**FIRST EMAIL**/FIRST Adds District Event Model Alternative to FRC Program

[kmcclary]

Originally Posted by Beth Sweet

On a personal note, my contributions in the district system, and what I am able to bring to the table in it are so limited, I will have to seriously consider if I will continue to participate in FIRST.

Don't be in a rush to sell yourself short... The whole point of having a large cadre of volunteers is that any one person's task become simpler.

I'm a multi-year volunteer at GLR in MI, at what this year become the State Championship. (I am not an organizer though, so I can't speak for them. I am only a lowly volunteer there.)

I was curious as to how this year's MI Volunteer Rules would affect the volunteer system. During the build some people expressed grave concern with the new MI rules because we knew that to fulfill the volunteer requirements many smaller teams with limited mentors would have to turn to random relatives and others with no FIRST robotics experience whatsoever. We knew they couldn't spare their current adult force from team tasks.

In fact, AFAICD a large number of my area's teams did exactly that, and filled their slots with random people. Many teams had different people cover their teams at different venues, limiting their 'prior experience' even further.

At first glance, one fears a flood of "volunteer newbies" may be a potential formula for disaster... I feared we could very well end up with a lot of "Event Volunteer Virgins" at even the State Championship level.

But to my pleasant surprise, the organizers handled it very well. The tasks were divided up and organized SO well in MI by FiM that most of the new-to-FIRST volunteers I talked to said it was a breeze, they had a fantastic experience, and are looking forward doing it again next year! <wow>

Bear in mind that given ENOUGH volunteers to spread the work over, you actually end up with a HUGE number of Basic Tasks that require very little training needed to do (eg traffic flow control, man a booth with a checklist, shuffling random paperwork, etc...)

But even more important - with proper formatting and ENOUGH people, it CAN allow each person to complete their tasks easily with only a small percentage of the multi-day event requiring their attention. (IOW, you have bursts of activity here and there, interspersed with long stretches of available time).

This allows the volunteers the time to actually ENJOY the event. (Wow... What a concept!) It isn't true for ALL volunteers, but many did say they had some free time and did get to enjoy the show...

Bottom line: You can't minimize that effect of having sufficient people, organization, and the definitions set up front, such that any one person's task becomes easy. THAT IMHO is the -toughest- job of all (and I tip my hat to those hard working people that envision and organize the Volunteers!). But IF done right a large chunk of that work too CAN be done Up Front.

Looking back, I feel that is why we were all required to provide a certain number of workers. IMO it was actually a stroke of genius. Guaranteeing a large worker base up front allowed organizers a lot of flexibility in task definitions and planning, without fear.

So don't fear volunteering. It is actually a blast. After all, finding friendly people that CARE about the kids and the quality of the event is actually the best qualification for a volunteer one can ever hope to find.

- Keith