Quote:
Originally posted by dlavery
So while it is possible to produce a bad competition event in a small venue (of course this is true, and I never said it wasn't), it is also possible to produce a very good one. Done properly, Mini-Regionals can work - things like Ramp Riot, Duel on the Delaware, Havoc on the Hill, California Robot Games and FLL prove it.
-dave
|
Very interesting idea, Dave. I think a lot of off season folks are thinking the same thing. How do you imagine it would work? Will the mini-regionals be hosted at high school gyms? Community college gyms?
Here are my thoughts on this whole idea:
There should be some sort of standards on how the mini-regionals is all around the country, just like how FIRST have the same A/V plan for all 20+ regionals. They don't have to be super fancy or anything, but each of them should provide some consistence for all teams.
In terms of money wise, you can have a relatively low cost event with about 15k to 30K. 20 teams X $500 is already $10,000. Some lower level sponsorship should cover the rest of the cost. The important costs to think about are carpets, floor protection, and A/V equipment. For Cal Games, a lot of the A/V equipments like projectors and camera are borrowed from WRRF folks, and projection screens we rent with a relatively low rate. The carpets cost about $0.50 per square foot, so brand new carpets to cover a whole gym of about 5,000 square ft will cost $2500, providing there are tarps covering the rest of the gym. The rest of expense is just getting the field there, banners and signage, volunteer food, insurance, and custodian. But compare to a regional that cost $170,000 per 50 teams, $30,000 per 24 teams much cheaper.
My concern is how to keep the event at a high school for 4 days without causing major disruption to their PE class. I suppose they can do outdoor sports at the football field or soccer field. Also, is February and March sports season for high school?
Another thing that has to be done is, if these are to be standard events around the whole country, lots of contracts have to be signed with the high schools/community college way before hand to make sure the dates are set aside for the competitions. These will be the responsibility of the regional committees to take care of.
Finally, the events have to be staffed with a field manager, a head ref/head inspector, and score keeper, and an MC. There will need to be about 30 volunteers too. Here is what I suggest. Take bay area, for example, we are definitely more than 20 teams around here, and will need multiple mini-regional. The teams not competing at a mini-regional can go to another one to be volunteers. It will be a great experience for the students/teachers, plus a chance to earn community service.
Will FIRST be willing to let regional committees take care of these mini-regionals and only worry about standard regionals and CE? I suppose time will tell. Right now, FIRST make sure every regional have at least 2 staff from them to run the events. Maybe it's time for the regional committees to grow their own crew for regionals.
Definitely worth thinking over. It could potentially be very chaotic if there are lots of mini-regionals happening. But not impossible.