[BB] Bills Blog 07/08/11

FIRST General Forum
#1

FRIDAY, JULY 8, 2011

It’s all fun and games
Good Morning Teams,

This time of year I think wistfully of summer vacations and long days spent by the water. In reality I’m besieged by decisions about the 2012 season that have to be made soon in order for the staff to get to work making the next season a reality.

Everything is up in the air (as usual) but we do have a big picture plan.
TIMS will open for team profile information in late August.
Registration for FRC events is scheduled to begin in late September.
We have several additional new Regionals planned.
FIRST staff and key volunteers are working to contract venues at all event locations.
When we have a firm competition schedule, I will share it right away.
We’re also discussing:
We need to find ways to reduce trophy costs. Here, the cost cutting discussion includes weighing the benefits of eliminating the second trophy vs. downsizing the two trophies currently awarded to winners.
We have to plan for the future of Championship. When the number of Regionals x6 exceeds the number of berths at CMP, how should we determine which teams should be invited to participate?
We’re looking closely at the volunteer model in FRC as compared to the rest of FIRST and other youth centric programs. Should we be background checking every volunteer who comes in contact with students?
We continue to look for ways to reduce Regional expenses, examining everything from venues and dates to equipment rental and contracted services.
In other news:

My congratulations to the FRC Teams in Mexico who attracted the attention and interest of President Calderon this year. The forum “Foro Mexico FIRST” is a direct result of their conversation with the President and provides all FRC teams an opportunity to make suggestions and offer support to the growing FIRST community in Mexico. Please visit the website and share your tips for success and lessons learned in bringing FIRST to your community. Go Mexico Teams!

Dean Kamen and several FIRST teams are featured in Time Warner Cable’s newest Connect a Million Minds TV special called “It Ain’t Rocket Science” which is now available for viewing on line. http://www.connectamillionminds.com/videos.php#79
http://www.connectamillionminds.com/videos.php#80
http://www.connectamillionminds.com/videos.php#81

183 days until kickoff
See you then!

#2

Smaller trophies? Yeah, that will really catch people’s attention sitting in the display case next to the trophies of sports teams… :rolleyes:

#3

Not a fan of downsizing trophies again…

#4

Well, they can’t make them (the trophies) too small, so I bet it isn’t a major reduction.

I find it interesting that they mentioned more regionals, but nothing about districts. Is it still happening?

#5

Me neither. I understand the need to cut costs, but I find it hard to believe that cutting trophy size will really take any significant chunk out of the amount of money they spend. For $4,000 a regional, I think they can afford a small trophy.

I’m curious to know what there solution is for championship bids. I would really like a to see a system similar to districts, but it doesn’t seem that they’re moving in that direction quite yet (nor can they until FRC team become more densely populated some areas).

#6

I’m pretty sure we haven’t done anything with our second trophies, so I would prefer only giving out one trophy instead of downsizing them.

#7

We’re looking closely at the volunteer model in FRC as compared to the rest of FIRST and other youth centric programs. Should we be background checking every volunteer who comes in contact with students?

Frankly, I’m a bit surprised nothing like this has been happening. I know with our team, there’s a background check done on all new mentors/volunteers with the team, and then it’s repeated every few years.

#8

For us, one trophy goes to each of our two primary sponsors. I really hope reducing it to one trophy isn’t the solution chosen.

#9

This does happen already.

#10

I really really hope they don’t downsize the trophies again. It’s still weird looking at regional win trophies from this year the size of regional finalist trophies from years past.

-Nick

#11

I don’t really want them to downsize them or only give us one. We have a 2007 Regional Winner trophy that is large and 2010/2011 RCA trophies that are smaller. People think that means that the Regional Winner one is more important. No. Chairmans in the highest award FIRST gives. The trophies should reflect that by not getting smaller.
FIRST did a background check on me both times I volunteered at CMP but never at the regional level.

#12

The downsizing of awards in general over the years is annoying when compared to the high cost for each event. Having our Smokey Mountain Regional Championship trophy sitting next to the larger finalist trophy from a couple of years ago is sad. Try explaining that this award is just as important or moreso than the one from a few years ago to a new student. They’ve already gone from participation medals to pins (really guys…hat pins?!?) and charging for medals, now further downsizing? What next…will they be downsizing the Woodie Flowers trophy as well (they better not!)? Smaller banners? District-level Lego League trophies are bigger than many of this years’ FRC awards!

I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but what’s happening to the “Recognition” in FIRST? Recognizing our champions and those teams who others aspire to become is just as important as recognizing our students, mentors, or volunteers. The truth of the matter is that those trophies are important to a lot of people.

Perhaps give out only one trophy but give the option of a receiving a second one after the event, but enough already.

#13

We supposedly ran background checks on each mentor involved with 3553.

#14

So I haven’t posted it but I have a picture of showing that the Championship finalist trophy is significantly smaller than the divisional champion or regional champion trophies and frankly this is comical when you see the two side by side. We thought the greater achievment would mean a bigger or at least comparable trophy.

Or second trophies always go to our primary sponsor. We think that this is an important part of recognizing the sponsor.

Also we have noticed the change in the trophies over the years. At some point I will take a few pictures of the really old trophies just to show how cool some of the awards used to be when they were unique to the game or sponsor in the pre 2001 era of FRC.

#15

The trophies should instead be restored back to their original sizes.

When we ordered our extra CMP CA trophy, it was $700.
When it arrived, it was broken and I had to take it to a local plastic shop to get it fixed. When I mentioned the price, they were shocked! They could make the equivalent for less than half the price.
Somebody is making money…that’s for sure.

Trophy size DOES matter. When you attend outreach events, try to gain sponsorships, or display them at school functions, it emphasizes just how hard it was to earn any trophy at all.

Sure, its not all about winning…but when you accomplish something and get recognized for it, you want it to represent all the hard work that the students and team put into it.
Personally, I always order extras to give to team member(s) who were directly responsible for the achievement, such as the website award.

I dont work for FIRST, so I cant comment on just how difficult it is to overcome trophy expenses…however, for the price tag of each event teams (sponsors) pay for, its the one thing that shouldn’t be cut first.

#16

Soon t-ball participation awards will be bigger than the FRC World Championship winner award :rolleyes:

My understanding is that FIRST only actually pays for awards for the championship event and each regional is left to pay for their own awards. Someone feel free to correct me if that’s wrong.

If that is the case, FIRST would be saving what, maybe $2,000 by chintzing out even more than they already have over the last 3 years? In the process they ■■■■ off nearly everyone. That makes perfect sense.

Sponsors, school administrators, etc all want to see the accomplishments of a team to justify giving them more money and support. The unfortunate reality is that the number one way of doing this is to show them a bunch of big old trophies. Every year the trophies get smaller it becomes less impressive to outsiders and those who only have a cursory knowledge of the program.

Yet again FIRST presents us with a “would you rather we poke you in the eye or kick you in the shins, and then charge you $6,000” scenario. Every year it costs more and more to get the same amount of value the kit/event contained 5 years ago (though we have gotten more matches, which is fantastic).

#17

How about only one trophy of the current size for winning team and giving them the option of buying more to be sent via mail?

Cuts cost, keeps trophy size, and still allows teams to get extra trophies to give to sponsors/ schools/etc if they so choose.

Edit: trophies bought for manufacturing and shipping cost: no mark-up.

#18

Trophy sizes should remain the same (or be enlarged). Like mentioned before, the size of a robotics trophy should be the same as for football and other major sports.

On another note, did anyone else catch the possible game clue?

The possibility of an aerial game is interesting.

#19

What about the 6 times the number of regional’s as spots for championships?
352 at championship this year
minus 25(founding teams, chairman award winners, last years winners, and last years engineering inspiration winner)
divide by 6(winners, rookie allstars, inspiration, chairman award winners)
= about 55 regionals(not taking off for districts)
meaning FIRST is looking at having about 330 regionals!
that is a ridiculous amount of teams.
but we only had 27 regional in 2004, and next year we will put a strain on championship with all the new regionals.
At that number of teams districts wiil be able to be in every region

#20

What he is saying is that that they are worried about the point in time where the number of spots at championships is lower than the number of teams that directly qualify. The number of teams with a guaranteed spot is equal to 6 times the number of regionals because the winning alliance (3 teams), Chairmains winner, Engineering Inspiration winner, and rookie all-start are all auto-qualified for championships.