin regionals will be 3 weeks apart. This was through a source at 1816 I believe. There will still issues with cost though, but if cost isn't a factor for two regionals, they should be very accessible.

chaoticprout 23-04-2007 17:59
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Any idea when they will announce the dates for this years regionals? Thanks.

Vexkingof716 23-04-2007 18:07
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Our team started to dream over going all the way to hawaii next year but then realized the cost of it for us. if we were to go we probably not go to nationals but who knows i would love to go out to the pacific.

Andrew Schuetze 23-04-2007 18:08
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
I would presume that FIRST and the various regional event directors will schedule the multiple events in a region to not coincide so that teams can attend two regionals without the travel issues as already mentioned.

The Oklahoma event comes at the right time as the Toltechs are just now looking at doing two regionals and championship if we win. We have been fortunate to win our way and pay our way to Atlanta and then travel this year without a robot to Atlanta.

Our plans are to attend the OK regional early in the season and then continue to compete in the Lone Star regional. I expect that a significant number of the LSR teams will do the OK regional with another portion going back to the New Orleans event. It will be nice to compete against some of those Kansas teams that have ventured south to Houston in the past.

Along that line, we need a new regional in Central our South Texas. I so want to make that happen but need to make lots more $$$ contacts. The small step forward was hosting the local Kick-off here in San Antonio.:cool:

laurenlacy 23-04-2007 21:13
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
What's the story behind Minneapolis? FIRST has been pretty weak up in Minnesota in the past, so who's leading the charge to bring more teams to the area?

^sorry I messed up the whole quoting thinger...

I know that we(team 1816) have been spending countless hours trying to increase the FIRST presence in MN, directly influencing the formation of 5 teams and indirectly influencing another 9. We came home last year from competitions really excited to spread the program into MN, and made that one of our primary goals.

We missed a lot of school(haha) to go travel and promote FIRST Robotics in local high schools, and have established an excellent reputation within our own community, which is getting noticed by local and state media.

We also worked with Susan Lawrence to promote FIRST in MN by setting up a FIRST booth at a science and technology conference at the MN Science Museum, which was attended by 1000s of HS students.

Another major contributing factor to the growth in MN is a partnership we established with Medtronic, which led to Medtronic partnering with Boston Scientific to help sponsor many of the new MN teams. When we approached Medtronic to ask them to sponsor us they thought the program was so cool that they told us it was our job to start new teams.

We also had a presentation for Medtronic employees explaining how inspiring the FIRST program is, and asking them to mentor new teams, which helped secure mentors for new teams. This made it significantly easier for the teams, because they had funds available and mentors... so thank you very much BS and Medtronic!

One of our mentors, Mark Lawrence, has also been working tirelessly to establish contacts in high schools and help them start programs, and then Ken Rosen, MN Regional Director, has also been working very hard to generate interest in the program by traveling to high schools.

I also know that many of our mentee teams are excited to help start their own teams, so be prepared for the MN FIRST presence to get large very quickly.

Haha... a very long winded explanation for a very short sentence... but basically the growth in MN is due to the focused efforts of many, many people interested in seeing FIRST expand beyond LEGO League in MN.

teammember_342 23-04-2007 21:19
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Honolulu, HI

What Honolulu? Which team would be willing to go to this island? :cool: There are only a few team on Hawaii anyway.

Kelly 23-04-2007 21:21
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
I thought the Oklahoma regional was cool, but I was surprised it was in OKC and not Norman, at OU.

angelc24 23-04-2007 21:24
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
I love the city of Minneapolis. I've visited it many times and have always found something interesting to do. I was looking in that area of the country for college and was disapointed to find few FIRST teams. I'm glad that FIRST is creating a regional there and will definitly encourage my team to go (as well as my family members that live in Minneapolis!).

JaneYoung 23-04-2007 21:28
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze (Post 621493)
The small step forward was hosting the local Kick-off here in San Antonio.:cool:
That small step was fantastic Andrew. The engine shop/classroom in the hanger where the rack was set up and where we picked up our KoPs was so neat. It added to the KicK Off and challenge. And as a Central Texas team, the San Antonio location saved us travel time and money which is always appreciated.

TKM.368 23-04-2007 22:28
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by teammember_342 (Post 621569)
Honolulu, HI

What Honolulu? Which team would be willing to go to this island? :cool: There are only a few team on Hawaii anyway.
Hawaii teams have been hard to maintain since participating in FIRST >ALWAYS< meant out of state travel. At the moment, we look to be going from 4 Hawaii teams for 2007 to at least 15 in 2008 *cross fingers*.

GaryVoshol 24-04-2007 08:47
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by teammember_342 (Post 621569)
Honolulu, HI

What Honolulu? Which team would be willing to go to this island? :cool: There are only a few team on Hawaii anyway.
Check the other thread. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=57121 It's all but full already :rolleyes: That is, if registration was open.

Jeremiah Johnson 24-04-2007 10:24
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux (Post 621427)
A lot of Minnesota teams went to the Wisconsin Regional this year, only adding to the greatness of the regional. However, I think with a new regional starting in Minnesota, teams will be split between Minnesota and Wisconsin and will have to make a choice. I'm very excited to see even more teams spring up next year, hopefully as a result of Boston Scientific and Medtronic sponsoring even more teams. They did a great job this year.
Same thing happened to the Midwest Regional with the inception of the Boilermaker Regional. Nearly all of the "powerhouse" teams decided to go to Boilermaker instead of Chicago, dropping the strength and reputation of the Midwest Regional, IMHO.

I see sort of the same thing happening to either the Wisconsin Regional or the Minnesota Regional... could also adversely affect the Midwest Regional, again lowering the number of attending teams. :mad:

Some members of 648, not me, want to go to Minnesota. I'm not in favor of it ... I want to get away from the Midwest for once, but not the Midwest Regional. I wish we could be like 25, 234, 233, etc. and travel to some exotic regional every year.

kawelch 24-04-2007 12:35
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze (Post 621493)
Our plans are to attend the OK regional early in the season and then continue to compete in the Lone Star regional. I expect that a significant number of the LSR teams will do the OK regional with another portion going back to the New Orleans event. It will be nice to compete against some of those Kansas teams that have ventured south to Houston in the past.
Except most the Kansas Teams will go to the Greater Kansas City Regional. Which I humbly invite you to come to....

Barry Bonzack 24-04-2007 13:36
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze (Post 621493)

Our plans are to attend the OK regional early in the season and then continue to compete in the Lone Star regional.

I am extremely excited to hear that Oklahoma will now have their own regional. The arena in OKC will be a great venue, and Bricktown is an awesome place with fun things to do and places to eat. I have gotten word that they are working on making one killer social event, I'll let that information be saved when the planning committee is ready for an official announcement. I am hoping this regional will spark many new teams to form in Oklahoma.

I plan to attend, and I am encouraging my friends in Florida to go to this regional (I am not sure how successful I will be at it). I am curious though, what information is there that it will be early in the season? This would conflict with the Florida Regional.

dtengineering 25-04-2007 00:51
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Glad to hear that the Seattle event is a "go" for next year. I think the Seattle regional will be a big boost for growing FRC here in Vancouver as the chances of getting sponsors and such to come down to Seattle (6 hour round-trip drive) are much greater than getting them to come down to Portland (12 hour round trip). As good as the streaming video is, even Discovery's 360 degree pit-cam doesn't make up for being there when it comes to plain old jaw-dropping awesomeness. We might even be able to bring a few more rookies along with us next year as we try to increase our numbers here in BC with a goal to getting a Vancouver regional off the ground in the next few years. (Although I understand every hockey rink in town is booked up in Feb/March of 2010 for some reason... it might have to wait...)

I have to say, though, that the decision to drop Portland from our schedule will be a tough one. Memorial Colliseum is a great venue (from a competition viewpoint I would rather see a two-field super-regional in Portland than one in Portland and one in Seattle... the pit area at Portland could handle close to 100 teams and if you haven't played at GTR in a two-field year then you don't know what you're missing) and the whole Rose Garden / Convention Centre District / Fareless Square (free and fast trains to downtown) makes it very easy to take students to Portland... and that is not even mentioning the great job the organizing committee and volunteers do there!

I'm looking forward to more info on the Seattle regional, including dates and venue.... but I know the students are far more interested in that whole Hawaii thing.... so is one of our teachers, but he's sailed there the last two time he's gone. I don't think we'll be doing that...

Jason

waialua359 25-04-2007 06:35
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dtengineering (Post 622008)
Glad to hear that the Seattle event is a "go" for next year. I think the Seattle regional will be a big boost for growing FRC here in Vancouver as the chances of getting sponsors and such to come down to Seattle (6 hour round-trip drive) are much greater than getting them to come down to Portland (12 hour round trip). As good as the streaming video is, even Discovery's 360 degree pit-cam doesn't make up for being there when it comes to plain old jaw-dropping awesomeness. We might even be able to bring a few more rookies along with us next year as we try to increase our numbers here in BC with a goal to getting a Vancouver regional off the ground in the next few years. (Although I understand every hockey rink in town is booked up in Feb/March of 2010 for some reason... it might have to wait...)

I have to say, though, that the decision to drop Portland from our schedule will be a tough one. Memorial Colliseum is a great venue (from a competition viewpoint I would rather see a two-field super-regional in Portland than one in Portland and one in Seattle... the pit area at Portland could handle close to 100 teams and if you haven't played at GTR in a two-field year then you don't know what you're missing) and the whole Rose Garden / Convention Centre District / Fareless Square (free and fast trains to downtown) makes it very easy to take students to Portland... and that is not even mentioning the great job the organizing committee and volunteers do there!

I'm looking forward to more info on the Seattle regional, including dates and venue.... but I know the students are far more interested in that whole Hawaii thing.... so is one of our teachers, but he's sailed there the last two time he's gone. I don't think we'll be doing that...

Jason
You could fly on Hawaiian airlines which flies directly to you! In fact, we will be possibly going to Vancouver from Seattle next month for an electric vehicle event.

FunkyRatDemon 25-04-2007 10:42
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by KTorak (Post 621444)
Portland vs. Seattle is the same GLR vs. DET regional debate. Some teams only choose one over the over (for MANY reasons) and some teams go to both because they can do it without over night expenses. Team 1023 goes to GLR because we have been there since our team was founded and we have a great presence (many teams and volunteers know us year after year). Then our 2nd regional is usually one we like to travel to so we don't attend DET.
We'll be going to Portland and Seattle next year
Sorry UC Davis...

Andrew Schuetze 25-04-2007 13:23
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dtengineering (Post 622008)
We might even be able to bring a few more rookies along with us next year as we try to increase our numbers here in BC with a goal to getting a Vancouver regional off the ground in the next few years. Jason
What does it take team wise in order to host a regional? I beleive that the San Diego folks put together a three year plan and started something like 10 new teams before they put together their regional for this year.
This would be in addition to the rent for a venue for the four days plus meal costs for volunteers, field rent, and I don't know what else. Did OKC start a bunch of teams in the area? I read a previous post about Hawaii using the regional to start new teams. Something of a chicken or the egg first thing:yikes:

dtengineering 25-04-2007 13:31
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by waialua359 (Post 622017)
You could fly on Hawaiian airlines which flies directly to you! In fact, we will be possibly going to Vancouver from Seattle next month for an electric vehicle event.
I'm guessing that would be one sponsored by the Vancouver Electric Vehicle Association? Before getting into FIRST I built and raced electrathon cars with my Engineering 12 class. VEVA hosted an event called REV, at the time, down by Science World and False Creek where we got to race on a section of what was then the Vancouver Indy track. It is now in the process of being converted to housing for the Olympics.

And I am well aware that there are some very good value flights to Hawaii... Westjet flies there now, too... but even a good value flight to Hawaii is considerably more expensive than a nice bus to Seattle or Portland! Hawaii will represents a fund raising goal our students can aspire to!

Hope you have a good time when you're here in Vancouver.

Jason

Nawaid Ladak 25-04-2007 13:50
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dtengineering (Post 622008)
Glad to hear that the Seattle event is a "go" for next year. I think the Seattle regional will be a big boost for growing FRC here in Vancouver as the chances of getting sponsors and such to come down to Seattle (6 hour round-trip drive) are much greater than getting them to come down to Portland (12 hour round trip). As good as the streaming video is, even Discovery's 360 degree pit-cam doesn't make up for being there when it comes to plain old jaw-dropping awesomeness. We might even be able to bring a few more rookies along with us next year as we try to increase our numbers here in BC with a goal to getting a Vancouver regional off the ground in the next few years. (Although I understand every hockey rink in town is booked up in Feb/March of 2010 for some reason... it might have to wait...)

I have to say, though, that the decision to drop Portland from our schedule will be a tough one. Memorial Colliseum is a great venue (from a competition viewpoint I would rather see a two-field super-regional in Portland than one in Portland and one in Seattle... the pit area at Portland could handle close to 100 teams and if you haven't played at GTR in a two-field year then you don't know what you're missing) and the whole Rose Garden / Convention Centre District / Fareless Square (free and fast trains to downtown) makes it very easy to take students to Portland... and that is not even mentioning the great job the organizing committee and volunteers do there!

I'm looking forward to more info on the Seattle regional, including dates and venue.... but I know the students are far more interested in that whole Hawaii thing.... so is one of our teachers, but he's sailed there the last two time he's gone. I don't think we'll be doing that...

Jason
The reason their all booked, the Winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver in 2010, around the same time as most regionals. if you want to pull this one off, it will have to most definitely have to be a week 5 regional

Kris Verdeyen 25-04-2007 16:29
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
1 Attachment(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kelly (Post 621570)
I thought the Oklahoma regional was cool, but I was surprised it was in OKC and not Norman, at OU.
Norman is Botball country, a KISS Institute stronghold. FIRSTers would be wise to tread softly there - you might see some scary creatures, like this guy:

Ben Martin 25-04-2007 19:15
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Budda648 (Post 621732)
I wish we could be like 25, 234, 233, etc. and travel to some exotic regional every year.
We do travel around a lot, but we do like to go to at least one regional near home, like the Midwest Regional, West Michigan, or BMR.

Though it can be fun to travel, sometimes I wonder about the merits of attending a third regional instead of going to one close regional and one that's across the country. By going to other regionals, we get to know other teams better, but we see less of the other teams in Indianapolis. We kind of had this debate this year, and we eventually decided to travel to Long Island. Eight days of school would be a lot of days to miss. ;)

We may go to a far-off regional every year, but Hawaii is quite a distance. I don't believe that we've gone to the west coast before, so we might concider that as a possible place to visit next year.

waialua359 26-04-2007 02:52
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
I hope all of you consider coming to Hawaii. There "should" be 48 total slots which we are pushing for, with a minimum of 32.
Which one of you out their are seriously considering attending?
I am sure teams would know by now as they would have to decide and start their fundraising campaigns.
We are already starting to fundraise for next year for mainland regional competition. As you can see, all these past years, Hawaii teams always had this "challenge" just to attend one regional.

Noah Kleinberg 26-04-2007 12:10
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by waialua359 (Post 622333)
Which one of you out their are seriously considering attending?
I am sure teams would know by now as they would have to decide and start their fundraising campaigns.
It's not quite final yet but team 395 has almost decided on Hawaii, especially if it's not the same week as the New York Regional.

waialua359 26-04-2007 18:20
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noah Kleinberg (Post 622415)
It's not quite final yet but team 395 has almost decided on Hawaii, especially if it's not the same week as the New York Regional.
Our new Hawaii state science specialist in Education, Jeff Piontek, says that he helped you folks when he lived in New York as the district superintendent. He mentioned last year that you folks won the Pittsburg regional.
Do you know him?? He seems to know a lot about you folks.:D

AndyB 01-05-2007 23:06
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Budda648 (Post 621732)
Same thing happened to the Midwest Regional with the inception of the Boilermaker Regional. Nearly all of the "powerhouse" teams decided to go to Boilermaker instead of Chicago, dropping the strength and reputation of the Midwest Regional, IMHO.

I see sort of the same thing happening to either the Wisconsin Regional or the Minnesota Regional... could also adversely affect the Midwest Regional, again lowering the number of attending teams. :mad:

Some members of 648, not me, want to go to Minnesota. I'm not in favor of it ... I want to get away from the Midwest for once, but not the Midwest Regional. I wish we could be like 25, 234, 233, etc. and travel to some exotic regional every year.
Actually, when Boilermaker had it's first year, it was a couple weeks before the Midwest regional. But I get what you are saying. Hopefully many teams will be able to attend both Wisconsin and Minnesota, but it isn't a horrible thing if a regional gets smaller because FIRST is growing....

Doug G 02-05-2007 03:17
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by FunkyRatDemon (Post 622081)
We'll be going to Portland and Seattle next year
Sorry UC Davis...
You'll be missed. 2006 Finals still sits in the front of my memory banks. Perhaps we'll catch you in Portland in '08. With the addition of San Diego, Las Vegas, and Seattle there are many local choices now for us west coast teams.

dbeck103 03-05-2007 15:22
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Hey - 103 is seriously considering coming to the regional in Hawaii, as are a couple of other east coast teams. Should be a blast.

dlavery 04-05-2007 01:49
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kris Verdeyen (Post 622173)
Norman is Botball country, a KISS Institute stronghold. FIRSTers would be wise to tread softly there - you might see some scary creatures, like this guy:
Meh. Since KIPR (KISS Institute for Practical Robotics) is run by the guy that co-founded FRC Team 116, I wouldn't be too worried. :)

-dave

sheltie234 06-05-2007 07:50
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Although Hawaii is far away from Indianapolis, it's over our school's Spring Break for next year, so hopefully...

I wish our team could go to any of the new Regionals for 2008 (and our team does travel outside of the Midwest), but they are far away, and when we travel by plane, we fly out on Wednesay evening so we don't miss school. All of the new Regionals are pretty far... :(

waiakea2024 14-05-2007 16:33
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Yay! Hawaii is finally in the FIRST regional family! Everyone better sign up quick because this one is definalty going to sell out fast!

lynca 15-05-2007 18:40
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
The new regionals are creating interesting press articles,

Seattle - Microsoft Regional

Hawaii Regional

Pavan Dave 15-05-2007 19:01
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Koko Ed (Post 621394)
Yup! That's the one!
Interesting.
All the new regionals are out west.
It's about time too. Not enough events near Texas. This year Bayou was an exception, but now with Oklahoma I think it will accomplish two things. It will make more teams in Oklahoma and also add to the Robotics Education Program of Oklahoma because Botball is HUGE there. The only thing is that Botball is during the FIRST season which may pose some problems, but for huge teams, it is a great way to split the team and/or to keep the rookies busy with the programming and let them do the mechie or control stuff in their later years.

TKM.368 15-05-2007 23:43
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by lynca (Post 627224)
The new regionals are creating interesting press articles,

Seattle - Microsoft Regional

Hawaii Regional

Our team is excited to hear more regarding the Seattle Regional. In the meantime, Dean Kamen is here in Hawaii pushing FIRST to everyone possible. Here is a more detailed article regarding the FIRST in Hawaii Kickoff, as well as some glitchy video.

Andrew Schuetze 26-05-2007 17:31
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pavan (Post 627227)
It will make more teams in Oklahoma and also add to the Robotics Education Program of Oklahoma because Botball is HUGE there. The only thing is that Botball is during the FIRST season which may pose some problems, but for huge teams, it is a great way to split the team and/or to keep the rookies busy with the programming and let them do the mechie or control stuff in their later years.
Or consider Botball as potential feeder program for FIRST by having middle schools compete. There is already FLL and Jr. FLL but then there are options such as EARLY and Botball.

Here in San Antonio, TX we have an initiative growing to get middle schools competing in Botball. (The architech for the Botball controller is Rich LeGrand whose lab/Co. is in Austin, Texas Charmed Labs)
Additionally, since SA is a big BEST area we are getting elementary schools to compete in GEAR city-wide while some school districts are also adding in EARLY neighborhood tournaments.:cool:

Pavan Dave 26-05-2007 18:59
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze (Post 629340)
Or consider Botball as potential feeder program for FIRST by having middle schools compete. There is already FLL and Jr. FLL but then there are options such as EARLY and Botball.

Here in San Antonio, TX we have an initiative growing to get middle schools competing in Botball. (The architech for the Botball controller is Rich LeGrand whose lab/Co. is in Austin, Texas Charmed Labs)
Additionally, since SA is a big BEST area we are getting elementary schools to compete in GEAR city-wide while some school districts are also adding in EARLY neighborhood tournaments.:cool:
In our are we use a variety of programs to spread robotics that can be seen on the Houston Robotics website. We do EARLY, FLL, BEST, Botball, and FRC as well. And the greatest thing about all of these programs is that they all feed into each other... EARLY teaches the students a little bit about building robots, FLL teaches them programming and makes them think a little more about design, BEST makes them think about design but on a new level as well as some more programming, Botball teaches them about programming in depth and gets them ready for FRC which makes them look more in depth into the different types of engineering and lets them work with professionals.

Andrew Schuetze 14-09-2007 22:53
Re: New Regionals in 2008
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze (Post 621493)
I would presume that FIRST and the various regional event directors will schedule the multiple events in a region to not coincide so that teams can attend two regionals without the travel issues as already mentioned.

Okay take note, my presumption in this regard was very far from correct and could in the instance of the the Texas and Oklahoma regionals be in direct conflict with it:eek:
Lone Star Regional
Katy, TX DATE 3/20/2008 - 3/22/2008

Oklahoma City Regional
Oklahoma City, OK DATE 3/20/2008 - 3/22/2008:ahh:


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