has anybody read this?
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Get Some!!!

Secretary of the Queensland Robotics Sports Club inc.

I read it; hope things work out with your plans.

As far as Ideas festival it wouldn’t be hard to come up with some “New Ideas” for next time, we could bring our big bots in Ultibot trim and do a demo and there are plenty of other things possible to go with a regular Featherweight event.
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Satisfaction is proportional to effort and results.

yeah another ideas festival sounds pretty awesome i must say, the last one was really enjoyable to compete at, great environment, great atmosphere and all round terrific competition/crowd

with september not happening all u interstaters unless u wanna have to wait (im aiming this at victorians) until next jan robowars or whenever else a event is held once maybe twice if your lucky this year or u can come to battleshed for a incredible event and some top notch competition

back on topic though now one issue i see is that january robowars and march ideas festival is a little close together caus i personally dont wish to pay so much for flights etc for one event then two months over do it again, to me its too much money in too little time, in a perfect world in my opinion if we had national events every second month id be all for it but it would be alot of money for both so soon. I state this is simply my opiinon and if others r for it then awesome but dont start flaming me for it aight

If both are defo events i will be going to one only (due to time/money etc etc) and if its guanteed to happen itll be ideas festival
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Andrew Welch, Team Unconventional Robotics

The conversation I had with the Ideas Festival organizers centered on the fact that there is not much of a regular competition here in Queensland and I explained this was because there is not a permanent arena here or a regular comp. Once I explained this I was told that there would be no problem with them funding an arena if they knew it would be used regularly. This is why the Sidetracked arena was shipped up last time, they were lead to believe that if they built an arena here it would only be used once.
I told them I am eager to organize a regular competition but am lacking the funding for a arena. Once they heard this they seemed eager to help us out.
So March next year seems definite with more to follow after.
As I said I want to get the QLD builders or those who are interested in QLD together and discuss this and other issues. Either that or we really need another Metal Mayhem or HoC event soon. Not much has happened here this year.
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Get Some!!!

Secretary of the Queensland Robotics Sports Club inc.

quote:

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Originally posted by kkeerroo:
Once I explained this I was told that there would be no problem with them funding an arena if they knew it would be used regularly. This is why the Sidetracked arena was shipped up last time, they were lead to believe that if they built an arena here it would only be used once.

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When are you thinking of getting together? Have you estimates of the compliance costs (particularly the cost of the annual audit) involved in a formal not for profit organisation?
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So even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems

That is exactly what I was told. They didn't know of anything happening outside of Melbourne. I was told that building an arena here was discussed and that the money was not a problem. The problem was that they knew nothing of robots outside of VIC. I was also asked how I would handle getting an arena insured as they were told that this would be difficult or impossible and is another reason they chose to use a pre-insured arena.

As for getting together I personally am rather flat-out for the next couple of months. If it is not within the next couple of weeks it will have to wait until July.
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Get Some!!!

Secretary of the Queensland Robotics Sports Club inc.

Someone is feeding you BS then.

"Money was not a problem" - haha, wait until you try to do it. If they offered me 50% more than they did last time, I'd still turn it down after experiencing all the hoops I had to jump through to pull that event off.

I told them of the local builders, estimated the construction costs of an arena (labour and materials), discussed storage, transport, time schedules etc etc. Why would I tell them there was nothing happening outside of Victoria ?

I told them there were no public events, or transportable arena's existing outside of Victoria. Local Competitors were most definitely mentioned.

Anyway, I'm not getting into a slanging match over it. Believe what you like.
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Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

Mario put up a post on the FRA forum about the DRG arena. I thought it of interest if we build an arena.

"The DRG arena polycarbonate screen isn't even bolted at all. The 12mm thick PC is sandwiched between 2 steel Lprofiles, with a foam protection to avoid scratching and chafing.The whole sheet can flex and move, but even the worst we can do won't push the sheet out of the frame. "

This soundd like it agrees with the Kero's ideas.
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So even the rain that falls isn't actually going to fill our dams and our river systems

thatrs how i would hold the poly carb on iff i deshighned an arena drilling holes only gives the stuff a place to break from

I found pictures of the Combots arena in america and it has pretty much the same thing. I better get around to redrawing the damn thing.

Latest update for a large QLD event.
Here is an e-mail I got just before I left to go to America:

Andrew

Am glad all at your end are keen, I have spoken to South Bank, who are an
Ideas Festival sponsor and the venue for the Festival (particularly the Suncorp
Piazza where we hosted the Robowars in 06) and they are keen to again have
Robowars, as are we, as part of the Festival. The Ideas Advisors will meet
next week and I'll be putting it to them that we are to again have Robowars at
the Festival.

Meanwhile, and partly the reason for moving slowly, I have resigned from the
postion of Ideas Festival Director and will finish up next week, I'm leaving to
take up a new postion after seven years in this one. The new Director is
expected to start before the end of the month and I'll be briefing them on the
progress we have made to date and our intention to have Robowars
tournament at Ideas again and also that by working with you Ideas would be
able to aid the establishment of Robowars in Queensland as on ongoing thing
with the necessary arena.

So thats the progress to date Andrew, as I say I'll be briefing the new Director
and I'll ask you to write and introduce yourself early in July to progress things.
Use director@ideasfestival.com.au.

Kind Regards and I do hope it all goes well.

KylieM

After that I was thinking of other things like going to America, going to Philippines, moving house then uni exams that I didn't get back to them till recently. After a rather confusing phone conversation with the new event coordinator(I think thats who she was) I realized the new staff have no idea of anything that has previously happened. Today I got this e-mail:

Hey Andrew,
sorry if i was meant to email you as a follow up, my understanding was as
follows.

1. i am in discussion with our director about what his vision is for having
robotics at the festival this year.
2. i still need to explore our relationship with Melbourne and the team down
there as we are already in relationship with them.
3. you were going to get quotes about the arena and email them to me, however
i mentioned that we would be unlikely to purchase anything.
4, if you were incorporated you could then apply for a community gambling
benefit grant through the state government to get your own arena made.

so all of these things are still in exploration, there is really no news i can give
you at this stage, we are still working out our stuff and so are you.

so lets stay in touch.
cheers
Lenine

I wonder if the guys in Melbourne can confirm whether they have talked to the Ideas Festival people and if so what is going on there. This new person seems quite adamant that they will not buy anything for us which is the complete opposite of what I was told previously.
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Get Some!!!

Secretary of the Queensland Robotics Sports Club inc.

They don't seem to be very organised - I hope this works out as I am very keen to come up to Brisbane again. Approximately what date is the festival on this year?
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Australian 2015 Featherweight champion
UK 2016 Gladiator champion

That is weird..

I have had no communication with the Ideas Festival people since a week or so after the last one to make sure everything was OK.

All of my communication at that time was via Janet Marles - who was a "project officer" and not the "director", I do not recalled having ever heard of a Kylie in my dealings with them, but if she is the Director, then thats not surprising since I didnt deal with the Director.

"Unlikely to purchase anything" sounds more like the line I was getting from them originally , which is why I was surprised when you said they claimed that they would have if they had known there would local competitors.

It occurs to me that this could just be a negotiating tactic, perhaps they're trying to sus you out and see if you are just after them to buy you something ?

If they keep doing the "explore our existing relationship with Melbourne" thing with you, I will be happy to let them know that I am not interested in organising any further interstate competitions and would rather it be handled by an enthusiastic local.

If you have never organised an event before, be ready to do some hard dealing, lots of paperwork (it is the government), and watch out for them trying to pull last minute "add ons" (like they did with insurance to me) to try and get maximum value for their dollar.

Incorporation ? Community gambling benefit government grants ?
You can have that all to yourself I'll help you and let you know anything I have learned in event organising over the years, but I'm not going near those with a barge pole.
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Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people

Seems like a good place to post this:
I just came back from a meeting with one of the Ideas Festival organizers. They are still eager to put on the event but the process is taking a little longer with government department restructuring and such. The event is currently scheduled for the end of March so pencil that into your diaries but remember this date is not locked in. A more formal announcement will come end of the month hopefully.

P.S. Brett can you PM me any details you remember of the insurance arrangement? The organizes are a little forgetful on those matters and will need to reread the old contract. Do you remember if the old contract was correct? They didn't seem to think my idea of classing the event as a private party would work for this event.
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Get Some!!!

Secretary of the Queensland Robotics Sports Club inc.