Championship Location Announced

[PayneTrain]

If you think FIRST HQ is intentionally acting against the interests of other robotics competitions I have a secret document that shows who really killed Kennedy.

If you think this is a case of two multinational, multimillion dollar non profit agencies making multimillion dollar deals with large destination venues for years and years out in advance and have a very very small window of flexibility, I guess the next thing you're going to tell me is the sky isn't green and the earth isn't flat.

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by Cory

FIRST deserves to take flack for some (maybe even many) decisions they've made the last few years, but for you to single this event out as being absolutely their fault and a sign of ill will towards VEX is ridiculous.

Point conceded. It is not solely HQs fault.

I'm even willing to concede that its probably not a sign of ill will.

I still think its one of the worst possible options, and having it happen two years in a row is even less acceptable.

I'll admit I'm ignorant of the AP testing problem -- we don't have such a thing in Canada. Our Grade 10 Literacy Test frequently collides with FRC events, and we work around it.

Surely VEX and HQ can work together to prevent this from becoming an annual problem though... Any reason VEX worlds couldn't be run on the week after FRC's week 7?

[Walter Deitzler]

And Champs is going to be a metro-link ride from my house for the entirty of my high school life.

This makes me very happy.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Racer26

Any reason VEX worlds couldn't be run on the week after FRC's week 7?

Ahem.

It looks like you're just arguing for the sake of argument now. Whether I'm spot on or making a baseless accusation shouldn't matter, right?

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Ahem.

It looks like you're just arguing for the sake of argument now. Whether I'm spot on or making a baseless accusation shouldn't matter, right?

I actually posed this question earlier, not for the sake of argument. This year it interferes with Easter,but I don't thi it does future years(correct me if I'm wrong, I'm Jewish). Obviously this is ignoring the issue of venue contracts, but its not arguing for the sake of arguing(just that specific question/point)

EDIT: I'm on my phone and didn't realize my post was linked...my bad...

[waialua359]

As a robotics program that has now existed in its 15th year, we have been involved with FRC, VEX and Botball about 10 years ago.
Currently, our program has found value in offering both VEX (and now VEX IQ) and FRC in a 7-12th grade program and school. The ability to offer VEX at Middle School and providing a continuum up until 12th grade has proved valuable in providing our students with a much better skill set and STEM experience, prior to post secondary opportunities.

Regardless of the reasons that led to the challenges of trying to attend both events for 2014 and the next several years, it is still disappointing to our program at the school level.
We all have goals that our own programs strive for, and one of them was certainly working hard to qualify for both World Championships. Both events offer life changing and inspiring experiences that are priceless for students and their families.

We intend to participate in both regardless (if we qualify for VEX), however, team members, students and parents have to choose which one to participate in. It also gets a lot more tricky for us in coordinating who goes where and is responsible for what....

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Ahem.

It looks like you're just arguing for the sake of argument now. Whether I'm spot on or making a baseless accusation shouldn't matter, right?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is the season not Week 7> Week Off (because this is TOO SOON for teams to arrange to get to CMP after finding out Week 7) > Easter > CMP

What I'm suggesting is VEX's championship be placed on the week immediately following Week 7. This way, it would never interfere with FIRST Championship, because FIRST won't put championship that close to Week 7.

[Nate Laverdure]

Originally Posted by Racer26

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is the season not Week 7> Week Off (because this is TOO SOON for teams to arrange to get to CMP after finding out Week 7) > Easter > CMP

No, in 2014 there is no extra week between Week 7 events and Easter weekend. This may not be true in future years.

This will become obvious when the calendar is updated.

[Racer26]

Ah. Fair enough.

[ErvinI]

Originally Posted by Racer26

I'll admit I'm ignorant of the AP testing problem -- we don't have such a thing in Canada. Our Grade 10 Literacy Test frequently collides with FRC events, and we work around it.

Certain schools in Ontario and other parts of Canada do have AP testing, but it is much less common here than in the states. Canadian universities still take these into account, however.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

No, in 2014 there is no extra week between Week 7 events and Easter weekend. This may not be true in future years.

The other thing that may not be true (beyond the existing timeframe that both FIRST and VEX have announced) is that they are on the same weekend.

2014, same weekend. 2015, same weekend. VRC has yet to announce after 2015.

If I know the fine folks at IFI and REC, they've probably already picked up on FIRST's announcement of the dates, and as likely as not will attempt to avoid the FIRST Championship weekend in 2016 and 2017. Now, for above-stated reasons, that might not be possible. After all, May is bad, April has too many potential conflicts... March has FRC regionals...

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by ErvinI

Certain schools in Ontario and other parts of Canada do have AP testing, but it is much less common here than in the states. Canadian universities still take these into account, however.

Huh. None that I know of, but OK. Maybe I'm wrong.

Originally Posted by EricH

The other thing that may not be true (beyond the existing timeframe that both FIRST and VEX have announced) is that they are on the same weekend.

2014, same weekend. 2015, same weekend. VRC has yet to announce after 2015.

If I know the fine folks at IFI and REC, they've probably already picked up on FIRST's announcement of the dates, and as likely as not will attempt to avoid the FIRST Championship weekend in 2016 and 2017. Now, for above-stated reasons, that might not be possible. After all, May is bad, April has too many potential conflicts... March has FRC regionals...

Truth be told, I feel like colliding with an FRC regional weekend (Week 6, ideally) would be infinitely better than colliding with CMP. At least then, teams can schedule themselves around it.

[Amanda Morrison]

Originally Posted by Racer26

Truth be told, I feel like colliding with an FRC regional weekend (Week 6, ideally) would be infinitely better than colliding with CMP. At least then, teams can schedule themselves around it.

You (and plenty others in this thread) are failing to take into consideration other contracts that may already be in place with these venues.

Not only are there a very limited number of venues within the US that could accommodate the interesting demands of educational robotics competitions (such as power supply requirements, distance, layout, proximity to enough lodging spaces, and many other factors), you are assuming that these venues are not already in high demand for sports competitions, trade shows, and other large conventions.

The convention industry generally books shows in blocks of several years, if possible. This benefits the show (they have a guaranteed venue), the convention center (they can refine the needs of the show over time and bring in significant revenue), and the surrounding area (tourism, lodging, etc. brings revenue for local businesses). By the time this news went out to FIRST teams, I am very sure that the conflict of dates was known between the two competitions and already vetted to be unavoidable. Moreso, I trust that they were well aware of the effect this would have on teams, and had still determined this to be the best possible outcome given the circumstances.

Countless hours of planning and execution go into making these the best possible experiences for the teams. The event constraints and logistics are tremendous.

[Racer26]

Uh. I was talking about a longterm solution to the problem so that its not an annual issue. Shifting VEX Worlds back by a few weeks into the FRC Regionals would allow teams to plan to attend both (even if it means they must travel to more distant regionals for their FRC participation).

I was in no way suggesting this be a thing before 2016, the next year for which VEX Worlds have not yet been announced (and thus is likely not yet contracted to a particular venue.)

[Sean Schuff]

Just to break the somewhat hostile monotony of this thread...

Isn't anyone bummed that we're not going back to Orlando??