Posted by Joe Johnson.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]
Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.
Posted on 5/28/99 7:36 PM MST
In Reply to: Bite the bullet in 2000 posted by Joe Johnson on 5/27/99 8:56 PM MST:
I have been involved in serious discussions with many folks on this issue. Somehow, someway, someday this is not going to fit in one 3 day event at Disney (or anywhere else for that matter!).
Some folks have proposed extending the event extra days. This is possible, but I am not a big fan of this idea. My major reason against it is that that way lies madness. 40% growth eventually means the entire month of May is spent in a parking lot in Florida ;-)
I have heard other possible solutions that are being proposed.
One is the idea of having a 'Rookie Nationals' followed by a non-rookie Nationals the following week. Actually, this really only buys us one or at most 2 more years.
A variant on the above proposal is to have an invitation only non-rookie Nationals in a year or two after we have grown to where even without the rookies, we are still to big to fit into one competition. One benefit of this system is that in addition to putting of the day of reckoning when teams have to earn a slot at the Nationals, it allows rookie teams to get a shot at going to Disney their 1st FIRST year. The thinking being that teams many need the encouragement and inspiration of a trip to WDW their first year, but after that we have them hooked!
Another proposals is to have two National Weekends at EPCOT. Teams would be randomly divided between the weekends. Matches would be played only until N teams (N to be determined) are left. All awards, including the Chairman's Award would be given out each week. The 2N teams from the two weeks meet a month or so later at the NATIONAL FINALS (hopefully held in some TV studio and broadcast on TV). A benefit of this is that it is scalable, meaning that we can grow to 3 weekends, 4 weekends, etc. as we grow. If we can pull of the TV thing, it would allow background spots on drivers, coaches, and other interesting characters from the qualifying teams to be produced much like the spots that air along with the Olympics. It would go a long way to developing the personalities I think would make us even more likely to get on Prime Time TV (can you say, 'Peekaboo Street!').
Yet another proposal that I have heard proposed is to have teams qualify this year for next year's Nationals. For instance, this year teams would be given some criteria that would qualify them for the '01 Nationals (of course the '00 Nationals would still be open to all). Rookies would either have their own weekend or would be given automatic entry or would be shut out, depending on the temperament of the proposer
. Anyway, this would give teams time to plan for their trip to Florida. It would also allow FIRST to promote other goals they wish to promote (e.g. all Chairman's Award Finalists may be given a invitation).
Perhaps you have other proposals. Do tell.
Comments are welcome.
Joe J.