**FIRST EMAIL**/IMPORTANT FRC Kickoff & Season Information

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings Teams:


As you know, Kickoff for the 2010 FRC Season is this Saturday, January 9th! We have lots of important Kickoff and Season Information to share with you, so please read carefully and be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed of our 2010 FRC Season News and Email Blasts Page for the most up-to-the-minute information this season! http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/...starchive.aspx


IMPORTANT – Team Main or Alternate Contacts of teams attending a Kickoff must print out their Team Roster from TIMS and bring it with them (along with any hard copy Consent and Release Forms.). Click here for instructions: http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/....aspx?id=16135.


Encrypted Sections of the 2010 FRC Manual


The encrypted sections (sections 6-10) of the FRC 2010 Manual are available for download. Please find the FRC Competition Manual page here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...nt.aspx?id=452. To download, right-click on the .pdf file and select "Save Link/Target As…". The password for accessing these documents will be available at the end of the Kickoff broadcast on Saturday.

Prior to Saturday, make sure that your computer has the proper software by following the instructions for the 2010 Decryption Test found here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr....aspx?id=11570.


Replacement Parts Request Procedure


After receiving and checking all items in your Kit of Parts (KOP), should you determine you are missing a part(s), or need a replacement part(s) you must use the FIRST "Replacement Parts Request" system to order replacements. For important deadlines and details, click here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr....aspx?id=16130.


FRC Manual Q & A System


FIRST recognizes that teams may have questions about game rules, robot construction, event logistics, and more. FIRST will offer a Question & Answer System (Q&A), on FIRST Forums. For details about this system, click here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr....aspx?id=16131.


FRC Team Support Available on Kickoff Day, 1/9/10


Team Support will be available the day of Kickoff from 9AM-Noon Eastern. For assistance, please call 1-800-871-8326 x 0.


On-Site (Manchester, NH) Workshops


For those of you who registered to attend the on-site Kickoff Workshops taking place in Manchester, NH, you can find a detailed schedule here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr....aspx?id=16134.


Many of this year’s on-site FRC Workshops are being webcast live and recorded for future viewing. To register to watch the live webcast of a workshop, click here: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr....aspx?id=16133.


NASA: FRC Kickoff Broadcast


For those of you who will not be attending a Kickoff this weekend, NASA will broadcast the event live on their site. Here is the link that you will need to view the broadcast: http://robotics.nasa.gov/


Payments for Additional Regional Events & Championship: Deadline


Payments for Additional Regional Events and the Championship are due Friday 1/15/2010 – please confirm with FIRST Finance that you have the funding for the events that you are registered for if they are not paid at this time. If you do not have the funding, please email financetemp@usfirst.org as to your status. We do have a waitlist of teams wanting to go to the Championship, so if you do not have the funding to attend please let us know so that we can give another team the opportunity.


Go Teams!

[galewind]

Hm, this is problematic. I was under the supposition that student participants were not required to register under TIMS and that they could just submit their consent/release forms on paper, and thus I have not had them register individually in TIMS. My TIMS roster, as thus, is empty.

Are we alone in this?

[rsisk]

I believe this is the operative phrase you are looking for

(along with any hard copy Consent and Release Forms.)

We are printing out our consent forms and bring them with us to the San Diego Kickoff

[waialua359]

Its not an absolute requirement to do it via TIMS, but I would recommend doing this as it gives FIRST a more accurate measure of the # of students participating in FRC this season and beyond in electronic form.

[Mark McLeod]

Anyone try to print their Team Roster from TIMS?
Even with a partial student roster it's a pain to get it to print properly...

It doesn't appear to be useable yet.

[Cynette]

If one of you is successful in printing out your team roster, can you tell us how similar it is to the paper roster used in the past so we can "clone" it to accompany our paper copies of our Consent and Release forms?

[Mark McLeod]

I've attached a sample with phone numbers & emails removed.
P.S. I chose to use legal-size paper so it fit on a single page.

It includes:

• Team info
• Events
• Contacts
• Mentors
• Students
• Additional Student & Mentor list (just blanks for handwritten entries)

[Trying to Help]

I had to switch to IE from an old version of Mozilla for it to print correctly. That might be the issue.

Trying to Help

[dlavery]

I have given up on trying to use TIMS to register students and prepare consent forms. I am sorry FIRST, but you have created a tool that is too cumbersome and unwieldy to use in a manner that offers any advantage to the team. Until that is corrected, we will be sticking to paper forms delivered directly to the site.

-dave



.

[Cory]

I don't understand why FIRST even needs a team roster. Call me paranoid but I get suspicious whenever anyone tries to collect information like this that seems to not be relevant.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Cory

I don't understand why FIRST even needs a team roster. Call me paranoid but I get suspicious whenever anyone tries to collect information like this that seems to not be relevant.

I figure FIRST has to have the names of all of the participants who signed Consent and Release forms, in case someone sues over their likeness used in a photograph / gets injured / etc.

[Jimmy Nichols]

I emailed FIRST and their reply was that only those attending a kickoff need to submit their Consent forms at this time. We only send one rep from our team and so I haven't collected consent forms yet, so I was concerned.

[SuperJake]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Nichols

I emailed FIRST and their reply was that only those attending a kickoff need to submit their Consent forms at this time. We only send one rep from our team and so I haven't collected consent forms yet, so I was concerned.

Fantastic - I was worried about this as well. I am bringing two of our sponsors to the kickoff in Manchester and I'm just going to have them fill out paper forms for the event.

I am trying to get the students to sign up for the electronic roster - we had a big push at our meeting last night... it is amazing how many students don't know their parents' e-mail address. I'd rather a system that allows me to invite the students... similar to the invite mentor section... but where I could input a lot of names at the same time. Have you ever used the ordering page from McMaster-Carr? I'm thinking something like that for people (in stead of products) would be AWESOME.

Bottom line this year: I know I am going to have students that haven't signed up for the electronic roster and I'm going to have to do all paper for the events anyway.

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by SuperJake

Fantastic - I was worried about this as well. I am bringing two of our sponsors to the kickoff in Manchester and I'm just going to have them fill out paper forms for the event.

I am trying to get the students to sign up for the electronic roster - we had a big push at our meeting last night... it is amazing how many students don't know their parents' e-mail address. I'd rather a system that allows me to invite the students... similar to the invite mentor section... but where I could input a lot of names at the same time. Have you ever used the ordering page from McMaster-Carr? I'm thinking something like that for people (in stead of products) would be AWESOME.

Bottom line this year: I know I am going to have students that haven't signed up for the electronic roster and I'm going to have to do all paper for the events anyway.

I haven't had a push. I have only emailed out to the parents and students.

I have had about 1/3 of the students sign up, but only a handful have done the consent form online. I'll probably just get paper copies for everyone also, to ensure I don't forget someone.

[dustinjeremy2k]

Originally Posted by dlavery

I have given up on trying to use TIMS to register students and prepare consent forms. I am sorry FIRST, but you have created a tool that is too cumbersome and unwieldy to use in a manner that offers any advantage to the team. Until that is corrected, we will be sticking to paper forms delivered directly to the site.

Quite an indictment... and I AGREE ENTIRELY!!! I have asked each of my student team members to sign up and the vast majority have done so. I am hoping FIRST will have straightened things out before the events to spare us the paperwork exchange (the last thing we're all thinking about on Thursday morning).

Our team holds a kickoff party at our school every year, and as the lead mentor, project manager, main contact, teacher, ect... for the team, I'd rather be with everyone during the most critical day of the season, not 100 miles away! It creates many issues for other team members to pickup our kit as we get to work... Here is my suggestion to anyone in the same boat (from experience): Send you representative with a mountain of paperwork (a consent form from anyone who has ever heard of your team, your personal roster, a hand-written note from the main contact signed and dated, and a blood sample) so they won't be questioned or harassed as they check in.

In a competition celebrating technology and intelligence, is the TIMS really the best we can do??? Really?