Thread: Preparing for the Town Hall Meeting on the New Championships Format
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Unread 26-04-2015, 19:12
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Re: Preparing for the Town Hall Meeting on the New Championships Format
Quote:
Originally Posted by pathew100 View Post
I'm not sure why they should fear anyone. The goals of FIRST and it's major sponsors are aligned. Why would the sponsors care how many championship events there are? They put $$$ into the program because it readies people for the workforce. The goal for FIRST is much the same, get students interested in STEM, get them to pursue post-secondary training in such things and be productive members of society. End of story.
If this is true, than that's pretty sad to me - FIRST is hugely focused on STEM of course (it's in the name) but the entire program has so much more depth than simply preparing people for the workforce. I have never built a single part for my team's robot, but have done a ton strategy, PR (website & social media), and some CADing (hmm you might be able to consider that as indirectly building a part...). The highlight of my season is always competitions, culminating in World Champs. What's special about FIRST is that everyone can have a role whether or not they like engineering; think of how many teams have a business/media/awards side and an engineering side. FIRST is a well-rounded program, and it's always "more than robots" as they so like to say. I for one do not plan to pursue a career in STEM, but I do plan to stay in FIRST for as long as I can manage. FIRST needs these kinds of people - students who become alumni who become key volunteers - but as passionate as I am about FIRST, having the two championships from 2017-2020 (putting that end date because I'm hoping it'll change for the better after that) is frustrating and disheartening because it won't allow me as a mentor/volunteer to provide students with the same experience that made me fall in love with FIRST in the beginning /endrant

Quote:
Originally Posted by Drakxii View Post
How does that compare to other conferences they have held at champs?
The room/theatre was a lot less packed than I expected it to be. I attended Karthik's strategy talk and the theatre was almost full. In comparison, the seating during the town hall meeting looked sparse and disappointing. Also, I knew a meeting would take place during Champs, but didn't know when it would happen until I saw a tweet by the Cheesy Poofs, so I'm wondering if some people just didn't know it was happening (it could've just been me though )
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