Virutal KOP Webinar (Nov 18th, 6PM EST)

[marshall]

Our regional director asked (Voluntold?) me if I wouldn't mind giving a short webinar for new teams about the virtual KOP and FIRST Choice.

It will be happening next week on Wednesday, November 18th from 6:00PM EST until 8:00PM EST. I'm not sure that I'll have 2 hours worth of content but we have the time for it if there are questions and people are interested.

My plan was to cover TIMS, redeeming voucher codes, and then how the FIRST Choice process works. I'll pull details from what FIRST HQ has provided and what we've done in the past. Suggestions for more topics are welcome.

Here are the details:

Register now!
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/reg...01792928215810

You are invited to join Marshall Massengill from FRC 900 for a webinar on the virtual Kit of Parts options available to teams. He will show your team where to find the various coupons and talk you through how to redeem them. An explanation and guide through FIRST Choice will be included. There will be time for plenty of questions and answers.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
View System Requirements

See you online on November 18!

EDIT: Yes, I messed up on the title... If a mod wants to fix it then I'll send them a cookie.

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by marshall

Our regional director asked (Voluntold?) me if I wouldn't mind giving a short webinar for new teams about the virtual KOP and FIRST Choice.

It will be happening next week on Wednesday, November 18th from 6:00PM EST until 8:00PM EST. I'm not sure that I'll have 2 hours worth of content but we have the time for it if there are questions and people are interested.

My plan was to cover TIMS, redeeming voucher codes, and then how the FIRST Choice process works. I'll pull details from what FIRST HQ has provided and what we've done in the past. Suggestions for more topics are welcome.

Here are the details:

Forwarded on to some VA rookie teams. Thanks Marshall.

[marshall]

Just FYI, AndyMark has graciously set me up with access to a test site to demo the FIRST Choice priority list creation process so I'll have a live demo on Wednesday for those attending.

My goal is to make this very accessible to new teams so please help with getting the word out to rookie teams.

I'm thankful to Jerry and Charles over at AM for setting me up with this at the last minute. Super nice folks!

[ty.sayman]

Looking forward to it!

[marshall]

Just bumping this up one more time before tonight! I'll see you all online. Make sure you get the word out about this to any newer teams so they know about this process.

We're going to try to record it and make it publicly available after the webinar.

[rsisk]

Great presentation Marshall, thanks for putting it on.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by rsisk

Great presentation Marshall, thanks for putting it on.

No problem! Happy to do it. I was really happy that Charles and Kate were on to help with answering the hard questions and a big thank you to Jamie from NC FIRST for acting as my moderator!

EDIT: PDF Copy of the presentation with minor edits: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7...FBIenRyWDU1TUk

EDIT: Our friends at Google are processing the video upload but I'll post the link to it shortly.

[marshall]

Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apGR8U3emEE

[GreyingJay]

Thanks for setting that up. 2706 is a new team and this will be our first time going through FIRST Choice. I appreciated the demo and walk through.

We're a Canadian team and all the talk about shipping costs changes the strategy for us a little bit. I've ordered from AndyMark a few times already and although their shipping schedule is INCREDIBLY fast, it is also on the pricey side. This may impact our priority list because we have to weigh the cost of shipping for a "free" item vs just buying it ourselves locally. Batteries are a good example - we might prioritize them lower just because the "buying power" of the credits will be reduced due to the shipping costs.

We're starting from zero though so this will be a great opportunity to start "stocking the shelves" so to speak. Less than two hours to go...

[marshall]

Originally Posted by GreyingJay

Thanks for setting that up. 2706 is a new team and this will be our first time going through FIRST Choice. I appreciated the demo and walk through.

We're a Canadian team and all the talk about shipping costs changes the strategy for us a little bit. I've ordered from AndyMark a few times already and although their shipping schedule is INCREDIBLY fast, it is also on the pricey side. This may impact our priority list because we have to weigh the cost of shipping for a "free" item vs just buying it ourselves locally. Batteries are a good example - we might prioritize them lower just because the "buying power" of the credits will be reduced due to the shipping costs.

We're starting from zero though so this will be a great opportunity to start "stocking the shelves" so to speak. Less than two hours to go...

Happy to help! Definitely take that into account when you are working out your list. Believe me when I say that every team is different and what is important to one team might not be important to the next!

I'm glad you guys enjoyed it though! It was a fun thing for me to do so maybe I'll do more if there is interest down the road. I know I need a better mic for the next one though.

[jkelleyrtp]

Originally Posted by GreyingJay

Thanks for setting that up. 2706 is a new team and this will be our first time going through FIRST Choice. I appreciated the demo and walk through.

I'm curious, if you guys are starting anew (and I assume resurrecting an old team), why not just make a new one? You get plenty of perks being rookies and not a team coming back from the dead. Grants for regionals, extra motor controllers, a chance at rookie all-star.

[GreyingJay]

Originally Posted by jkelleyrtp

I'm curious, if you guys are starting anew (and I assume resurrecting an old team), why not just make a new one? You get plenty of perks being rookies and not a team coming back from the dead. Grants for regionals, extra motor controllers, a chance at rookie all-star.

Actually not resurrecting an old team, but starting a new team from an existing one. 2994 is taking a break from FRC due to time commitments on the lead teacher. He's still doing VEX and hoping to return to FRC soon. In the meantime his suggestion was that we could start a new community based team, but FIRST won't let you be a rookie team if you have more than 5 students transferring from the old team to the new. In that situation your new team is considered a veteran team and given an unused number from the same pool as the team you came from.

Rather than try to pick which 5 students from 2994 to take, we decided it was more important to admit all the interested students (half of the team came over). We don't get to enjoy rookie status for a year, but on the flipside we're pretty proud of having a 2009-era veteran team number.

We do still get a rookie kit so we'll still get the extra battery and controllers as well as a RoboRio.