[gblake]

Originally Posted by jman4747

I'll bite.

A longer total time to build will allow our team to better include mentors and students who, for any reason can't show up 3, 4, 5 times a week to help build. If we meet less often over a longer period costs to individuals can be spread out making it more likely that someone can contribute at more meetings. Some people can't show up to meetings 3 or 4 week days for good reasons and it can be hard to keep up with everyone else when you spend a third or fourth the time with them. And inspiration is certainly more effective in person. If we meet less days a week then, over an entire (longer) build, that person will have had more of an affect on the team and vise versa.

To the second point. Maybe people would if it were more practical now? You'll see "Drewbotics #5812" in my signature. They are a rookie team south of us and we are working with them to get them ready for build. The way engineers are distributed about this city they have few options for mentors and will be relying on us for a lot of engineering and FIRST specific help. I wish I could help them more but there is only so much I can do from 45min away (no traffic actually 2hrs on a week day). If I could participate in a higher percentage of their meetings I could have a much bigger impact on that team. Even if I were closer I need to spend a significant amount of time with my own still. If we had alternating schedules that weren't as rigorous on a week to week basis...

My final point that wasn't mentioned is students seem to get more motivated when build season is on. There's a since of agency that doesn't exist otherwise and people tend to be slightly more motivated. This time is thus a great time to teach a student (especially the more complex/hard stuff) except you have less time for that because the robot needs to work.

All good.

I understand the motivation that comes with being in "build season"; and definitely I applaud your willingness to go across town to help the other group (I have done a little of that myself, and it can be very draining)

You and I are not disagreeing. The point of my post was that this thread is dominated by posts very different from the one you just wrote.

If you were to ask me for a suggestion for how to improve what your team can accomplish during the build season, I would suggest chatting up MrForbes or JVN/Copioli, or .... to find out what their not-so-secret sauces are.

I, personally, would not suggest petitioning FIRST to lengthen the build season or eliminate the bagging policy. The length might appear to be a stumbling block, but it really isn't.

Blake