Volunteer staffing for the 2007 FIRST Regional season

[Andy Baker]

I forsee a staffing challenge for the 2007 Regional season, with a heavy concentration of regionals during weeks 2, 3, and 5. This issue is also an opportunity, because new people will be required to fill these roles and therefore become future experts.

If we (the FIRST community) help FIRST, the Regional Directors and Regional Volunteer Coordinators communicate this issue out to capable people, then the issue will not be so large.

Check out the number of regionals happening each week:

Week 1 (March 1-3): 5
Week 2 (March 8-10): 8 (w/ Brazil included)
Week 3 (March 15-17): 9 (w/ NYC being Fri-Sun)
Week 4 (March 22-24): 5
Week 5 (March 29-31): 10 (w/ Israel being Tue-Thu)

Currently, there are only a handful of people who have experience in these roles:

FTA (FIRST Technical Advisor)
Head Referee
Head Inspector
Scorekeeper
Master of Ceremonies

In order for a Regional to run well, these positions need to be filled by people who can dependably do their job while handling much pressure. They need to have some sort of related experience so that they are not overwhelmed at the event. For instance, a head referee needs to have some sort of FIRST referee experience in order for them to be considered to be a head ref.

This is not trivial. There are other positions that help make an event "inspirational" (experienced announcer, etc.... but an event can live with less experience there).

FIRST is going want people to step up and fill these positions. Those of us who do these roles from year need to look where we can help during weeks 2, 3 and 5, along with our local regionals.

We can use this thread to bring focus to this issue, help communicate these needs out to capable volunteers, and to define these roles (and others) that may be in short supply of volunteers during the upcoming season.


Andy B.