[Dprglist] Robotics competition volunteers needed

[Patrick Michaud]

[I'm not sure why my previous email went out blank... but let's try again.]

Hello all,

It's robotics competition season again!  We're looking for volunteers to help us with nearly a dozen competition events over the next couple of months, and everyone on this list is a prime candidate for helping us out.  As you know, most of these events run primarily on volunteer power and so we need your help to inspire another generation of students.

---- Texas BEST & UIL State Championship, Dec 7-9

http://utdallas.edu/best/volunteers/

Our most immediate need is judges for the Texas BEST & UIL State Robotics Championship next week.  The Texas BEST & UIL State Robotics Championship is our biggest event of the year with almost 5,000 participants and spectators from across the southwestern United States. This regional competition will bring together more than seventy champion teams from hubs in Texas and New Mexico.  

The competition has grown so large that we're having to spread it across two locations this year -- judging of marketing presentations and exhibits will be at the UT-Dallas campus on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning of next week, and the Robot competition will be at the Dr Pepper Arena starting Thursday afternoon and lasting until Saturday afternoon.  Most everything is broken into half-day shifts (or shorter) so it's possible to volunteer for just part of an event without committing a full day.

If you're interested in volunteering, please visit the Volunteer Sign Up page at http://utdallas.ivolunteer.com/txbest2017 and the Volunteers page at http://utdallas.edu/best/volunteers/ for more information and to register.  We have need for volunteers in many areas:  at the Game Fields and Pit Areas at the Dr Pepper Arena; we also need judges for marketing, exhibits, and interviews at UT-Dallas.  Check out the links and come play robots with us!


---- FIRST Tech Challenge, Dec 16, Saturdays in January, and Feb 10

http://roboplex.org/ftc/volunteers/

The FIRST Tech Challenge competition is underway as well, and we can use knowledgable judges, robot inspectors, referees, and more for those events.  Qualifiers are taking place throughout the Metroplex on Saturdays in December and January, and the Regional Championship on February 10.  FIRST Tech Challenge has grown significantly this season -- we have 25% more teams and 50% more event participation than last season, so we really need your volunteer skills to keep up with the demand.

Some of the roles such as robot and field inspectors can be done in a morning, while other roles such as judging, referees, scorekeeping, and more require most of a Saturday to complete.  We can really use help from knowledgeable folks such as yourself for these events -- more information about volunteer roles, requirements, event dates, and signup details are available from our FTC volunteers page at http://roboplex.org/ftc/volunteers.


We look forward to seeing you at one or more of the above events, and if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Thank you!

Pm