FRC Blog : 2017 Championships

[mwmac]

Your Chance to Help FIRST with the 2017 Championship
Blog Date:
Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - 10:22

Hello Teams! We need your help!

As you know, we are moving to two FIRST Championships in 2017. FIRST HQ is forming a committee, to be made up of volunteers and FIRST staff, which will be tasked with making recommendations to Senior FIRST Management regarding these elements for the 2017 Championship:

What geographic regions will be assigned to which FIRST Championship as FRC teams’ ‘home’ Championships, including the way in which teams outside the United States would be included
A potential way in which teams may volunteer and be selected to attend their non-home Championship

The committee will be operating under the assumptions below. Changes to these assumptions will not be part of the committee’s discussions:

There will be two Championships in 2017 and beyond, in the cities and dates already announced
Each Championship will include all four FIRST programs, with similar activities at both Championships for all programs
Each Championship will be planned to have a similar quality and be a similar experience for teams and other participants

This committee will be working in October and November. All work will be done remotely, through conference calls and/or web meetings. We will likely have six or so one or two hour discussions during this period, depending on how our work progresses.

One of the volunteer slots available on the committee is an open slot, to which any member of the community may apply. Interested in helping us out? Please send an email outlining your experience in FIRST, along with the reasons why you think you would be a good participant on the committee, to frcteams@usfirst.org, with the subject ‘2017 Committee’. Please send those emails by Wednesday, September 30th. We’ll make our selection and announce committee participants in early October.

Thanks!

Frank

Thanks Frank for getting this underway!

[Hallry]

Posted on the FRC Blog, 9/23/15: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...7-Championship

Your Chance to Help FIRST with the 2017 Championship

Blog Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - 10:22

Hello Teams! We need your help!

As you know, we are moving to two FIRST Championships in 2017. FIRST HQ is forming a committee, to be made up of volunteers and FIRST staff, which will be tasked with making recommendations to Senior FIRST Management regarding these elements for the 2017 Championship:

• What geographic regions will be assigned to which FIRST Championship as FRC teams’ ‘home’ Championships, including the way in which teams outside the United States would be included
• A potential way in which teams may volunteer and be selected to attend their non-home Championship

The committee will be operating under the assumptions below. Changes to these assumptions will not be part of the committee’s discussions:

• There will be two Championships in 2017 and beyond, in the cities and dates already announced
• Each Championship will include all four FIRST programs, with similar activities at both Championships for all programs
• Each Championship will be planned to have a similar quality and be a similar experience for teams and other participants

This committee will be working in October and November. All work will be done remotely, through conference calls and/or web meetings. We will likely have six or so one or two hour discussions during this period, depending on how our work progresses.

One of the volunteer slots available on the committee is an open slot, to which any member of the community may apply. Interested in helping us out? Please send an email outlining your experience in FIRST, along with the reasons why you think you would be a good participant on the committee, to frcteams@usfirst.org, with the subject ‘2017 Committee’. Please send those emails by Wednesday, September 30th. We’ll make our selection and announce committee participants in early October.

Thanks!

Frank

[mwmac]

already a thread...http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=138260

[BBray_T1296]

Originally Posted by mwmac

already a thread...http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=138260

Hallry got blog-sniped

[mwmac]

Originally Posted by BBray_T1296

Hallry got blog-sniped

Rare indeed!

[Lil' Lavery]

Smart move by HQ

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Smart move by HQ

Except for the part where they passive-aggressively confirm that the parts of the proposal that are driving everyone's concerns are non-negotiable.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

Except for the part where they passive-aggressively confirm that the parts of the proposal that are driving everyone's concerns are non-negotiable.

I'm not sure what's passive-aggressive about this blog post, nor why anyone would expect those aspects to change considering they've repeatedly stated that they are set in stone (initial announcement, CMP town hall, etc). The contracts for the venues are already signed, the split championship is happening. FIRST HQ received criticism for not inviting teams/community members to the table, and now they are doing so. Make lemonade.

[Michael Corsetto]

All,

First, thank you for your nominations in this thread. I'm honored. #corsetto2016

Second, Frank actually brought this up with me via email in May. This was my response:

I did see the blog and the listed ways that you will be inviting community members to participate in committees to determine which teams go where and how teams could opt to attend their "non-default" championship. Given the criteria you've been given by the BoD, this is a good solution for working with what you have. Kudos on making that happen.

However, I have little interest in these discussions in particular. Either CMP will cost us (and the rest of West Coast Teams) about the same for travel (North CMP might be cheaper since it's later in the competition season, but its a minimal difference).

Four months later, I'm in the same place. This group just isn't worth my time.

However, after some thought, I will recommend that the open slot be given to someone in PNW. I know, since almost 1/2 of FRC Teams can drive to Detroit, that teams on the West Coast will likely be assigned to Houston. However, both Split Champs Venues are even further from Seattle, Washington than St. Louis by car (by 3+ hours). Additionally, scheduling for a CMP with air travel during Week 8 is huge burden to district events. PNW is the only district I expect to HAVE to travel by airplane to either 2017 CMP. I think FIRST needs to work much more closely with PNW to make sure they don't get left out to dry. Side Note: Week 8 Houston CMP means California Districts are even more sunk...

Now, if FIRST is interested in starting a discussion group about the millions of dollars spent on expensive A/V productions at regional and CMP events on an annual basis, sign me up. There's a group that can make a difference and put millions of dollars back into the pockets of teams and educators Town Hall 2016 CMP? One can hope...

-Mike

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

I will recommend that the open slot be given to someone in PNW.

Mike, I can't add anything to what you've said but I do agree that given the number of the teams and logistics involved, the PNW region should have a voice with this group.

I also feel that given the lower number of teams in the Southeast, it would be good to find a way to get my neck of the woods to flourish the way PNW has but I'm not sure that is a discussion for this group to tackle... though I suspect there is an argument to make about regional championship events in there somewhere down the line.

[Thad House]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

All,

First, thank you for your nominations in this thread. I'm honored. #corsetto2016

Second, Frank actually brought this up with me via email in May. This was my response:



Four months later, I'm in the same place. This group just isn't worth my time.

However, after some thought, I will recommend that the open slot be given to someone in PNW. I know, since almost 1/2 of FRC Teams can drive to Detroit, that teams on the West Coast will likely be assigned to Houston. However, both Split Champs Venues are even further from Seattle, Washington than St. Louis by car (by 3+ hours). Additionally, scheduling for a CMP with air travel during Week 8 is huge burden to district events. PNW is the only district I expect to HAVE to travel by airplane to either 2017 CMP. I think FIRST needs to work much more closely with PNW to make sure they don't get left out to dry. Side Note: Week 8 Houston CMP means California Districts are even more sunk...

Now, if FIRST is interested in starting a discussion group about the millions of dollars spent on expensive A/V productions at regional and CMP events on an annual basis, sign me up. There's a group that can make a difference and put millions of dollars back into the pockets of teams and educators Town Hall 2016 CMP? One can hope...

-Mike

I hadn't thought that one of the championships would be week 8. From the PNW, that would basically be impossible. I know in 2014 we ran a week 7 district championship, and getting booked for a week 9 world championship was hard. I personally liked the event being in week 7, but we moved it to week 6, and that did make it easier for teams to attend. We need to have a 3 week gap between district champs and worlds, especially if the amount of teams we send grows because of more teams at champs.

All 3 current venues for worlds are equally bad. A difference of 3 hours doesn't make a large difference when the drive is already 30+ hours. Plane costs already approach $600 per person, and thats with a 3 week gap. I think it was closer to $700 when there was only a 2 week gap.

I don't personally have the time to attend any of the meetings this fall, so I cannot apply, but I do agree that the PNW will have the hardest time with these changes, so the representative should be from here. We have alot of good mentors around here, so I'm sure we could find someone.

[MattRain]

It would be nice if they announced this to all the divisions of FIRST... not just FRC. I understand that FRC brings in the most money, but don't forget about everyone else. FTC has been thrown to the side, as well as FLL. If you want the communities advice, use the whole community.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

Now, if FIRST is interested in starting a discussion group about the millions of dollars spent on expensive A/V productions at regional and CMP events on an annual basis, sign me up. There's a group that can make a difference and put millions of dollars back into the pockets of teams and educators Town Hall 2016 CMP? One can hope...

-Mike

Great Point Mike.

Since California has been halfwayish on districts since 2012 (a good deal of our events are at high schools), if we had been able to save money during this time with reduced AV expenses we'd be that much closer to being able to afford the lump sum initial cost of switching to districts.

It just kills me that this huge pile of money is going towards inflated AV prices and not the students...

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Great Point Mike.

Since California has been halfwayish on districts since 2012 (a good deal of our events are at high schools), if we had been able to save money during this time with reduced AV expenses we'd be that much closer to being able to afford the lump sum initial cost of switching to districts.

It just kills me that this huge pile of money is going towards inflated AV prices and not the students...

Sometimes you can get lucky and have inflated overhead costs in the district system as well!

[mwmac]

Just for fun, I tried a rough cut of geographic assignments based on 2015 FRC registration numbers. The goal was to create an approximately even split of teams while trying to cluster around the two venues. 2908 FRC teams registered last year. Selecting the Dakotas, NE, MO, TN and NC and all states south and west of them, (and including AK, HI, western Canada and Mexico, Israel, Brazil, Australia, Germany, Turkey and China yields roughly 1320 +or- teams that could be assigned to the Houston venue or about 140 shy of an even split between venues.

I do not envy this committee or the task they will confront. Whatever their recommendation, it is likely to leave many dissatisfied. That said, I wish them well in their deliberations...