Friday Night Entertainment - will.i.am with special guests

[ATannahill]

Originally Posted by Joe G.

I've waited a while to post my thoughts on this topic, to allow things to calm down and give details more time to emerge.

Please, please, go into championships with an open mind. On the surface, I don't like the concept of displacing competition fields for a concert either. Then again, I've been doing FIRST for 10 years, and its message has sunk in with me enough that robotics is the only sport I follow closely.

In other words, I am not FIRST's audience anymore.

People come into this program all the time for things that, in our post-FIRST view, they maybe shouldn't. Free food at meetings. That cute guy who does it. The chance to miss school for trips. And so on. I've watched countless people do these things, only to see them grow and be inspired to do things they did not think they would the day they joined.

Adding another opportunity for this to happen can't hurt things.

I have not been terribly impressed with the planned execution, but the concert itself doesn't bother me, at all. And as far as execution, I shouldn't form opinions until after the fact.

I've been doing this for quite a while now. I've watched FIRST grow, and heard about its years before me. Over that time, I've disagreed with a number of decisions made by them, and more often than not, ended up eating my words. I've learned to withhold judgment until after the fact, which is what I urge everyone to do. I don't think that this is going to be just a concert, opposite in meaning to everything we do at championships. When in doubt, I trust FIRST's judgment. They've grown this program from 28 teams to over 2000, not to mention FLL and FTC. They've had time to plan this. From looking at what's been released, I don't think it will be fantastic.

But I don't think it will be the disaster a lot of people are predicting either.

FIRST has more experience than all of us at running these types of events. And they've stood for a constant mission for 20 years. I don't think that the concert is going to be an about-face on this. I look forward to seeing what FIRST has planned for us, and any publicity that results.

How many people can you sign up to go to St. Louis between when the announcement was made and when you leave?