Preparing for the Town Hall Meeting on the New Championships Format

[grstex]

Originally Posted by Jared Russell

This had a lot to do with being scheduled during lunch of a qualifying match day. Lines were long and food was not permitted in the theater.

That was going to be my followup question. thanks for the info.

[KrazyCarl92]

One point that I still don't see answered is why is this the lowest hanging fruit for making a higher impact "Championship Experience"? It takes a tremendous amount of resources to have a single FIRST Championship, and now they are trying to put on two Championships. That's going to put an incredible amount of stress on the volunteer pool for FRC, and quite frankly I anticipate it is unrealistic that these events will match the inspirational power of the single Championship.

FIRST could stand to do a much better job marketing, televising, and really bringing the Championship experience to many more people by putting together truly professional media coverage. I know they have tried to do this with Einstein the past two years, but something more like the FiM television program would be more ideal for "making it loud". That is such a high production quality program that is fun to watch AND it can captivate even non-FIRST affiliated audiences on a public broadcast. However, FIRST currently has a lower production quality, difficult to find, and low experience webcast that fails to even show a full field view of Einstein matches (there is a whole thread on this...).

I have to believe an EXTREMELY well done televised cast would require less resources, reach more people (both within FIRST and outside of FIRST), and "make it loud"er than trying to make 2 Championships happen. I admittedly don't know all of the details, but it just seems to be lower hanging fruit for a bigger FIRST impact in my opinion.

Another interesting outcome of the Town Hall is the fact that places aren't going to districts as quickly as FIRST had hoped (...shocker). This is particularly intriguing from my perspective because I look back at where Michigan was in 2009 (based on CD searches) and where New York is in 2015, and it seems to me that districts make as much or more sense in New York now as compared to Michigan when they first went to districts. There's a whole thread on this particular situation, but the resistance to change is a real barrier to FIRST's scale-able growth in the future.

[Bgreen1591]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

Let's establish some truths:

In the long run, FIRST does not care about what you think concerning the prospect of two championships.

In the long run, FIRST is not scared of you.

Your ideas don't hold any weight as long as it is fundamentally different from the idea of the championsplit that has taken hold over HQ since 2014 (I assume)

FIRST thinks they are doing the right thing and those who don't fall in line to this line of thinking
a) are not a threat to the overall mission of FIRST
b) can only become a threat if their wishes are respected and thoughts are considered on equal footing to those who made the decision to split
c) will fall in line eventually because there is no alternative to FRC as far as they can see (which I assume is to the end of their nose)

If they do not fear a collection of individuals who are WFA, WFFA winners, employees of major sponsors, mentors on teams who share major sponsorship with FIRST, they fear no one. If the opposite were true, the town hall would have gone on as it should have in the eyes of the community, and not as planned out by FIRST.

I'm not a mind reader, but this is the perception, and perception is reality.

Well they should fear us and care about what we think.. we are paying 5000+ to compete yearly...what is all FRC team get together and decide not to enroll until we have a say in something regarding the program? or is that too much to ask for? At the end of the day this is not a free program we are all in a way paying customers.

[Racer26]

I still think the single biggest problem with the championshplit is that the lions share of the inspiration of the championship comes from being able to schmooze with the best teams in the world.

By geographically dividing them, the best don't end up in one place and that necessarily reduces the total impact of the event. Are DCMP's inspiring? Sure, but not as inspiring as WCMP. The championshplit takes WCMP and turns it into 2x something a bit bigger than MICMP.

Not only this, but the most inspiring super-elite teams (like 1114, 254, 148, 118, and many many more) build their FRC robots around the goal of winning the championship, and by removing the cohesive goal they strive toward, their impact may be reduced.

Its easy to say that HQ is making these decisions to get maximum impact for maximum number of teams (and so getting more teams to a CMP-class event is good), but not if it comes at the cost of watering down the impact of the top teams, because IMO, that's where most of the inspiration comes from.

I remember a couple of years ago in 2013 listening to 1114 explaining their reasoning behind Simbot BA Baracus not having a floor pickup. They had built their robot to be the best cycler and 30pt climber, because they knew that 7 disc autos would be prevalent among the top teams, and they wanted to be first pick of the #1 captain. Two 7 disc autos wouldn't help an alliance, but a really fast 30pt climber would. They werent concerned with how to win regionals, but rather, how to win CMP. It made perfect sense. Their plan worked, too. They built a robot to be first pick, and it was.

[David Lame]

Originally Posted by KrazyCarl92

One point that I still don't see answered is why is this the lowest hanging fruit for making a higher impact "Championship Experience"? It takes a tremendous amount of resources to have a single FIRST Championship, and now they are trying to put on two Championships. That's going to put an incredible amount of stress on the volunteer pool for FRC, and quite frankly I anticipate it is unrealistic that these events will match the inspirational power of the single Championship.

FIRST could stand to do a much better job marketing, televising, and really bringing the Championship experience to many more people by putting together truly professional media coverage.

I wonder if the leadership understands this comment. If they do, then they will be able to fix some problems and do the best job they can to make the experience everything it can be, and patch up some relationships in the process.

My initial emotional reaction to the two season finale events was intensely negative. After reading a little bit about things, I saw that there really was a problem for a lot of teams, and having two season finales might really be all about offering an affordable experience to more people.

A couple of things have happened since then that make me think, though, that they just don't understand the problem. One was the town hall presentation. If they had understood the problem, they never would have led with what they did. It's just a non-starter. It shows that they didn't understand their audience.

A second thing was my own championship experience, from a few hundred miles away. When the system for updating the match results went down, they didn't fix it or find an alternative. A way of posting scores and linking to that on a web site is not a major technological challenge in the 21st century, but First didn't seem to think it was important enough to get it done. (As an aside, thank you again, Blue Alliance)

It seems almost as if the leadership doesn't understand what they've got. They put together a fantastic backdrop for a fantastic event. Getting everything together, the stadium, the arrangements, the exhibits, the ceremonies, the concerts, that's all fantastic. No doubt such a major undertaking took a huge amount of their time, effort, and resources.

I have to wonder if they didn't forget what was the backdrop, and what was the event. Yes, all those things are great, and offering them to more people is a worthy goal, but they're the backdrop. Without the event, they wouldn't be so spectacular. They might even seem out of place.

We shall see, I suppose. If they come to understand the problem, I'm sure they'll find a way to make it great. I look forward to helping with a great event in Detroit. For those of you who are afraid of coming to my adopted home town, your fears are misplaced. We hosted a Super Bowl just a few years ago. We can do half of a First Championship, and with 350 teams from Michigan to draw from, there will be the best volunteer staff you could possibly imagine. See you there......Well, half of you, anyway.

[hannaners]

Originally Posted by pathew100

I'm not sure why they should fear anyone. The goals of FIRST and it's major sponsors are aligned. Why would the sponsors care how many championship events there are? They put $$$ into the program because it readies people for the workforce. The goal for FIRST is much the same, get students interested in STEM, get them to pursue post-secondary training in such things and be productive members of society. End of story.

If this is true, than that's pretty sad to me - FIRST is hugely focused on STEM of course (it's in the name) but the entire program has so much more depth than simply preparing people for the workforce. I have never built a single part for my team's robot, but have done a ton strategy, PR (website & social media), and some CADing (hmm you might be able to consider that as indirectly building a part...). The highlight of my season is always competitions, culminating in World Champs. What's special about FIRST is that everyone can have a role whether or not they like engineering; think of how many teams have a business/media/awards side and an engineering side. FIRST is a well-rounded program, and it's always "more than robots" as they so like to say. I for one do not plan to pursue a career in STEM, but I do plan to stay in FIRST for as long as I can manage. FIRST needs these kinds of people - students who become alumni who become key volunteers - but as passionate as I am about FIRST, having the two championships from 2017-2020 (putting that end date because I'm hoping it'll change for the better after that) is frustrating and disheartening because it won't allow me as a mentor/volunteer to provide students with the same experience that made me fall in love with FIRST in the beginning /endrant

Originally Posted by Drakxii

How does that compare to other conferences they have held at champs?

The room/theatre was a lot less packed than I expected it to be. I attended Karthik's strategy talk and the theatre was almost full. In comparison, the seating during the town hall meeting looked sparse and disappointing. Also, I knew a meeting would take place during Champs, but didn't know when it would happen until I saw a tweet by the Cheesy Poofs, so I'm wondering if some people just didn't know it was happening (it could've just been me though )

[BrennanB]

Originally Posted by KrazyCarl92

There's a whole thread on this particular situation, but the resistance to change is a real barrier to FIRST's scale-able growth in the future.

In most cases I would say the change to districts is not the fact that regions don't want to switch, its the fact that...

- They don't have enough volunteers
- They don't have enough venues
- They don't have enough money

These are far more likely assessments.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by BrennanB

In most cases I would say the change to districts is not the fact that regions don't want to switch, its the fact that...

- They don't have enough volunteers
- They don't have enough venues
- They don't have enough money

These are far more likely assessments.

Volunteer need scales to fill available space for the most part. What good does FTA training do someone if an FTA already covers all events in the area and/or the only events in the area are ones you attend with your team? Replace "FTA" with almost every other position. There's likely a rough gap year, but any other issues with volunteering probably center around issues outside of a talent pool.

Venues can be shaky. I know Ontario isn't home to the mega-gyms you see even in places like Indiana.

Money is an odd complaint. There are startup costs, sure (like buying your own field perimeter, I think FIRST sells the electronics to you directly??? I need to read up) but regionals aren't what one would call a low cost solution.

[Siri]

I'm not sure if anyone's posted another version, but I'm grateful that 1640 recorded the hour-long session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FFh...ature=youtu.be

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by Siri

I'm not sure if anyone's posted another version, but I'm grateful that 1640 recorded the hour-long session.

Popcorn's in the microwave. Thanks, 1640.

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by Siri

I'm not sure if anyone's posted another version, but I'm grateful that 1640 recorded the hour-long session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FFh...ature=youtu.be

Thank you, 1640.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Siri

I'm not sure if anyone's posted another version, but I'm grateful that 1640 recorded the hour-long session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FFh...ature=youtu.be

Thank you guys so much for recording this.

I also gotta say, the guy leading the town hall meeting, re-iterating about GP right after Shawn stopped talking, that was pretty dang rude to him.

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by dodar

I also gotta say, the guy leading the town hall meeting, re-iterating about GP right after Shawn stopped talking, that was pretty dang rude to him.

Link for the lazy: https://youtu.be/8FFhhPlrRvM?t=3179

Don't forget when the moderator was rude to Mike Corsetto, after he fairly got back in line after asking his original question: https://youtu.be/8FFhhPlrRvM?t=2892

[dodar]

Their growth expectation of FRC seems absurdly high too. They want 5-10x growth over the next 10 years. I think FRC only doubled over the previous 10. Sounds like they expect FRC to be at 20,000+ teams in 10 years. I sincerely doubt FRC gets past 12,000, if even 10,000.

[EricDrost]

Originally Posted by Hallry

Don't forget when the moderator was rude to Mike Corsetto, after he fairly got back in line after asking his original question: https://youtu.be/8FFhhPlrRvM?t=2892

"How do the two people behind you feel about you being up for round 2?"

Honestly, I would have been okay if the entire Q&A was just 30 minutes of Mike asking questions.