Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

On a robotics forum??? NEVER!!!

Thanks for the list though. :D

Definitely agree with this. I find myself frustrated at the event staff when something goes wrong, but in two months time, I'll find myself heading up a VRC qualifier. I'm not sure how many teams there will be, I'm not sure how much "side" stuff we'll do, but it's tough to do the planning. No doubt.

True True. For our school we have an online system, where teachers can go in and book a certain part of the school for a specific date/time. The harder part is figuring out what all will be available to us (ie tables, electronics, speakers, mic, etc.)

As for the dates, I'm excited. My teammates were nervous when they first heard that we're now a week 1 event, but there was a sense of renewed responsibility in the air, kinda like "Man, we gotta get down to business quicker this year."

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Don't know what the harm would be to post the preliminary list for all, but those at FIRST know best. Anyhow, commitments were made to Volunteer Coordinators that VIMS would be up and running for them to start recruiting by a certain date. FIRST was honoring that commitment instead of delaying the start of recruiting.

Working with a venue is not as easy as just calling them up and saying "Hey, we're coming!" Sometimes the venue doesn't have quite the same urgency as FRC teams do in locking down a date. I'd rather wait to make all my reservations AFTER the i's are dotted and the t's are crossed. Out here in the middle of the Pacific, we especially would like to know dates as soon as possible, but sometimes these things just take time.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

As a member of a Regional Planning Committee, the above is very true.

In general FIRST is very professional in the finding of venues and getting contracts signed. The venues are not all that way however. One venue we used several years ago refused to sign and fax a contract back to FIRST. It HAD to be snail mail and by the way "we might get to it in a week or so". It was not like that particular venue had people banging down the doors to use it either. It seemed like dealing with potential customers got in the way of their jobs, if you know what I mean. That year we were the hold up for release of the schedule and at the time it was very frustrating for us. This business of signing up venues is a two way street. BOTH parties have to be on the ball for things to work out well.

Now for the shameless plug. The Long Beach Convention Center staff are very professional and the venue is very well run. They make the Committee's life much easier. Add to that, proximity to three major airports (LAX, Long Beach, and Orange County (John Wayne), good hotels and restaurants in walking distance, two major attractions (Aqarium of the Pacific, and the Queen Mary) in walking distance, a beach in walking distance and our famous Southern California weather. I don't see why a frozen team from the far north would not want to come.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

If we could only slap money like we slap people with trout... :rolleyes:

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

I completely agree about cutting them some slack. However most of the pressure to know dates relates to the October 1 regional selection timing. Can't have it both ways....

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

I'm stumped at this one too. Checking out the UCD ARC Pavillion reservation system shows it is booked from Tuesday 3/30 thru Friday 4/2. Which would support this midweek regional idea. Perhaps this is an attempt to avoid Easter Sunday travel? The sad thing for us, is we get the week after Easter off, not the week before. So for us to attend this regional which is just minutes away, I need to pull students out from school for a couple of days before their Spring Break. Strange.....

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Sadly, Davis is one of the top two second regionals on our list... But a mid-week regional right after our spring break won't go over too far with parents and administrators. Hopefully its just a typo :confused:

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Careful, Easter is Sunday, April 3. You may have the week off if you get the week before easter off.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

We have the 22nd to 26th off... no dice.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Real dates are posted now:
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...ts.aspx?id=430

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

And the Michigan events are here:
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...t.aspx?id=9508

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

A note to those wondering why NJ is 5th-7th:

There were many teams who's school would not allow ANY students to travel during our state testing for juniors (and practice testing for freshmen and sophomores). These teams should be very thankful to the NJ planning committee and the Sovereign Bank Arena.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

I love the NJ planning committee... and you too akash ;)

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Midwest, Boilermaker, and St. Louis all on the same weekend? That's a bit... weird. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Kansas City might be seeing some new teams as a result.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Schedule confirmed.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Plus, Wisconsin is the week before Midwest/Boilermaker/St. Louis - not cool for shipping! I'm sure they tried the best they could, but this makes it a lot more expensive for Chicago-area teams to do a 2nd regional...

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Well they mentioned teams being able to bag the robot and bring it themselves to certain events, this would make a back to back regional doable (wisconsin and midwest), main tough part there is the team missing 2 regionals straight worth of school.

Still rather annoying to put 3 midwest(area) regionals all on the same weekend

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Yup and if we are frozen out of the Michigan events again this schedule is just plain awful!!!!

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

b-u-c-k-e-y-e

p-i-t-t-s-b-u-r-g-h

w-a-t-e-r-l-o-o (buses of students 18 and under don't need passports)

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

I hope they tell us about shipping rules before registration opens, rather than at Kickoff, so we can make these decisions, otherwise, it has to remain on the undoable list.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

You could technically do it if you want to-you just have to pay Shepard exorbitant amounts of money.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Only way we can afford two regionals is to do Boilermaker, not to mention that we have never missed one and one of our mentors is co-chair.

No way our school will let us do back-to-back regionals and 8 hour drives adds an extra day out of school and a Sunday drive.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

One year our crate showed up at Philly late Wednesday night after the loading dock folks had gone home. The phone calls going on to track that crate down while I also was in transit were a little nerve wracking.

Haven't scheduled back-to-back Regionals since, and I've had a much more peaceful time of it.
I'd do it if I kept control over the robot.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Could I get some feedback or PM's from people "selling" the Buckeye regional please? I've always wanted to attend. Thank you :)

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Kidnappers away! I showed the schedule to our coach today and told him that the Florida Regional was the same week as FCATs (search if you care, there was a thread on it recently) and he was not happy.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Sadly, no it is not just a typo. There were issues finding a suitable venue on that weekend. As recently as two weeks ago I thought Davis would be cancelled for lack of a place to play, then I went to a Regional Committee meeting:) and learned differntly

I was told something about schools holding back due to Basketball playoffs. Of course they could have guaranteed that playoff spot by booking FIRST for the weekend, but that would have caused other problems...

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

The Friday- Sunday format causes conveniences to a lot of teams, but be warned, coming back from a regional Sunday night is like suicide if you plan on going to school on Monday. Teams will be tired, there's no question about it. We attended NYC in 07 (Fri-Sun event) and all our students were basically dead tired. I'll most likely be leaving the event early so I don't crash as soon as I get home all tired and worn out (unless I'm playing well into Saturday hehe)

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

There is a chance that the new Utah Regional will be a "mini regional" two day event. Anyone out there think a new regional will be able to handle the challenge of getting all 20-30 bots inspected Friday morning in time for afternoon qualifying rounds? It's not like Michigan districts that have a seasoned body of inspectors available to make things happen smoothly;) Just wondering...;)

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Should have taken it back to Cal Expo, that was a fun venue.

This is definitely a difficult year for scheduling regionals and making it to more than one regional.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

I'm with you on that one. Having a new regional as a two day event may spell disaster. Hawaii this past year with the new control system definitely needed that first practice day.
We spent more time helping teams, along with 368, getting teams going and compliance with inspection than worrying about our own team. If Gunn 192, didnt decide to come last minute, teams wouldn't have made it by the real matches on Friday. They helped a lot also.

Personally, I hope we never have to do 2 day events. For all the hard work and expenses to participate, more practice is more fun and better for our robots during the real deal part.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

yup,

I believe they dropped the ball for the Midwest teams. The schedule is NOT user friendly for those wanting to do 2 events while keeping costs down; not traveling 8 hours; and not doing back to backs. Doing back to back competitions is not fair to the students. Too much school missed in a short period of time. (not to mention the reaction the schools would have)

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Honestly, I agree that this year's dates aren't user friendly...

But, Midwest and East Coast teams complaining about second regionals being farther away is frustrating. Our closest second regional options; Davis (8 hrs), Salt Lake (13 hrs), Denver (19.5 hrs) and Hawaii (flying). Travel days and extra costs are a fact of life for most teams, welcome to reality. ::ouch::

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

For those complaining about the schedule, I'm sure FIRST knows. I doubt your regional directors are happy about it either, but venues can only be scheduled certain days, and that's what drives these dates.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Don't forget that they have also locked us out of Michigan again.

Sorry but I'm very unhappy.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

Yes, we and every non-Washington team are locked out of Seattle as well due to an influx of new teams (71 last I heard). I wish the FIRST Wa people the best up there and look forward to returning when things settle down. They are gracious hosts and we enjoy playing with and against them.

I see this schedule as an opportunity to go somewhere we normally wouldn't. My team, while apprehensive about the cost, is excited about the occasion.

Re: 2010 Regional Dates
 

The Sacramento Regional was first listed on "FRC Regional Events" (FIRST site) as March 31 - April 1, then as March 30 - April 1, and now March 31 - April 1 again. We were informed by FIRST that it is (as of a few days ago) planned as a 2-1/2 day event, starting on the 30th. Our spring break starts April 2, so students are a little happier about the timing than our teachers are. Does anyone know when the event's daily agenda/schedule will be finalized?