Regional list out!

[Joe Ross]

2002 event listing

[Nate Smith]

For those of you who noticed that the Toronto regional was not on the original list that was posted to FIRST's web site, it's there now...

[jasoni]

After a quick glance at the dates, I'm really rather disappointed in the layout.

My team is in NJ, and we'll most likely attend the MAR. The problem is, if we wanted to attend a second regional in the area we really can't.

NYC, Philly, and the Mid-Atlantic are all on the same weekend.

Who came up with that awful idea?

[EddieMcD]

Try the New England Regional.

The Long Island Regional is not that much farther than NYC.

[Jon Abad]

Last year we had decided that we wanted to go somewhere new for our regional this year and we were thinking out west...

Looking at the schedule we don't have a clue what we can manage. It falls entirely in our last quarter with The Championship right smack in finals range... If we were to go to our usual two regionals and nats, we'd lose about 120 student-class days

Ouch FIRST. That really hurts. We're definitely cutting back our involvement...

[Jessica Boucher]

Originally posted by jasoni
After a quick glance at the dates, I'm really rather disappointed in the layout.

My team is in NJ, and we'll most likely attend the MAR. The problem is, if we wanted to attend a second regional in the area we really can't.

NYC, Philly, and the Mid-Atlantic are all on the same weekend.

Who came up with that awful idea?

If I'm concluding right, its to decrease the probability to go to multiple regionals and then increasing your chances to go to the Invitational. It makes perfect sense, in the limiting theme.

[David Kelly]

we were planning on going to the MMR and toronto, but we prolly won't because they are back to back weeks, eventhough toronto will be over spring break. we're gonna have to replace toronto with another regional.

[mnkysp6353]

I can't believe the new qualification process for nationals this year. How is a team supposed to ask for money from a sponsor for national or raise the LARGE AMOUNT and not know whether they are going to go? My team is already having problems raising enough money for all other team things. If we are not guaranteed to go then why will anybody devote time and buy non refundable airplane tickets ahead of time? We will be attending the Socal regional and personally i see no way of planning a whole trip and raising close to 20,000 in 2 weeks. I think that it is unfair for teams that aren't on the A list or liked by these premiere robotics teams. If i am at all wrong in my analysis of the process please correct me.

[David Kelly]

Originally posted by mnkysp6353
I can't believe the new qualification process for nationals this year. How is a team supposed to ask for money from a sponsor for national or raise the LARGE AMOUNT and not know whether they are going to go? My team is already having problems raising enough money for all other team things. If we are not guaranteed to go then why will anybody devote time and buy non refundable airplane tickets ahead of time? We will be attending the Socal regional and personally i see no way of planning a whole trip and raising close to 20,000 in 2 weeks. I think that it is unfair for teams that aren't on the A list or liked by these premiere robotics teams. If i am at all wrong in my analysis of the process please correct me.

it's possible but difficult. we raised the necessary money to go to nationals in about 2 weeks after we surpried ourselves of winning the MMR. some people were aready down in FL for spring break and some found rides down. i flew down with my dad and an engineer. we found some tickets at pretty cheap price. all of that was also possible because of an awesome sponsor, but we lost it due to township politics. never say never.

[jasoni]

If I'm concluding right, its to decrease the probability to go to multiple regionals and then increasing your chances to go to the Invitational. It makes perfect sense, in the limiting theme.

Well, kind of, I guess.

I wouldn't consider my team to be "rolling in the dough". I really don't think it's economically feasible to attend Nationals if find out we qualify for the nationals a month before we have to go. The prices for tickets and rooms would be FAR greater than if we booked it now.

Honestly, I would have to imagine most teams that don't pre-qualify for Disney, but qualify during the regionals will NOT be attending the Nationals. It's hard enough getting tickets to Florida in April if you book now. It's going to be impossible to find tickets in March.

Maybe we're the exception, but I highly doubt it.

As for other local regionals, yes, there are Long Island and New England. The problem is, both Philly and NYC could be done without booking rooms. Ok, 1.5-2 hours of driving each way is rough, but it's certainly doable.

Long Island is still a thought though.

[Nate Smith]

Something I thought of for those teams that are wondering how to get the money to make last-minute arrangements for nationals - don't wait until the last minute! Work on the fundraising now, and put the money aside for next year if, for whatever reason, you end up not going down to nationals this year.