[dtengineering]

Volunteering as a Tech Inspector is a great way to go. You never have to inspect your own team, and if there is ever any doubt about another team's infraction you can simply defer to another inspector or refer it to the lead tech inspector. Teams generally appreciate being inspected by someone who knows not just the rules, but the build experience, on a personal level.

Likewise there are dozens of other volunteer opportunities that simply do not present even the slightest potential for a perceived conflict of interest.

Reffing and judging, well... it isn't really the conflict of interest so much as the possible perception of a conflict. I have never judged at an event that my team was competing at, but I have worked on judging panels where a few judges do have affiliations with teams at the event. I have to say that in every case that the affiliated judges not only declared their affiliations, but remained silent whenever their team was in any way associated with an award under consideration. As a judge, who has been in the room, I have to say that team-affiliated judges and FIRST managed the conflict of interest exceptionally well. It simply was not an issue. I can appreciate, however, for those who aren't in the room, that the conflict of interest could be perceived as a greater issue than it was.

Personally, I'd rather have a great ref with a well-managed conflict of interest than a less skilled ref with no potential conflict... but ideally we'd have a great ref with no perceived potential conflict.

A kind of wishy-washy response... but hopefully a rational one,

Jason