2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative

[Carolyn_Grace]

Originally Posted by SarahBeth

I agree with this, completely. We submitted for the first time this year and it was very very overwhelming and it took reading the manual many times to figure out exactly what we were going to be judged on, and trying to figure out what the presentation judges were looking for - and even THEN I missed the fact that there's another release that needs to be signed for your DVD to be shown if you win, which is IN the manual but kinda buried.

Some clarification would have been so helpful throughout the process. Thankfully, we were able to talk to some teams who had done it before and they were happy to help us out - and it was an excellent experience all around for our kids. Now having done it once, doing it again hopefully won't be that daunting and we won't be rehearsing our presentation at 11pm the night before in the hotel lobby. (I swear, my students wanted to kill me for the fact I made them do it in front of people)

I love the Chairman's Award, but I definitely think that it needs to be revamped. When FIRST announced some changes with Awards this year, I was uber excited to see what they had improved for CA, and sadly it was not enough.

The award needs to be more accessible for teams, and teams who submit need more consistent feedback and recognition in some way.

I think that the video should either be judged or taken out completely.

I believe you should be able to submit CA at every district/regional that you compete with your robot at, but only be allowed to win at one event.

Overall: the fact that the Chairman's Award exists at all is outstanding, and I commend FIRST for recognizing teams in this way.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Carolyn_Grace

I love the Chairman's Award, but I definitely think that it needs to be revamped. When FIRST announced some changes with Awards this year, I was uber excited to see what they had improved for CA, and sadly it was not enough.

The award needs to be more accessible for teams, and teams who submit need more consistent feedback and recognition in some way.

I think that the video should either be judged or taken out completely.

I believe you should be able to submit CA at every district/regional that you compete with your robot at, but only be allowed to win at one event.

Overall: the fact that the Chairman's Award exists at all is outstanding, and I commend FIRST for recognizing teams in this way.

It needs to be more visible at the events.
MSC was the only event that gave teams booths to show what they are about. At other event the only time the general public even know the award exist at ll is on Saturday afternoon at the end of the awards ceremony.
It's treated more like a golden ticket than a creed to live by.

[Siri]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

It needs to be more visible at the events.
MSC and MAR was were the only events that gave teams booths to show what they are about. At other event the only time the general public even know the award exist at ll is on Saturday afternoon at the end of the awards ceremony.
It's treated more like a golden ticket than a creed to live by.

Fixed that.

This is a very cool concept. My only worry would be implementation--if it were mandatory for all submitters (not winners already, like those at MSC and MAR) to make a booth, would we see fewer teams try? We're already talking about the difficulty and complexity of submitting. If there was a way to keep or raise participation rates though, booths would be really great.

[Carolyn_Grace]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

It needs to be more visible at the events.
MSC was the only event that gave teams booths to show what they are about. At other event the only time the general public even know the award exist at ll is on Saturday afternoon at the end of the awards ceremony.
It's treated more like a golden ticket than a creed to live by.

For the record, it is a little easier to do this at MSC because we already have 11 winners from the District system. We're planning on doing something similar at the Indiana State Championship on May 18th.

Possible solution: other official FIRST competitions could offer a booth to the previous three year's winners to showcase what they've accomplished.
The downfall of this is that it would give them a more visible showcase to judges, which could be inferred as an unfair advantage for winning this award.

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by Carolyn_Grace

Possible solution: other official FIRST competitions could offer a booth to the previous three year's winners to showcase what they've accomplished.
The downfall of this is that it would give them a more visible showcase to judges, which could be inferred as an unfair advantage for winning this award.

[I wish this response wasn't in the Negative thread...]

Not if you have the "booth" on Thursday only.
For the past few years, off and on, we've tried a low key concept at the Chesapeake.
Team Showcase. Team gets a table (usually in the pits) for one hour. Sign up ahead of the event. Agenda is passed out and announced every hour. They can feature anything about their team/outreach/technical.

It needs some tweaking, but I generally think it is a good concept. I originally developed the concept to deal with all the special requests coming in (some from teams competing for RCA) to showcase their team - giveaways, time on field to present a special award, requests for a special space or booth to promote something. All worthwhile ventures - I was just trying to level the field.

[SarahBeth]

Originally Posted by RoboMom

[I wish this response wasn't in the Negative thread...]

Not if you have the "booth" on Thursday only.
For the past few years, off and on, we've tried a low key concept at the Chesapeake.
Team Showcase. Team gets a table (usually in the pits) for one hour. Sign up ahead of the event. Agenda is passed out and announced every hour. They can feature anything about their team/outreach/technical.

It needs some tweaking, but I generally think it is a good concept. I originally developed the concept to deal with all the special requests coming in (some from teams competing for RCA) to showcase their team - giveaways, time on field to present a special award, requests for a special space or booth to promote something. All worthwhile ventures - I was just trying to level the field.

This is a really cool idea, and I think if more districts/regionals/events offered it, many teams would take advantage, even if it was just an hour at a time. I also do like the idea of an area for teams who are competing for RCA to show off what their team does - or those who *have* won before. Maybe have it on Saturday, after all the RCA judging is over so no one is at an unfair advantage.

My only worry would be implementation--if it were mandatory for all submitters (not winners already, like those at MSC and MAR) to make a booth, would we see fewer teams try? We're already talking about the difficulty and complexity of submitting. If there was a way to keep or raise participation rates though, booths would be really great.

Maybe its not mandatory though. As I mentioned above, maybe make the 'booth' thing on Saturday after all the RCA judging and give teams the option to do it. Saturday is also a benefit because thats when most of the general public attends with families, etc and it'd be a nice showcase.

[Mr V]

In regards to all the complaints about only having 8 seeding matches. Yes it was less than ideal but the fact of the matter is that FIRST and Frank Merrick carefully considered the average cycle times across all of the regional events before making this hard choice. Fact is that you can speculate how things are going to go before the season starts but until the season actually starts you just don't know how things will play out. Reset times are one of those things and they did what they had to do to fit the available schedule. I know from working at regional events that it is a hard choice to make and everyone I know tries their hardest to maximize the number of matches that teams play.


Thanks to Frank Merrick, and his regular reading of this forum, headquarters is aware of the disappointment and I trust that, as mentioned in this thread ,they will do their best to improve the number of matches at CMP next year.

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by SarahBeth

This is a really cool idea, and I think if more districts/regionals/events offered it, many teams would take advantage, even if it was just an hour at a time.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2159 White paper from 2008.

Procedures have been updated a bit, but this is Team Showcase in a nutshell. Email me if you want more info.

[MARS_James]

Originally Posted by Carolyn_Grace

For the record, it is a little easier to do this at MSC because we already have 11 winners from the District system. We're planning on doing something similar at the Indiana State Championship on May 18th.

Possible solution: other official FIRST competitions could offer a booth to the previous three year's winners to showcase what they've accomplished.
The downfall of this is that it would give them a more visible showcase to judges, which could be inferred as an unfair advantage for winning this award.

Or since all events know who is submitting Chairmans at their event before, put all their pits together and have it said these are the Chairman's contenders