California District Proposal

[Ali Ahmed]

Originally Posted by Ed Law

The 2 required volunteers can be students or parents/teacher/mentors. Usually with 40 teams, there are enough volunteers with most teams supplying two. Exceptions can certainly be made with small teams, rookie teams or less resouceful teams. In the beginning, I couldn't find two parents so I volunteered myself. Later once the parents tried volunteering, they loved it so much they continued to do it and became part of the steady volunteer pool for FiM. This is a good way to grow the volunteer pool that people may not be aware of.

This is great news! I really hope we can implement the same policy. Thanks Ed.

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by Ali Ahmed

This is great news! I really hope we can implement the same policy. Thanks Ed.

It's also worth noting that the volunteers in FiM do not necessarily have to volunteer at the event the team is attending to count. For example, if a team were competing in a week 3 and a week 4 event, they could send two volunteers to a week 1 event and two more to a week 2 event, alternatively, they could send 4 volunteers to a single event and meet the requirement. This can sometimes lead to some events being shorter on volunteers than others (especially newer events or events with many new, small teams), but overall it seems to work out fairly well.

There are times that younger, smaller teams have exceptions made for them, but I find that generally this is more due to either a lack of knowledge of the requirement, and/or the teams coach being too in-over-their-heads to coordinate getting volunteers to fill the requirement. Generally though there aren't many repeat offenders when it comes to not providing volunteers, and most teams seem to figure it out by their second year in the program.

[RoboMom]

One of the keys to making the volunteer piece work is not just having more volunteers - but putting the attention and recognition into have good Volunteer Coordinators. This role is just as important as most of the key technical roles. It starts earlier than most of the technical roles. It takes a diplomat who is good with people, being able to facilitate, mediate and organize and making the volunteer feel valued no matter what the position. It starts way before most of the other positions and lasts after the other positions. It takes the whole planning committee to help with recruitment - both within the existing community of FIRSTers as well as reaching out to new people. And all the VC's in a District need to be able to communicate with each other unless you have a system full of silos.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by RoboMom

Volunteer Coordinators. This role is just as important as most any of the key technical roles.

Fixed that for you.

Great VC --> Great Event.

[jpetito]

Originally Posted by RoboMom

One of the keys to making the volunteer piece work is not just having more volunteers - but putting the attention and recognition into have good Volunteer Coordinators. This role is just as important as most of the key technical roles. It starts earlier than most of the technical roles. It takes a diplomat who is good with people, being able to facilitate, mediate and organize and making the volunteer feel valued no matter what the position. It starts way before most of the other positions and lasts after the other positions. It takes the whole planning committee to help with recruitment - both within the existing community of FIRSTers as well as reaching out to new people. And all the VC's in a District need to be able to communicate with each other unless you have a system full of silos.

Hi RoboMom--

We tend manytimes to pass over the Volunteer coordinator as a Key Role. As we sit in our dark rooms dashing off our geeky perceptions, it's the VC's, able to make the human connection between people that pull it all together. It's like the drummer and the sound guy before and after the gig- they've got the most gear and have to do the most planning, and come early and stay late, and there's little acknowledgment for how they make the pretty people on the stage look and sound pretty.

Connect this to Ali A's comment on being Too Cool, and the willingness of so many on the Left Coast who let others stoop to the Hard Jobs. Going from the Regional to the District will make for grubby competition between consortiums of teams or organizations to locate venues, and timing of events to avoid conflicting needs for finding the hard-to-locate lead positions. We don't want that drama between personalities and between venues--it distracts us from our focus as an educational organization. As is, we're facing two off-season events in our area that will siphon off teams, making neither event successful.

We existed with a silo system because it works/worked. Going to Districts will mean, as you've suggested, a means for Volunteer C's to communicate state-wide so as not to rob one another of skilled people. ErichH has outlined the numbers of skilled people clearly, I think, and the difficulties of keeping their skilled volunteerism, not throwing it onto the bonfire of our perceptions.

Joe Petito
Veteran, USMC

PS- On Ali's point of being Too Cool: we are a geeky lot; let CD not become a substitute for real relationships.

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by RoboMom

One of the keys to making the volunteer piece work is not just having more volunteers - but putting the attention and recognition into have good Volunteer Coordinators. This role is just as important as most of the key technical roles. It starts earlier than most of the technical roles. It takes a diplomat who is good with people, being able to facilitate, mediate and organize and making the volunteer feel valued no matter what the position. It starts way before most of the other positions and lasts after the other positions. It takes the whole planning committee to help with recruitment - both within the existing community of FIRSTers as well as reaching out to new people. And all the VC's in a District need to be able to communicate with each other unless you have a system full of silos.

Thanks for the sounds advice Jenny!

Can you elaborate on the role of the VC in districts?

How do they communicate volunteer needs across events?

Is there a different VC for every district event, or do some perform the role of VC at multiple events?

Is there one "master VC" in the district to help coordinate all the volunteer efforts within the district?

Thanks!

-Mike

[Collin Fultz]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

Thanks for the sounds advice Jenny!

Can you elaborate on the role of the VC in districts?

How do they communicate volunteer needs across events?

Is there a different VC for every district event, or do some perform the role of VC at multiple events?

Is there one "master VC" in the district to help coordinate all the volunteer efforts within the district?

Thanks!

-Mike

Indiana has Carolyn Beyer as the Chair of our Volunteer Committee, member of the BOD, and "master" VC. She helps manage the VC's for our district events and helps place key volunteers at each event.

Having her in this position also makes it easier for new event VC's, since she can use her experience to help mentor the new VC.

[IKE]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

Thanks for the sounds advice Jenny!

Can you elaborate on the role of the VC in districts?

How do they communicate volunteer needs across events?

Is there a different VC for every district event, or do some perform the role of VC at multiple events?

Is there one "master VC" in the district to help coordinate all the volunteer efforts within the district?

Thanks!

-Mike

In Michigan, each event has a VC, though many VCs cover more than one event, especially in SE Michigan where the events are much closer together.

In Michigan, due to the number of events, we have also been assigning key position leads. These leads help with organizing key volunteer coverage for events as well as mentor for the new key volunteers.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by IKE

In Michigan, due to the number of events, we have also been assigning key position leads. These leads help with organizing key volunteer coverage for events as well as mentor for the new key volunteers.

We've done this in Minnesota, even though we aren't in districts. So for example one "Chief" LRI to help keep all the LRI's organized, oversee training opportunities, and coordinate with our VC and the regional planning committees. It may be a little overkill right now with just 4 events, but I think it's helping to set up a good structure that can easily grow when needed. It also helps to spread out the training concerns - While a VC may just be worried about having someone in that role at their event, the chief's can focus on ensuring they have enough to cover existing events and enough in training to account for attrition and the addition of new events. You definitely need that overall view of the region, regardless if you are in regionals or districts... if everyone is just focused on their event, you'll never have the right people available to add events without forcing people to do extra duty the first year or two of a new event.

[Libby K]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

Thanks for the sounds advice Jenny!

Can you elaborate on the role of the VC in districts?

How do they communicate volunteer needs across events?

Is there a different VC for every district event, or do some perform the role of VC at multiple events?

Is there one "master VC" in the district to help coordinate all the volunteer efforts within the district?

Thanks!

-Mike

In FIRST Mid-Atlantic, each event has their own VC, including the DCMP. We also have a VC Coordinator who serves as a coordination point for all the VCs in the region, and helps out where needed, especially training new VCs as they adjust to their role.

In and out of season, the group of district VCs get together on conference calls and quite a few email chains to sync up on any issues or new instructions from FIRST that may come up. We're also connected via a few email chains & encouraged to check in if we need more people for an event (especially trained roles - We had some referees drop last-minute before Montgomery this year and being able to email the other VCs with 'can you contact your referees and see if they're free, pretty please?' was a godsend), or to report after our event on any hiccups, or things future-week VC's could help streamline for the upcoming events.

[jpetito]

On the continuing line of Volunteer C's:

Is there a body willing at this time to step up to the task? I ask because if we want some minimal District roll-out in 2018, names and titles and skills must go in the org chart in order to pull it off with a fine degree of Professionalism.

It wouldn't hurt too to have a like-minded person/group who would like to take on the several off-season FRC events so there is minimal clash of dates and locations. Unfortunate that Chezy Champs and Fall Classic conflict.

Off-season events in the CA:

Chezy Champs by FRC 254
Battle at the Border by FRC 1538
MadTown Throwdown by FRC 2073
CalGames
Capital City Classic?
Fall Classic by FRC 4470 & LA Robotics
Spring Scrimmage by FRC 4470 & LA Robotics

Did I miss any? Don't think the list is up to date. (and spelling?) Need some help from the research-minded.

Joe Petito
Machinist

[bkahl]

Originally Posted by jpetito

Battle at the Border by FRC 1538

and 2485

[jpetito]

Thanxx Bailey!

Joe

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Collin Fultz

Indiana has Carolyn Beyer as the Chair of our Volunteer Committee, member of the BOD, and "master" VC. She helps manage the VC's for our district events and helps place key volunteers at each event.

Having her in this position also makes it easier for new event VC's, since she can use her experience to help mentor the new VC.

Originally Posted by IKE

In Michigan, each event has a VC, though many VCs cover more than one event, especially in SE Michigan where the events are much closer together.

In Michigan, due to the number of events, we have also been assigning key position leads. These leads help with organizing key volunteer coverage for events as well as mentor for the new key volunteers.

Originally Posted by Libby K

In FIRST Mid-Atlantic, each event has their own VC, including the DCMP. We also have a VC Coordinator who serves as a coordination point for all the VCs in the region, and helps out where needed, especially training new VCs as they adjust to their role.

In and out of season, the group of district VCs get together on conference calls and quite a few email chains to sync up on any issues or new instructions from FIRST that may come up. We're also connected via a few email chains & encouraged to check in if we need more people for an event (especially trained roles - We had some referees drop last-minute before Montgomery this year and being able to email the other VCs with 'can you contact your referees and see if they're free, pretty please?' was a godsend), or to report after our event on any hiccups, or things future-week VC's could help streamline for the upcoming events.

Huge thank you to each of you for the valuable feedback!

It seems like some sort of "Chair of the Volunteer Committee" or "VC Coordinator" role is important to manage the existing volunteer base and help out new VC's as they develop. Does the individual in this "VC management" role also VC an event, or do they remain as purely top-level organizational support?

Also seems like mixed results on whether or not VC's cover multiple events, although it seems that a unique VC for each event would minimize the load.

Thanks again for all the help!

-Mike

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by jpetito

Chezy Champs by FRC 254
Battle at the Border by FRC 1538
MadTown Throwdown by FRC 1323
CalGames
Capital City Classic by FRC 1678/2073/3859
Fall Classic by FRC 4470 & LA Robotics
Spring Scrimmage by FRC 4470 & LA Robotics

Minor corrections.