Registration 2010

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Wayne C.

Of greater interest is how many veteran teams no longer come back

While that may be true in general, I would like to know the status of many of the 2009 rookie teams that formed here in Texas and if they will be returning for the 2010 season.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Wayne C.

Of greater interest is how many veteran teams no longer come back

Registration of veterans to date is about even with this same time last year, give or take maybe 10 vets.
9 resurrected vets have returned so far this year.
The final count for missing vets over the past several years:

• -165 in 2008 (last year)
• -133 in 2007
• -112 in 2006

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

I would like to know the status of many of the 2009 rookie teams that formed here in Texas and if they will be returning for the 2010 season.

I know you've been concerned about starting lots of new teams without an infrastructure to sustain them.

Texas is still missing 18 teams that were rookies last year, trailing other areas.
Last season there was only a single 2008 Texas rookie that didn't return.
Here are counts of just the 2009 rookies, by area, that haven't signed on for 2010 yet:

AL                1
AZ                2
CA                5
CO               1
CT                1
DC                4
GA               3
HI                 2
ID                 2
IL                  2
IN                 1
IS                  14
LA                2
MA              2
MI                4
MN              6
MO              2
MS               1
NM              1
NY               6
OH               3
OK               3
ON               4
PA                1
PL                 1
QC               1
TN                1
TX                18
WA              5
WI               1
WV              1

[waialua359]

Our team is hosting a potential rookie teams workshop this weekend.
We're hoping to get about 7 new Hawaii FRC teams in the mix.
2024 is coming back under their old no. 1056.
We will be with them in Japan next week for a VEX tournament.

On second thought, maybe teams are cutting back on long distance regionals they attend due to the economy.
The NASA grant is a great support for registration fees. I hope that continues indefinitely......

[JaneYoung]

Thank you, Mark!
You rock.

[Akash Rastogi]

Thanks for all this information Mark, it just gives even more backing to why I started EWCP last year (also caused by your data). Wayne is so right, right now rookie teams mean barely anything to me when I see how many veterans (some of them long time veterans) have not returned for the new season.

Thank you.

[JVN]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Texas is still missing 18 teams that were rookies last year, trailing other areas.
Last season there was only a single 2008 Texas rookie that didn't return.

Mark, it sounds like you're the man holding the data. Can you answer a few questions for me?

• How many Texas teams were there in 2007, 2008, 2009?
• How many Texas rookies were there in 2007, 2008, 2009? (2010 projected?)
• How many Texas rookies returned in 2008? (You said only a single didn't return in 2009, and we're missing 18 so far for 2010...)

You're the man! Thanks in advance...

-John

[Akash Rastogi]

Are there any spots that will be filled at Boston? I'm hoping to see Gael Force get a spot.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Are there any spots that will be filled at Boston? I'm hoping to see Gael Force get a spot.

That will be interesting... they usually don't attend both GSR and Boston it has been one or the other so I hope they go to both. I want to see their robot more than once at a regional.

I take it that FIRST doesn't show who is on the waiting list at regionals correct?

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by JVN

Can you answer a few questions for me?

• How many Texas teams were there in 2007, 2008, 2009?
• How many Texas rookies were there in 2007, 2008, 2009? (2010 projected?)
• How many Texas rookies returned in 2008? (You said only a single didn't return in 2009, and we're missing 18 so far for 2010...)

I can't accurately project this year's # of Texas rookies from the small sample of data available.
In a normal year it looks like 7 rookies +/- 2 would be average.
I'd need a larger set or I'd have to know your region better.
Your Regional Director should have a good idea.
I'd imagine the press to recruit new teams dropped off after the huge increase in new teams exhausted your volunteers last year.


#teams = total
#rookies = new teams
#post-rookies = rookies the year before, who returned
#missing post-rookies = rookies from the year before who didn't return

         #teams   #rookies   #post-rookies   #missing post-rookies
2007      34          5               6                        2
2008      44          9               5                        0
2009      85         46               8                        1
2010      64          4              28                       18  (so far)

[Richard Wallace]

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Mark McLeod again."

There is power and beauty in the respectful presentation of data. Facts, like high art, are most easily appreciated when allowed to speak for themselves.

[Mark McLeod]

I copied some wrong numbers earlier in the Texas team totals.
The total teams hailing from Texas were take from a subtotal column, instead of a totals column.
Here's the corrected version.
Sorry about that.

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

         #teams   #rookies   #post-rookies   #missing post-rookies
2007      35          5               6                         2
2008      45          9               5                         0
2009      91         50               8                        1
2010      64          4              32                       18  (so far)

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

I copied some wrong numbers earlier in the Texas team totals.
The total teams hailing from Texas were take from a subtotal column, instead of a totals column.
Here's the corrected version.
Sorry about that.

I received an e-mail saying that some of the FRC teams that also participate in BEST may wait until that competition is over before they register for their FRC event(s). 'One competition at a time' kind of thing. This is the last weekend for BEST competition for the Texas teams to qualify for our state competition in December, I believe. We should, hopefully, see the registration numbers improve.

Rock on, Texas teams!

[Mark McLeod]

Made it past the 200 new team mark today.

81% of last year's teams have re-registered, leaving 19% still missing.
About 325 teams from last year haven't been heard from (not counting the teams we do know about that have merged or renumbered).
More total teams (1346) have now returned this year, than returned last year (1336).

14 past veterans teams have rejoined us (about normal results for the past decade) after being out of competition for:

• (2) 1-yr
• (1) 2-yrs
• (6) 3-yrs
• (1) 4-yrs
• (3) 6-yrs
• (1) 13-yrs

Projecting the registration curve it looks like net growth is close to 2004 (2005 season) percentages, maybe a 100 to 110 net team increase. Could be around 1780 teams this season after everything settles down by the time of the regional events.
2005 was a doldrum year with 6.6% overall growth. That's roughly what this year looks like too, we're seeing maybe half the double digit growth FRC has experienced over the past four seasons.

[Chris_Elston]

Just curious on your missing teams data.

From Indiana I know of TWO teams that are "registered" but don't shown up on any regional list yet (in TIMS) because they are on a wait list for Boilermaker. They aren't registered for any other regional.

Are your numbers based on what you see in TIMS? If so, there maybe other teams like the Indiana teams that have only signed up for their local regional but stuck on a wait list. It would be nice if we could see the wait list teams. :-)

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Chris_Elston

Are your numbers based on what you see in TIMS? If so, there maybe other teams like the Indiana teams that have only signed up for their local regional but stuck on a wait list. It would be nice if we could see the wait list teams. :-)

We have the same situation with 9 local teams on the SBPLI waitlist that do not show up on the TIMS database as registered yet.

The talleys I quote are taken purely from the reported TIMS numbers, so year-to-year comparisons remain somewhat constant and can be repeated by others without special knowledge being required. That way the news is always better than what I've been reporting.
Some waitlists have already been cleared by their Regional Directors (looks like: Seattle, DC, Minnesota, and all the Michigan district events have cleared their waitlists), while others keep teams languishing waiting to see which rookie teams form.

Mike Betts got a look at all the regional waitlists two year's ago at this same time and there were 33 teams event-wide that had registered but didn't show up.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...6&postcount=48

Based on the two teams you know about, it seems like Boilermaker has an estimated 5 slots remaining unclaimed in case anyone wants to sign up...