Spring, Restructuring, Regional

Just a few short days, and Spring will be upon us, along with the Microsoft Seattle Regional! Everyone's looking forward to it, and we've managed to probably more than double our attendance rate from last year, which might make us seem less like a joke and more like serious business.

I spent a while organizing all our stuff (other people helped sort bolts, metal, spacers, and terminals) only to put most of it in boxes that we're bringing to the competition. Oh well, at least everything is organized, right? Speaking of organization, Saints Robotics is going to re-organize for next year. The current structure we have is pretty good, but it's very difficult to get everyone organized all at once.

As you may or may not know, we don't elect officers or leaders. We appoint them. Most of us are pretty good friends, so it's pretty easy for the current people in power to see who's really involved and can do the best job. People who only show up and vote for their friends are more likely to make a mistake. We have four people with the title of "President": President, Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Junior Vice President.

Next, we have three Officers: Chief Engineering Officer, Chief Public Relations Officer, and Chief Information Officer. The other groups (Electronics and Graphics/3D) have been headed by one of the presidents. There's also the Accountant and the Student Store Manager.

I was thinking about it, and decided that this system is pretty inefficient. We only formally meet on Wednesdays, and it's a real problem getting everyone organized. So, starting next year (and assuming that future leadership wants to keep it), we're going to re-shuffle things a bit!

There will still be four President: President, Co-President, Senior Vice President, and Junior Vice President. From there, we will break things down into more groups: Chief Engineering Officer, Chief Developer, Chief Graphics Officer, and Chief Public Relations Officer; responsible for, respectively: build/wiring, sensors/programming/website, 2D graphics/3D graphics and animation/aesthetic design/video/photos, events/fund raising/community outreach. Each group will meet on one of the days of the week. Presidents will come every day, the whole group will meet on Wednesdays, and presidents and officers will meet either earlier or later on Wednesdays. This will allow each group to function more or less independently, with the presidents and officers making sure that they have a project to work on. The presidents will be responsible for facilitating communication and making sure all four cells act in coordination. This breakdown will allow us to have smaller groups, defined meeting days, and more purpose for all members, especially those who do not wish to work on a specific part.

It will be a bit difficult to advertise five of what can be considered separate clubs, but I think we're up to the challenge. Maybe we can absorb video club, metals club, Junior Statesmen of America, and art club. We'll see, we'll see...