As best I can tell there are two topics here. Having been part of 103 in the past, a former Senior Mentor with FIRST, and a current advocate for positive imporvement for H of F, I'll shed what limited light I can on these two topics.
1. What teams display and share in the hall / the call for "full disclosure" / "what have you done lately?":
-I'm not sure where Pavan's original intent is coming from, but I think you're getting some things confused here. As others have stated, FIRST provides limited space for the HofF teams, and provides guidance to teams on what it might/should display. The DVD is one of those items and it's a must do for attending teams. All teams can and will continue to choose content here within those guidelines.
I would wholeheartedly disagree with your comments about things in the hall not being inspirational/helpful. I would agree with you that what my old team did in 2003 (and Buzz in 2002, etc, etc) may not be fully/practically applicable to your team's current efforts and, the further back in the hall you go, that may become more and more true for you. However, I would suggest a different way of looking at it. The Hall of Fame is there to INSPIRE, not necessarily there to provide a detailed roadmap to success for your team in your community. When I walk through the hall, I love going in chronological order to see how each team "raised the bar" and then, how the next that won, in its own way, raised it even higher. Wow - talk about inspiration!
When 118 makes it to the hall someday (and I hope you do), I'm sure you'll understand. Pavan, your current comments could be seen as accusatory. I sincerely hope that there is no part of your being that wonders whether or not these teams deserve to be there or that you think they aren't "doing their job" as hall of famers.
These teams are excellent role models (all of them), but they are in no way limitless in their time, people, and resources. Imagine going through a full FIRST season, attending the championship, and then on top of it you must produce a full fledged DVD for display along with finding a way to split off part of your team for the hall of fame effort and, for some, almost never even see a match in Atlanta. Now also imagine being a student on one of these teams who wasn't a part of the team when it won the CA (heck, maybe they didn't even know about the team then). These students and teams, under current rules, will never again have the opportunity of going through a chairman's award interview or have their entry judged like the rest of us. While they have great pride in the programs they belong to, there is a sacrifice they make every year that you and I don't have to. And don't be too darn hard on these folks if you don't perceive them as "doing more / doing now / doing new" lately. Let us not forget that they too need new/continued sponsors, they too lose mentors and support that needs to be recouped, they too have gone through the same exhaustive efforts that you have all year long.
Thus, a perfect "Segway" (sorry, I just had to ... the poor spelling is worth it) to number 2 here...
2. Revamping the Hall of Fame / Making Improvements
You will be happy to know that this is, at least, being discussed at the HQ level. There was a Hall of Fame meeting in Atlanta (no, I wasn't there) and there is also a small group (yes, I'm a part of this group and so are some other WFA, and national advisor folks) that has taken input from the CD community on this topic from previous threads and put together an idea/proposal for enhancement. That proposal was hand carried to HQ staff that attended/ran the meeting, delivered, and discussed.
It's important to note that whatever improvements are considered, they not only need to benefit the whole FIRST community, but they also need to put less stress / make more sense to the H of F teams themselves. In addition to that, enhancing the visibility of the WFA (and founders/volunteer awards as well) are all parts of the proposal that went forward.
Please also note, our proposal/group has no official authority, nor does FIRST have to listen to this input if they don't want to, but they are. They are sincere about trying to make improvements and have sought input from all types of sources.
In the end, it's going to come down to resources, time, space, and money. FIRST has a lot on its plate with other changes going on, but please know that this is a topic they are interested in.
If you'd like your additional thoughts on improving the Hall of Fame/similar displays to be known, please send them to FIRST in the right way. However, when you do, do it with suggestions that are thoughtful and benefit to ALL involved. Calling for "full disclosure" isn't even something you can really measure and it comes off as abrasive. Now, if you want to streamline your thought to include "concrete things we'd like to see in displays" then, by all means, send them.
Namaste.
Now - back to the original question ... The Bomb Squad wants your input
