You guys stop telling everybody else that they need to go to districts ASAP, and we'll let you guys share your experiences. As tired as you guys are of hearing folks not in districts say how districts should be run, WE'RE tired of hearing how we should be in districts! We're working on it, but FIRST didn't reach 3K teams in 2 years!
And, if you'd be so kind as to actually do some basic math as to man-hours required so we can see just how badly off GeeTwo was, rather than simply dismissing his post as "garbage", while you're at it? Or should I do that for you?
Spoiler for My assumptions and numbers:
I get, for a regional, 1x 12-hour day, 2x 10-hour days, and 1x 8-hour day (give-or-take a few hours on any given day, and not in that order). 8-hour day is setup/load-in--noon to 8PM is typical. 12-hour day is practice--that one goes away at districts--could be a couple hours longer. The 10-hour days are the two competition days. At districts, those two go longer--I want to say that I've heard 12-hour days, but I'm not entirely sure. And while you're at it, bear in mind that a 60-team event is going to need a few more volunteers than a 40-team event, primarily in crowd control and inspection. I want to say that regionals run a total volunteer staff of 80-100 people, as I recall hearing that number tossed around before, but I can't say for sure--and not all of them are there the whole time.
So, for a regional... 40 hours over 4 days, and if you assume that the 8-hour setup day is held down by 10 people (HAH!) and the rest are run by 60 at any given time, you've got 80+60*32=2000 man-hours over 4 days, easily, probably closer to 3000 for a large regional. Using a similar line for districts under the assumptions above, and on the smaller end of volunteer corps strength, I get more like 1500 man-hours over 3 days.
For anybody who doesn't want to read the spoiler, I can see why the district folks are upset (the assumption was off by a factor of two if my assumptions are anywhere close to correct). But you can be civil while you're upset--please do so.
Back towards the main topic... I'm not from NY, haven't heard any rumors. But if a big regional loses its home, that is going to hurt. But... it'll help the district situation by forcibly identifying possible sites, so it's not all bad (I hope). We're looking at that situation out here, too.
Oh. I don't care how much the garbage smelled only that it was dumped all over the floor.
See, this is an engineering competition. We should strive to not pull numbers out of thin air. It's not a management competition after all.
Has it been confirmed that there will be a new regional next year? If there is, has it been established where it would be?
A Hudson Valley Regional somewhere on the Hudson would be advantageous for a lot of teams in both the NYC and capital areas. For capital region teams such as 2791, the nearest second regional that has any realistic chance of having openings on the second round of registration is 3.5 hours away (FLR). Another regional would give us a considerably closer event and also make it easier for downstate teams to find a second play.
I don't know the exact venue but I do know the reason for the Hudson Valley Rally (an offseason going on now) has something to do with regional planning.
I also hear the reason for the regional is o attract schools to make teams in the area between NYC and Albany. There's a really weird gap in teams in the Westchester area.
You must wear safety glasses at all times, so please bring them. - Don Wright [more] 
05-06-2016, 08:35
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