2009 Kickoff Attendance
 

TIMS is asking about number attending Kickoff

Max is 3. Kickoff is not open to all this year? :confused:

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

As I recall, many events are limited to x number per site.

Limiting Manchester to 3 per teams seems like another cost control method in line with what FIRST has been trending towards.


Wetzel

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

I've never been before, is it really worth it?

-Vivek

Re: 2009 Kickoff Attendance
 

Teams can get 4 tickets for the Founders reception. If only three can go to kickoff, whom do you ditch?

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

I went in 2005 as a volunteer. The experience was great--picture the buzz of the crowd that amasses before the Thursday of a regional, only ramped up to eleven. There's no real competitive advantage to attending in my mind, beyond being able to touch The Actual Field Elements (hey, we can all read drawings, right?), but the Manchester Kickoff tends to draw a lot of the older-school teams that started going to Manchester before there was a choice. Tapping into the knowledge that a lot of those teams' mentors have can definitely provide some inspiration.

In short: yes.

(Just remember to pack extra warm--when they say the state motto is Live, Freeze, or Die, they're not joking.)

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

I've survived (barely) one New Hampshire winter and I hadn't heard it before. You evoked an audible chuckle over here.

Last year's kickoff was quite pleasant weather-wise. This was because Hawaii's governor brought the warmth with her. I hope she comes again and stays until the championship.

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

Haha, I'm from Minnesota, I'll live. :P I'll talk to my mentor about it, it certainly looks fun.

Re: 2009 Kickoff Attendance
 

Force... err, rather... kindly request the 4th person in your party sign up in VIMS & volunteer at kickoff? ;)
There are always ways around the seemingly improbable.

Looks like an oversight by FIRST if you can have 4 at Founder's & only 3 at the actual unveiling/Kickoff event at SNHU the next day. Oops.

Maybe not though? Who knows?

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

The energy is amazing. It a huge crowd on the field, all brainstorming, commenting on the game. The GDC is there and and you can ask them directly about the game and the field elements.

This picture is from 2007

Re: 2009 Kickoff Attendance
 

Is this maybe FIRST's way of saying they're cutting down to 3 per team (for both days) this year? FIRST is getting bigger and I'm sure that they'd want to do that to give more teams a chance to go. Founder's last year was incredibly packed, as was Kickoff, and as we keep gaining teams I think FIRST may want to give some newer teams & mentors a chance to hang around with the 'older-school', knowledagble mentors that tend to gravitate to Manchester around the beginning of January.

Keep in mind, I'm new(ish) to TIMS regarding kickoff/founder's, so I might have it all wrong. Just a thought.

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

I must've been to a different kickoff in NH... it was well into the single digits or below zero on Thursday and Friday - Jane froze, being from Texas, and we enjoyed a little snowball fight while waiting for the bus to the reception...

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

Aye, I did, and probably whined a lot. (You and Jack were awesome, Kathie!)
But:
- the beautiful frozen waterfall
- the bus ride to Dean Kamen's house and being there with folks like Al Skierkiewicz and Mark McLeod explaining steam engines/things to me
- the excitement and energy of everyone
- the speeches given by Woodie, Dean, and Dave encouraging teams to invite/welcome engineers and professionals in the fields of science and technology to be a part of the teams/the FIRST experience
- listening to the buzz, hum, and exchange of thoughts and ideas following the reveal of the challenge
- watching Blue Alliance at work
- meeting John Burns and experiencing his warmth, humor, and brilliance
- the time spent at the NEMO table and with Wayne Penn and members of FRC 25 during travel to and from Boston
- the entire experience

was.simply.amazing. I would like to do it again sometime, if my feet ever thaw out. :)

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

It was two years ago... close to 70 degrees out... Gov Lingle was pretty impressive. Down to earth and easy to talk to...

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

No, that would have been the hot air from all the politicians up there for the primary. :ahh:

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

Yup, I had a brain fart there. Two years ago. Oops.

I agree, Gov Lingle was quite interesting.

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

It was warm enough that Dean decided to open the helicopter hangar door at the Founder's Reception. We were essentially outside. (Those servomotors are smoooooth.)

Re: Kickof Attendance
 

We were hanging out outside the cupola for a long time. :cool:

Re: 2009 Kickoff Attendance
 

this isn't good news. we normally bring a few car loads of people up to Kickoff. looks like we're going to have to rethink our plans....

Re: 2009 Kickoff Attendance
 

I got a clarification from FIRST. The Founders reception is now limited to three people. Kickoff is not affected.

Re: 2009 Kickoff Attendance
 

Cutting back from four per team to three is understandable. If the crowd at Westwind got any larger than it was last year, there wouldn't be much room to breathe. Moving from the hangar to handle more people at once would probably be a bad thing -- I've noticed that Dean Kamen tends to be a much more interesting speaker when he's talking to a smallish group.