[Roger]

Keehun, I've been watching your questions all over CD -- it's great to see the gears turning to get an off-season event off the ground! I have no wonderful insight or answers, but I have one thought in terms of timing.

A late school-year or summer event continues the "glow" of the official season: people are still riding high off their competitions and want one last blast before summer, and for seniors, before they go to college. There are problems with end-of-school calendar conflicts, finals and graduations, etc. Summer might be better but it's tough when you don't have school and teachers to help.

A fall event, after school starts and settles in, I'd like you to consider. September thru December there isn't much on with FRC except preparing for January. You get new students come in and wonder what it's all about, but it's tough to say "just wait until January". You have the after-school robotics "club", some building, learning the control system, drive the old robots around, fundraisers, and all the rest, but the new kids don't see the action, the excitement -- the end result at the competitions.

Putting on a fall event shows everyone what to look forward to. And I have to add the new parents, too. "Until you have been to a competition, you don't know what you're missing." How many times do you say that? Parents have told me they can't believe the excitement and energy thats generated at a competition, and would have helped out more if they had known how "big" this really is. It's not "just" an after-school robot club, after all!

This may cut out rookie teams -- no robot. Maybe you can do a price break for teams that bring a second robot, or double up vet and rookie teams and split the rounds with all-rookie matches vs all-vet matches. Or even invite schools without a robot team to come drive. (You might want to do a blanket invite to all schools in your area in case they may be considering a robotics club or even an FRC team.)

Whatever you do, I wish you luck!