How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

We are trying to figure out weather we want to go, to two regionals this year.. This would be our first year attending two competitions, and we are trying to figure out what we are going to do.. I was just wondering how many teams went to multiple competitions, and if so what week's are they?


Thanks,

-Eddie

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Our team is attending two regionals for the first time this year: BAE Granite State and North Carolina. We hope to have a fun season this year!

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

The thing about going to one, is that your season comes down to that one event. And if you have a good robot, and you end up falling short at that one event, you end up wondering what could've been...

Doing a second event has added much more fun to our season plus increased the longevity of our competition season.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

1714 goes to two events every year and always has. There are many reasons for this. For one, going to a single event is a bit more pressured and intense. You only get one shot to prove yourself. Also, going to a second event every year gives the team and robot time to improve. We in particular have had troubles doing well at our first event; at Wisconsin we missed eliminations, and in Minnesota we rapidly improved and were the first overall selection. Additionally, you get to travel with your team and meet more new people and play more matches. All in all, I couldn't see myself doing only one regional.

2791 also is doing two events this year, for similar reasons.

Back to back regionals aren't recommended, but not impossible if they're close enough.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Just like the person above me said, my team had a good robot last year. We lost in the semi's in Long Beach. Everyone was disapointed. Then we won our second regional and eventually went to the finals on Curie. Going to two regionals really does help.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Our team always attends at least two regionals. Then we decide whether to attend a third regional or championships. If you have the money to do an extra regional, I recommend doing it. You're going to be spending the same amount of time working hard as a team to build a robot, so you may as well reward your team by having a good time and going to an additional event. However, I am also a strong proponent of attending nationals at least once per 4 year cycle of a team. If you have juniors on your team that have not attended championships yet, I would recommend saving some money this year by only going to one event so that way your team will have plenty of funds to attend championships next year in 2011, especially since it will be in St. Louis and will be only a 10 hour drive from your location.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

At our 1st regional it will probably be a late winter thing, very cool, drizzle rain probably. Indoor kind of weather.

Our 2nd regional will be much more like spring, sunny, flowers, moderately warmer. Much more pleasant.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

1676 Always attends two regionals, and we've been doing that since our second year. We always attend our home regional (NJ) and at least one other event. (We have attended 2-3 Official Events every year we've been in existence) -- 2005 NJ Regional, The Championship Event; 2006 NJ Regional, Palmetto Regional; 2007 NJ Regional, Buckeye Regional, FIRST Championship; 2008 NJ Regional, Greater Toronto Regional, FIRST Championship; 2009 NJ Regional, Palmetto Regional, FIRST Championship.

In 2010 the team will be attending the NJ Regional and Virginia Regional (and hopefully the FIRST Championship if they qualify)

Going to two or more events (especially long bus rides) ends up becoming a huge team building exercise and let's your team function more like a team.

Highly recommended to do more than one event!

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

~27% of non-Michigan teams will attend 2 or more Regionals in 2010.

76% of Michigan teams attend two district events.
5 Michigan teams do both.
Up to 64 of them will also appear at the Michigan State Championship as a second or third event for their team.

Then there's the Championship too.

It'll be interesting to see how skewed your poll ends up from the actual numbers.

We've done two Regionals every year since 2002.
This'll be the first year we haven't done the Championship as well.

P.S.
Ed Law published a preliminary white paper showing where every team is going. You can sort by number of events to see if any teams you know are doing two Regionals.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

If possible try to do two events. make sure you have at least 1 down week between the two. Ideally I would pick doing an event the 1st weekend, and then the week 4 or later.

Week 1 is neat because the game is really just being played for the first time, and there is something magical about it.

The later regionals involve a lot of strategy and refinement from watching and scouting a lot of other events. Doing a big gap between the two can give you some time to analyze what went right during the first event and what you would like to improve on or change during the second event. This is a curcial step in prototype development that often gets missed or overlooked.

P.S. if you can't afford two "in-season" events, I would highly recommend doing some off-season events. Similar benefits at a usually cheaper price.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

This information is pretty eye-opening... only 1/4 of all the teams do two regionals...thanks for the info...

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

"76% of Michigan teams attend two district events."
I hope that percentage is wrong. Don't michigan teams get two districts automatically with registration? If nearly a fourth aren't going to their second district that would be just sad.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

I highly recommend going to a second event. Try not to do consecutive weekends.

Besides getting more use of all the work you put into the robot and spending more time together as a team, you will have the opportunity to modify and improve on your original creation. As Ike said, this is often overlooked, but it is a very important part of the engineering experience. Nothing is perfect the first time out - hardware, software, strategy, etc. Being able to react to circumstances and incorporate improvements is almost as important as interpreting the game rules and coming up with the original robot.

Also, if your robot gets damaged and you can't fix it on the spot, you will have a very short and frustrating competition season - very uninspiring to all potential scientists and engineers on the team. A second event cushions that blow.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

I think the poll will favor two events because teams who go to two regionals are more involved and the more involved teams are the ones with people on Chief Delphi.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

2228 has always gone to two. This gives you alot more than just one. It gives the team a better chance to improve from the first regional. Also it gives the team a chance to be together. THis year we are going to flr and north carolina

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

418 just traveled to 2 regionals for the first time in 2009. We have typically traveled to Lone Star Regional in Houston and if it was our year or we qualified, we traveled to the Championship. Last year, we traveled to 2 regionals because of the Dallas Regional and the time frame. Our lead teacher, Mr. Bertucci, thinks very carefully about students missing school and their academic load. We have talked about attending more than one regional for several seasons, but this past season was our first time to experience it. So much was learned.

To travel to 2 (or more), a lot of planning has to go into it and a lot of time and effort given to fundraising, obtaining money, resources, and team support, in order for the team to compete well. It's hard but it can be done. We are signed up for Dallas and Lone Star again this year and the team has worked hard all year long to make it possible.

Jane

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

I would assume (I don't have numbers to back this up) that for some teams it is not cost effective to do 2 districts. Consider teams in the UP or on the west side of the state. They don't have many events near them and may only be able to swing enough money to go to one because lodging or travel would cost too much.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

In addition, last I had heard via an FIM email, they are still putting teams into Michigan districts and shifting them around to make space for everyone.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

We done two regionals for the last 4 years but because of the regional schedules this year we were unable too. Our school would never allow us to do back to back regionals and the other choices were just two far.

Instead this year we are going to do Boilermaker and The Championship (assuming we raise the funds.)

I'm gonna miss not competing in a first week regional but I will be going to Michigan to help out. I just can't not see the game played week one.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

My team is looking into a second competition as well. Does anyone know if this is still possilbe to enter a second regional. Thanks

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Our team only goes to one competition for the following reasons:
1. Money - Going to a second regional is alot of money, not just in the fees for registration but also for food, hotels, and travel. for a 50 member team traveling by bus to a competition is about $20,000. if you have to fly the number jumps again. you either need to get a sponsor to pay for this ( which i think is a waste of sponsor ship considering how some rookie teams as well as veteran teams have trouble getting sponsors), fundraise, or shift the burden on the members.

2. Students missing school - I dont know how intense your school is but in northern virginia a student taking 3-4 AP classes (the vast majority of my teams juniors and seniors) cant afford to miss that much school without seeing a reflection in their grades. Even those taking regular classes would feel a burden. Just going to one regional is an academic burden for my fellow teammates and i.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

I'm pretty shocked that the majority only do 1. My guess would have been at most 1/2 the teams only do 1.
I remember seeing a few teams doing as much as 4 regionals (non-Michigan teams).
We usually do 2 mainland regionals before coming back to the Hawaii one.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Our team usually does a home regional here in CT, and an away regional somewhere relatively close to us. This coming year we're going to Washington DC as our away regional, same as last year. In 08 we went to Toronto. It varies by year, mostly depending on where the students choose to go, but obviously money is a very large part of the equation. For instance, it wouldn't really be possible for us to fly across the country for an away regional, so we usually try to limit our choices to something accessible by train or bus.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

There is definitely more than 76% of Michigan teams doing two district events. I published that data after the December 5th payment due date. FIM is still holding some spots open because there are some districts that more teams want to go to than there are spots available. They are trying to decide which teams should go where. There should be 40 teams at each district event, but the 7 districts were only showing 37, 33, 35, 34, 32, 34 and 38. From what I heard Michigan has close to 140 teams this year. With 7 districts of 40 teams capacity each, we will be able to fill most of the districts with 40 teams. Last year, only 1 of the 132 teams in Michigan attended just one event.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

I can't agree more. Having spent that kind of money and time into getting ready for the contest, then having it end in just 2 days, somehow leaves a feeling of wanting more.

1429 has been attending at least 2 regionals for the past 3 years, with the last 2 that included the Championship.

We are going to 2 again this year, Dallas and Lone Star, with hopes of going back to the Championship. We also have 3 VEX contests we will be attending as well. Our calendar is pretty full. :)

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Team 806 did two regionals for the first time last year, NYC and Long Island. They're geographically close, so I didn't consider it to be a long, team-building bus ride, though that sounds nice. When we went to Atlanta in 2004, the entire trip and stay was definitely a fun bonding experience, we need to do that again sometime.

I echo the sentiments of a bunch of people by saying that I considered the major advantage of 2 regionals to be extra real-game experience, the equivalent of which cannot really be found in any practice. (Maybe a full field scrimmage with a team who has the means to build a full field and invite teams who have a practicable bot by the end of build season, but we don't know any such team locally.) The only downside was that our teammates were almost, borderline, showing signs of getting sick of each other by the 2nd regional. It's just A LOT of time to be spending with the same people, meeting 46 consecutive days during build season as we did, plus regionals.

It's also never a bad thing to see and scout a different field of robots and teams than you're used to seeing, and making new relationships. I know the field crew at the NYC Mega-Celebration has a hell of a job and they do it very well, but we got several more qualifying matches in at Long Island and now we feel a little spoiled and want that at our home regional, somehow.

Unfortunately, our budget started off this year 1/3 less than what it was last year, which put a 2nd regional just out of our reach without some significant sponsorship...and getting sponsorship has always been an area of weakness for my team. So it's not over till payment deadline comes around, but I'm not positive we'll make 2 this year.

We've wanted to go to Las Vegas for a while, ever since I got a mini light-up Las Vegas sign and, for lack of anything else to do with it, made it a main fixture in our workshop. Kind of inspired everyone. But in addition to the lack of funds, the Las Vegas regional this year seems to be Easter weekend, and it's against team policy to compete that weekend. Catholic school and all. I'm interested to check out those aforementioned white papers to see how many team travel long distances between regionals, maybe bypassing several other geographically closer ones.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Weren't you driving that Las Vegas sign around on your robot at the Francis Lewis autonomous meet?

We also find that an "away" event is much more beneficial to the team than two events within daily driving distance. Last year, we too, did both LI and NYC and going into the city each day on the train wasn't as valuable as bonding each evening at a hotel. Too many events close together can be wearying on every one. I like a couple of events in March, one in April, and a couple off-seasons in the Fall.

As to the Michigan double districts, 76% is just where teams stand currently on the public team lists - 243 slots assigned, 138 Michigan teams.
I'm sure they'll improve, and travel to distant district events may be impacted by the continuing economic downturn, but at least a third of the one district teams are close to several venues. Mostly, it seems to be a scheduling problem.
As Ed mentioned, last year only a couple of teams (835 & 2153) did not end up attending their given two district events.

• 2153 in Chassell, MI is an 8 hour drive from their nearest district event in Traverse City, and 10 hours from the next closest in Flint (as Andrew mentioned, Michigan is a big state to get across).
• 835 chose to attend the Kansas City Regional in lieu of their second district event (see new people, make new friends).

15 teams were able to sign up for a third district event last year.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

816 attends NJ and Philly Regionals normally. with Philly being so much more enjoyable being our second one.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

MiM has mainly stuck to 2 and the championship. One year we tried 3 plus championship.
Next year will be interesting since the championship will be in St. Louis. It's been a while since MiM was there:)

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Something piqued my interest, so I did a quick analysis with the data from the Blue Alliance.

In 2009 10 / 12 division winners attended more than 1 regional.
In 2008 10 / 12 division winners attended more than 1 regional.
In 2007 11 / 12 division winners attended more than 1 regional.
In 2006 7 / 12 division winners attended more than 1 regional.

That means in the past four years only 10 teams attended only one regional and made it to Einstein (of the 48 teams that made it to Einstein.)

Only 2 teams (296, 971) in the last four years have attended only one regional and gone on to win a Championship (of the 12 that have won in the past four years.)

I won't editorialize.

-John

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

I personally believe that if you can go to more than 1 regional you should. I feel it is a terrible waste to spend 6 weeks building a robot and only compete at one regional for a total of around 10 matches (more if you are lucky!).

We have always done our best and worked tirelessly to fundraise enough for at least 2 regionals. That way the students get more experience and gain more from the season. If I could have it my way (money and all) I would go to an event every week! Alas, that may just be a pipe dream. :rolleyes:

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

When referring to the number of regional attended by teams that made it to the finals at Championships, you need to keep in mind that the better teams usually make the finals, and I suspect that the better teams also have the desire to raise the funds and make the second regional a priority. I don't think that going to a second regional helps you win in the Championships if you have an average robot.

As for 433, this will be our 11th season. We will attend a second regional for only the 4th time this year, with almost all of the 2-regional years in the second half of our existence. It seems as if finances drives most of this decision.

In terms of picking a second regional, the timing of the regionals is very important in making that decision. The team members are often active in other groups that have activities in March. The students also have several days off in March and April (teacher's workdays, etc.). We try to make sure that the girls miss as little school as possible, can make their other events to the extent possible, and space the regionals enough to guarantee that there will not be shipping issues with the robot.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Going to a second regional gives you more time to drive your average robot exceptionally well, or time to transform your average robot into something better.

For example: 217's robot did not change after the Midwest regional, but it improved from a semi final performance to consistent district and division wins (including some of their first #1 seed performances). Granted, 217's robot was far above "average", but if they went to Midwest and then the Championship with no time in between, I doubt they would have performed at the level they did.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

These are the same reasons that 1189 goes to two events each year - even before FiM. However, it kind of worked the other way around for us - in 2008, we went to the semis in Pittsburgh, and then did not-as-well at GLR, possibly because of the difference in the caliber of teams. However, last year, going two events (+ state championship) was incredibly beneficial. Our robot was still somewhat of a mess at Kettering, and we didn't so so hot. We had some time to fix our robot both at the event and before Detroit, and did MUCH better the second time around. We then went on to states, and did, well, decent.

In regards to school work - missing days of school and being incredibly busy for all of those days can be pretty rough. My friends and I brought some homework to Pittsburgh, and did a little bit of it there. Make sure that students let their teachers know WELL ahead of time, and make sure that the teachers also know that the students will be incredibly busy on their days off. While the students may not get huge extensions, letting the teachers know of the caliber of the weekend may make them a little more lenient in regards to deadlines. Two regionals (Weeks 2 and 4) was a little bit rough for me as a freshman with two honors classes, and harder as a sophomore with straight honors classes, so I imagine that it would be a lot harder with back-to-back events, so plan for it. Do homework on the way to and from the events, and if you're travelling, do some at the hotel.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

With two regionals, funding is a huge element in it. Our team is only attending two due to a grant from NASA. If we didn't have that I can't see us attending two this year and don't foresee it in the future unless we secure more funds with sponsors whom will work with us in for years to come.

As for the school aspect of it as some have mentioned, our mom's just work us harder to make up for the lost time.;)

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

If you can find the money, going to multiple events is worth it. In years that we have only done one, it seems that you spend at least half the time working the bugs out of the robot and learning the details of the game. When you can go to a second event it seems like you can hit the ground running. You also know your robot is at least really close to passing inspection.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

We did two regionals in 2008 and we've been doing it ever since.

If you win your first regional, it takes a lot of pressure off your second regional and allows you to get competition practice, make improvements to your robot, and try different strategies.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

We're double-regionalling as a rookie team at WPI and CT. Luckily (I suppose I'd call it lucky), week 5 falls on Holy Week, so we only miss a total of 3 days of school.

As a rookie team with very little experience, double-regionalling would give us valuable experience. Most of the people on the team haven't seen or been to a regional event, so, by the second regional, hopefully most of the team will be over the initial shock.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Team 2339 did one our rookie year, 2 last year.
2 worked well and are doing 2 again this year.
both are within driving distance, San Diego and LA. making $ less of a challenge.
We have not qualified to go to Atlanta yet but may sign up for St. Louis next year.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

We have traditionally done NJ week 1 and then a random east coast regional and then Championships. We have the funds for 3 regionals but it takes way too much out of the teachers and mentors and students. 2004 they did 3 regionals but the students' grades reflected this.

Not only is it fun to compete at your second regional (along with what everyone has already said) it is a lot more fun to meet new people and for your team to learn from others.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

My team, 599, has always go to two regionals and for bonus we went to championships if we had money left over from paying all the fees. But this year we will not have a bonus for sure because of the economy.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

1058 will be going to the Granite State Regional and the Chesapeake Bay Regional [consecutive weeks! OMG!]

not counting atlanta, we've never done 2 regionals before in a season - let alone 2 regionals that fall one week right after the other =P

the way it looks right now, most of our veteran team members are going to go to both of the regionals, while the rookies are just going to go to GSR. With the way the economy is, the new students don't necessarily know if it's "worth it" or not yet - but once the rookies attend a regional, I'm sure that they'll be wanting to go to every competition next year. =]

and since I'm a late arrival/early dismissal 5 class SENIOR!, I can afford to miss all of those days of school - but some students can't, so we advise students who are borderline good standing not to go to the second regional. Ultimately it's their/parents choice.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

This will Team 1662's first year todo two regionals. We will be gooing to the Israel Regional and Sacramento Regional.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

A lot goes into this decision, not the least of which is $$$. Having said that, our team has done two regionals OR one regional and the championship each year since 1996. We generally have done one local regional (NH, CT, or Boston for the past few years) and one travel regional. Our main travel regional condition has been warmth since we desire to escape the cold weather after build season. Our team has been to California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia and Florida to the best of my knowledge and we are headed back to Florida this year. Students must put in X amount of hours to earn the right to attend the local and travel regional and they pay their own way, which means fund-raising and more fund-raising, but we have found regional size competitions to be the most fun and interesting...the championships are nice, but they are very large and, therefore, not as intimate. We have considered three regionals in the past, but have never done it as it involves too many days out of school. After we pick our local regional, we look at all the regionals that exist with at least ONE WEEK separation from our local regional (we don't do back to back regionals for school purposes)...then we choose our travel regional based on what's left.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Team 1322 is going to two this year. The Kettering District and West Michigan District. Going to more than one allows team members to meet other teams and get a new perspective other than seeing the same teams over and over again at the same event every year. But I'm not saying that it's a bad thing. Going to two regionals is also really fun - you get more matches to play!

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

Team 1507 normally goes to two regionals, the Finger Lakes Regional and another one that changes each year. But, with money tight this year, we have decided to only attend the Finger Lakes Regional at RIT

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

My team USUALLY goes to two regionals...

But of course, my senior year, we are low on money, and cannot afford to do it again this year

My team is based out of New Hampshire, and we have went to Atlanta for the nationals, Florida, and California in my past 3 years

I am slightly disappointed, but I cannot really do anything about this.

It is really fun going to different places to compete, and I would HIGHLY suggest that you shoot for doing this!

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

WRONG! You CAN do something about it. You can find a new sponsor, run a fundraiser, raise community support.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

heh

"People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them." ~G.B. Shaw"

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

1540 usually attends two regionals. Not only does this give our team members more experience for championships, but it gives us a chance to interact with more teams. After attending Las Vegas last year, we've developed friendships with teams outside the pacific northwest, which, I think, is part of what makes FIRST great.

If you can get the funding and time to attend a second regional, I'd highly recommend it.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

I realize there are things that can be done. I meant MYSELF as an individual, not my team.
Our sponsors have cut our funding almost in half this year. we HAVE been looking for more sponsors.
We have received contributions adding up to around $6000.

To attend another regional, and not break even on the bank, we would have to come up with another $4000 at LEAST.

I know it is possible, I have just come to realization that it probably will not happen.

Re: How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals?
 

So did I. Ya know, bottle drives are great fundraisers, in an afternoon you can easily make $200. May not be a lot but it is some food at a regional. Talk to small local companies explain your situation. $500 may not seem like much but doing it a couple times means you get that 2nd regional. Don't rely on your sponsors to find you more money, go out and find it.