how often does your team meet during build season?

[vivek16]

We will be having a rookie informational meeting in a couple of days and I was just wondering how often your team meets during build season?

I was thinking maybe have meetings monday through saturday. Saturdays are mandatory and you could chose three out of five for the rest of the meetings. Should we make all of the meetings mandatory (if they have something they can talk to mentors/leadership but mostly come)? or less meetings?

thanks, vivek

[njamietech]

we have build meetings every day after school till 8:00 or later and sometimes we have builds on saturdays. But we do have builds every single weekday until the build season is over. the only thing is we don't require people to come they just come if they can or wan't to.

[Brian J. R.]

1983's meeting schedule is monday to thursday, from after school (3:30) till we are done. Which on good days is 8:00, but we have gone till 2:30 in the morning. Now we tried this last ear, and as the build season progressed, it shifted from 4 days to monday-saturday till we where done. All days where mandatory.

[RyanN]

364's Schedule:
Monday 3:30 to 8:00PM
Tuesday 3:30 to 8:00PM
Thursday 3:30 to 8:00PM
Saturday 1:00 PM to ~6:00PM (If we need to get things done, we'll stay later)

Nearing the end of build season we will sometimes work on Wednesdays and we also stay very late on Saturdays (I've been working on the robot until midnight before)

[Aren_Hill]

We meet every weekday 3-9ish (gets later towards the end) and then saturday from 9-? (usually quite late), and sundays 10-? so every single day of the week basically

i also have put in 55 hour weeks towards the last 3 weeks usually, i pride myself on never missing a meeting and being the first one there and the last to leave.

[Éowyn]

Originally Posted by Aren_Hill

We meet every weekday 3-9ish (gets later towards the end) and then saturday from 9-? (usually quite late), and sundays 10-? so every single day of the week basically

i also have put in 55 hour weeks towards the last 3 weeks usually, i pride myself on never missing a meeting and being the first one there and the last to leave.

To state it bluntly, we meet

Every.
Single.
Day.

Woohoo! Is it January yet?

[waialua359]

To truly say that we've maximized our time well and put out our best effort, our plan has always been.............EVERY DAY!
On superbowl sunday, its our shortest day since we leave to watch the game at 1:00pm Hawaii time.
During build season, check out our website as we update our progress daily. As of right now, we are meeting daily afterschool for several hours, except on weekends to work on prototyping, documentation, off-season event planning and the build season preparation.

[Michelle Celio]

1065 used to meet Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 4-8 pm.

I'm not sure how 2023 works just yet.

[JaneYoung]

FRC 418 typically meets:
Monday - Thursday, 3:40 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, 8:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

There is usually one teacher workday and we meet a good part of that day, time arranged depending on our teacher's schedule.

We have met on Fridays and have worked late into the night but only when deemed absolutely necessary. Instead, we try very hard to set realistic goals for each sub-team per week and stick to them.

This year, we are talking about forming a tutoring/study group within the team. If anyone has suggestions on how to do that, please send me a PM. It would be very helpful and appreciated.

Regarding mandatory meetings: we require service hours. Because the team has grown so much this year, we will be changing the amount of hours required in order to qualify for travel. During build, the lead teacher will call a 'few' mandatory meetings of the team leaders, sub-team leaders, and mentors. He will call one or two team meetings and he will call one parent travel meeting toward the end of build. If a student steps forward to assume a lead position on the team, it is the expectation that he/she will be there consistently. If they can not be there, they are to notify the lead teacher and/or the mentor they are working with. If a sub-team leader can not be there, it is their responsibility to tell their team leader and/or project manager. The project manager, who is often the team leader, will have weekly meetings with the sub-team leaders. Students who work on the different aspects of the build, including the Chairman's Award and the Woodie Flowers submission, are expected to attend as much as they can but not to the detriment of their classes/grades. School comes first on our team. It is very sad to work hard on the build and then have a failing 6 weeks - unable to travel. Time management is a big plus in having a successful build and competition season.

Edit: during design phase, the design teams meet on their own and during that week, the whole team meets from after school into the evening hours for 2 nights.

[Spiffizzle]

In past years, our team has gone Monday - Friday after school until as late as 10:30pm (however, the leave time varies and usually reaches this extreme closer to ship-date). Usually, by then, the number of kids has whittled down to those who are busy working on something and have lost track of the time. And on Saturdays from 9am - 4pm (give or take a few hours).

I don't know how any other teams handle their late nights, but our parents support us by scheduling a different parent to bring meals. Each weeknight, a different parent comes with salad, pasta, pizza, chicken, and more, for the team to eat.

On Saturdays, we have a parent bring bagels or once, pancakes, for breakfast and another to bring some sort of mass sandwich or otherwise for lunch.

This year, we are considering establishing a weekday which we take off to catch up on homework and sleep, inspired by one of our teammates.

Hope this different team perspective helps!

[KTorak]

Usually everyday from 3:00pm to at least 7/7:30 pm and towards the end we will stay as late as 10:30/11:00pm. We usually meet on Saturdays and Sunday's in the afternoon for 5-8 hours, increasing to 10+ in the end.

[Blue_Mist]

Compared to the rest of these replies, not that often. We meet Wednesdays from 5:00pm-9:00pm, Fridays from 5:00pm-9:00pm and Saturdays from 9:00am-5:00pm. Luckily, the ship date has always been right after a four-day weekend, so Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday it's 9:00am-5:00pm. On that last Monday, it's been 9:00am-11:00pm and later. None of the meetings are mandatory, but the main people on the team usually try to make it to all of the meetings.

[Billfred]

This year for 1618:

Monday/Tuesday/Thursday 3:15-5:00
Saturday 9:00-1:00 (or later, if we need to).

Last year, it was just Monday/Thursday/Saturday until the traditional Week 5-or-6 six-day-a-week crunch. I hope the extra weekday will take some of the load off, particularly in the early design phases.

Of those meetings, the kids have to make X percentage of weekday meetings and Y percentage of Saturday meetings in order to qualify for travel.

[vivek16]

I had no idea that people had build sessions so long. I am going to be leadership this year and I was just wondering if there should be someone there all the time?

Wow, I am stunned at how much people meet. I think we might stick with until about 6 each day after school(our school starts at 7:30 and gets out at 2:30) so we will have a good 3 hours of build time everyday. We probably will have saturdays mandatory unless religion requires otherwise.

That is just what my opinion right now. I am taking out the time requirement part of the rookie presentation and it will require some serious discussion on the veteran members' behalf. Thank you guys and please keep the opinions coming.

thanks, vivek

[EricH]

Saturdays 9-5; after 5, break for church (one of the services starts at 6:00, but there is a meal at 5 and we build pretty close by). Required to show up for a little while.
Sunday afternoon: typically around 1 or 2-whenever. I often left at 6:30 for Scouts. Not required.
Monday -Thursday: After 7 or so to around 9. Wednesdays were pretty sparse due to other commitments from a large portion of the team. Not required; pretty much just subteams.
Friday: 7-whenever (remembering the marathon the next day). Mandatory; usually a status update and future planning happened either here or Saturday morning. Also travel and other "miscellaneous" meetings at this time.

Translation: Someone will be in the shop almost every night and at least half the day on weekends. Exceptions: Super Bowl Sunday (nobody shows up) and Valentine's Day (no married mentors allowed in the shop, unless they have made other arrangements for another time, though we've eased a little on this).