[GeeTwo]

Interesting to try to pull all this together:

Originally Posted by Amy33Amy33

How do you guys prevent freshman from quitting right at the beginning of build season when meeting frequency increases, and how do you continue to benefit members who cannot meet every day of build season?

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

..you can minimize this by having clear expectations set out at the beginning of the year-- to attend competitions means X hours of work during build season, to be on the build team means X hours of work during the off season, etc.
.. most teams don't meet every day of the build season.

It comes back to investment. If people want to be there and feel like their time is being used well, they'll be there. If they feel like there isn't anything to do, or they're wasting their time, they won't be.

This is something wholly dependent on your situation-- ...There is no magic bullet.

Originally Posted by fargus111111111

we have someone at the shop every night during build season and others come what ever nights they can make it. This enables many members to work around their jobs and school activities.

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

..there's a requirement for attendance- if you want to letter, you need to be at 80% of all the initially scheduled meetings for the build season.

Originally Posted by blueyoshi256

We have about 30+ students on the team, only about 15 of whom are hardcore, and show up all of the time. That's okay to us.

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

We have never required every member (or mentor) to attend every hour of every build session, but we definitely have a minimum number of expected hours per week to qualify/maintain status as junior varsity, varsity, and officer/team leader*.

Originally Posted by mathking

..We tell kids that they should try to schedule one or two weekdays each week and then Saturday if possible. ... That said, we tend to have more than a few kids who come almost every day.

Originally Posted by SoulianPride

We require at least 85% to 90% attendance for two straight years to get a letter and students can get honor cords if they are a 4 year active team member, specifically for Freshman through Senior year.

Originally Posted by cjl2625

We drill it into everyone's heads that they don't have to come to every meeting. We stress that you come whenever you want, however much you want. You can come once every two weeks, or you can sell your soul to the team and come every day.

As usual with FRC, no two teams do it exactly the same way, and many teams make adjustments every year. You have to find what works for you. Though personally, I feel that a student who doesn't make it a whole lot more than "once every two weeks" isn't going to get much out of the program, nor contribute much to the team. During build season, if you aren't putting in at least six hours a week of build, you aren't really getting the FRC experience. If you aren't putting in additional hours outside the build time (strategy, design, research, scouting), you're not getting the full FRC experience.