A Bit of Analysis
OK, After reading all the posts thus far I have a bit to say. I want to reply to what a few people have posted. To Bill, I agree with you that that time is needed to arange a trip. You can't just throw something together at the last minute, especially when you have a large team (which seems to be very common among teams that have been around awhile). To Joe, getting T.V. coverage is important but think about this. If FIRST starts to cater to T.V. the crews will take up hotel space and other space that could be used by another team. Also, having an invitational nats the way you described sounds like a country club where only the important need apply. I don't mean to sound snotty, but that's just the way it sounded to me (possibly because of where I live and the people who live here) Frank, usin the same site for multiple events could tie it up for even longer. If it takes a few weeks, like yoy said, to set up the event for three days of use what about the time in between events? Could be a week or more. My idea is one that I read on the old forum. Someone suggested moving the competition to Texas. Everything there is bigger and they are building bigger arenas as I type. Or if FIRST wants to keep Disney involved what about California? I've never been there so I don't know if space-wise this is a feasable idea. In case you haven't figured it out I'm really against making nats smaller. One thing that I'll miss if nats is smaller is the web hug. Smaller nats would kinda leave this place a little bit different for people who want to meet the people they've been sharing ideas with on-line. Another thing the people who want to down size nats are forgetting is the whole idea of FIRST. It is supposd to be a way to get multitudes of people together to share ideas. It also helps to have more people to analyze a potential problem (my team got some help from another mentor which saved us much hassle). In writing this long response I hope I have not irked anyone. I just wanted to put my 2 cents in about nats. It's always been my job to be analytical, sometimes I go to far and I seem to be pesemistic. I hope that I have not done that now. C~ya, Carolyn, who has typed this in her first block with a dislocated finger that has not been reset yet.
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