Bringing a member from another team to competition

[Jill1022]

Has anyone ever brought a member of another team along to a competition? I know some team did that at the Championship. What do you think about it? Good PR / GP idea?

[Not2B]

Sure - why the heck not?!

Unless they are taking the seat of someone on your team, I don't see why it wouldn't be a good idea. (And, if you cancel out the negitives in that last, poorly worded sentence, you get => I see why it would be a good idea.)

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Not2B

Unless they are taking the seat of someone on your team, I don't see why it wouldn't be a good idea. (And, if you cancel out the negitives in that last, poorly worded sentence, you get => I see why it would be a good idea.)

Technically just because you think something is not, not good doesn't necessarilly mean you think it is good. But I know what you mean.

I think it is totally fine as long as the person isn't "leaving" their own team and joining this other team for the pupose of hating their own team or anything like that.

Let's go by this general rule:
If it is friendly, it must be good. I just made that up, I really have no idea why. LOL

[Meyerman]

what team do you know of that brought someone from another team?

[Cory]

Team 972 has a former mentor and student from 100, so when they couldn't make it to Atlanta last year, we invited anyone from their team who wanted to go, to come with us.

It worked out fine, and we all had a good time.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

There are many cases in which teams offer seats and/or hotel rooms to other individuals to attend a competition, particularly nationals.

I think you pose a great question, so I will try to answer it from a few points of view.

1) The student being invited to come

Usually more than happy to attend, these students are A) teamless or B) there team didn't qualify and hope to be inspired or see old friends. They are happy to pay the bus and/or hotel fees and for their own meals and such, so there is a profit to your team. Most generally they stay with you but act independently of the team.

2) The Student Doing the Inviting

I think whoever pays for the arrangements should do the inviting. Example: Our finances are managed through a Purdue University Account that the students do not have access to. Not all of the money comes out of our pockets, therefore it is inappropriate for a student to post an announcement (without prior approval) about bus seat or hotel room availability. If a mentor OKs it, have at it. If every student pays their own way, totally, and there is room on the bus according to whomever is organizing the bus trip, have at it. But it never hurts to get approval from whoever is in charge.

3) Any individual from your team being ousted so a non-teammember can attend

Big no-no. If your boyfriend really wants to come, but it would involve not letting a nice kid on your team come, then it's a no-no. The team is first in travel arrangements, and then guests.

4) Mentor Point of View

Generally, adding guests is a huge hassle for mentors. The guest(s) should be added when preliminary travel arrangements are being made if possible, because this ensures that travel arragnements are concrete and that there's advanced warning. Keep in mind that there is likely to be (because of your school policy) a responsible adult making sure you're not drinking or doing drugs or other school unapproved things. To those of you who travel without someone adult with you: it's fine, if you're cool with it, but I'll tell you this...having an adult there is good to have. Mentors/parents are responsible for your health. So if an injury occurs to the guest or yourself on this trip, liability wise they are responsible for taking care of the guest.

The only way to avoid this liability is to have a contract for all guests that denies that need. I was injured in ATL, and a mentor put down a deposit for a wheelchair at the dome. Talk about a sigh of relief.

Most importantly, have fun. These are just some point of views to consider before you bring people along. Teams 1511 & 66 & others (those ar ejust two I know offhand) brought guests on their bus or with them in general. Correct me if I'm wrong, but spreading the word of FIRST to people who couldn't otherwise attend is fulfilling the program goal.

[Daniel Brim]

294 has taken members from our mentee teams two of the last three years. They never took anybody's seat, and they were paid for by the team. These teams don't have money to travel, so we like to give a few of the kids the experience.

-Daniel

[Greg Needel]

team 1511 brought someone from team 1559 to Cleavland, Toronto and Atlanta. she showed interest in doing more with robotics since her team ended for the year so 1511 open their arms to her and other members of the team although she was the only one to go. this did cause issues with her team but everything is fine and i think as long as people have a good time and there are spots available to go i see no problems with it

[Bill Moore]

Originally Posted by Jill1022

Has anyone ever brought a member of another team along to a competition? I know some team did that at the Championship. What do you think about it? Good PR / GP idea?

When you think about all the camaraderie that takes place between teams at competition, I think travelling together would be enjoyable way to extend that interaction.

[nobrakes8]

Originally Posted by Bill Moore

When you think about all the camaraderie that takes place between teams at competition, I think travelling together would be enjoyable way to extend that interaction.

We didn't take anybody from another team with "us".. but we did travel with our sister team on the bus and airplane to Atlanta (although they aren't too happy with us after alliance selections )... Unfortunatly the two teams had their group of friends and didn't really talk to eachother much, but we probably could have tried to break the ice if we tried to. (everybody had their own friends)...

Going with team 228 saved both teams a lot of fustration because parents didnt need to go the airport and saved a lot of money because we got 1 coach bus instead of getting 2 coach buses to go as two teams..

Obviously the bad side of it is when your traveling with another team and have a miscommunication during alliance selections and then need to get on a two hour plane ride and 2 and a half hour bus ride with a team that feels betrayed.

[Sarah Bowes]

I actually went to the Midwest regional and was part of team 27. My team couldn't go to nationals because of money reasons and being my first year and also a senior I really wanted to see some of the older teams I had been hearing about. Rush is one of my mentor's old team so we took the 5 hour drive to Michigan. There team took me in like one of there own and i would like to thank them again for that. It was a great experience to see how another team runs and if anyone has the opportunity I would recommend taking advantage of it!!!

[dhitchco]

Great responses here by Greg Needel and Eugenia Gabrielov,

I'd like to add that our rookie team did "adopt" a member of another team, who became a big ASSET to our team and was warmly welcomed.

In fact, next year, I'd suggest that all teams look around their home towns to see if a non-qualifying team would like to fund/support team members being "ghosts" of your own team. Sure, there are all the usual issues of chaperoning, security, inter-team jealousy, etc.....but it's all called gracious professionalism.

[Julia Magoolia]

This year, my friend's team didn't qualify to go to Atlanta. We both wanted to volunteer at Championships, so we roomed together and volunteered for FLL. It was so much fun having someone that I knew outside of my team there! But for local competitions, we invite all of our non-FIRST friends, to try to get them involved.

[FRANK(WGH)]

Team 48 provided invited a student from one of the teams we mentor(team 276) to come to the championship.
I believe if there's extra room a team should invite other FIRST students to come along, especially if a team wasn't able to qualify. It gives everyone a chance to experience the FIRST atmosphere

[Dave Campbell]

In 2003, we took three members of Team #144 to Nationals with our team. They were seniors on 144 and had been National Finalists the year before but the team did not qualify. I was the former advisor for 144 and knew the students well. They were well received by 1038 and worked hard with our team. There were logistical problems - their school did not want them going, our school was providing transportation (travel liability waivers) and lodging. They met my expectations and their parents gladly signed the waivers and released them from school for educational purposes. It could have been a mess if anything happened and we did not have any waivers signed by parents and school officials.
On a side note, we also picked up members from the former team #979, who were also seniors and had been on 979 for three years. We welcomed them for the entire build season and competition season as well. One (dddriveman) ended up as the primary driver for us this year and the other was instrumental in our scouting. A real pleasure having good, hard-working students added to our hard-working team. If all teams look around in their communities, I'm sure you'll find "homeless" FIRST'ers both student and mentors. Those who come looking for you are the real gems though!