POLL: Date for new MI Repeat Contest BEFORE September

[kmcclary]

Greetings!

We are in the process of setting up a NEW Repeat style off season contest in SE MI (Michigan).
What we want to know is when to hold it, for maximum interest.

Instead of waiting for the fall like most other Repeats, we have been STRONGLY leaning toward having it BEFORE the school year is over (say May or June), or early summer right after school gets out.

Reasoning:

1) This may be attractive for those teams still itching for another place to play while their robot is still "in its prime", debugged, the team still together and raring for more, and don't care to wait until the fall;

2) This gives a cost effective additional contest after the Regionals for those teams that simply can't afford to travel across the nation to the National Finals; and

3) We avoid scheduling conflicts with the other fall repeats in the area.

So... Is there interest for a MI area Repeat contest BEFORE September? If so, please answer the attached poll as to your preference for when we should hold it.

Thanks!

- Keith

[Jeff Waegelin]

I think anything after the Championship until Memorial weekend would be good for my team. The problem with summer competitions is, it's really hard to get together a team to go. I know I couldn't get enough people to do IRI this summer, and we were the defending champions. However, there aren't any spring events in Michigan, yet, and it would probably be easier for most teams (mine included) to get their team together before school lets out. So, in my mind, the best time is anywhere in May. It's after the robots return from Nationals, but before exams and graduation and things get too much in the way.

[kmcclary]

Good feedback, Jeff.

Originally posted by Jeff Waegelin
there aren't any spring events in Michigan, yet, and it would probably be easier for most teams (mine included) to get their team together before school lets out. [...]

OOC, is there one anywhere in the country yet? I couldn't find one, so this may be the very first spring repeat in the USA. We feel there's a big need for one.

We have unbelievably huge facilities at this school, and could host one heckofa Repeat (and no, that's not its name... ). I'm not even sure yet in the long run if we'll limit it to 24 teams like most Repeats do. Given our space, we could probably even handle multiple fields.

The initial size will depend on the interest level, up front costs, and logistical limits (like how much help we can muster, or how many teams we have time to play). Who knows? If this takes off, it may increase in size each year until it rivals a Regional.

Honestly, our biggest challenge will be working around all of the sports using our facilities, which is why this poll is vital to us. We have admin approval already. We just need hard data on when people WOULD attend before we try to schedule space usage.

If you feel your team may be interested in attending, please vote on this right away. The response level may also factor into whether or not we do this at all.

Also, if your team may be interested in attending our spring repeat, feel free to email me directly (or PM me) with your team name, number, and email contact address for our announcement elist.

Thanks!

- Keith

[SarahB]

Originally posted by kmcclary
Good feedback, Jeff.

OOC, is there one anywhere in the country yet? I couldn't find one, so this may be the very first spring repeat in the USA. We feel there's a big need for one.

PARC and Rally in the Valley were both on May 10th this year. And I don't know if these count since they're after Jeff's deadline, but Mayhem on the Merrimack was on May 31st Battlecry was June 14th.

In the North/Mid East we get all the good (spring) competitions