FIRST Festival of Champions

[Nate Laverdure]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

man, I guess we can never be satisfied can we?

It's like the motto of FRC's last world Chairmans award winner. "It's not enough."

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by BrennanB

While many individuals may be unable to attend due to distance/timing/whatever, I think this is a cool experience that I can't imagine many half champ winners passing up.

Agreed. I will be stunned if any of the 8 World Champions pass on this event.

[bobbysq]

What are they going to fill 2 days with for only 3 matches at most? They could change it to 5, 7, or 9 for more, but it's still the same 3 robots going against each other. Perhaps it'll be a FIRST-sponsored IRI/CC style offseason, with the winning alliances being guaranteed a few matches against each other?

Either way, I'm excited for this. It's a good way to bring the two winning alliances together for some final official play. I assume that any off-seasons will simply move off of the week of the event if they have to.

Edit: just realized this is my 254th post ayy

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

Why am I going to waste my time to watch the webcast? What are they going to give the general audience? Unless they add something of value to the audience with future announcements this idea is dumb. Call me negative if you want but if my team qualifies for this I will not attend.

I mean, you wasted your time posting in a thread talking about how you're not going to waste your time by watching the webcast, so I really have no idea how you value your time.

[Pauline Tasci]

I'm quite happy FIRST listened to a lot of the criticism. And I do think it will be cool to have 8 of the top teams all in one place to compete.

While I'm not a fan of 2 champs, I'm glad they tried to come up with a solution that we all asked for.

With that, questions that immediately came to mind (that I hope FIRST is working on):

1. Will FIRST pay for shipping, team flights, and/or board? Or any of the 3? If so, how many members of each team? This adds a lot of cost to teams that did well and have not calculated this in their budget for the 2017 season

2. Will teams have to keep their robot bagged for another 3 months? This will eliminate a lot of off-seasons that come in between Champs and the Festival, including IRI
This will also extend the season another 3 months, teams who choose to continue work into the summer will prove victorious.

3. This is in the summer (I understand, since students and mentors need to catch up on school + work), how will this work with students vacations and mentors having to take more time off work?


Overall,
I am happy that FIRST listened to criticism and are trying to accommodate our requests. If 3476 wins Houston champs, I will be very excited to head over to NH!
Hopefully some of the other questions on the thread and these and answered as the season goes on.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

Who is actually going to send their teams to this should they win? There is no incentive to attend this by the winning teams. If FIRST wants this to be successful they need to pay for the teams to travel. This will not be a cheap trip.

You just outlasted 396 other teams to win a Championship, punched your ticket to a once-in-an-ever experience three months out, including the opportunity to play for the undisputed world championship, and you're worried about travel?

I recognize three months is genuinely tight for our friends on other continents, but for the North American teams: come on. That's time to get the local hype machine in motion and raise the necessary funds.

I do hope that FIRST lays out any travel support and rule addenda sooner rather than later, so there are no surprises for the teams that qualify. But as an initial public announcement, I'm genuinely excited by this email. (The office here at AndyMark went into instant hype mode.)

[Jay O'Donnell]

Also my guess for venue is the Verizon Wireless Arena (old home of GSR).

And to just keep people from being afraid, yes the snow is gone by July up here.

[KathieK]

I hope the "Education” opportunity includes a FIRST Conference like at Championships!

[itsjustjon]

It's great to see that FIRST came up with a solution that will be implemented the same year as the split championship system.

For outsiders, I really hope that the Festival will air on TV considering the finals are an All-Star type of competition and (sort of) showcase the peak of performance out of all the teams in FRC. What would be really cool is if FIRST could also air the presentations/videos of the two CMP Chairman's Award recipients to show support for both the robot and their highest award. Maybe they could even sprinkle in a sort of ESPN-esque season recap featuring match footage from each week with commentary from GameSense.

There's a lot of opportunity to turn the Festival of Champs into a great TV special for STEM and FIRST.

Also, will we see certain festivities such as Scholarship Row, CMP Panels, Intro/Closing Ceremony Bands, etc be hosted at the Festival rather than at each respective Championship?

[Tyler Olds]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Agreed. I will be stunned if any of the 8 World Champions pass on this event.

I wouldn't. Many teams struggle enough to have the resources to go to champs. It's easy to say that if they really want to go that they will find a way but the reality is that some teams may not be able to afford this or be able to accommodate going in the summer.

I am all for FIRST having an extra event but it seems like there is mixed messaging. Is this to crown the FIRST champs or is it just an exhibition with other cool activities going on?

[Jared Russell]

Indianapolis (either immediately before or after IRI) would have been the ideal time and place for this event. It would add value to the trip (presumably the half-champs winners would get IRI invitations as well), would have supplied dozens of other teams worth of spectators, and would be closer to a central location (which, as we all know, is a top priority!).

That said, this is better than nothing and leaves open the door to media coverage with a higher level of polish than any prior FIRST competition has ever had. I'm sure all of the teams who qualify will be pumped to be involved.

[itsjustjon]

Originally Posted by Tyler Olds

I wouldn't. Many teams struggle enough to have the resources to go to champs. It's easy to say that if they really want to go that they will find a way but the reality is that some teams may not be able to afford this or be able to accommodate going in the summer.

I am all for FIRST having an extra event but it seems like there is mixed messaging. Is this to crown the FIRST champs or is it just an exhibition with other cool activities going on?

Well, why can't it be both a crowning of champs and an exhibition of cool STEM stuff? This is the first year they are doing this, and it's due to the whole community asking for it.

If they made an event because we complained, I'm sure we might have some say about the purpose of the event in the years going forward.

[MARS_James]

Originally Posted by Tyler Olds

I wouldn't. Many teams struggle enough to have the resources to go to champs. It's easy to say that if they really want to go that they will find a way but the reality is that some teams may not be able to afford this or be able to accommodate going in the summer.

I imagine another big sticking point even if FIRST pays is going to be mentors being able to get off work. I know of several mentors on our team who burned through their vacation time last year and wouldn't be able to swing it for another event especially with only 3 potential matches.

This isn't about the mentors necessarily having to be their to teach and help but to be there to fit school criteria of chaperoning.

[Tyler Olds]

Originally Posted by itsjustjon

Well, why can't it be both a crowning of champs and an exhibition of cool STEM stuff?

It can be both but we will need to see if FIRST decides that the winners are world champs (maybe universe champions?). It could be similar to how Duluth does the Double Decc'r winner where the two regionals face off against each other. It's cool but doesn't really mean anything.

[D.Allred]

Originally Posted by Tyler Olds

I wouldn't. Many teams struggle enough to have the resources to go to champs. It's easy to say that if they really want to go that they will find a way but the reality is that some teams may not be able to afford this or be able to accommodate going in the summer.

I am all for FIRST having an extra event but it seems like there is mixed messaging. Is this to crown the FIRST champs or is it just an exhibition with other cool activities going on?

I'd go if possible. Let's not speculate on unannounced logistics and/or cost.

Bottom line, it is still a great opportunity for the students that they didn't have before.

David