Is competing at multiple regionals REALLY fair ?

[Protronie]

Wins = Attention
Attention = Sponsors
Sponsors = Money
Money= being able to do more.

Yes it is a vicious cycle...but it is what it is.
Sponsors want to have their name seen, hence the more places your bot goes the more happy the sponsors are.

And don't think for a min the kids on the team that have many/big pocket sponsors have a easy road.

Double the pressure you feel and you have an idea what it might be like on a mega-team.
Everyone watching what you do, you always on the go it seems.
And theres many people to answer to when things don't go right and your bot has a bad event.

By the same token... I'm sure any die hard FIRST nut would trade places in a heartbeat. Instead of bashing or resenting teams that can go to many regionals... why don't you study them. See what they do and how they do it to attract the money and sponsors.

-p

[dsmoker]

Wins = Attention
Attention = Sponsors
Sponsors = Money
Money= being able to do more.


I totally agree. We have found it exponentially easier to get press coverage, support from the school, and from sponsors since we started performing better, especially after winning our regional last year. That said, the attention and support is continuing even though we didn't even make eliminations based on the fact that we did win two awards: Woodie Flowers for one of our mentors and the Johnson and Johnson Gracious Professionalism Award. The school, in particular, has viewed these as victories in equal important to actually winning the competition.