After talking to a lot of California teams, I found out a lot of them will be attending the California kick off instead of going to New Hampshire again… Well, I guess the California teams are the one furthest from New Hampshire, so this way they will be saving a lot of travel expense.
But how about other teams and volunteers? Who is going to kick off this year, and which one are you going to?
is FIRST allowing teams to go to any kickoff site that they want, or do they have a speciffic kickoff site that they are required to go to?
What exactly are these extra kick-offs going to be like? Are they just going to be live television feeds? Last year I know we went to Moffet Field at 6 AM to watch the kick-off live, is it going to be the same thing this year or are they actually going to send FIRST people out here?
Well, if you think about it, there is no need to require teams going to specific kick off. There will only be two representatives from each team going to kick off, and Holiday Inn have plenty of space and Dean’s house is extremely large. It could get too crowded if ALL the teams are going to show up at New Hampshire, but chances are, a lot of teams are saving money by going to their local ones…
So, as for what’s going to happen at local kick offs… I am sure there will be some sort of broadcast so that Woodie and Dean will be explaining rules to all teams at the same time. I know NASA have done that in Bay Area last year, so we can expect the same thing next year…
I am wondering if FIRST will have extra playing fields at the local kickoffs, because it will let students and coaches at those remote kick offs get a feel of the objects in the field. However, FIRST will need to finish all those playing fields before kick off, get them to ship to the right place, and ship them back or store in local place afterward…
Also, I am wondering if FIRST will be shipping the kits to teams going to remote kickoffs, since those teams won’t have anyone going to New Hampshire to pick them up… Shipping the kits to remote make sense because local teams will be able to go to those kick offs and pick the kits up themselves.
These all depends on how much FIRST is going to pay for kick off next year…
At remote kick offs, what will happen is that they will have a NASA feed on a big screen. There will be kits there as well. And the only reason I know this is because they were considering trying to get a kick off on Long Island, and somehow, I was the one they wanted to try to get it together. But then I found out there was one in New york City, so there’s isn’t too much of a point to have one on Long Island. I shall be attending kick off in NH. I think they want rookie teams to attend the kick off in NH. I’m not positive though.
~Christina
Team 535 will be sending two (2) representative to N.H.
I wish it was me. I would like to see Dean’s house.
Wayne Doenges
I don’t know for sure what we’re going to do. But in our Lessons Learned brief we decided we wanted to send at least one tech-type to NH to handle and photograph the field elements.
Just to see how they’re REALLY put together. Not what the “sketches” say
I think what Christina said was the basic gist of what is going to happen at remote kick-offs. I believe that kits will be sent to the remote sites and kept locked until the day of the kickoff where they will be distributed following the NASA broadcast of the ‘actual’ kickoff in NH. This is what is going to happen for the the remote kickoff in Toronto so I presume it must be the same elsewhere.
Anthony.
My teacher attended a meeting by jpl and they said they will be building a field for So cal at jpl. Thats about all i know and hi Ken!.
Last year I went to a remote kick off in VA at VCU. It was a NASA feed. Jeff Seaton had a short presentation before Woodie and Dean were ready to unveil the game and the field. Team 122, Jeff’s team, had received their kit early and had it on display after everything was revealed. Since VCU was where the VA regional was held and Jeff was the emcee, we got a rundown of how the competition would be run there. We even got short copies of the rules there. There’s a lot of trust there between FIRST and the hosts of the remotes, and I think it’s great. Overall, it was nice. If there are fields away from NH, ther will be fewer people attending kick off in NH. Hope this helps, and does not repeat too much of what was already said.
Is there a rule that only 2 team reps are allowed to attend the kickoff? Its not like I’m going to bring the whole team but I think theres about 4 people who should go to kickoff for my team.
*Originally posted by Hymnson *
**Is there a rule that only 2 team reps are allowed to attend the kickoff? Its not like I’m going to bring the whole team but I think theres about 4 people who should go to kickoff for my team. **
that rule has been around for years.
Attending multiple kickoffs?
I was just wondering if, though you’re limited to 2 team mentors at Kick-Off, it might be possible to have different groups of team members attend one of the local kick-offs. Christina and I are planning on heading to New Hampshire, since we’d like to be skiing the week before, but our high school teacher wants to go too. So, theoretically, could Christina and I go to NH, while the teacher goes to the NYC Regional Kick Off?
Hey is anyone else volunteering at the NH kickoff? I’ll be there, it was lotsa fun last year so I can’t wait!
Since I decided I HAVE to go to the New Hampshire kick off again… I will be going either as a volunteer or team rep.
So my question is, how can I request to become a team rep? I am sure I can’t just show up and tell them, “Hey, I want to volunteer for this!” I suppose I don’t really care what job they are going to assign me with, since it will be fun no matter what.
No matter what happen, I am sure I will be hanging out with the other volunteers a lot this time 
Looking forward to see you all at kick off. Except people don’t recognize me without red hair… hmm… maybe a giant name tag will work…
Oh yeah, I never quite found out who’s volunteering this year…
It appears from the following question and answer that only New Hampshire is limited to 2 people per team.
Q. Is the Kickoff a mandatory event to attend?
A. No but it is very helpful for rookie teams. The NH event is for 2 adults/mentors only. Unfortunately, no high school students are allowed to attend. Check with the local remote Kickoff host for rules and regulations regarding attendance to their event.
It is very likely that the remote kickoffs don’t have the same space issue.
The problem may come from the fact that the kits are being distributed at the remote kickoffs as well as in manchester. FIRST is going to need to know where each team is sending its representitives so they know where to send the kit. Its something that you could work around, but you would probably have to talk to both FIRST and the people running the remote kickoff.