FIRST in Michigan Thoughts/Impressions

[Jim Meyer]

Now that it's over, I just wanted to post how well I thought FIRST in Michigan went. I really think this format will help get more teams involved.

My overall grade would be an A.

Things I liked:
- More local events - This saved us a lot of money by not having to pay for a hotel, and also meant less time away from family.
- Lower Cost - The district events are a real bargain compared to regular regionals. For me the pack in even more excitement in with the faster match pace and more intimate environment.
- Schedule - Check-in on Thursday evening with qualifying matches late morning Friday and Saturday morning. This significantly reduces our time away from School/Work.
- The Bag - This saved us so much hassle not having to deal with shipping our robot in a crate to each competition.
- 12 Qualifying Matches - It meant less time between matches, but after experiencing this format it was tough to go back to the old way. It was a real disappointment to only play 8 at the State Championship.
- Volunteers - The volunteers did a fantastic job putting on all of the district events I attended. Generally. they seemed to go smoother than the State Championship.

My only real complaints was that the State Championship wasn't more like the district events.
- With the higher team count at the State Championship, playing 12 matches is more difficult, but I think we should have started playing qualifying matches on Thursday afternoon. Extend the schedule a little later in the day and we could have all played 12 matches.
- The cost to attend Ypsilanti seems way out of line with the value we get from the district events.

My 2 cents