2008 Offseason event MARC being moved to JUNE 28, 2008

[Steve Ketron]

With the scheduling conflict that happened last year between the MARC and WMRI, MARC has moved its event to the weekend of June 28, 2008. I know we do not event know what next season's event is going to be like, but I would like to know what everyones response would be to having the event at this time. ALL COMMENTS ARE WELCOMED

P.S.: I do know that this is roughly three weeks before IRI. Maybe some of the teams competing at IRI would like to get their drivers a little more experience before then.

[GaryVoshol]

That is the weekend before the 4th of July. Many people take vacations that week.

[Steve Ketron]

I realize this is right before the 4th of July but the week before is right after our school is out and the following weekend is the 4th of July weekend. If we pushed it any later, then we are getting to close to IRI and this could cause a conflict like last year with MARC and WMRI. Can you suggest a better time frame?

[J@GMFlint]

We're of the opinion that you should leave it in August, as stated in a prior post, the late June suggestion is too close to the one of the biggest family vac. times of the year. Plus, June is almost always full of graduation activities thus making preparations, repairs and practices harder to fit in. Having it in Aug. as you did this year fit right in the time gap between wrapping up Summer vacations and just before preparations for the coming school year began. Based on our experience, we are now more likely to seek an Early/Mid-August event than a June or July event in the future.

Unlike WMRI, MARC actually got off the ground (No disrespect in any way intended to the fine folks who tried to get WMRI going) - so be careful not to break your event's momentum by taking them too heavily into account for August. Certainly trying to work with WMRI is a good thing, but at the same time WMRI should recognize that MARC was a success and not want to put your event at risk either. Maybe a combined effort is something to consider? If WMRI and MARC are both scheduled in August our first choice would be MARC because of our established experience and closer proximity. However, with the current MARC date in June and right before the 4th... it's uncertain that we'd be able to get enough support to attend inspite of how much we want to go back.

No question about it, we really enjoyed the Indiana Robotics Invitational in July-04 and were trying to get in there this year, but we found that the Michigan Advanced Robotics Competition in August let everyone take a Summer break from everything in July and was actually a more economical primer for the coming school year that was then followed by the single day Kettering Kick-Off in Sept. (In it's 8th year this was the first year it was at registration capacity of 36 teams.)

Remember, growth is a process that takes time. More teams are starting to figure out that "smaller" local events are just as much fun and as rewarding as travelling to "larger" events - for a whole lot less $$$ & logistical challenge. The more FIRST grows, the less we'll probably see of large singular off-season events like IRI dominating interest as other geographical areas will begin to have events that lighten the economics on teams and provide increased competition opportunity for everyone. IRI will always deservedly be "legendary" in it's own right, but look at how many teams didn't get into IRI this year and how they (IRI) had to adjust to cram extra people in. I think there were almost as many teams who were turned down from IRI than we had in attendance at MARC. If you give these people another option to plan on next year and only half of the IRI uninvited go to MARC (Currently, the only other OH-IN-MI two day summer event) then you've almost doubled the MARC attendance from 2007 and will probably end up well in the black and grow each year. The inevitable growth and transformation of the off-season is happening and MARC has the potential (location, base of area teams, facility) to be an important a part of that growth in the Michigan, especially being a two-day event.

Speaking from personal experience, I'd advise against bouncing the dates around so dramatically from 2007. I've seen this type of date shuffling in other kinds of activities and events, and like it or not people are creatures of habit. Aside from being well timed away from obvious holiday's etc. an event that people can count on being in a certain month, every year, seems to develop much faster and last longer than one that tends to float around or is not so well coordinated with things like big travel holidays. I'm sure you notice how many large events are almost always held year after year on a given date or certain weekend of a month etc. How many times after a fun time have you heard people say "Let's do this again next year, same time, same place!" ?

BTW: Thanks again for putting together a great event this year!

Thoughts from Team #1243

[Steve Ketron]

Thank you for your response. This is why I am putting the information out early enough to set a confirmed date. Your experiences and inputs are what we are going to use for setting our date. Could everyone please tell me what dates they believe would work best for them. REMEMBER: we value your opinions

[KTorak]

As of now, we are still going for that weekend. I am adding the information to the off-season event list right now.

Last year was quite exciting, with being the only* event to have two ringers scored in autonomous. So let's see what this year can bring!


*That I recall currently.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by KTorak

Last year was quite exciting, with being the only* event to have two ringers scored in autonomous. So let's see what this year can bring!


*That I recall currently.

910 Foley Freeze did it at IRI, in the Finals. Was it the last game of the finals? Anyway, it seemed like it was the last or one of the last chances they had, and they made it.

[Jack Jones]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

910 Foley Freeze did it at IRI, in the Finals. Was it the last game of the finals? Anyway, it seemed like it was the last or one of the last chances they had, and they made it.

It was ARC?

[Josh Murphy]

Originally Posted by Jack Jones

It was ARC?

Yes it was ARC, they were not in the finals at IRI. It was the last match at ARC when they finally got the double keeper in a non practice match.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

910 Foley Freeze did it at IRI, in the Finals. Was it the last game of the finals? Anyway, it seemed like it was the last or one of the last chances they had, and they made it.

Originally Posted by Jack Jones

It was ARC?

Originally Posted by Josh Murphy

Yes it was ARC, they were not in the finals at IRI. It was the last match at ARC when they finally got the double keeper in a non practice match.

OK, all these competitions become a blur after a while.

The biggie at IRI was an alliance scoring all 3 keepers. And I'm sorry, I can't for the life of me remember who did it.

[TD78]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

The biggie at IRI was an alliance scoring all 3 keepers. And I'm sorry, I can't for the life of me remember who did it.

From what I remember, it was BOTH alliances scoring all their keepers...for a total of 6. It was pretty amazing to watch!