hi everyone! I have applied for 5 events 23 season(including 1 kickoff). It seems like I have rejected by the Columbia University kickoff. I have accepted by the WPI event as robot inspector. But I haven’t heard anything from any NY regional events for about a month after heard from the WPI region. Is that seems like still under control?
thank you all for your patience!
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I think most events are just finalizing the lead key volunteers now; it’ll probably be another month or so before you hear back for most events for most roles. WPI is kind of the exception; they’re sometimes more on top of things than the average event. 
WPI is the only non-lead assignment I’ve heard from so far, and that was just assigned on Friday.
If there’s a reason you need to know about an assignment sooner (to arrange rides or lodging or whatever), then don’t be afraid to contact the volunteer coordinator directly.
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got it , thank you so much!!!
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I have been assigned for five out of my seven events.
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wow!
these are for which roles?
and for which regions?
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Week one: Lead queue at South Florida
Week two: Lead queue at Midwest
Week three: Lead queue at FLR
Week four: Team queue at Colorado
Week five: Team que at New York Tech Valley
Greater Pittsburgh and World Championships are pending. Both for queueing. Most likely Lead queue.
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seems pretty good!!!
I mostly applied for being the robot inspector btw.
Volunteer Coordinators are asked to assign Key Volunteer Roles by January 31st and wait to assign other volunteer roles until key roles are filled. It’s worth noting that for this purpose, the definition of “key roles” is pretty broad (e.g. both head refs and refs are considered key roles for the 1/31 deadline). Also worth noting that VCs have some flexibility in this process.
The only exceptions to these dates are Lead Robot Inspector, Head Ref, Judge Advisor, and Volunteer Coordinator who are nominated through a different process, and FTAs who are assigned by HQ.
You can always reach out to your local volunteer coordinator or event management (regional director or district leadership) if you have questions about your assignments!
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thank you for your reply!
Remote kickoffs really need very few volunteers (basically just people to help pass out kits), and often do their volunteer recruiting among the host team’s parents/alumni/etc.
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rly? now i get some comfort.
I’ve been assigned for three of the four I for which I volunteered.
Week 1: Arkansas Regional, Robot Inspector (RI)
Week 3: Magnolia Regional, RI
Week 5: Bayou Regional, RI
Week 8: CMP Houston, RI, Queueing, as needed
update: I have been assigned by World Champ as a robot inspector!!!
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I was assigned to my roles for Space City (Week 5) and FiT Champs (Week 6) several weeks ago. I was assigned to my role for Houston Champs this week.
I got my assignments for Los Angeles (Week 3) a few weeks ago and Hueneme Port (Week 1) this week.
Might hop in at another event or two but still deciding.
You know what goes great between a week one event and a week three event?
An S.E.P.
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Software Engineering Process? Simplified Employee Pension?..
Second (Week) Event Party?
The most powerful cloaking device in the known universe: the Somebody ELSE’s Problem.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series reference.
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Hi. I’m volunteer coordinator for NYC. (I just accepted the OP for RI). While I don’t check CD regularly, I did see this post and wanted to add on to why there are so many differences in timing and some insight into the process
- Before registration opens, I ask the folks who held supervisory roles if they plan to return.
- As soon as volunteer registration opens, I send an email to folks who volunteered in the last year or two (in this case included the pre COVID year). This email stated that returning volunteers will get a preference on roles if they apply before Thanksgiving. This helps incentivize early replies and also get a bunch of experienced people in roles.
- Thanksgiving weekend, I did a whole pile of accepts. I also sent some emails asking for clarifications of various things. Some people who applied early didn’t get accepted in this pass because I was waiting on seeing things about other roles. (It’s like Tetris, some pieces depend on others. This lets me give people their highest ranked choice possible.)
- The following weekend, I spent some time dealing with followups but didn’t look at new applications. Sometimes I do, but it didn’t happen. (You applied right after I was done with the Thanksgiving rush).
- Then I went on vacation and didn’t do anything for 2-3 weeks.
- This weekend (Xmas), I’m doing another pile of accepts so things are in good shape before kickoff. That’s when I expect the next wave of volunteers.
This isn’t some standard process. It’s based on when I have the most time. Peter’s comment about asking the VC is good advise. There’s a box you can click to send a message to the VC. I would have known I was accepting you as soon as I saw the application, I was just trying to batch work.
As far as Ed hearing back quickly, he is a super experienced and specialized volunteer. Lead queue/team queue are easy to assign. One either has a returning lead queue or not. So no thought needed. See his name and put him in as lead or team queue :).
One other source of delays - sometimes I have questions for the lead. So if FIRST is slow on approving the LRI, I may be slower on accepting RIs. (same for refs). And that has ripple effects on other roles because I want to honor preferences. Not a problem here since we our LRI is returning and therefore has the same preferences as last year.
Hope you found this interesting.
ps - for Columbia kickoff, it’s often just the planning committee that does it. Sometimes a few others, but that fills up quickly.
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