Registration 2010

[jennifer_1547]

team 1547 wheres waldo will be going to manchester and the greater toronto regional this year

[Mark McLeod]

The January 15 payment deadline has passed.
In the days since, 19 events have had changes in their team lists.

Championship is down to 129 registered teams. 46 teams who originally signed up dropped the event. That's more than a quarter of the teams who signed up.

1810 teams are registered for this season.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Championship is down to 129 registered teams. 46 teams who originally signed up dropped the event. That's more than a quarter of the teams who signed up.

Does anyone have any idea when they're letting the waitlisted teams into the Championship? I know they originally said mid March, but considering that there are 46 newly created spots it seems rather ridiculous to not let teams in at this point. (This is coming from someone who's team is already on the registered list)

[waialua359]

Just as important, why did 46 teams sign up for championship and drop out in such a relatively short period of time.
I can understand things that come up for a few teams here and there, but 46?
Echoing the same concerns as teams need time to decide and plan if they want and can attend.

Why wait til midMarch?

[Foster]

I'd guess that it's financial. Our funds are down this year, and from what others have said it's tough to get sponsors. We are doing all we can (why yes, I'd be happy to take your spare change, Thanks!) to keep our team moving forward.

We talked about registering for Atlanta, but passed since we didn't think we could raise the money to go. Others may have been more optimistic about raising the funds.

I'd like to see FIRST open up the wait list for teams now, the difference between a $300 airline ticket on a 30+ day reservation vs a $1000 ticket 10 days in advance is a huge cost difference for teams.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Foster

I'd guess that it's financial. Our funds are down this year, and from what others have said it's tough to get sponsors. We are doing all we can (why yes, I'd be happy to take your spare change, Thanks!) to keep our team moving forward.

We talked about registering for Atlanta, but passed since we didn't think we could raise the money to go. Others may have been more optimistic about raising the funds.

I'd like to see FIRST open up the wait list for teams now, the difference between a $300 airline ticket on a 30+ day reservation vs a $1000 ticket 10 days in advance is a huge cost difference for teams.

I understand that its financial, but I'd assume its for every single team participating in FIRST. Why would teams sign up, then decide if they can or cannot get the funding in a 2-3 month period?
Funding FIRST endeavors is a big deal, and I would think teams would do it all year round, including starting right after Atlanta from the previous season.

I think the point made earlier is that it prevents other teams from making plans TO attend by not knowing where they are on that list.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by waialua359

I understand that its financial, but I'd assume its for every single team participating in FIRST. Why would teams sign up, then decide if they can or cannot get the funding in a 2-3 month period?
Funding FIRST endeavors is a big deal, and I would think teams would do it all year round, including starting right after Atlanta from the previous season.

I think the point made earlier is that it prevents other teams from making plans TO attend by not knowing where they are on that list.

There are teams that have the funding in place and it gets pulled away. We lost a big chunk of expected money only 30 days ago. Luckily we were able to find other ways of paying for Atlanta but not every team can be that lucky.

[waialua359]

Hence, the business sustainability plan and why it should have a greater focus in FIRST. You can easily spend more time raising funds than building and competing altogether.

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by waialua359

I understand that its financial, but I'd assume its for every single team participating in FIRST. Why would teams sign up, then decide if they can or cannot get the funding in a 2-3 month period?
Funding FIRST endeavors is a big deal, and I would think teams would do it all year round, including starting right after Atlanta from the previous season.

I think the point made earlier is that it prevents other teams from making plans TO attend by not knowing where they are on that list.

Teams sign up because they can. As long as FRC continues to have an open enrollment and teams are considering going to the CMP, it is in the best interest of a team to sign up when they can, buying themselves some time. I'm always amazed there aren't more teams signing up in the first day of registration.

In a perfect world, teams have all the funding in place in time. But in the real world they don't.

I know it's tough to be on a wait list, but that is the system that FRC has set up. Unfortunately the system is really tough on teams trying to plan.

[Pat Fairbank]

I think the system that was in place up until a few years ago was better, where teams were not shown as being registered for the Championship until they had made a payment (or sent a P.O. or a sponsor letter). There are plenty of teams who were sitting on the waiting list the day registration opened who were capable of paying right then, and who are still presently on the waiting list.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Pat Fairbank

I think the system that was in place up until a few years ago was better, where teams were not shown as being registered for the Championship until they had made a payment (or sent a P.O. or a sponsor letter). There are plenty of teams who were sitting on the waiting list the day registration opened who were capable of paying right then, and who are still presently on the waiting list.

I would have to agree, that is pretty messed up if a team still gets a spot if they can't pay and are removed from the list anyway, taking away a spot from another team. They should have just let teams who can pay on the spot register first. (Also coming from a team already registered and paid for.)

Glenn, I guess teams really need to be taught more about how to run sustainable, year-round programs? Many teams are still missing the aspect of being taught how to run a sustainable program.

[Jon Jack]

Originally Posted by Pat Fairbank

I think the system that was in place up until a few years ago was better, where teams were not shown as being registered for the Championship until they had made a payment (or sent a P.O. or a sponsor letter). There are plenty of teams who were sitting on the waiting list the day registration opened who were capable of paying right then, and who are still presently on the waiting list.

The old system was much more effective. It prevented 'spot squatters' from holding spots that other teams (who had raised the money months in advance) could have paid for the day of registration.

I know of several teams who signed up, knowing they did not have the money and probably weren't going to raise it. They took the spot anyways because it was available and hoped that some kind of miracle funding would just fall into their lap.

[Peter Matteson]

As a team currently sitting on the outside looking in, it's frustrating that won't let us know now whether we are in or not. We assume based on the number of teams registering as things were happening during registration we are in the 1st 20 on the waitlist. However we will not book tickets until we are confirmed. If we booked now we would save a substantial amount of money. I would think out of consideration for the teams offering up the spots now would make sense and would help fill out the event.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by RoboMom

Teams sign up because they can. As long as FRC continues to have an open enrollment and teams are considering going to the CMP, it is in the best interest of a team to sign up when they can, buying themselves some time. I'm always amazed there aren't more teams signing up in the first day of registration.

In a perfect world, teams have all the funding in place in time. But in the real world they don't.

I know it's tough to be on a wait list, but that is the system that FRC has set up. Unfortunately the system is really tough on teams trying to plan.

Jenny,
I understand fully what you are saying.
Not sure what you mean by more teams signing up on the first day? The opposite is what occured. **clicking the mouse button repeatedly from 5:59am and on-Hawaii time**
The biggest issue I'm concerned about is why change the system several years ago in how you could register for CMP? Why "punish" teams that do their homework, plan and prepare with the same sacrifices that everyone else has to in order to compete.
You would think that in the best interest of filling up CMP, those 46 slots would be open for teams on that waiting list already to decide if they can go.

Our personal concern is that, coming from Hawaii, our students get a chance to meet other teams they would normally not see during regional competitions. Hence, we place an extra emphasis in raising the funds necessary to try and go.
The sponsorships that we get doesnt come without some blood, sweat and tears literally.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Not sure what you mean by more teams signing up on the first day? The opposite is what occured. **clicking the mouse button repeatedly from 5:59am and on-Hawaii time**

Happy Birthday Glenn!
What a great day for a birthday, almost as good as tomorrow! :-)

On the off chance that you weren't kidding all round. I'm with Jenny in always being surprised that the open Championship slots don't fill up long before it opens to the teams who went last year. Registration for Championship was open for 20 days before the rest of us got our 30 second crack at the 20 slots left over for the teams that went last year. There aren't that many slots that 10% of FRC teams couldn't fill them, or desire to fill them.

Most years there have been open slots left on the table at the end of registration.
I only attribute the run on slots this year to a greater number of teams, static number of slots, and a registration system that is really a wish list, rather than a serious registration system.