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

[MagiChau]

It looks very likely the concert is a primary reason for 2 fields being moved out of the dome. If this is the case I hope those in charge of layout for Championship agree with the complaint that this was not the best way to put the concert in and set something similar to a goal of guaranteeing all four playing fields are in the dome so teams don't feel like they're being pushed aside and hurt because of an event after the day ends. For me it looks like the fields being moved is a negative that is the biggest factor that affects the most people. The fact this concert occurs what is typically scouting meeting time is a concern that people would not have the choice to enjoy a concert and work hard so their team can compete at their best in elimination matches. This negative of the concert, I feel should also have a thought in the future events planned.

[torihoelscher]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

It is official.......

From FIRST volunteer announcement:

FIRST is delighted to announce a free private performance for assigned FIRST volunteers by Grammy Award winning super group, The Black Eyed Peas, with guest artist Willow Smith, on Friday evening, April 29, 2011 at 8:30PM at the Edward Jones Dome. The FIRST Championship community is invited to take part in this extraordinary evening that we hope will be the basis of a potential future television special.

Im so excited!!!

[jefft]

There are two things here: 1. concert for FIRST community at the World Championship and 2. Two FRC division fields got moved to the Pit.

Yes, you can try to connect the two and probably they are related. But let's see it this way, if the four fields have been on the dome and FIRST still have concert, would most people complain about the concert? I think not. Everybody will be raving about how great FIRST is.

So, this gets me to think that the core of this, is not because FIRST host a concert or that the artist performing is BEP. It's because two fields got put into the Pit.

Now, what is so wrong about this?
You are at the World Championship. You WILL get the chance to play at the dome. I don't see much problem with this. Yes, it's an inconvenient for teams, but again, YOU ARE AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. Enjoy it..
Now, think about all the other teams that don't get to go to World Championship. And just be glad that you got to experience this.


Note: only about 10% of FTC teams got the chance to go to this event. And only less than 1% (yes, that's right, less than ONE PERCENT) of the FLL teams got to go to this.
On the other hand, about 20% of the FRC teams are at the World Championship. Is this fair to the rest of the FIRST family (for FTC, FLL, and JrFLL)? Most FTC and FLL teams would give the world for the chance to compete at World Championship, even if they NEVER got the chance to play at the Dome and only play at the Pit.

Jeff

[DeAnnaC]

I don't have digital
I don't have diddly squat
It's not having what you want
It's wanting what you've got


From Soak up the Sun by Sheryl Crow (Fellow Missourian)

I plan on having a great time hanging out with a bunch of great FIRST people and kids who traveled to St. Louis. I hope you'll have a great time too!

DeAnna

FEED THE FISH!

[davepowers]

Alright, I don't like this. Why don't they just do things like they did in Disney? Back when I was little I remember Mandy Moore playing on the stage they had the outside field on, and she did fine. Why couldn't they have just stuck Will I Am and his, "guests" on the Einstein field and kept the other two fields in the dome. I understand that FIRST is excited because they know this will being lots of publicity to the program, but isn't this just going to put a fog over FIRST that a concert is more important that the real thing that started this all, robots and the kids being inspired about STEMS programs...

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Ricksta

The FIRST Championship community is invited to take part in this extraordinary evening that we hope will be the basis of a potential future television special. Please wear your team colors! Please also be aware that being part of a television audience entails possible interruptions during the course of the show to make sure the best footage is captured.

This kicks it up a notch - the potential for a television special. What that means exactly, we'll find out, but they are definitely planning footage of the 'fans' in your team colors.

It also means that the possible interruptions could lengthen the evening further which will push scouting discussions back further. Some tough decisions are being asked of the teams.

Jane

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

It's dope that there is a concert

And it begins...

"We are what we celebrate" (or something like that). Why are we celebrating this man and his terrible music? Or perhaps we're celebrating ourselves, with his music? Or is he celebrating us?

In any case, is this really who we want as a role model? I don't see how someone who has never been an engineer has any credibility in telling kids it's important to become one.

Some think we need FIRST in every school quickly. To do that, we're bringing in "hip" musical performers? I don't understand the connection.

For a decade, I've listened to Dean's speeches at kickoff and elsewhere mentioning how many kids aspire to be musicians and never make it, and that we need more kids aspiring to be engineers and scientists. I'm not exactly sure what message this concert sends.

So let me get this straight, we now presumably have dangerously loud pits. If you're lucky, you might be sitting in a somewhat quieter dome this year. Then we go blast your ears out with a presumably way-too-loud concert on Friday night. It seems that would just make for a terrible Saturday.

Furthermore, based on what I saw during the Super Bowl from this guy and his "special guests", I would not attend this concert if you paid me. About the only thing they had to offer there were some nifty LED suits on all the dancers.

A successful program needs to be driven by and publicized with results (cough: Vex), not flair.

If the idea is to attract new people who wouldn't have been attracted to FIRST otherwise, again, bad move. Go watch the quality plummet.

I would never want a student joining my team because will.i.am said robotics is cool, or because he thought he'd get a free concert out of it.

I'm sorry if I'm not supporting the mission of FIRST here (which is what, now?), but this is not the same FIRST I grew up with.

[JohnBoucher]

Originally Posted by Dave Flowerday

http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/27/dea...nnovation.html

I've had to listen to speeches like this one from Dean for close to 2 decades. How do the plans in St. Louis jive with that? Have all of Dean's speeches been a joke? Does FIRST even believe in the things they say? What is FIRST celebrating in St. Louis? The accomplishments of 400 FRC teams, or a celebrity rock star? Take a look at some excerpts from the link above:

Dave,
Thank you for posting the quotes and reminding the community about the message from FIRST in the past 20 years.

This is quite a year for FIRST. They have a game in that the rules have changed deep into the competition season. They have a side game (mini-bot) whose purpose was to support cooperation between FTC teams and FRC teams, but they give out awards to FRC teams that mass produce mini-bots. They toss the six week concept out the window for building the mini-bots. They are apparently still planning the agenda for champs while teams are arriving for it. Now they embrace the culture they have been battling for years with a media event they they want you to wear your team colors to because they are going to show the world what a great time you are having being involved in FIRST.

I don't mind change. I love that the challenge FIRST gives us every year is new and different. What I am troubled by is that the message has changed. FIRST used to be about changing the culture, one mind, one student at a time. We are now embracing celebrity for what purpose? To accelerate the "growth" of FIRST at the expense of the culture of FIRST?

I am not an engineer, my job on the team is to keep this program going year after year. I go out and try to sell the impact that this program has on students. I have to sell this program against sports and the popular culture. The FIRST program is different. It has a different purpose. It isn't superficial, it's results are long term and lasting.

I hope that FIRST is still on message.

[Dripto]

I'm in agreement with most of the people here that the concert as a concept is great, but the execution is at fault. However I feel that the fields being moved isn't as big of a worry as the timing. Moved fields, however inconvenient, aren't (hopefully) doing any actual damage. However the timing means the some teams will have to cancel previously made plans to go, or carry out their original plans at the cost of some unhappy students feeling denied of an opportunity. The scouting issue has already been covered, but I simply don't see any reason that FIRST could not have had this concert during the Wrap Party or some time on Saturday when they knew plans would not have been made.

[LightWaves1636]

I don't like the Einstein field location cause it's on the end of the dome. It's going to be so crowded in the stands during ceremonies and Einstein eliminations. On the other end is BEP's production company's set up taking up a third of the dome area.

The Special guests are the black Eyed Peas. In the volunteer invite it says "Black Eyed Peas & Willow Smith".

[Conor Ryan]

I really don't get all the complaining over this. Change happens and First is trying to give everyone a better experience, emphasizing the celebration part of the championships.


Look back to when the championships were in Disney. Plenty of teams signed up for a robotics competition but got a theme park trip too. Back then the division set up was quite similar it was to what it is going to be in St. Louis.

When the championships moved to Atlanta teams felt like First was taking the fun away out of the championships (mostly because they couldn't see Mickey Mouse), a few people also felt that by taking the fields away from the pits the event had a completely different feel to it (it felt nothing like a regional to some). People have grown accustomed to that in the last few years in Atlanta, but now we are in a different venue with different people and First has the ability to shake things up, so why not? Bringing in entertainers is something that I would call "Thinking Outside of the Box" for First, its never been attempted before on the scale like this, so you need to give it a shot before you go ahead and complain.

Having some level of competition in the pits should bring out the regional feel a bit, and I think having a world class entertainer will be a little bit more entertaining than having somebody speak again. But remember, those nutty people in Manchester who run this show are watching too, if it doesn't work out too well, they'll learn their lesson, but if it does work, oh man we might have found a way to solve the lack of STEM education in the world.

Also: For all you people who are wondering why they can't have the performers perform on the field: many of their contracts stipulate they cannot perform unless they have a stage that meets certain specifications. FIRST fields do not currently meet that.

Some words of advice: Go into it with an open mind, you might be surprised.

[MooreteP]

One positive side of the Pit fields is the incredibly easy access for robots.

Even the trip to the Dome is easier than Atlanta.

One downside is that the seating may be tight in the Pit fields,

An upside to that is that we may finally see some real spirited intensity at a Division match that has not been present since Disney World. A dome tends to suck a lot of spectator energy out of a competition. There may even be dancing? There certainly will be at the concert.

[Conor Ryan]

Originally Posted by MooreteP

One positive side of the Pit fields is the incredibly easy access for robots.

Even the trip to the Dome is easier than Atlanta.

One downside is that the seating may be tight in the Pit fields,

An upside to that is that we may finally see some real spirited intensity at a Division match that has not been present since Disney World. A dome tends to suck a lot of spectator energy out of a competition. There may even be dancing? There certainly will be at the concert.

Nothing is tighter than seating at off season competitions. Organizers have fire codes in mind when figuring out how many seats to have there. You might be cozy with your neighbor, but at least you are closer to the action.

[Boydean]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Also: For all you people who are wondering why they can't have the performers perform on the field: many of their contracts stipulate they cannot perform unless they have a stage that meets certain specifications. FIRST fields do not currently meet that.

This cannot be more true. When you get up to the level of performer that the Black Eyed Peas are at then there are many contract stipulation that FIRST doesn't have any control over.

FIRST, I believe, had the unique opportunity to bring a world class performance (this can be an arguable on opinion, but lets just face facts here ok) for little or no cost on their part. Part of that I'm almost 100% sure that BEP had some very clear stipulations laid out before FIRST for this to happen – one of these might have been not disclosing the concert until 3 days before.

[CassCity2081]

Why does this concert have to be about "ruining the message of FIRST" and "contradicting what Dean says every year". Cant you guys see it for what it is? We have worked hard for a whole season and FIRST is rewarding us with a high profile band performing a concert. Try not to make everything about the message of FIRST. The competition will go on but they gave us an extra FREE event. If your into their music go to the concert and enjoy it. If you do not like their music, go do something else. If it turns out bad I will have a different opinion on Monday, but as for now, show some faith in FIRST and let this go.