California Offseason Event Feedback

[Akash Rastogi]

"The event would be non profit"

Why would you guys go to this much effort without any aim for a profit? I understand you not wanting to fundraise this way, but whatever money you make, use it in your educational programs at school or for scholarships/funding other teams. Do not waste an opportunity to fundraise.

[Matt Howard]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

"The event would be non profit"

Why would you guys go to this much effort without any aim for a profit?

Perhaps because seeing the students engaged and learning is profit enough in his eyes. While the perks of fund raising are great, off season events such as this are a great way to gain public attention, and recruit team members, sponsors, and mentors.

This is a great Idea. I'd be willing to bet our team would like to attend.

[Johnny]

The Devil Duckies used to hold an offseason event, but for the last three years it has been cancelled due to the unfortunate San Diego Wild Fires. If things don't end up catching on fire, there is a high possibility that the "Battle at the Border" will return.

[David Brinza]

Our team makes it a point to support multiple off-season events. It's a great way to introduce people to the program and get more fun OUT of the robot. (After all, we've invested a lot of effort putting fun INTO the robot, right?)

Try to avoid scheduling near other established off-season events like IRI (end of July), SCRRF Fall Classic (mid-Sept), WRRF Cal Games (late-Oct), and Battle at the Border (TBD), so teams can relax a bit between events.

You can expect some offerings of help in preparing and executing the event from other teams. Keep us posted!!

[jmarsh24]

TEAM 2085!!!!!

[billbo911]

I believe you could count 2073 in.

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by jmarsh24

TEAM 2085!!!!!

Well if the Bulldogs are going, you bet there will be some Vikings tagging along!

[Akash Rastogi]

Seems like event updates will be coming shortly everyone!

Things need to be finalized and a final plan needs to be organized.

Come on people we need to find more teams who are interested in attending!

[joshy1323]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

"The event would be non profit"

Why would you guys go to this much effort without any aim for a profit? I understand you not wanting to fundraise this way, but whatever money you make, use it in your educational programs at school or for scholarships/funding other teams. Do not waste an opportunity to fundraise.

You raise a great point, and we appreciate the input, but the purpose of this is not to make money. We would not want any teams to be left out of this event simply because they find it to be too expensive. What are the robots good for once the competition is over every year? I suppose they are good for doing demonstrations, and maybe a few teams turn them into T-shirt launchers, but for the most part they have very little function outside of the game. This event would be a chance to use the robots for what they were made for one last time. Or a second chance for teams that were disabled by silly unexpected problems. We are going to make sure that the prices we give are enough to provide insurance against unforeseen complications with running the competition, but we aren't going to milk fellow teams for profit.

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

"The event would be non profit"

Why would you guys go to this much effort without any aim for a profit? I understand you not wanting to fundraise this way, but whatever money you make, use it in your educational programs at school or for scholarships/funding other teams. Do not waste an opportunity to fundraise.

Do teams usually run off-season events for a profit? At the Fembot's pre-ship scrimmage they sold snacks to make a bit of money, you might want to consider that as a small way to fundraise. Other than that, if you want a lot of teams to come, keeping the costs down will be a must. And keeping the costs down would be nice because I'm sure 1678 would like to come (and we don't have much money )

[Akash Rastogi]

I never said that you MUST make money for your own team.

Use any of the money earned to offer scholarhips, fund other teams, invest in your future offseason events.

RC told me why this is part of the venue deal though.

[R.C.]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

I never said that you MUST make money for your own team.

Use any of the money earned to offer scholarhips, fund other teams, invest in your future offseason events.

RC told me why this is part of the venue deal though.

Yeah, Akash is right. For this season we want to host a tournament and FSU (Fresno State University) said they would pretty much lend the Venue free of charge if we had enough teams to go. Also since they are sponsoring and mentoring a team they appreciate FIRST robotics. They wanted to keep it non-profit, along with the reasons josh stated.

[Brad Voracek]

I'd definitely be interested, if I don't have an internship at the time.

I might still be able to get my team to go, thats relatively close to us, and I'd love to make the trip.

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by rc_cola1323

Yeah, Akash is right. For this season we want to host a tournament and FSU (Fresno State University) said they would pretty much lend the Venue free of charge if we had enough teams to go. Also since they are sponsoring and mentoring a team they appreciate FIRST robotics. They wanted to keep it non-profit, along with the reasons josh stated.

Getting the venue donated is a great deal, its will make your life a whole lot easier when you plan out the details for the competition. Another thing I was thinking about was the 3 day competition length you mention. I've never actually heard of an off-season competition lasting that long. You might run into problems with teams not willing to shell out the extra money for travel costs, which is I think why off-season competitions are traditionally 1-2 days.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Michael Corsetto

Another thing I was thinking about was the 3 day competition length you mention. I've never actually heard of an off-season competition lasting that long. You might run into problems with teams not willing to shell out the extra money for travel costs, which is I think why off-season competitions are traditionally 1-2 days.

IRI is three days, if you count Thursday load-in. (I'm not sure if any practice matches are run then.)

Take out practice matches and trim it to 2 days, and you'll probably get more people.