For the past 4 years in Bulgaria we have organized a FIRST LEGO League competition.
In summary
For this year, 2015-2016, we would probably not be able to organize the competition, because of the lack of support we are facing.
In details
During the last 4 years the number of teams participating were: 2011-2012 – 11 teams from 2 cities 2012-2013 – 14 teams from 2 cities 2013-2014 – 23 teams from 3 cities 2014-2015 – 14 teams from 2 cities
What is the structure
All over the world the competition is separated in Regional Partners and Local Partners. Regional partners are working with several local partners. We, Robopartans in Bulgaria, are Local Partners. Regional partners organize regional finals and teams from this finals are invited to participate in the US finals.
Can we become a regional partner?
No. We have sent a plan to LEGO for achieving about 50 teams in Bulgaria and their feedback was that it would be better for the competition if we work with Regional Partners from Greece. To add a context here what 50 teams for Bulgaria means – Hands on Technology in Germany are working with about 500 teams for an 80 millions nation. This would mean that 50 teams for Bulgaria of 7 million is kind of the maximum. Considering the 4 times difference of buying power between Germany and Bulgaria the normal number of teams in Bulgaria is about 15-20. So 500 teams in Germany is probably equal to 15 teams in Bulgaria. And it would have been very difficult to have more teams.
With whom are we working with?
We had a great partnership with Hands on Technology which are doing the competition in 7 other countries. Initially our agreement with HoT was for a partnership of 3 years which ended in 2014. For 2014-2015 we were directed to work with regional partners from Greece. Most teams are from “out of class” clubs and activities. Schools were not able to afford the cost of participation.
What are the costs
Each team pays about 300 Euros directly to the partners from Greece (nothing to us as Local Partner). 15 teams competition means about 4500 Euros. Which in last competition was covered by the sponsors as the cost was unaffordable for teams, even if they were less compared to previous year. Organizing the event of local competition costs about 3000-6000 Euros. Travelling is the next big expense. A team of 6-7 travelling to another country for 3-4 days could be about 3000-5000 Euros if the country is in Europe. And for a team to have a chance to go to semi-finals they need to travel and register for Greece. There are semi-finals and finals for just one team which is cross-continent trip with even higher expenses for each occasion.
Who are the sponsors
The competition has high costs. As a general sponsor SAP was covering most of the expenses for the last 4 years for the competition, providing many of the sets for teams and also covering the participation of the winning teams in semi-finals and finals, for example in US and in South Africa. We would like to thank SAP as a general sponsors and our other sponsors – Telerik, Ciela, Bulsatcom, 3DC, Prestigio, D. Velinov, Datecs, Empower United (http://old-rp.eyankulov.com/
Do we have a solution:
- We could make a small “unofficial, similar” competition here in Bulgaria without all the costs of travelling and costs of registering to regional partners. But we loose the FLL.
- We could direct some of the expenses to parents, students and schools, but our experience shows this is very difficult
- We could search for additional sponsorship from more organization, but we have already talked with most of them in Bulgaria.
Currently the most likely outcome is 1. We are welcome for more ideas and suggestions.
