if I build it will you come...
 

Hi all,

Speaking of kickoff, when I told my management that our team was not planning on doing our usual seminars (motors, programming, & rookie camp) at the kickoff in NH because of budget cuts, I was told that they may be able to find funds to support that activity after all.

So... I have a few questions for folks out there.

1) Is there going to be anybody in NH to see them if we did host them afterall?

2) If we had them on Thursday would anybody consider coming a day earlier? How about Thursday evening?

I would want to expand the programming bit to at least a half day affair. Last year I was just getting to the bit where things get interesting and my time was up. I would also like to have the Innovation First folks go before my talk in order to save time for more interesting programming issues.

Please provide feedback.

Joe J.

Christina and I will, with any luck, be attending kickoff in New Hampshire. We'd also like to tie it in with our pseudo-annual skiing excursion, so we should be up there for a week or so beforehand.

And, well, since we're rookies now, we're both faced with a lot of new challenges that we've never dealt with before. I was really looking forward to your workshops, so if you are able to have them again this year, we'll be there with bells on.

In the past, I guess they've been on a Friday? Initially, I'd think that would be a bit easier for us, in particular, since we're on something of a tight budget and we'd be adding an extra night to our stay if it were on Thursday. . .

PantherTech, Team #292, will be represented in N.H. I have two people attending the Kick-Off and I had hoped that a workshop on the motors was presented for them. Describing the motor, power, and stall torque would help them understand the task of building the base for the robot. Yes we will be in N.H. and the workshops would be great. Thursday evening would be the earliest that they could attend.

Later Thurs night would probably be good....maybe 8ish

Seems like a lot people attending Friday workshops are usually there by then.......and with nothing better to do than sit around the bar :)

Personally being from the Midwest and low budget how about a webinar?
Ken

Our two team from Georgia Tech should have two representatives there. This will probably include some of the GT mentors. It would be a great help for us to have those training sessions. We could probab.y be there for Thursday night but not much earlier than that.

I do not think you will see many teams show up a day early (really, two days early), to attend those events. However, I think the seminars you suggest would be great for rookie teams. Even though there may be low turnout it would still be great for those that can attend.

Our team will not be in New Hampshire, but if you did lead a seminar, we would be interested in purchasing a videotape of the seminar or seeing any programming examples posted on an accessible web site.

Thanks for helping out the other teams with this initiative.

Dave...

Kokomo Kickoff
 

We are investigating a possibility of hosting a remote kickoff in Kokomo, Indiana.

Any team who is interested in this should PM me.

Andy B.

Jersey Team 550's two head mentors are comin to NH, but there's no chance they can get there on Thursday. They're teachers, and our school board won't pay for hotel an extra night. The board is a bunch of stingy pricks assigned to their positions by the county freeholders, these guys barely give us 6k in support, and they're dead-set against letting our mentors go an extra day. Is there any possible way you could shove that seminar of yours to Friday or later, Joe? I assure you they'll go then. Scout's honor.

-Dan

You're lucky that you get even 6k from the county and that they pay for hotels at all. I think you should be thankful for what you do get instead of complaining like you do. Most counties do not support teams in their area. If you consider yourself a student leader then you should respect those who offer you money. I'm sure they would not be very happy to hear you speak the way you did about them.

I went to the kickoff last year and got a chance to sit in on some of the seminars. Of the seminars that I attended, the motor seminar was definitely one of the more useful ones, giving practical basic information.

I could be mistaken, but was the motor presentation even on the official seminar list? I only happened across it and decided to sit in. Actually, I missed most of it, but got a chance to sit in on a second presentation after the kickoff in the hotel lobby.

Getting to New Hampshire from Hawaii sort of blows are budget and we were thinking about going to the San Jose or LA Kickoff if they are going to have a real playing field assembled, but if your going to have those seminars again, we might consider going back to New Hampshire.

By the way, does anyone know if there will be real playing fields to inspect at the remote Kickoffs? It cost us $1,600 in air fare to send two people to NH last year. If we can check out an actual playing field in LA or San Jose, the cost will be less than $700 and we can use our money to help the students get to the regional instead.

When Christina and I were asked to try to arrange for a remote kick-off at our University, we were told that we would *not* need the space for a playing field. The plan was (and still may be) to simply arrange a satellite feed so that we might watch the NASA TV Broadcast of the kick-off in New Hampshire. Of course, kits would also be available at the remote sites.

I don't know if that's consistent with other sites, though. Andy Baker mentioned trying to arrange a kick-off in Kokomo, and I'm sure he's had more direct contact with all of this than I, so perhaps he can shed some light on the situation.

Thanks Michael,

Being on a limited budget, $700 for air plane tickets so we can just see a video doesn't sound so good to me. If anyone can confirm that they only plan to have a video feed and the kits at the remote kickoffs, I would appreciate it.

Regarding the satellite feed, is it broadcast from the same satellite on the same frequencies as last year? Our team is arranging to get a feed, but I'm not sure what kind of coordinates and other information to give to the media coordinator.