Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

why are lights so big this year? i wonder what it has to do w/ the game.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/hom...minaries-FIRST

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

I'm not sure what's more exciting. Having someone as high-profile as George W. Bush (whether you agree with his policies or not; and I'm aware Bush Sr. spoke at Championship a few years ago), Will.I.Am. again, or Stephen Colbert. Let's hope for another hilarious Dean-Stephen interview in the future.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Aside from FIRST personnel and major sponsors, it looks like we'll be seeing some big names. I'm...intrigued...to see what Stephen Colbert will bring to the table.


Great to see that will.i.am is back as well!

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Wait for it...

Annnnnddd....cue speculation.

;)

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Maybe ColbertSuperPac will make a big donation. Their motto is making a better Tomorrow, Tomorrow; which seems like a motto for a good amount of teams. lol :D

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

STEVE JOBS!

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Special guests=a person. People drink water. Water game.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Too soon? :p I'd love to see that happen, though! Maybe Woz, since he supports FIRST robotics teams.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

It is a bit too soon to mention Steve Jobs, but if Steve Jobs were part of FIRST- oh man that would have been awesome.

The one and only BILL CLINTON is going to be there. I wish I could go to kickoff up in NH.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

This could be great for us. Colbert has a great way of mobilizing "Colbert Nation." I know that he got them to donate somewhere around $300,000 to become the primary sponsor of US speed skating. Im not 100%, but I think he got his nation to vote for the naming of a space shuttle, and they won. If he puts FIRST on his show at all it would mean some huge exposure.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

THE GAME PIECES ARE BEARS

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Remember: this year's kickoff is 100% pre-recorded! Unfortunately, going to NH wouldn't guarantee that you would see him :)

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Which means THE ONE, and THE ONLY BILL CLINTON was there, not will be there. Go to NH all you want. He won't be there anymore, and neither will Dean! :)

If I were you, truthfully, I'd go anyways. To be where Bill Clinton and Dean Kamen were in the same room together would be amazing! :D

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Somewhat disappointed to see Bush as a speaker, but Clinton and Colbert make up for it!

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Well, I think it's safe to say that this explains the pre-recording. The security to do even a fraction of this live would be prohibitive.

Can't wait! This'll be my first year going up to Manchester for the event.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Remember also that they didn't film it there either. Remember, they talked about filming in Dean's hangar?

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

I coulda swore they said some parts would still be live?

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Not that I've heard. Folks at the kickoff in Manchester will see the NASA feed like everybody else, and then will have the opportunity to go down to the full competition field.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Uh... Dean will definitely be in NH... it's where he lives AND there's still a Manchester kickoff event...

Who knows who will be there?! Just because it's pre-recorded doesn't mean they won't show up for the fun of it! I know I'll be in Manchester.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Oh..yeah :o

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Yay! And Novaks will be there!!! Can't wait.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

This is a seriously impressive list of speakers from politicians to scientists to pop culture figures. I would have been happy with just Charlie Bolden, but two former presidents, plus Aneesh Chopra and Colbert is pretty cool.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Luminaries.... what an interesting word...

One of the celestial bodies = planets = speherical = balls as game piece :ahh:


That or famous people will be using our robots to race eachother :D

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

It's the perfect word for this event and the depth and breadth of the guest list.

It also highlights the growth of the program and its impact.

Love the word.

Jane

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Seriously? You're disappointed to see a former PUSA celebrating and promoting FIRST?
There has to be a point at which partisanship stops and union for the common good begins.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

I concur. Regardless of political views we should be excited we have former presidents willing and wanting to promote activities like FIRST. And to be fair, I don't see the current President on the guest list...

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Who - do - you see as a White House representative and why would that be significant for FRC? I think that is pretty cool.

Well said, Mr. Taylor. Well said.
(Oh shucks, I have to go spread some rep around. Well, I'm behind in that, anyway.)

Jane

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Did you watch i.am.FIRST: Science is Rock and Roll? President Obama's message was the start of the show. He absolutely supports FIRST. :)

I agree with the above statements - a former president is supporting FIRST. Whether we like them or not shouldn't matter- obviously, people know who THEY are, and they want people to know what FIRST is. It's a win for all of us!

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

I don't disagree; any POTUS is fantastic for FIRST. However, I wish George W. had given FIRST and its goals more support when he was in office, rather than after the fact. I just think that anything coming from him would be rather insincere.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

I think he would remember meeting MOE. :) There are some photos here in CD of him meeting members of the team at the White House. I think I also remember something about a chandelier...

Jane

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Still waiting for the day Bill Nye joins the FIRSTivities.

I have a pretty dang good feeling that something that Steven Colbert says is going to end up on a T-shirt before the day is done.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Depends. I agree, that'd be awesome, but its depends if he is showing up as like, himself, or the satirical "character" he acts on his show. If it's the latter, then yes, I'm sure what he says is going to be absolutely incredible. If you've never watched it, check out his interviews with Dean Kamen. They're hilarious, IIRC there are 3 or 4, one of which is focused on FIRST and "students building Terminators to take over the world"

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Jane:

You have a very good memory. And that was a VERY EXPENSIVE chandelier in the White House!

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Now I want to hear the story!

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

George Bush Senior spoke at Championships a few years ago and it was pretty awesome. I think it was in 2008.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

I think if he acts like the latter in a congress hearing, he will do the same at kickoff.
-duke

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Considering the A/B - list of speakers, I am more than ok with a prerecorded kickoff. I know there's no way you're getting two past presidents, a critically-acclaimed comedian, and an artist who has charted dozens of times in New Hampshire on a Saturday.

Maybe we'll get a 1080p stream even.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Since you asked. :)

Dave's thread tells the story.
Please pay attention to Andy Baker's post (post 17) regarding the length of time that had passed between invitations extended to a FIRST team to come visit the White House. At the time, this was a big deal for all of the teams invited, FRC, FVC, and FLL teams - and for all of us celebrating this moment in FIRST's history. It was great and it gave us hope that more invitations would be extended in the future.

Carol's post (post 30) and John's (post 31) talk more about their adventure. Can you IMAGINE the MOE cheer at the White House? :D

Enjoy,
Jane

Edit: Here is 116's visit to the White House. Here's the awesome Miss Daisy, FRC 341. I would surely love to be able to post more photos of teams here for your viewing enjoyment. Surely, I would.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

We can always dream :)

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

No H.W. Bush? Aww poo. I loved hearing him speak at CMP.

Quite the line up here. Guess making FIRST loud helped. Actually looking forward to hearing a lot of these speakers.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

I concur! Have we ever had an astronaut give a presentation at kickoff before?

For those of you who don't know about Charlie Bolden, check out his NASA Bio
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/bolden-cf.html

If you ever visit the Kennedy Space Center, Charlie Bolden is the host in the pre-show video for the Shuttle Launch Experience simulator.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

I will never forget President Bush's quote from CMP that year...

something like:

"This is just like the WWF... except for smart people..."

Note: this is not intended as a slam to those FIRST members who are big fans of the WWF...I am just reporting the quote...

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

I remember hearing a story about Bush Sr. being at the Florida regional a few years ago and he was placed too close to the volunteer room and the Secret Service wouldn't allow the volunteers to go get breakfast because it was a security concern.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Bush Senior was at the very FIRST competition in 1992. We have photos of him there.

Re: Kickoff 2012- Dean Kamen & National Luminaries
 

Ya, i remember hearing about that too. That year we had alot of people come to the Florida Regional. I think we had Bush Sr., Charlie Bolden, Jeb Bush, and Buzz Aldrin.