Championship info from FIRST

[Andy Baker]

Pasted below is the latest letter from FIRST. It is self-explanatory.

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Greetings Teams:

Many of you may have heard that FIRST will not be holding The Championship at Epcot in 2003. FIRST and Walt Disney World worked diligently to come up with a date that would allow us to return to Epcot but several factors simply worked against us.

We fully intended to announce the date and location of the 2003 Championship today and open registration on Friday, November 15, 2002. Although we have been working diligently to complete arrangements and obtain the very best possible pricing for teams, we have not yet finalized all the details.

We thank you for your continued patience as we complete this process. Our objective is to create an event that meets the high standards achieved in the past. We hope to have the arrangements finalized within two weeks and open registration for The Championship at that time. If it is necessary to extend the registration period for The Championship to give teams sufficient time to register, we will do so.

If you have questions, please e-mail frcteams@usfirst.org.


Respectfully,

Robert Hammond
Director, Robotics Competition

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My comments on this:

If teams must contact FIRST, I would suggest that people only contact FIRST through their team leadership at this time. They don't need to be inundated with 1000's of notes from all of us at the same time.

FIRST teams' travel arrangements can wait. I trust that FIRST has a darn good reason(s) for taking the time to make the Championships the best it can be.

So, keep your head... be patient, and let's let FIRST do what they can as we show our gracious professionalism.

Andy B.

[Joe Matt]

I still say MK or DL.

Thanks for the info.

WHAP HEAD ON TABLE.

thanks for the info andy!! you saved me from checking the computer 1500 times today.

[David Kelly]

I agree Andy. We certainly need to keep cool heads about this and show our Gratious Professionalism. There is a reason why FIRST has chosen to take this route and I trust them with their decisions.


I know the worst thing about is the travel arrangement situation for teams. It's not as tough as a decision that we had to make before. At the beginning of the '01 season we had not planned on attending the nats, but after we had placed very well at KSC and then won the Midwest Regional we decided to attend the event. In as little as 2 weeks we had paid an entry fee, booked 20 flights and hotel rooms. Part of it was that we had a gratious sponsor that was willing to make it happen. But all in all, I know that it can be done, without too many headaches.


Lets just be cool and trust thier decisions

[Joe Matt]

The only way I would not be happy is if FIRST looses it's focus and ideas in the transition (IE, they sign a deal with Universal to start using FIRST as Battlebots 2)

[Mike Soukup]

Originally posted by David Kelly
We certainly need to keep cool heads about this and show our Gratious Professionalism. There is a reason why FIRST has chosen to take this route and I trust them with their decisions.

<snip>

Lets just be cool and trust thier decisions

Slightly off topic...

Why do people say we must trust FIRST and always accept their decisions without questioning them? They are not an all knowing and infallible organization. They make mistakes just like the rest of us. Analyze the situation, form your own opinions, and draw your own conclusions. We can all help FIRST make better decisions in the future by giving them meaningful positive & negative feedback whenever it's appropriate.

The same is true for Dean's inventions. Don't think of the Segway as a great invention because it's Dean's, but because of its benefit to society in alleviating traffic congestion. Don't say Dean's water purifier is better simply because he came up with it, say it after comparing it previous attempts and looking at the facts. I think Dean would rather have us be free thinkers who challenge him instead of drones who agree with everything he says.

In no way am I saying that the decision to move the Championship is wrong, I'm just saying that we should think about the choices FIRST makes and form our own opinion instead of simply accepting what FIRST does.

Sorry for the rant, but this has been bugging me for a while.

We fully intended to announce the date and location of the 2003 Championship today and open registration on Friday, November 15, 2002. Although we have been working diligently to complete arrangements and obtain the very best possible pricing for teams, we have not yet finalized all the details.

Is it just me or does that still say they plan to announce today?

From the sound of other posters, they say that its going to be delayed for a few days?

Today is 11/14/02 isnt it?

Am I missing something?

-D.J.

[Andrew]

FRCTeams wrote...

Greetings Teams: Many of you may have heard that FIRST will not be holding The Championship at Epcot in 2003. FIRST and Walt Disney World worked diligently to come up with a date that would allow us to return to Epcot but several factors simply worked against us.

Mike Soukup wrote...

Why do people say we must trust FIRST and always accept their decisions without questioning them?

If I read FIRST's message correctly, the Championships will not be held at Disney. Many people are going to be upset by this, and some of them are going to be vocal.

FIRST is trying to pull off a major change in venue, during difficult financial times, with a huge potential for disaster, and with limited manpower. Having a successful Nationals this year is going to take a phenomenal positive effort on the part of the whole FIRST community.

The reason we have to "trust FIRST" is that any other approach will make having a successful year more difficult.

The time for feedback and griping is the FIRST Forum.

Andrew, Team 356

[Ken Leung]

Originally posted by D.J. Fluck


Is it just me or does that still say they plan to announce today?

From the sound of other posters, they say that its going to be delayed for a few days?

Today is 11/14/02 isnt it?

Am I missing something?

-D.J.

Look a little under the top paragraph. It say: "We hope to have the arrangements finalized within two weeks and open registration for The Championship at that time. If it is necessary to extend the registration period for The Championship to give teams sufficient time to register, we will do so."

So, we should see some sort of announcement WITHIN 2 weeks.

[Madison]

We hope to have the arrangements finalized within two weeks and open registration for The Championship at that time. If it is necessary to extend the registration period for The Championship to give teams sufficient time to register, we will do so.

Two more weeks won't make that big of a difference. Late April is just about the threshold for making reservations right now, so a two week delay in getting booked on a flight won't make a difference where price is concerned.

My question - tomorrow morning, will we still be able to sign up for additional regionals or is that being delayed until the Championship information has been finalized as well?

[Brandon Martus]

Originally posted by D.J. Fluck


Is it just me or does that still say they plan to announce today?

From the sound of other posters, they say that its going to be delayed for a few days?

Today is 11/14/02 isnt it?

Am I missing something?

-D.J.

Note: the key phrases in todays announcement...

they said 'we fully intended to announce...'

and then go on to say 'hope to have the arrangements finalized within two weeks '

So, it looks like the finalized announcement should come by December, along with a possible increase in the registration period.

whoops.

Reading comprehension isn't a strength of mine

December is starting to cut it a little to close for comfort...

FIRST better have this released soon, or else travel is going to be difficult with spring break for many schools roughly around those weeks.

[Andy Baker]

Originally posted by D.J. Fluck
FIRST better have this released soon, or else...

Relax. We all still have plenty of time for this. Airfares usually go up 30 days before flights. The Championships are still 5 months away. Every year, we do not buy our airline tickets until mid-January, and we still get decent deals.

Think about this:

FIRST is obviously still working on our Championships "package" (which includes hotel, entertainment, food, ground transportation, etc.) and have not finalized a deal for all of the details quite yet. Of course, they know the location and date.... but if they tell us now, before they have this "package" done, then things will go haywire.

If they told us now that the Champioships are in Timbuktu on Date XXX, then teams will start booking their own flights and hotel packages for this location and time... sending the demand up for those items. At the same time this demand would be going up, FIRST is still negotiating this "package". So, of course, they just cannot tell us yet. Once they get the details of this "package" finalized, then they will tell us.

We can definitely wait and see what this "package" is and not book our own plans. The fact that teams have not done this yet gives a considerable edge to FIRST while they negotiate low prices for us. They couldn't do this very well in the past, since we knew that the location was WDW and many teams booked their own plans.

This is a simple lesson in supply and demand.

Andy B.

[Matt Leese]

I find it interesting that FIRST said that the Championship would not be held at Epcot. They did not say it wouldn't be held at Walt Disney World. Personally, I think that that was done on purpose. But we shall see.

Matt

[Tom Schindler]

Originally posted by Matt Leese
I find it interesting that FIRST said that the Championship would not be held at Epcot. They did not say it wouldn't be held at Walt Disney World. Personally, I think that that was done on purpose. But we shall see.

Matt

that was my first thought too.