Quote:
Originally Posted by JaneYoung
Wearing participation medals presented lots of opportunities for PR and for portraying a unified effort. For the teams who chose to keep them in a box, in storage, and who didn't mine the potential, that was a decision or oversight made. For the teams that appreciated the purpose of the medals and chose to wear them, display them, and give them as gifts to their supporters - they were mining and exploring the purpose of the participation medals in the FRC program wisely and in good faith.
An opportunity has presented itself to present opinions regarding personal preferences towards receiving and wearing a medal or a pin. Whether we have valued and appreciated the medals or not in the past, it doesn't mean we have to show disrespect towards their intent when discussing them.
Thanks for stating your opinion so well, Libby.
Jane
Edit: It might also be worthwhile to think about the business or businesses that made the medals and ribbons for FRC available and the time crunches/deadlines they faced regarding supply and demand as well as as their costs and the impact this decision will have on them as supporters of the FIRST program.
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Jane brings up an excellent point. (Bolded for your convenience). Some teams appreciate the intent and proudly display their participation medals. Some teams choose not to use them. That's totally their choice, and there's no 'right' or 'wrong' with it. It's just the team's decision.
Now here's a giant WHAT IF:
(please note: I am not a business major, I'm studying engineering- I do not know what it would cost FIRST to do this, I have not studied the circumstances nearly enough, but it's just an idea, please take it in the spirit it's meant.)
WHAT IF: FIRST gave each team the option, as they were doing their event registration in TIMS, to choose what they wanted. They could then pick their choice (medal or pin) up at their first regional/district event. The team could internally take their vote: OK, kids, which one do you think is cooler? Which one would you value more highly? If the team chooses to display their efforts with a medal, then that's the option they click in TIMS. If they think the medals are bulky and they'd rather have a smaller item, then they click 'pin'. The choice is marked in FIRST's system, and it's sent to their regional.
Yes, FIRST is still ordering medals, but at least they're not ordering so many extras that go to waste. From the looks of the way it's played out on ChiefDelphi and Bill's Blog, FIRST would order roughly half of what they used to
(cutting costs for medals in -you guessed it- roughly half!).
EDIT: GaryVoshol corrected me, my math is just plain wrong when you add in fixed production costs.
I volunteered at FIRSTPlace as a summer camp counselor for the past 4 years, and every year there were boxes and boxes of participation medals (silver & gold medals, too) left over, presumably by teams that didn't pick them up. Give the teams a choice, and you've eliminated the over-ordering problem.
Again- I have never seen FIRST's budget beyond the Annual Report that goes out, I have not studied exact costs, but that's my idea for making everyone happy. There are probably a few flaws with it, but like I said- I'm not an expert. I'm just thinking out loud (er...online?).