Registration 2010

[Mark McLeod]

Both Hawaii and Wisconsin events reached their initial capacity today.
Only Israel (5 open slots) and St. Louis haven't met their original targets.
Of course, most events now have more than their original capacity after drawing down the wait lists.

Here's a summary graph just showing when all the other events filled up and went to waitlists.

[Mark McLeod]

An interesting statistic came up in this How Many teams Attend 2 Regionals? thread.

For 2010:

• 27% of non-MI teams are signed up to attend 2+ Regionals

This doesn't include Championship or Michigan teams, mostly because those numbers are far from settled yet.

I became interested in how this compared to last season and it appears to be a 16% deviation from where it should be, probably due to the economic downturn.

For 2009:

• 28% of non-MI teams attended 2+ Regionals
• 38% of non-MI teams attended 2+ events if we add-in the Championship
• 42% of all teams attended 2+ events (including Michigan teams, MI State event & Championship)

For 2008 (reworked these to be comparable to '09 numbers by removing MI teams):

• 25% of non-MI teams attended 2+ Regionals
• 32% of non-MI teams attended 2+ events if we add-in the Championship
• 34% of all teams attended 2+ events (including Michigan teams & Championship)

For 2008 if we keep everyone lumped together 27% of all teams attended 2+ Regionals, excluding the Championship.

The Michigan experiment changed the % of MI teams going to multiple events from 58% in 2008 before the district model to 99% in 2009 with the district model.

[Jon236]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

I'm back from several weeks of jury duty and can now return to this...

I've served twice and only did a week each time. You must have gotten picked for a doozy. So tell us about the trial..........

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Jon236

I've served twice and only did a week each time. You must have gotten picked for a doozy. So tell us about the trial..........

This was a criminal case with a lot of medical testimony. It wasn't a pleasant experience, as it involved brain damage to a 16 month old. I had to explain "angular momentum" during deliberations.

I've served in two states, 7 or 8 times on criminal and civil cases. I've never served on a grand jury though. For some reason I've never been rejected by either the prosecution or defense, no matter how I answer their questions. This last time I was definitely preselected, because both sides skipped over me when questioning the pool of prospective jurors. They went through 80 potentials to get 12 and 2 alternates.

[Mark McLeod]

Registration is at 1812 teams as of today.
There are still a few teams coming and going across the board.

Over the holidays most of the Michigan event lists got fleshed out.
Just 2 teams show only single district events (2153 & 2617).
19 teams are signed up for three district events.

Here are the semi-final percentages of teams going to multiple regionals
for 2010 (about a 6% decrease overall compared to last year):

• 26% of non-MI teams will attend 2+ Regionals
• 31% of non-MI teams will attend 2+ events if we add-in the Championship
• 36% of all teams will attend 2+ events (including Michigan teams & Championship)

Overall:
283 new teams
1508 returnees
21 resurrected vets
169 teams missing
8.1% net growth as it currently stands
9% team loss

Teams from 12 countries: US, Canada, Israel, Brazil, United Kingdom, Mexico, Turkey, Australia, Bosnia, Chile, Germany, Netherlands


Here is the net gain (new teams - lost teams) for different areas:

MN --------------- 23
TX --------------- 14
UT --------------- 11
WA --------------- 10
NC ---------------- 7
Canada-QC --------- 6
MI ---------------- 6
VA ---------------- 6
CA ---------------- 5
IN ---------------- 5
MD ---------------- 4
OR ---------------- 4
CT ---------------- 3
GA ---------------- 3
NH ---------------- 3
NJ ---------------- 3
OH ---------------- 3
TN ---------------- 3
AL ---------------- 2
AZ ---------------- 2
ID ---------------- 2
KY ---------------- 2
RI ---------------- 2
Turkey ------------ 2
WI ---------------- 2
Australia --------- 1
Bosnia ------------ 1
Canada-NC --------- 1
CO ---------------- 1
FL ---------------- 1
Israel ------------ 1
LA ---------------- 1
Mexico ------------ 1
MS ---------------- 1
MT ---------------- 1
OK ---------------- 1
WY ---------------- 1
DC ---------------- 0
MA ---------------- 0
DE ---------------- 0
AK ---------------- 0
AR ---------------- 0
Brazil ------------ 0
Canada-AB --------- 0
Chile ------------- 0
Germany ----------- 0
IA ---------------- 0
Netherlands ------- 0
VT ---------------- 0
HI --------------- -1
IL --------------- -1
KS --------------- -1
NM --------------- -1
Philippines ------ -1
SC --------------- -1
United Kingdom --- -1
WV --------------- -1
Canada-BC -------- -1
ME --------------- -1
ND --------------- -2
PA --------------- -2
NV --------------- -3
PR --------------- -3
Canada-ON -------- -4
MO --------------- -5
NY --------------- -6

[johnr]

I was wondering, out of the 168 teams that are missing, how many were 1st and/or 2nd year teams? Does First do a follow up as to why they are not on board? My guess would be that one time grants to start a team dried up in the majority of cases.

[Mark McLeod]

Here's the breakdown of this year's lost teams grouped by years of experience.
Note that teams 47 & 65 are mixed in here even though they didn't really go away, just merged.

The cause isn't always money though, especially for newish teams.
The program can be quite hard on team leaders who are often new teachers swamped by conflicting responsibilities.
FIRST would need an exit interview-type of study to categorize the reasons.

Years           # Teams    
Experience
1                    41    
2                    37    
3                    30    
4                    11    
5                    17    
6                     7    
7                    10    
8                     5    
9                     3    
10                    2    
11                    2    
12                    1    
13                    2    
14                    1

[johnr]

Thanks for that quick response. Looks like money to me for first two years. Years 3,4,5 would probably be that first group of students moving on. I wonder what the 7th year spike is? Mentor burnout? I guess First would have to look back a few years to see if % is the same over time.

[Schmoebot]

We are having problems verifying registration for FTC, Madison High School in San Diego, for January 16, 2010. Does anyone know if it is TIMS or if California FTC events have been canceled? All three California FTC events show "PENDING", even the one that is passed.

Absent that, does anyone have contact information for the Madison High School FTC team that is hosting the event?

Please e-mail WHSrobotics@aol.com

Thank you!

[1986titans]

TIMS was having problems over the weekend (Related thread).

[lynca]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Here is the net gain (new teams - lost teams) for different areas:

MN --------------- 23
TX --------------- 14
UT --------------- 11
WA --------------- 10

I want to learn more about the top 4 growth states.

Minnesota - your growth number is outstanding, please share your secrets !
Texas - money and size is a good combination
Utah - New regional, team growth is expected
Washington - Very steady growth over the years, very impressive.

Anyone else have more details about the reasons for growth in these states ?

[Madison]

Originally Posted by lynca

I want to learn more about the top 4 growth states.

Minnesota - your growth number is outstanding, please share your secrets !
Texas - money and size is a good combination
Utah - New regional, team growth is expected
Washington - Very steady growth over the years, very impressive.

Anyone else have more details about the reasons for growth in these states ?

ETA: Re: Washington

This year and last, thanks to the efforts of team 1318 and others, there has been ~$150,000 available annually through the state's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to schools participating in FRC. They provide, as I recall, $8,000 to rookie teams and a varying sum to veterans based upon need.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Madison

ETA: Re: Washington

This year and last, thanks to the efforts of team 1318 and others, there has been ~$150,000 available annually through the state's Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to schools participating in FRC. They provide, as I recall, $8,000 to rookie teams and a varying sum to veterans based upon need.

I wish New Jersey didn't have a billion dollar deficit. That's pretty awesome that these states are able to expand FRC. Let's hope they keep it up

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

I wish New Jersey didn't have a billion dollar deficit. That's pretty awesome that these states are able to expand FRC. Let's hope they keep it up

We're in the hole just like everyone else. Our legislature just decided to take $150,000 away from something else, I suppose.

[Mark McLeod]

So Washington and Texas have government funding to stimulate the program.
What about Texas before this year's announcement of funding? You had a great growth rate last year too.

I wonder who's behind and funding the Utah expansion?

P.S. There have also been other areas, eg. Kansas City, experiencing growth spurts due to an economic shot in the arm by a champion of the FIRST program. Those stories would be nice to collect too.

Originally Posted by johnr

I guess First would have to look back a few years to see if % is the same over time.

This particular data is at my fingertips. It's just a matter of reformatting it for the forum.
I could take it back to 1993 when 50% of the teams dropped out and they all had one year of experience.
The more difficult part is correlating the dropout rate to external economic or political events, such as Washington state's $150,000 STEMulus.

2005 was a year hard hit by team losses. It lost 13% of veteran teams.
All the other years I list here represent yearly losses of 8-9%, which is average for the past decade.

Teams lost in 2009, by years of experience:

Yrs Exp. # Teams    
1              56    
2              34    
3              23    
4              13    
5               7    
6               8    
7               7    
8               5    
9               4    
10              1    
11              2    
12              1    
14              1

Teams lost in 2008, by years of experience:

Yrs Exp # Teams
1               33
2               35
3               13
4               22
5               15
6                5
7                6
8                2
10               1
12               1

Teams lost in 2007, by years of experience:

Yrs Exp # Teams
1               28 
2               14 
3               20 
4               19 
5               16 
6                7 
7                4 
8                2 
9                1 
10               1

Teams lost in 2006, by years of experience:

Yrs Exp # Teams
1               27 
2               24 
3               16 
4               12 
5                8 
6                6 
7                4 
8                2 
9                1 
10               1 
12               1

Teams lost in 2005, by years of experience:

Yrs Exp # Teams
1               42 
2               43 
3               27 
4                6 
5                5 
6                5 
7                3 
8                2 
9                1

P.S.
I should have just slapped it all into a spreadsheet so you can manipulate it if you want.