[EricH]

Originally Posted by jman4747

And my post was suggesting that the leadership of USFIRST decide how to run the competition to fit the goals they state in their mission. They aren't telling us how to inspire, they are telling us the best way they see for them to contribute to doing so.

Just as a thought...

Have you ever stood on a mountain, and looked out to another place? Looks like the best way to get from point A to point B is a route, let's call it X. But if you actually talk to people who've gone that route, X might actually be a really lousy route, for a variety of reasons. Maybe Y, which you see but think isn't the best, is actually the better route, for reasons you didn't think about. But if you are telling a bunch of new hikers that X is better...

That's essentially what FIRST HQ is doing. They're standing up on the mountain, setting the direction for the group. But they aren't actually walking that route with the teams. They largely haven't experienced what teams go through. They've gotten better about trying to pay attention to that, no doubt, but they've still got a long ways to go. Not at the Frank level (he's got enough staff who've been on teams to know what's going on, and he pays attention to forums and all), but above that. This isn't FRC HQ talking in the initial announcement, this is USFIRST HQ talking. FRC HQ is the one who announced the townhall.