District Feasibility/Potential

[PayneTrain]

It's no coincidence that the areas that have moved over to districts and have concrete plans to evolve into the system are not only the oldest and most dense areas, but also areas that train major key volunteers that ship out to other regionals across the country and are integral to championships, and the areas with districts are anchored by their multiple HoF inductees.

Those of us who imagine a utopia where one could open the proverbial floodgates and let a low cost, high match-volume structure cover the earth and unleash a bountiful harvest of successful teams gloss over the fact we need the seeds of volunteers to grow the programs.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

It's no coincidence that the areas that have moved over to districts and have concrete plans to evolve into the system are not only the oldest and most dense areas, but also areas that train major key volunteers that ship out to other regionals across the country and are integral to championships

You mean like Koko Ed? That guy must have several clones...

On the topic of Florida Districts: Waiting for 150 teams is a bad idea, it just hurts when you try to do it with such a large mass.

I think FL is close to being ready; if planning starts now, 2015 seems reasonable. Trust me, although you may have a few nay-sayers, that disappears once the first District season has passed. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

Just remember to be as transparent and inclusive as you can.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

You mean like Koko Ed? That guy must have several clones...

On the topic of Florida Districts: Waiting for 150 teams is a bad idea, it just hurts when you try to do it with such a large mass.

I think FL is close to being ready; if planning starts now, 2015 seems reasonable. Trust me, although you may have a few nay-sayers, that disappears once the first District season has passed. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

Just remember to be as transparent and inclusive as you can.

Oh wow, I didnt realize that MAR has only had 5 and 6 districts these last 2 years. For some reason I thought it was closer to 10. That does make it seem a little bit more feasible earlier on, but the team density of Florida vs MAR does seem quite a bit larger.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by dodar

Oh wow, I didnt realize that MAR has only had 5 and 6 districts these last 2 years. For some reason I thought it was closer to 10. That does make it seem a little bit more feasible earlier on, but the team density of Florida vs MAR does seem quite a bit larger.

For reference, in 2015 Florida will likely need between 5 and 6 districts based on my predicted growth. Placement of these would, logically, be done based off of team density in area. For reference, this year we would have needed 4 districts. Our Championship would, likely, be held at UCF but would more logically be in south Florida. However, to maintain parity with FiM's Championship on percentage of teams attending it would be (65/213) * 76 = 24 teams... Let's just say 40 teams to be safe... this means it could be held ANYWHERE a district could be held.

As for Florida vs MAR density, MAR is not as large a region as you'd think and they have as many teams as Florida. (source: I've spent a fair bit of time in those areas...also, a map)

Districts in a region is easily computed as CEILING((Teams * 2)/40).

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

For reference, in 2015 Florida will likely need between 5 and 6 districts based on my predicted growth. Placement of these would, logically, be done based off of team density in area. For reference, this year we would have needed 4 districts. Our Championship would, likely, be held at UCF but would more logically be in south Florida. However, to maintain parity with FiM's Championship on percentage of teams attending it would be (65/213) * 76 = 24 teams... Let's just say 40 teams to be safe... this means it could be held ANYWHERE a district could be held.

As for Florida vs MAR density, MAR is not as large a region as you'd think and they have as many teams as Florida. (source: I've spent a fair bit of time in those areas...also, a map)

Districts in a region is easily computed as CEILING((Teams * 2)/40).

How do you figure it would be in South Florida when the bigger amount of teams are in Central Florida?

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by dodar

How do you figure it would be in South Florida when the bigger amount of teams are in Central Florida?

Last map I saw seemed to have a high density along the south east side of the state. Lemme check again.

Edit:
These are what I was looking at. 2013 FRC teams.
http://d.pr/i/VFfs
http://d.pr/i/6eAj

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Last map I saw seemed to have a high density along the south east side of the state. Lemme check again.

Edit:
These are what I was looking at. 2013 FRC teams.
http://d.pr/i/VFfs
http://d.pr/i/6eAj

Going off the OP's picture, there are 36 in Central Florida vs 23 in South Florida.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by dodar

Going off the OP's picture, there are 36 in Central Florida vs 23 in South Florida.

Define Central Florida. If you are counting the entire central corridor you're right. But that'd be silly as it's a much larger area. Of course, nothing looks like SE Michigan, New England, or MAR.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Define Central Florida. If you are counting the entire central corridor you're right. But that'd be silly as it's a much larger area. Of course, nothing looks like SE Michigan, New England, or MAR.

CF: Daytona Beach straight across through Ocala down to Sarasota across to Vero Beach.

SF: Below that line through Sarasota across to Vero Beach.

And why would it be silly to consider the central part of Florida as Central Florida?

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by dodar

CF: Daytona Beach straight across through Ocala down to Sarasota across to Vero Beach.

SF: Below that line through Sarasota across to Vero Beach.

And why would it be silly to consider the central part of Florida as Central Florida?

Maybe for the reasons I WROTE? I was looking for the optimal location to place a state championship based on number of teams who could comfortably commute to it. As someone who has repeatedly done he Brandon -> Orlando commute that is BARELY reasonable to do round trip in a day. From Sarasota to Orlando... ha no thanks.

[dodar]

1 hour drives are comfortably close. Take away the Central Florida teams with longer than 1 hour drives and you still have 28-30. Thats still more than the total considered in South Florida total; and then you can take out 2-4 teams on the OP's picture that are on the west coast of South Florida. When I was a student on 1592, we drove over from Cocoa and drove home everyday; that was an hour both ways if the traffic was good.

And just saying this as well, I was a mentor on the team the first year the South Florida regional happened and when we saw how expensive hotels in South Florida were, we had to stay like almost an hour away just to keep the hotel costs reasonable. You can find cheaper ones in Orlando(than Miami/Boca Raton/Ft. Lauderdale) and even cheaper ones within 25-30 minutes of Orlando.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by dodar

And just saying this as well, I was a mentor on the team the first year the South Florida regional happened and when we saw how expensive hotels in South Florida were, we had to stay like almost an hour away just to keep the hotel costs reasonable. You can find cheaper ones in Orlando(than Miami/Boca Raton/Ft. Lauderdale) and even cheaper ones within 25-30 minutes of Orlando.

I didn't find the hotels much worse than DC... But that's also an important factor that I couldn't determine at first glance. I'd have to run a few searches.

And, without traffic and doing my usual speeding Brandon -> Orlando is over an hour. If I'm coming from west of me that means I'm on I4 through the 275 junction which takes 20 minutes on the best of days... I'm not seeing your point.

[IKE]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

..... Trust me, although you may have a few nay-sayers, that disappears once the first District season has passed. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.
.....

I remember giving Don this exact same advice in 2011 at the Championship...

I was pretty freaked out in 2009. One of the neat things about doing more events are there are more volunteering opportunities. It is always a challenge to get all the folks you need, but I don't know too many FIRSTers that step down from a challenge.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by IKE

I remember giving Don this exact same advice in 2011 at the Championship...

I was pretty freaked out in 2009. One of the neat things about doing more events are there are more volunteering opportunities. It is always a challenge to get all the folks you need, but I don't know too many FIRSTers that step down from a challenge.

Re-quoted for truth.

If you ASK folks to volunteer, especially alumni and even team members (at events the team isn't competing perhaps) people seem to step up. I found that many team members were "too shy" to volunteer but, when asked, are happy to do so and start doing it year after year.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

You mean like Koko Ed? That guy must have several clones...

I'm pretty sure he worked like 12 official events this year.