YES -
From the Hall of Fame work came the Hall of Fame at the Championship. After leaving Manchester several individuals from Hall of Fame teams along with FIRST staff formed the HoF committee and participated in several conference calls throughout the year along with transferring files back/forth.
Using the summer workshop/celebration notes,concerns, and suggestions as a starting point this committee and/or FIRST:
1. revised competition rules to allow Hall of Fame teams to submit a Chairman's entry directly to the Hall of Fame to encourage the exemplary teams to "keep going" without negatively impacting/discouraging other current teams from submitting and competing for the CA.
2. created/designed the Hall of Fame display for Atlanta. FIRST procured the display setup and lighting (someone help me here, it came from a major FIRST sponsor, but I don't remember who), and each Hall team that created a submission was invited to create a display according to criteria (developed from the summer workshop notes).
3. designed/created a special Hall of Fame pin ("star status") that goes to teams and Hall of Fame banner (only one that hangs in the Hall of Fame) to recognize the ongoing efforts of HoF teams.
-The Hall of Fame was a huge successs as there was 100% participation from exising members. The display showed a great deal of diversity, dispelling the myth that there is only one way to win the CA, solidifying the fact that it's about growth/helping others, and hopefully inspiring more teams to submit entries. For 103's pictures of the Hall please see
http://www.cybersonics.org/cybersoni...os/champ04.asp
I'm sure the CD forums include more pictures of the whole display as well and FIRST highlighted it in their latest newsletter:
http://www.usfirst.org/about/news/em...-04/index.html
As for the "other part" of those summer workshops - promoting the Chairman's Award itself - these changes and enhancement were spawned from that work (some of this is obviously interwoven with the Hall of Fame since it is synonomous with the CA):
1. More event dignitaries and major FIRST sponsors gained more exposure to the Chairman's Award in 2004. This was most evident at the Championship where those FIRST volunteers dealing with VIP's and "FIRST Ambassadors" (MiKe Sperber in particular comes to mind) led those key people to the Hall of Fame where adults and student team members from these CA Winners could express their gratitude on behalf of all teams and educate them on the true meaning of FIRST. In the past these people would see the robotics competition and were encouraged to visit the pits and talk with teams which was good, but there was no real way of knowing who walked away with the "big picture" and who saw only some of what FIRST is about. There were also many more FIRST Ambassadors in 2004 than there were in 2003, which means someone was listening last summer and worked their butts off to get all of those folks to Atlanta.
2. Dean himself convinced his friend and producer Paul Lazarus and White Dwarf Productions to create a video highlighting the 2003 winner (team 103) in an effort to promote what FIRST is about and the CA. Paul in turn convinced Noah Wyle to narrate the video. Not only was Paul gracious enough to donate the incredible amounts of time, but also a camera to Team 103 for the year. 103 shot, catalogued, and shipped more than 20 hours of footage to White Dwarf that then had to be worked and reworked to the final product in California. Both parties were in constant communication up until just a few weeks before Atlanta, ensuring the best product that embraces the ideals of the CA. Not only was that video shown in Atlanta, but Paul gave team 103 permission to distribute it via the team website (see
http://www.cybersonics.org/cybersoni.../atlanta04.asp ). This project was so successful that Paul and White Dwarf remain committed to the project. The camera has been passed along to Team 254 and we look forward to the seeing the best FIRST has to offer as the Chessy Poofs grace the big screen in April of 2005.
3. Electronic CA submission process allows for more access by more people (teams, judges, the public). While the Word document rules were a little cumbersome, FIRST is well on it's way to addressing it and it will be extremely user friendly for 2005. In all a streamlined process makes the submission more accessible and more "doable" for teams who saw the submission process as unattainable in the past.
So....the short answer is, ABSOLUTELY, that groundwork laid last summer has been utilized and continues to be utilized. While it does not always appear evident on the surface, FIRST listens to the concerns, needs, and suggestions that come from teams.
It is critical to our continued growth and success to recognize, and to make others realize, THERE ARE NO OPPONENTS. - Taylor [more] 
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