Bills Blog 10-25

[Alex Cormier]

http://frcdirector.blogspot.com/2011...ff-update.html

All I can say is

Booo.

That's a big disappointment. I was hoping one day to make it out there for a live broadcast.

[thefro526]

Wow, I wonder what the reason is for this.

This would happen the year that I finally decide to go up there. :/

[Chris is me]

Dear FIRST Teams,

We made an impulse decision to take away something a lot of people liked. We won't give you a reason.

Sincerely, FIRST HQ.

Are we actually supposed to be okay with that?

[Thad House]

Really? This sucks. Even though we are on the west coast and would never get a chance to go, it being live was all the fun of it.

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by sst.thad

Really? This sucks. Even though we are on the west coast and would never get a chance to go, it being live was all the fun of it.

Odds are, that if the event is pre-recorded, it will be recorded as if it were a live event. I doubt that we'll be able to see much of a difference over the stream.

[Mark McLeod]

I'm going to miss the clapping seal...

[Thad House]

I doubt they will record it with mass groups of students because that would give away the game to entire groups of teams early.

[XaulZan11]

As someone who would likely never attend the live kick-off, I'm in favor of this decision. If I'm just going to watch it on a screen some where, I'd prefer a more polished production. I'm sure it saves a significant amount of stress and pressure associated with putting together a live show. I think these two things are worth the lack of watching the show live, in-person for the 1% of FIRSTers.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

As someone who would likely never attend the live kick-off, I'm in favor of this decision. If I'm just going to watch it on a screen some where, I'd prefer a more polished production. I'm sure it saves a significant amount of stress and pressure associated with putting together a live show. I think these two things are worth the lack of watching the show live, in-person for the 1% of FIRSTers.

A more polished production? I don't remember ever having any issues with the live kickoff's quality.

Overall, pretty lame of FIRST. Might make for a better demo of the game. Was hoping to get up to Manchester some year though.

[Taylor]

I guess I can scratch "go to kickoff in NH" from my bucket list.

As Bill said, teams can still go for a screening - but I can watch TV at home.

[sgreco]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

As someone who would likely never attend the live kick-off, I'm in favor of this decision. If I'm just going to watch it on a screen some where, I'd prefer a more polished production. I'm sure it saves a significant amount of stress and pressure associated with putting together a live show. I think these two things are worth the lack of watching the show live, in-person for the 1% of FIRSTers.

I agree. I've both watched the broadcast of kick-off and attended the actual event, and honestly I don't think pre-recording it is a bad idea. The reality is that it probably requires less stress and time preparation to film kick-off ahead of time; if this is something first needs to do to allocate their valuable time to something else, I'm okay with that.

Live kick-off was a special event, but it's not the worst of losses, especially if the quality of production rises.

that said, I do think it would be fair for FIRST to give us all a reason for the change.

[Boydean]

I wonder if the decision was based off NASA support to broadcast the event. NASA might have ran into a scheduling problem with getting a live team there and ready to broadcast the event live.

These might have been their options with NASA:

A) Pre-record the event and have NASA broadcast it on their network the day of.

B) Keep live event, but lose the ability for NASA to live broadcast it.

If thats true then I can easily see why FIRST chose option B.

Sadly, I may have to cross out "Attend live FIRST broadcast" from my list. Although if FIRST still keeps the workshops and the get together at Dean's house the night before it may still remain on my list.

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Boydean

A) Pre-record the event and have NASA broadcast it on their network the day of.

B) Keep live event, but lose the ability for NASA to live broadcast it.

In an outside discussion, we came to similar conclusions - but one question still remained, if this were the reason, why not just say it outright?

If BB said something like "Due to conflicts with NASA's Broadcasting Schedule, we will be pre-recording the 2012 FRC Kick-off" I think most of us wouldn't have an issue.

[XaulZan11]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

A more polished production? I don't remember ever having any issues with the live kickoff's quality.

Overall, pretty lame of FIRST. Might make for a better demo of the game. Was hoping to get up to Manchester some year though.

There was never a time I thought the kickoff was unpolished or needed better production, but if they now have a couple weeks to perfect and edit the show, it has to be better, right?

While it would be nice to know all the reasons for the decision, the Will.i.am concert has taught me to keep an open mind in these issues and not jump to conclusions.

[EricH]

XaulZan, you may have just hit on something with the reference to the concert.

Remember what the concert became? A TV special. I wonder if, by pre-recording the Kickoff, they are really looking into preparing for another one. But, c'mon, FIRST! If that's the reason, just tell us if you can! Otherwise, we'll think it's just another of those late-night, caffeine-fueled decisions that teams so commonly make that may or may not work.