[FTC]: Old Event Listings and "Cold Contacts"

[ManicMechanic]

I realized that I raised 2 issues in one thread and am attempting to separate here.

Originally Posted by Rich Kressly

There is a date listed for when upcoming tournaments will be posted, and other info for this coming year is also available here:
http://www.usfirst.org/what/fvc/content.aspx?id=384

This page states that new events will be listed in October. While this is fine for returning veterans, it is of no help to “cold contacts”, people whose first and only contact with FIRST is via its website (rather than those who know someone already involved in FIRST).

On the “What’s going on in my area” page for California, for LAST YEAR, I see 3 events for FRC, over 20 for FLL, 3 for JFLL but none listed for FTC. This would seem to indicate that there were no FTC events in CA last year, when in reality, there were 3. If I were a “cold contact” trying to decide whether to start an FTC team, I would look at that page, think to myself, “There is FRC, FLL and JFLL, but no FTC in California,” and give up the idea of starting a team.

This is not purely hypothetical, as an almost identical scenario occurred when we started with FLL. My son was developing an interest in robotics, found FIRST via a websearch, and asked if I would start an FLL team. We had never met anyone affiliated with FIRST had never attended a FIRST event. But when we checked out the website for California, it said, “There are no events in California.” At that point, I gave up the idea of starting an FLL team, but my son persisted in continuing to scour the internet for contacts, pushing me to “bug one more person, one more time.” Finally, we located the local Affiliate Partner who promised to help us find a tournament. Without this assurance, we were unwilling to lay down the $600 for registration and materials, and if the assurance had come too late (after the Sept 10 Challenge release date), we would not have registered for that year since we would be “too far behind everyone else to make it worthwhile to register.” Because FLL, like FTC, announces its events beginning in October, without the AP’s help, we never would have come on board.

The listing of old events is very valuable because 1) it gives a newcomer an idea of what was available previously and what is likely to be available for the coming year, and 2) often, event coordinators and contact info are listed under those old events. I coordinate a small FLL tournament and my contact info is available on the website. Because this info stays on the website almost all year-round, I receive 1-2 “cold contacts”/year, most of them during the summer, while people are deciding whether or not to start a team. I am happy to give them info on our tournament and put them on our contact list, as well as provide info on other local events. This information is equivalent to what veteran teams have access to, and it puts the newcomers on equal footing with them.

To its credit, when I contacted FIRST with a list of “newbie unfriendly” features on the FLL website, they addressed every one of the complaints on the following year’s website. It’s my hope that FTC will be as adaptable.