Thread: The Sad truth
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Unread 24-10-2007, 17:09
Travis Hoffman's Avatar Unsung FIRST Hero
Travis Hoffman Travis Hoffman is offline
O-H
FRC #0048 (Delphi E.L.I.T.E.)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Rookie Year: 2001
Location: Warren, Ohio USA
Posts: 4,047
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Re: The Sad truth

I would suggest one idea to help ensure team survival is to form an alliance with as many other teams in your geographic area as you can. Think of it as President's Circle Lite. While the FIRST President's Circle initiative would (presumably) seek to develop solutions that would fit for all FIRST teams in all regions coming from all kinds of educational and social and economic backgrounds, I think you could also apply the same collaborative brainstorming model to an alliance of teams within your own region, attempting to share experiences and generate additional ideas that will solve unique challenges related to your region's specific makeup.

Locally, four FIRST teams spread out over two counties formed the Northeast Ohio FIRST Robotics Alliance (NEOFRA) during the summer. In the past, our teams have worked together here and there and have extended assistance to each other, but we've never really focused on banding together and forming a long-term, year-round partnership until now.

We are fortunate to have a very diverse mix of teams in this partnership. There's the veteran, historically resource-laden team in 48 who depends upon Delphi and the school district as their primary funding sponsors. We have never been a huge fundraising team (although the need for this has increased over recent years as funding levels have declined), but we have learned over the years how to better stretch our resources out for maximum benefit. We're still learning. There's also a veteran team in 379 who doesn't have the luxury of a single large corporate sponsorship. Because of this, they've learned to become tireless, creative, and efficient fundraisers to generate the majority of the funds needed to operate their team. There's a veteran team in 276 who's had their share of ups and downs over the years, but has learned how to survive even during even the roughest of times, and there's a one year team in 2010 who just spent the 2007 season learning how to successfully start up and stabilize the funding and operations of a brand new rookie team.

NEOFRA is not simply a technical collaboration - we share ideas that touch upon all aspects of our teams ranging from the obvious technical topics, to fundraising and promotions, to community outreach, to holding shared FIRST classes, to seeking combined savings on travel arrangements, to FLL, to ...., to .... By combining forces and sharing our strengths with fellow alliance teams, we seek to eliminate our team weaknesses. We seek to not only save money, but save time and reduce duplicated efforts. Separately, our mentorship bases may have declined over the years, but by pooling our mentor resources together, we can maximize the efficiency of those who remain while simultaneously extending our reach to more students.

Even though our alliance is still in its infant stages, we are hopeful our NEOFRA partnership will further insulate ourselves from unthinkable team shutdowns in the event the unexpected occurs, and we also believe this organization is now more empowered to seek out, start up, and guide new rookie teams through their initial year of existence. Our collective experiences will make it so much easier to reach out to government officials, new sponsors, and schools that it ever was when we were working separately. It's always easier to do [Dean's] homework when you "study" together instead of going at it alone.

I guess the moral of the story is - if you feel like all is lost and there's nowhere else to turn, or even if you are still a stable team but fear the unexpected, don't be afraid to reach out and form strong connections with other schools and teams in your area. If you don't have any teams in your immediate area, expand your search until you find the help you need. See if you can discover ways in which you can help each other survive and ultimately grow. Unite to form a strong core center of expertise in your region and who knows? Maybe that central seed you plant together will blossom into further team expansion all around you? Is this an uber-altruistic thought? Yes, but this kind of dream will never happen unless you give it a try.
__________________

Travis Hoffman, Enginerd, FRC Team 48 Delphi E.L.I.T.E.
Encouraging Learning in Technology and Engineering - www.delphielite.com
NEOFRA - Northeast Ohio FIRST Robotics Alliance - www.neofra.com
NEOFRA / Delphi E.L.I.T.E. FLL Regional Partner

Last edited by Travis Hoffman : 24-10-2007 at 17:15.
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