A Better Competition

[Tonya Scott 476]

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to share some ideas I have about a better competition system.

My husband & oldest daughter recently attended the National FFA convention in Louisville. This convention has a trade show, a store, and lots of seminars, famous guest speakers, and workshops.

I have also attended a National Science Teachers Convention. (NSTA) in New Orleans no less!
This convention had loads of learning short courses, workshops, seminars etc etc. A huge trade show, local tours to local industry, etc. The NSTA also produces a "convention newspaper" that has all of these schedules so a person can plan and map the coursed they want to attend.

My team brought up the question about going to Atlanta regardless if we qualified or not, just to see the competition. Well, I know the answer my school administrators will probably give us---No, why should you go?

Now, what if we had a convention, trade show put on by all the sponsors (and potential sponsors), store of FIRST products, and lots of workshops put on by the mentors of FIRST teams. Now, if teams wanted to attend the "Championship Competition and Convention" then we would have lots of teams coming, and not only participating as a huge cheering crowd, but also learning new skills in the workshops. And........school administrators would know that the teams would be attending a national convention, just like FFA, DEKA, STEPPUP, and many other groups.

Now here is the really good part, non-competition teams adopt competing teams to help and cheer for!

All teams wanting to attend the convention would have to have a mentor or students willing to give up 2 or 3 hours for a workshop. I know that most of my mentors love to help out with teaching and would love to teach a workshop on gears, programming, fundraising, public relations/media etc etc. The non-qualifying teams would, in turn, become better teams by learning some things that will make them more competitive the next year.

The whole convention idea would also allow more mingling and interaction with other teams. My students tell me they like to meet new people, so this is it!

I also think having the "FIRST Photo Wall" set up inside with a professional photographer taking pics as an option.

I'm sure that this idea could have some better ideas that what I have given, but this is the general idea that I would like to see happening, so that when teams go to their only regional competition, and don't qualify for the Championship, then it isn't just "over". Instead the kids can look forward to going the Championship Competition and Convention and participating in the FIRST program.

Not to mention, more revenue to the city that hosts this. This would bring lots of business to the city.

It's a WIN-WIN situation in my opinion!

Thanks,

[Andy Baker]

Tonya,

I think that this is a wonderful idea. I would like to get behind this effort... let me know what I can do to help.

Andy B.

[generalbrando]

I like it! The Georgia dome holds something like 70,000, right? There won't be that many competiting people there - so there is definitely room for more people to watch and learn.

My team is not qualified for the national event this year, however I hope to goon my own if we don't qualify during competition. Is it possible to get something small started this year even though it may not attract many non-competing teams? It might help to start small and establish the convention side of the event before trying to implement all the great possibilities. Also, has this been suggested to FIRST yet?

Keep me posted and let me know how I can help as well.

[Tonya Scott 476]

Wow---thanks for the positive responses.

My thoughts are that maybe starting this process at the regional level would be a good start.

Simply by offering learning sessions at the regional for the younger teams, or teams that just want to know more about a particular subject.

I'm sure that most of the Regional Venues have conference rooms.

I guess the next step is to let FIRST know that this is the direction we would like to see the competitions follow.


I would like more input with more specific ideas if anyone would share. Please continue adding to this thread, and I will carry share them with FIRST.


The BIG convention ideas and the learning sessions could be coordinated by a panal of team volunteers if the idea is more than what FIRST would want to deal with. Since the leaders of the learning sessions are team members/mentors, then it makes sense to do it that way. But FIRST would have to decide what role they want to have in this.

Let us all keep brainstorming on this idea, and please keep posting your ideas. THis process lets us gather lots of different aspects.

Thanks everybody.

[Tton]

this idea is great! This would allow the public to learn and more people to come and not only watch rounds.

The best part of this idea is that if a team is trying to qualify for nationals they can buy there plane tickets and all there rooms and meal stuff ahead of time and not get stuck with large fees because they know they are definity going.

it would be awesome to see this!

[Erin Rapacki]

I love the idea as well!

It's a great way to attract the public, because watching matches can only be so entertaining (if your not rooting for somebody specifically, or placing bets... it gets boring and repetitive rather quickly). I also always have the challenge to make sure everybody on my team has something to do during competitions... its hard to place an entire team in the pit. Therefore, if a convention was attatched to nationals... a team could be given a subject to present and the rest of the team could be involved in that aspect (maybe something tied in with their sponsors?)

It would be great if this could actually get off the ground...

[Andrew]

Last year we sent two mentors and two high school students to Championships, even though we did not go as a team.

Their reports were mixed.

The mentors generally found things to do, such as hosting VIP tours, watching matches, etc. However, they mentioned that non-FIRST spectators generally came, watched a few matches, looked around the pits, and then left. The mentors came back saying they had a blast and would return to CMP with or without a robot.

The high school students indicated that they did not enjoy things as much as the mentors. Teams are too focussed on the competition and did not interact much outside the matches.

This points to the "adopt a team" idea being a good idea.

I think that it would be excellent if FIRST allocated a second room for teams to set up their "social area." Right now, you either hang out in the pits, or in the stands, or in the parking lot. If teams had a second area where they could hang out, distribute buttons, socialize, play music, etc., it would make a huge difference in the atmosphere and enjoyment of the competition. It would also provide people who are not actively competing an area to socialize. Most venues have the space for something like this. I don't know how much organization FIRST would have to allocate to it or whether it would cost additional money. This is certainly something where, if FIRST gave us the go ahead on the space, the teams themselves could organize and set up.

As to the idea of having a "convention" as well, this is a terrific idea. I would recommend that someone take the lead, contact FIRST to see if space can be made available, and start getting teams to contribute to the planning.

One idea which I have wanted to pursue is to tack on an educational conference to FIRST events. Since many educators (high school teachers, college teachers, and engineering professionals) are trying out ideas on how to improve education, the FIRST competition is an ideal place for those people to present their ideas and results and to discuss. This would doubtless bore the sox off the HS students, so it doesn't really address your concern.

It would be nice for teams to prepare a poster addressing their Chairman's Award activities and put aside a place to display this. If there are Hall of Fame teams at your regional, they could get a display as well.

Colleges should also be more active in providing events for the HS students: how to apply and select a college, what funding is available, what are the different majors all about, etc.

At kick off, there has been an increasing organization for technical presentations. Maybe some of this infrastructure could be brought to the competitions themselves.

[Ken Patton]

What a great idea!

For the last few years I have been giving a drive systems seminar before the OCCRA season and at the Novi kickoff. Last year we improved the seminar because Paul Copioli from team 217 took over half of it. We do a good job of covering the fundamentals and making it educational as well as practical.

I think if there were a set of seminars covering all aspects of robot design & development, control systems, team organization, etc., and if they were truly educational (thus giving us some credibility that it was not just a vacation), non-competing teams would want to come to the "FIRST Conference & Championships."

I'd volunteer to give a seminar for something like this.

Another idea, there could be some form of leadership training or activities for students who are interested in leading teams, etc. With all of the bigwigs in town for the event we might be able to steal some of their time and have them give a few speeches or seminars.

Ken

[Tonya Scott 476]

I am ever so pleased to see all of the info and ideas that you all are sharing---I will call FIRST on Monday morning.

NOW---Here is your homework

I need 2 lists from you.

#1---List the topics of workshops/sessions that you feel your team would be qualified in leading.

#2---List the topics of workships/sessions that you feel your team would most benefit in attending (think back to your earlier years as a team as well).

Here are some examples of topics, please add new topics as well.

Funding a FIRST Team (Fundraising, finding a sponsor)
Technical aspects---programming, drive systems
Leadership of students---officers, committees
Finding Mentors
How to prepare for competitions (for rookies esp.)
robot carts
Pit setups
giveaways and trading items
Bringing your school system as a supporter
getting letter jackets to your team
getting new scholarships at your local colleges
recruitment and team dynamics
public speaking and robot demos
building a business plan
state wide recognition
recruiting new teams
starting FLL teams

GOT IT? OK-------NOW YOU GO!

Add lots more to this list. The more info and ideas we have on this, the easier it will be for FIRST to understand what teams want and need, and what teams can offer and provide as presenters.

I agree with an earlier post----this would allow teams to plan on attending---well in advance---regardless of qualification with robot competition. This would bring bigger and better crowds. And also add a high level of comraderie never before experienced.

KEEP ADDING MORE IDEAS

[Jon Reese]

how about driving seminars
this could mabye help driver/operator hopefulls......
as a joke if you passed the seminar you copuld get a drivers licence...lol

[RogerR]

Originally posted by Jon Reese
how about driving seminars
this could mabye help driver/operator hopefulls......
as a joke if you passed the seminar you copuld get a drivers licence...lol

that might be rather difficult to do since each robot control system can be different from the next. maybe something similar like 'on-field strategy discussions' could be held.

[KenWittlief]

the only misgiving I have about this idea is

the seminars you are talking about, the kind of information that will be presented

will be most usefull to small teams

those small teams that are attending the championship, and participating in it, with only a few adults present

I cant imagine them being available to coach the team, help out in the pits, and attend any of these meetings or seminars

I know you started this idea as a reason or motive for more teams to attend the championship

but if you really want to have a learning forum, a way for people to have a FIRST Convention type of experience

then I think this would be better at some other time of the year

maybe in the summer? maybe early in the fall? during one of the breaks from school?

If you hold this during the championships, then the people there who really need it the most, wont be able to attend. They will be too busy with the competition itself. Could this be a separate event instead? Maybe an expanded version of the kickoff meetings?

[Ken Leung]

Excellent direction for discussion to go! Hats off to Tonya for bringing this idea to this community.

There are couple of angles to look at this idea with.

1. # of volunteers and staff
2. Running a convention
3. Cost of the event
4. # of participants
5. Quality of the convention
6. Scheduling of the workshops
7. PR aspect

Just want to touch on these points without writing too much.

1. From what I've seen last year at Championship Event, FIRST is really stretched just running the CE alone. They have just about enough volunteers to operate each field on schedule, and all the FIRST staff had something to do + the company they hired to help run events. If this is to happen this need to be ran by a seperate group of staff/volunteers. I just don't think FIRST has any more bandwidth to do something at this level. But I am not saying it will be impossible. Far from it. There will be lots and lots of people interested in attending something like this without having to pay more than 10k for the FIRST competition.

2. I believe there need to be professionals to take care of the logistics of this event. It can't be just "just get another space and we will put workshop and stores there". You have to treat it seriously to make it successful.

3. I don't believe FIRST has any extra money from their budget to start this event. So, in order for this to happen, it need to be self sustainable. Again, not impossible. Just look at how past conventions had happened. Also, there can be a lot of work done by volunteers, but I believe a lot of the teachers/staff should get paid for putting up such a convention. As educators doing a service for the rest of the educators, they deserve to earn some money to at least pay for the airplane ticket + hotel, if not a little more to help them raise some fund for their project base learning program.

4. It is important to figure out how many participants you will have ahead of time, and plan your workshops accordingly. I would not want to see 1 class of 400 audience, and then 3 more classes of 4~5 audience. This will also help organize how many workshops there should be, how many room and chair you need, and how many hand out material you should print ahead of time.

5. There needs to be a quality to such event. The workshops have to be thought out ahead of time so their material is well developed. All workshops should be top quality to make it worthwhile. So, you got to make sure each instructor understand what level of quality you are expecting from them.

6. The schedule of the workshops should be organized so that people don't have a hard time choosing between which ones to go. Ideally there will be a few repeat sessions of the workshops , and the schedule rotates so that there are enough workshops during the day. So, say these are 3 hour workshops (just as an example because WRRF workshops are all day hands on ones). You can fit in 3 period in a day. 9:00 to noon, 1:00 to 4:00, and 4:00 to 7:00. Have lunch at noon, and dinner at 7:00. If you have 2 days of workshops, that means an overall 6 workshop for each person. However, I see some value in making it 6 session and have a 3 hour period just for socalizing.

7. If this event is promoted well, a lot of teachers will participate. This should be promoted through other educational convention channels, on top of FIRST's promotion when they do PR for championship event. It will give great exposure for FIRST AND this convention if this effort is a joint one.

Ok, sorry about the long messages. I am excited to see new ideas are brought up! At the same time, I feel that these sort of events should be professional, well organized and thought out to be successful.