LAS VEGAS REGIONAL... terminated?

[JB987]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

Pardon me if I'm off-base here but I am under the impression that without a regional to run, there is no staff needed to run anything. I am not aware of a place where there are RDs and SM but no events tied to them.

Will, we still have a strong presence of FLL and enough FTC teams to warrant a RD and SM. Looking at having 4-5 qualifiers for FLL and State Championship as well as an FTC event again...what happens when participants in these programs start reaching a dead end is another story.

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

Pardon me if I'm off-base here but I am under the impression that without a regional to run, there is no staff needed to run anything. I am not aware of a place where there are RDs and SM but no events tied to them.

Senior mentors support all programs and Justin covers all of Nevada, so he still has plenty to do. RDs run regionals and support FRC teams (little less clear on the RD role having never been one). Like Joe says in a later post, there will be plenty to keep them busy, especially if they want to help teams survive

[N7UJJ]

One of the hardest challenges facing the FIRST community is recruiting and sustaining teams on the Native American reservations. The Flagstaff team, 2486, the Coconuts, have made supporting reservation teams a priority. Las Vegas is situated close to the Navajo, Hopi, and many of the Ute nations. Losing LVR will hamper FIRST's goal to reach out to those who can benefit the most.

[Mastonevich]

The example States approximately 166k back to HQ. Does anyone know of documentation that describes what that really goes towards, and maybe a breakout?

[sastoller]

Joe,
We would hate to see the Vegas regional go away. Since PNW went to districts Vegas is the second closest regional to us (only 640 miles one-way). We really enjoyed the opportunity to meet and challenge many good FRC teams at Vegas this year, and I sincerely hope that we have the opportunity to play at Vegas for many years to come.

[Moon2020]

Originally Posted by JB987

[/b]
Regarding the largess of casinos and hotels...of course we approach them constantly but have never been able to get them to contribute a dime because every one of them channel their charity dollars into causes that help the down trodden and less fortunate residents of our area (more social good- will bang for the buck than helping to finance an event that serves well fed and educated students).

All of the local FIRST students cannot be from well-fed, perfect homes with household incomes above the poverty line. A first-hand story or two on how FIRST has personally changed their outcome in life would be great if the teams can get a meeting with the right person/people.

I'm wondering what the sales pitch is that is turning them off from listening/seeing how FIRST positively impacts the disadvantaged youth in the community and lifts them out of the endless cycle. How and what are the teams/planning committee doing when you approach the hotels/casinos?

Have the LVR Teams/planning committee sent disadvantaged current students and FIRST alumni from various teams set up meetings to give the sales pitch(s) to the casino/hotel donation decision makers on how FIRST has helped them break the cycle of homelessness/poverty/abuse/etc. or are there just flyers that are handed out to the business office soliciting for money? Are there FIRST Teams from the most economically disadvantaged areas represented in statistics/data on a one-sheet double-sided color flyer that the business office can keep and is it making it to the right person? How many alumni/parents are employed by the casinos/hotels? Is that included on the flyer? Is it stated that LV is about to lose this great Regional and its teams due to lack of sponsors? Loss of the event also impacts hotel room sales and spending in the local area.

BTW, We have lost around 72 teams since 2003 and currently have 68. Some are due to lack of funding, others are due to lack of mentors. Sustainability vs. growth.

[JB987]

Originally Posted by Moon2020

All of the local FIRST students cannot be from well-fed, perfect homes with household incomes above the poverty line. A first-hand story or two on how FIRST has personally changed their outcome in life would be great if the teams can get a meeting with the right person/people.

I'm wondering what the sales pitch is that is turning them off from listening/seeing how FIRST positively impacts the disadvantaged youth in the community and lifts them out of the endless cycle. How and what are the teams/planning committee doing when you approach the hotels/casinos?

Have the LVR Teams/planning committee sent disadvantaged current students and FIRST alumni from various teams set up meetings to give the sales pitch(s) to the casino/hotel donation decision makers on how FIRST has helped them break the cycle of homelessness/poverty/abuse/etc. or are there just flyers that are handed out to the business office soliciting for money? Are there FIRST Teams from the most economically disadvantaged areas represented in statistics/data on a one-sheet double-sided color flyer that the business office can keep and is it making it to the right person? How many alumni/parents are employed by the casinos/hotels? Is that included on the flyer? Is it stated that LV is about to lose this great Regional and its teams due to lack of sponsors? Loss of the event also impacts hotel room sales and spending in the local area.

BTW, We have lost around 72 teams since 2003 and currently have 68. Some are due to lack of funding, others are due to lack of mentors. Sustainability vs. growth.

Believe me, we have had some success reaching the "right" people in person, and have had opportunity to expose them to the "right kids" with the "right stories" and left them with professionally produced fliers over the years and when given the courtesy of an explanation for their decision we have been told that the given hotel/casino would be staying with the charity they have been helping for years prior to our inception and that the cause they were staying with served more people who had greater needs than those associated with our regional.

We have even had some success getting key personnel to visit the event and still been unsuccessful. Since the move to terminate our regional is recent we haven't included a statement we are about to lose the regional (we will add that now of course). Regarding economic benefits for hotels related to filling of hotel rooms by event visitors, numerous times we have been told by charity decision makers that their hotels prefer a demographic that includes mostly gamblers, not underage kids (and they can afford to overlook room loss given we have the highest average hotel room occupancy in the US). This doesn't mean we don't keep trying however.

[James3245]

This development, should it come to pass, will have a major negative effect on Intermountain West programs. Idaho weighed in and Utah is another example. FIRST and NASA invested a lot of resources to help develop Utah teams beginning in 2010. The teams formed, many are thriving. What FIRST and NASA envisioned has come to pass. Of course, teams soon learned that to keep developing requires the inspiration that comes from competing. The more the better. But it isn’t easy to find places to play the game out here. Within an 8 hour drive there are only three events: Utah, Colorado, and Las Vegas regionals. The closest off-season event requires an even longer drive to California. (yes, we are working on setting one up in our region) The problem has become more acute as districts form up. Many teams from Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Arizona, Colorado attend LVR because it is the closest option for a second regional. (granted, travel is not as bad as what Hawaii and many international teams face)

By attending LVR the last three years we forged important ties with great teams from whom we’ve learned an immense amount. We bring home this knowledge and have done our best to build our own region. That is how FRC programs develop - they learn from more developed teams. But to test your team’s skills you need the opportunity to compete. In less densely populated areas, it can be surprisingly hard, and expensive (money and travel time), to compete more than once a year. To lose chances to play with and against top tier teams greatly compromises the goals of FIRST.

LVR is a superb event, as many teams can attest. Every year has seen an increasingly tough, and inspiring, line-up. Last year registration filled in less than 24 hours when it opened for second regionals. LVR has been an exemplary regional, extremely well run by volunteers (thank you 987), and top-notch field personnel. It meets every core mission goal of FIRST.

FIRST expects a lot of event organizers, whether district or regional; it is too much to ask every team to pay a high entry fee per event and then require the event organizers to run the event without access to that income. The LVR situation is exhibit A of the flaw of this model: a great regional that fulfills every mission goal of FIRST now apparently in peril, and not for a lack of paying teams.

The good news is that with to its model of high event fees combined with reliance on volunteers and sponsors, FIRST has built up an impressively large reserve from which it can draw.

LVR is vital to teams in the West - FIRST needs to support it, even if it requires investing a few coins from the war chest.

[Pat Fairbank]

I'm not an accountant, but a quick look at FIRST's financials seem to indicate that the organization is operating at a $2M yearly surplus and is sitting on top of nearly $24M in cash and short-term investments.

Given that for the parent organization funding is apparently not in short supply, is it unreasonable of me to ask why regionals experiencing financial hardship can't retain a larger portion of their own registration fees?

[Mark Sheridan]

Okay, Orange County, CA is rounding up some letters, or more accurately OCRA (orange county robotic alliance) is rounding up letters. So far 3309 and 3476 have committed.

Is there any other teams working on this?

[AdamHeard]

I think someone more eloquent than me should use this as a chance to ask a good Ask Frank Friday question.

FIRST is pushing transparency, I'd love to know more about where the money goes, how it's used, etc...

It'd be interesting to know their logic behind this decision when from our point of view the regional is very profitable for FIRST.

It's kind of crazy that I've been doing this forever and when a parent asks me where all the registration fees go if they don't go to the events, I can't really give them a great answer other than, "FIRST is big.... I'm sure they have a lot of expenses...?"

[Ryan Dognaux]

If LVR needs a year to recoup funds, couldn't they run a more district-sized event and make back their debts? I feel like teams would accept this to keep the competition and FIRST would do it to break even. Lose the flashy A/V & venue this next year and bring it back after that.

[JB987]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

If LVR needs a year to recoup funds, couldn't they run a more district-sized event and make back their debts? I feel like teams would accept this to keep the competition and FIRST would do it to break even. Lose the flashy A/V & venue this next year and bring it back after that.

We have no highschool venue large enough to handle the minimum 40 ish teams we were told we need to serve and cost of bringing in generator we would need brings overall cost to same as current venue we get for dirt cheap thanks to LV Convention Visitors Authority discount.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Pat Fairbank

I'm not an accountant, but a quick look at FIRST's financials seem to indicate that the organization is operating at a $2M yearly surplus and is sitting on top of nearly $24M in cash and short-term investments.

Given that for the parent organization funding is apparently not in short supply, is it unreasonable of me to ask why regionals experiencing financial hardship can't retain a larger portion of their own registration fees?

It is easy to openly question the organization why it isn't spending money on things (for me, it's providing sweeping changes to the way potential developers can/can't interact with data through the FMS, for example), but I think even directly petitioning the director to know exactly why FIRST both needs $24M cash on hand but can't afford to float a regional in a high potential area for a little bit longer is probably one of the most worthwhile questions we can ask FIRST.

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

I think someone more eloquent than me should use this as a chance to ask a good Ask Frank Friday question.

FIRST is pushing transparency, I'd love to know more about where the money goes, how it's used, etc...

It'd be interesting to know their logic behind this decision when from our point of view the regional is very profitable for FIRST.

It's kind of crazy that I've been doing this forever and when a parent asks me where all the registration fees go if they don't go to the events, I can't really give them a great answer other than, "FIRST is big.... I'm sure they have a lot of expenses...?"

I think someone like you with years under your belt playing at a high enough level your team pays out more registration fees than an average team (2 regionals and regular championship appearances) is pretty well suited to ask this question. I've been under the impression that registration fees go directly to making new fields and hiring the crew that produces the event. I know we've been adding regionals lately with a higher frequency, but a majority of the fields are supposed to be re-used year to year (which helps districts even though they're paying registration fees for fields they'll personally never play on, as far as I know). I also thought that FRC itself was running at a loss for the longest time, but apparently that tide has shifted backwards...

For ideas on how to keep LVR afloat, I wonder if FRC would be appeased if they moved the venue out of the LVCC and into a team's high school, or if the teams attending the event were subjected to an additional fee (as ludicrous as it sounds).

[EricH]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

For ideas on how to keep LVR afloat, I wonder if FRC would be appeased if they moved the venue out of the LVCC and into a team's high school, or if the teams attending the event were subjected to an additional fee (as ludicrous as it sounds).

See the post above ya. They don't have one that's big enough.

Something that most folks east of the Rockies don't necessarily understand is that many of the high schools on the west coast (Vegas included) don't exactly have the largest gyms or other indoor athletic facilities. If I were told "come up with a list of high schools in your area (L.A.) that could host a 40-team event for three days plus setup", I'd be hard-pressed. I might be able to come up with 4-5, but I'd really have to think about it to get more. The reason: We don't have "weather". We have "climate" with a side of "mild rainy season".