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Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery
I've seen this or similar opinions raised in a few places, including multiple times recently in this thread. For those in Michigan, New England, PNW, and Indiana, how close are your DCMPs to the championship experience? MAR honestly isn't even close, in spite of the fact the on-the-field competition is incredibly high. Don't take this the wrong way, I love MAR Champs, but it's not remotely comparable to Championship. The production value is much more akin to a district event than even a regional competition. There aren't any of the conferences or presentations available to teams (I know FiM has some of these). The scholarship and sponsor availability is minimal. There aren't any of the outside/after hours festivities/community building that's part of Championship. You don't necessarily need all of these things for "the Championship experience" (however we end up defining it), but MAR Champs feels like a bigger district event more than it even feels like a regional competition. It completely lacks the grandeur and ceremony of a Championship.
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In New England, but especially when it was in Boston, our two DCMPs have felt like mini championships. High production value, a ton of side events (conferences, alumni events, exhibitions from other programs, etc.), and the overall grand feeling. They also served as a great event that brought New England FIRST together, just as Championship really brings FIRST together. It's a model for DCMP I like, and hope stays in NE as well as becoming the standard for DCMPs.
Obviously the consistency isn't there however, and it needs to happen. As Libby said, DCMPs should be held to at least Regional consistency that they were supposed to be as originally envisioned, if not at a higher value.