Come to Michigan Kickoff...

[Joe Johnson]

Hi all,

I just want to encourage folks to attend the FIRST kickoff in Novi.

The current limits are 20 folks per team, but there is a very good chance that the limit be increased soon to allow your whole team to attend.

Even more than that, we now have in place a very good series of seminars and round table discussions to be held immediately following the unveiling of the 2002 game.
They are going to be worth sticking around for. We have something for Rookies and Veterans and everyone in between.

The seminars will be taught by folks like Jim Zontag of the Killer Bees (#33), Mike Grey of the HOT team (#67), Norm Peralta & (Woodie Flowers Award Winner) Ken Patton of the Huskie Brigade (#65) and others including, yours truly, Dr. Joe .

We have outside experts helping out as well. We have some pro's coming in to teach Animation and Inventor as well as Dave Johnson from SMC giving his now famous FIRST Pneumatics Seminar.

We will also have round table discussions with many expert panelists helping to lead the discussion.

The Chairman's Award Panel is especially impressive. We have Dr. Barbara Sanders from Delphi and Ian McEwan , retired from GM. These two have not only seen Chairman's Award caliber teams from the inside but are both seasoned FIRST judges. AND in case that was not enough, these two played a major role in re-organization of the Chairman's Award that FIRST has recently roled out on their website. This round table alone is worth the price of admission for any team serious about their Chairman's Award efforts.

Come one, Come All.

The final Schedule is still being worked out, but believe me, you and your team want to be in the Novi Expo Center on Jan. 5th, 2002.

See you there!

Joe J.

[Madison]

Joe,

Perhaps this was entirely obvious to everyone but me, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

I guess this means it's safe to assume that you won't be giving the seminars in New Hampshire that you'd asked about earlier on these boards?

I'm disappointed to hear that, but I'll just have to focus my efforts on sneaking into FIRST's official seminars

[Joe Johnson]

I asked FIRST if they were interested in either the Chief Delphi Rookie Camp or the motors or programming seminars.

They said thanks but no thanks.

Then, I got a call from Jennifer Harvey (Team #503) who is working her tail off to make the local kickoff here a success. She wanted me to do a seminar or two. My thought was, hey, why not have a seminar series that would knock your socks off? Like many things with FIRST, having thought of a good idea, I could either let it die or roll up my sleeves and start making it happen.

I chose to make it happen.

By the way, I just went out to the Novi Expo Center tonight to check out the faciliities and let me tell you, THE MICHIGAN KICKOFF IS GOING TO ROCK!

The Novi Expo Center is PERFECT for this. It has many HUGE halls to choose from for the actual kickoff and field unveiling. It is going to have huge projection TV's to watch it all on. It will have a real field (Bye the way, thanks to Andy Baker for "tricking" FIRST into buying into this concept). It has conference rooms attached for seminars. It has a food court on site. It has parking galore. It it going to be all shined up and looking great.

To be honest, I don't think anything in Manchester (or the other kickoff locations for that matter) are going to be able to top it.

Now if only Dean would move his house to Detroit...

See you at Novi.

Joe J.