[BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

The List & a New Region
Good Afternoon Teams,

I’m back. I was suitably impressed by the potential capability of the new technology I was shown and have high hopes for future FRC events. Engineering will continue to look for new and exciting things to add to our ever evolving 5 year technology plan. Unfortunately I can say no more. Except rest assured; our competition field will maintain a 27’x57’ footprint for the foreseeable future.

While I was out, an email blast was sent to team main and alternate contacts asking each team to take a survey regarding your FRC team’s experience with FTC. This comes from the group who are building a 5-year strategic plan for all of FIRST. Your team’s input will be very helpful, so if a representative for your team has not yet completed the survey, please encourage them to do so by Tuesday, Sept 27.

Not to confuse everyone, but FRC has a survey out to FRC teams at the same time asking about your team’s experience with FRC Awards. For this survey I would like everyone’s individual input. Please encourage everyone you know on an FRC team to take the survey by Wednesday, Sept 28th.

As of this morning, there are 45 local kickoffs listed on our website. Registration for Kickoffs opens Friday, Oct 7th. Have you decided where you want to go?

New Jersey, Delaware and the eastern half of Pennsylvania have joined forces to create the Mid-Atlantic Robotics Region and will be holding Qualifying Events leading up to a Region Championship in a new model based on lessons learned in the Michigan district pilot. Welcome MAR!

TIMS is now scheduled to open for Event Registration on Thursday, September 28th. as of this morning, 341 FRC teams have completed the pre-registration process in TIMS and are ready for Registration. Are you ready?

Here’s the FRC event list as it stands today. Not every event has a signed contract from the venue so there are a few TBDs listed below. When the commitment is firm for each, the details will be added to TIMS.

As we add more double field events each year, I want to remind you: FRC reserves the right to ‘balance’ teams at any of the double event competitions. For instance: if every rookie team interested in playing in Minnesota registers for the 10,000 Lakes and there are no rookies at North Star, or if all the teams interested in playing in Dallas register for Dallas West leaving only four teams registered at Dallas East. We haven’t had to ‘balance’ double events in the past, and won’t if things work out on their own, but be aware, we still reserve the right to level the playing field if need be.

Week One
March 1-March 3, 2012
Alamo Regional, San Antonio, TX
BAE Systems/Granite State Regional, Manchester, NH
Greater Kansas City Regional, Kansas City, MO
Smoky Mountains Regional, Knoxville, TN

March 2-3, 2012
Hatboro-Horsham MAR FRC Qualifying Event, Horsham, PA
Kettering University MI FRC Qualifying Event, Flint, MI

Date TBD
Northville MI FRC Qualifying Event TBD, MI

Week Two
March 5-7, 2012
Israel Regional. Tel Aviv, Israel

March 8-10, 2012
Autodesk Oregon Regional, Portland, OR
Chesapeake Regional, Baltimore, MD
Finger Lakes Regional, Rochester, NY
Greater Toronto East Regional, Toronto, ON Canada
Lake Superior Regional, Duluth, MN
Orlando Regional, Orlando, FL
Pittsburgh Regional, Pittsburgh, PA
San Diego Regional, San Diego, CA
WPI Regional , Worcester, MA

March 9-10, 2012
Chestnut Hill MAR FRC Qualifying Event, Philadelphia, PA
Traverse City MI FRC Qualifying Event, Traverse City, MI
Waterford MI FRC Qualifying Event, Waterford, MI

March 10-11, 2012
Rutgers MAR FRC Qualifying Event, New Brunswick, NJ

Week Three
March 15-17, 2012
Bayou Regional, Westwego, LA
Boilermaker Regional, West Lafayette, IN
Los Angeles Regional, Long Beach, CA
Peachtree Regional, Duluth, GA
Festival de Robotique FRC a Montreal Regional, Montreal, QC Canada
Sacramento Regional, Sacramento, CA
Utah Regional sponsored by NASA & Platt, Salt Lake City, UT
Virginia Regional, Richmond, VA

March 16-18, 2012
New York City Regional, New York City, NY

March 16-17, 2012
Detroit MI FRC Qualifying Event, Detroit, MI
West Michigan MI FRC Qualifying Event, Allendale, MI

Week Four
March 22-24, 2012
Arizona Regional, Chandler, AZ
Boston Regional, Boston, MA
Buckeye Regional,. Cleveland, OH
Colorado Regional, Denver, CO
Hawaii Regional sponsored by BAE Systems, Honolulu Hawaii
Midwest Regional, Chicago, IL
Seattle Cascade Regional, Seattle, WA
Seattle Olympic Regional, Seattle, WA
Palmetto Regional, TBD, SC
St Louis Regional, St. Louis, MO
Waterloo Regional, Waterloo, ON Canada
Wisconsin Regional, Milwaukee, WI

March 23-24, 2012
Lenape MAR FRC Qualifying Event, Tabernacle, NJ
Niles MI FRC Qualifying Event, Niles, MI
Possible MI FRC Qualifying Event, City TBD, MI

Week Five
March 29-31, 2012
Dallas East Regional sponsored by jcpenney, Dallas, TX
Dallas West Regional sponsored by jcpenney, Dallas, TX
Greater Toronto West Regional, Mississauga, ON Canada
Minnesota 10,000 Lakes Regional, Minneapolis, MN
Minnesota North Star Regional, Minneapolis, MN
Northeast Utilities FIRST Connecticut Regional, Hartford, CT
Oklahoma Regional, Oklahoma City, OK
SBPLI Long Island Regional, Hempstead, NY
Silicon Valley Regional, San Jose, CA
South Florida Regional, Boca Raton, FL
Washington DC Regional, Washington, DC

March 30-31, 2012
Livonia MI FRC Qualifying Event, Livonia, MI
Mount Olive MAR FRC Qualifying Event, Flanders, NJ
Troy MI FRC Qualifying Event, Troy, MI

Week Six
April 5-7, 2011
Central Valley Regional, Madera, CA
Las Vegas Regional, Las Vegas, NV
Lone Star Regional, Houston, TX
North Carolina Regional, Raleigh. NC
Queen City Regional, Cincinnati, OH
Spokane Regional, Cheney, WA

Week Seven
April 12-14, 2011
Mid-Atlantic Robotics FRC Region Championship Event, Philadelphia, PA
Michigan FRC Region Championship Event, Ypsilanti, MI

FIRST Championship, April 26-28, 2012 St. Louis, MO

106 days until Kickoff
See you then

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Will be interesting to see how MAR goes...somewhat excited for it.


Also, I'd just like to add that the Montreal Regional, without a doubt, has the coolest name.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I have been biting my tongue for a month or so now. I'm so glad the list is out and we can talk about the new Queen City Regional in Cincinnati!!!!!

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Midwest and Wisconsin the same week? I understand the potential contractual issues with the venues, but both events will be significantly weaker. I believe there were 8 teams who went to both last year, including 111, 1625, 1675, 1732 and 2826. I'm disappointed because now we will have to decide to play in front of our sponsors, families and schools at our home regional or travel to Chicago and compete with teams we love like 16, 71, 111, and 1625. Obviously no one to blame, but still a tough situation.

On the bright side, we now get to travel someplace new and make new friends (hopefully its Lake Superior so I can stock up on Surly and some Vikings gear)

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Wow, I'm not trying to be rude over placement of regionals but having the South Florida Regional week 5 kind of screws up picking regionals for most Florida teams. Having Orlando week 2 then skip 3 and 4, then South Florida week 5 negates us being able to possibly going to a 3rd regional because our schools wouldnt let us do back-to-back week regionals.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

If you think that's bad, the MAR schedule almost locks teams into certain events.

But whatever, at least they published a list.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Weeks 1 and 2 for the two PA events is what I find confusing.


EDIT: Also, upon further reading, it seems as if they decided on "Qualifying Event" for the tiered competition structure name, as well as referring to the championships as, "XXXXXX FRC Region Championship". I like that change.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

FLR, GTR east, and Pittsburgh in one week :O these are the regionals we were considering. Why are they all on the same week when they are sooo close to eachother??

EDIT: Is this "Kettering University MI FRC Qualifying Event, Flint, MI" regional a Michigan championship qualifying regional, and teams outside of Michigan (like from Windsor Ontario) can not attend

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Yes. They're called qualifying events now.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

That's right, Kettering has been closed to the outsiders since 2009, with the exception of off season events.

Also that potential Northville Michigan Qualifying event is still in the very very early stages of developments.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Wow that kinda sucks. I could literally walk down my street, jump into the Detroit river, swim across the river (not legally) to the states for the Detroit Qualifying event :(
Now my team has to travel a minimum of 3.25 hours to our closest regional. YAY! oh well its worth every hour/day of travel!

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I don't get this complaint. I looked up 772, and it doesn't appear they ever went to an event in Michigan even in the 7 years before Michigan went to the District structure.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

First shoutout to the Mount Olive MAR qualifying event. I'm stoked to be able to watch an official qualifying event at the place I went to high school!

Scheduling is definitely becoming more of a challenge as more events are added, which kind of seems backwards to me?

-Brando

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Well so much for going to Orlando....
DC and GTR West are the same week.
and Boston and Midwest are on the same week too.
.....choices...choices....


Leaning towards....

Alamo or Smoky Mountains over BAE (BAE has several capable veteran volunteers to choose from so they do not really need me. Alamo and Smoky Mountains look like they could use a hand)
FLR is a big DUH (sad to be missing out on my yearly Sunshine Infusion)
Montreal is a facsinating option but I have relatives in Atlanta.
Midwest and Boston both want and need me but I have relatives and friends I can stay with in Boston so it's the most likely choice.
GTR West is an old standby but now that my mom lives in Hagerstown I'm only 40 minutes away from DC so that's my most likely destination.
Lost Wages seems like a good make up for doing without Florida.
It'll be great to return back to the MSC even if just as a spectator (my participation as a volunteer depends on my leftover vacations days)
And obviously the championships.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

We were considering going to Detroit, or Flint this year. I know we haven't in the past but we could keep costs way down if we went to one of them. When we were a younger team I believe we didn't have as good of sponsorship and only went to Toronto, and a few others. I don't know why they didn't pick Michigan, i wasn't a member of the team until the 2010 season, but i helped when i was in grade school

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Silicon Valley is always our home regional, so we'll be attending that for sure. Glad to see SVR and SAC aren't the same weeks as predicted. The central valley regional sounds nice, too. Maybe team 256 will go there as well this year. Either that or SAC, but Madera sounds more fun. PLUS, new regional=new teams=not as much powerhouses (yet) as SVR and SAC, so it should be a lot easier.

Anyone else planning on the Central Valley Regional?

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Eh, guess we're going to the same two events again.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I spent like 20 minutes taking this survey about awards, just so I could tell FIRST how I really feel about the safety award...and then it didn't even ask about it. :rolleyes:

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

You weren't the only person with nice things to say about the Safety Award. Hehehe.

On topic though, I wonder how many MAR teams will go to NYC in week three...

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...61&postcount=8

I was pretty close. :cool:

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Maybe they saw your post and took your suggestion.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I'm glad that our home regional is still during spring break...

I'm unsure if our school would let us go to 2 regionals if this wasn't the case.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

This schedule puts a serious hurting on my off season scheduling. I'm hoping my job does the floaters again so I can still do both days of Battlecry, MARC and IRI. Otherwise someone is only getting me for a day (most likely Battlecry since they are set with a solid crew. IRI is set as well. MARC needs me so they get priority).

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I like the proposed schedule, couldn't be more perfect for me....

Judge San Antonio
Compete San Diego
Inspect LA
Judge Arizona
Break <- Yeah!
Inspect - Central Valley (new)
Do something at Philly (say hi to my daughter at Drexel)
Go to work for a full week to catch up on emails
Inspect Championship (hello Galileo)

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

You've been to Philly like 3 times in the last year and never visit me? :/

Just out of curiosity, how do people feel about the Week 7 Regional Championships? Travel logistics are going to get a bit dicey a 10/11 days before the Championship...

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Back in 2004, Championship was two weeks after Palmetto (which was then the last week of regionals, Week 5). If you think you can make it, plan ahead...worst comes to worst, you have a head start on next season's fundraising.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Hey, spending on how much the tickets cost you might be seeing me at Central Valley as a volunteer. I've wanted to hit a west coast event for years now.

Week 1 - Kettering - Inspect
Week 2 - Orlando - Inspect
Week 3/4 - Off
Week 5 - Boca Raton - Inspect
Week 6 - Madera - Inspect
Week 7 - MSC - Inspect

CMP - CMP - Not sure, perhaps FLL Judge


Might be able to drop in Palmetto since that is relatively close. All this is dependent on money and vacation time.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

No Bag and Tag info. Too bad. Perhaps they ALL are bag and tag.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Psh that's the reason you tell your wife and daughter. You're really going so you can hang out with me Dustin JJ and Agata lol. Looking forward to it Rich!

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I don't think he knows if you're a real person yet. :P

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

GTR East and West on different weeks!? Interesting.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

and different places.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

So talk about it! What's the venue? Where would be a good place to stay? Is this a NASA regional?

I'm so excited Cincy finally got one. It's a beautiful city with lots of cool culture, plus my college roommate lives in Batavia. If we can go, I'm tempted to spend some extra time to take the kids to the Newport Aquarium ...

If we hit the lottery, we could be a three-regional team - Smoky Mtn 1, Boilermaker 3, Queen City 6.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Wait, do we know what the venues be for the events then? Or is this just speculation based on the locations (Toronto and Mississauga) listed in Bill's Blog?

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Glad to see NCR and VAR aren't the same weekend like last year. That was unfortunate.

The Queen City Regional intrigues me. I love Cincinnati, and was waiting for them to get a regional competition.

The week 7 events sound... exciting. The teams that win will probably have the money/expectations to go to Championships, but will St. Louis have the space and will school districts have time to approve?

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Will the new MAR model restrict where MAR teams can go and whether out of region teams can attend MAR events? Could someone on the MAR committee point me to more info? Thanks.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

GTR East will be taking place from March 8-10th on the campus of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Ontario.

GTR West will be taking place from March 29-31st at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Where's the Montreal regional (excuse me, le festival de robotique) being held?

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

This post

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...7&postcount=65

Indicated that it would be held at Uniprix Stadium, but most of it is outdoors, which wouldn't work well. It does have space for pits though, so maybe it will be a championship setup with bleachers and pits in a hall indoors. Interesting developments.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Interesting that the assumed best way to "balance" dual regionals would be to make each of them roughly equal in terms of team experience and ability.

Another approach would be to break the regionals into "A" division and "B" division, with a few more spaces in "A" dedicated to qualifying for Championships than in "B". Teams could either elect their division, or a decision could be made based on factors such as how long it has been since a team had captained an alliance, or other factor.

The current FRC approach seems to work okay, but we've been doing the A/B divisions at our provincial VEX championships for two years now. The B division teams tend to be more excited about making the playoffs and captaining alliances than many of the A division teams... simply because they have never done it before. It has been excellent experience for them and many of them advance to "A" the following year. (Mind you, we've had three or four previous, smaller, tournaments, where everyone plays in the same division before the championships rolls around.)

I think it is important to have the experienced/successful teams together with those who can learn from them, but sometimes being a big fish in a small pond can be very motivating to a struggling team and help them get to the next level.

Jason

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Stade Uniprix, I'm told.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I'm not on the MAR committee.
Info is not yet (officially) determined, but the most likely scenario is that teams in the MAR region must pay the registration fee, whether they attend any MAR events or not, and they are still free to register for other events at the going rate. Non-MAR teams are unable to register for MAR events at this time.

Fair Disclosure: This is MY opinion on the most likely scenario for the 2012 season. It is NOT an official statement from MAR, nor do I have any special insider information.

We've decided to go along with whatever comes out, expect to attend the region championship in Philly (although Princeton University would have been a FAR better choice - less expensive and better located, and they were available week 7). We also expect to go onto the waiting list for CMP in St Louis regardless of our performance.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I fully understand that is not official and I have not fully researched the Michigan district model so this is just my opinion. I hope all the teams in the MAR model were consulted before this becomes final. If I am physically located in a districts geographical model, I am obligated to compete in MAR or at worst my money competes in MAR without my team. All teams are independent of any regional controls. I hope that all teams were consulted and were given a chance to opt out. For teams outside of MAR, Trenton and Philadelphia were great options as alternate venues.

We are all anxious to see how this plays out.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I don't believe that out of region teams will be allowed to come in, but MAR teams will be allowed to travel outside of their "region." If this information is wrong, someone please correct me. But after attending two meetings I believe this to be correct.

Cass

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Do they still pay for MAR?

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

My guess is they could only get one ice rink for Hershey Center and had to find a new venue, or last years setup was to complicated?

Do you know which one 1114 and 2056 are going to yet?? And which one you're going to MC at?

When should we all know which ones are bag'n tag and which are shipping??

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

What's stopping them from going to both?

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Don is right on the money.

As of the last meeting, MAR teams have to pay registration fees no matter what. With these fees they get two Regional Qualifiers, or One Regional Qualifier or the choice to opt out entirely - but they still have to pay normal reg.

From there, MAR teams are free to compete at any traditional regional.

Non-MAR teams will not be allowed to go to MAR Regional Qualifying events.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

So for the MAR system. Is the geography and team list fixed. What about a team say from north east Maryland or south east New York, could they buy in to the MAR plan?

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I've been told no.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I haven't even thought of that... going to both? :rolleyes:

I kinda doubt my team would go to both though.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

As of right now, no.

In the future as the District Model expands, we might see the easing of borders for some teams who fall into geographical grey areas. (Closer to another regions events than the one their assigned to).

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Mid-Atlantic Robotics (MAR) will provide detailed information on registration options for our teams in New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware as soon as we receive final confirmation from FIRST HQ. Thanks for your patience!

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Where do the foreign teams fall in this model? Jersey was a big draw for those Johnson and Johnson Brazilian teams.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I believe so, yes. If you are in the MAR region, you will being paying for MAR events, whether you go or not. Outside teams are not allowed in.

Cass

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

KoKo, we would love to have you come down to Cincy and help train someone!!!!!!

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

The event will be at Xavier University in the Cintas Center. There are lots of places to stay from downtown to Sharonville and West Chester, Lots of hotels.

We don't have any information on whether it will be a NASA regional, we are aiming for it to a bag-n-tag event.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Splitting GTR East and West, and having the four Canadian regionals on different weeks is likely to boost attendance at the two GTRs, since they're no longer a one-or-the-other choice.

I would expect to see Karthik MCing the 3 in Ontario for sure, and probably even the one in Montreal, and 1114/2056, among others, attending all three in Ontario. Its theoretically possible now, for the Canadian powerhouses with big sponsorship dollars, to attend 4 regionals, plus championship, though it would mean competing on 4 consecutive weeks (Wk2 GTREast/Wk3 Montreal/Wk4 Waterloo/Wk5 GTRWest).

I suspect that having Pittsburgh, and Finger Lakes on the same week as a Canadian event, the addition of a Montreal regional, and moving GTR East to UOIT in Oshawa (my alma mater and hometown!) is a step towards region-ing Canada in the next year or two. In 2012, there will be 4 Canadian Regionals, within a minimum 1 maximum 7 hour drive of each other. Waterloo is likely to have a capacity of about 30 as in past years. GTRWest will likely have a 50-60 team capacity. GTREast will likely have a 40-60 team capacity, and knowing nothing about the Montreal venue, its hard for me to predict, but somewhere from 30-50 is probably reasonable.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Alamo would be glad to have you and we in fact are looking for a lot of veteran FIRST volunteers to help with our second year of hosting FRC.:D We are working on improving upon last year's event which included a FTC championship and add a brand new FLL Championship:] so it will be a mini-version of Worlds with all three programs and an Jr.FLL expo all under one roof. :cool:
It is great to see growth in FIRST events as New York is the trend setter for our model of all FIRST in one weekend and then several other cities are doing double FRC regional events this year as well.

Jess Jank. is our FRC volunteer coordinator and then for FTC, FLL, Jr.FLL you can contact myself or FIRST Senior Mentor Mike Henry.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

To add to Andrew's post:

You would enjoy the Alamo Regional experience, Ed. And... if you think Austin is awesome, wait until you see San Antonio! Come on down! :)

Jane

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I can vouch for the Alamo venue. We enjoyed it so much last year, Dona and I will be making a return trip this year to volunteer.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Nope, GTR West will most likely have both ice rinks once again. The two field setup was a lot of fun last year, but it did make for a longer day. By having the events in separate buildings on separate weekends, it allows for ample plays for the explosive growth expected in Ontario this year.

1114 plans to attend GTR East, Waterloo and GTR West. You'll have to ask 2056 to find out which events they're attending. I'll be the full time MC at Waterloo and GTR West, while doing some spot duty at GTR East. As for Montréal, mon français n'est pas assez forte pour cet événement passionnant nouveaux. Have no fear, I'm know the people organizing this event, and they are definitely some of the most enthusiastic FIRSTers I've met. The event is sure to be a blast.

All Ontario events will be Bag and Tag. I assume this to be true for Montréal as well, but I can't confirm.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Any word on if Montreal is going to be announced in English as well? We have at least a few French speaking students, but it'd be nice if I could understand the announcements. :)

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Any trips planned South of the border?

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I imagine championship/IRI, though they will once again need to earn their way there on merit.

Also: not the main MC at GTR East. Interesting. I wonder who's taking over that job.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Last time when we talked to Karthik, I believe he said that if they had the option to save money by competing in 3 regionals all in Canada, they would stick to that.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

We enjoyed getting to compete with them at Pittsburgh over the last 2 years and was wondering if they were going to attend the Queen City.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

as much as Queen City would be theoretically possible, being on week 6, that would involve getting their robot from Mississauga to Cincinnati in 4 days, one of which is a Sunday, plus, it would force 3 back-to-back-to-back weeks for them.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Not a problem with Bag-n-Tag events.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I learned that it was decided that all events, except Championships, will be bag-n-tag

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Unfortunately not for any FRC Regionals. With the four regionals in Canada, it makes more fiscal sense for us to stay local for our three regionals. Especially since we hope to be attending the FRC World Championship in St. Louis and the VEX World Championship in Anaheim.

However, hopefully some of the team can come down and volunteer in Cincinnati and feast on some Skyline Chili!

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Too bad, but having some volunteers would be awesome!

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Why does Orlando only have room for 29 teams? That makes for a lonely arena. Lol

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

There are already 20 teams registered. It looks like there's still room for 29 more to me.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Why did Pittsburgh stop at 29? We were hopping to attend this regional. Last year it had 39 teams attend. :confused:

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Events regularly withhold spaces for area teams and rookies.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I can't vouch for "All", but let's say that a large majority were informed and had opportunities to state their opinions. Not every team LIKED the choice, but you can't please everyone.

As for "opt out", I agree with the MAR board on not offering this option, because the finances would be jeopardized. They are trying to do the greatest good here, and just a few teams having the ability to effectively veto the plan by opting out just was too complicated to manage. MAR is all volunteers, and in my humble opinion, don't get paid enough for all the potential issues.

Get a plan that's simple enough to do, and do it.
Man oh man, did you hit that nail right on the head. That will by far be the biggest loss for both us and the visiting teams. Absolutely my biggest beef with the whole plan, but I did get a promise that this issue would be examined very closely in the future. I mean, there's GOTTA be a way...

Don

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

I can appreciate the reasoning behind this. Thanks to everyone for their input. I am sure this is not the worse nor the best solution that they could of come up with. I am sure if I was a new team I would be cheering for this it would make my life easier, but I'm old school.

As the program grows and the choices become fewer. Interesting model.

Opt-out. There is always an opt-out solution.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

It seems to me that once the WHOLE program is brought to the Qualifying to regional event, then to CMP model, you can add in things like allowing teams from one region to play in another, earning some sort of "Away" points, that count differently than "Home" region points.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Yeah I realized that like 30 seconds after I posted and shut my laptop off. Thanks you though! :P

Cass

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Does anybody know the answer to this yet? I'm interested to find out. Thanks in advance! ::rtm::

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Sorry about the delay on this one. The Montréal Regional will be announced entirely in French. The analogy we're using locally is the regional will be as French as Waterloo is English. So if an English speaking team wins an award, the script would be read in both languages, etc. So if you are planning on attending this event, be prepared for "plus de français!"

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

This seems like a reasonably good solution to the problem. The francophone teams from the Montreal region have been functioning fairly well @ WAT and GTR by supporting each other, and having their awards read in both official languages. Since the Montreal regional is going to be held in a francophone community with many visiting anglophone teams, I imagine the reverse should hold fairly true from a functionality standpoint.

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Thanks for clearing this one up!

176 inferred from the title of the regional itself (La Festival Robotique) that it was probably going to be in announced in French, but it's nice to know for sure. I know I'll definitely be purchasing some whiteboards and markers to communicate match strategies while we're up there :)

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

Sweet! Good thing my roommate and neighbor are both French.:D

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

So when they start reading the Chairman's Award presentation in English, 90% of the teams emit groans and sighs?

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

As long as they announce penalties in English, I think we'll be able to work it out. :)

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

To maintain the suspense we've read all awards at GTR/Waterloo in English first, then in French (or Spanish) if necessary.

I would not count on the penalties, or anything else to do with the matches being announced in English. (For example, the matches at GTR are announced completely in English, with the odd bit of French tossed in when the MC/Announcer can accommodate.)

Re: [BB] The List & A New Region 9-23-11
 

hind sight is 20/20 was the Kinect this super secret technology?