Notes from 2011 ICPC North American RCD Meeting

• High School outreach
• Increase Participation
  • Improve outreach (reach new schools, reach old schools that have left, retain existing)
  • Additional activities (other contest, challenges, ACM activities)
  • More multi-tiered Contests (more chances to compete and better document who is competing)
  • More rewards for non-top 5 (first to solve a problem, state, category, …)
• ICPC Slot allocations schemes
  • Nothing
  • NA Nationals (tournament where winners get a bye, and regions send others to compete in tourney based on participation)
  • Raffle slot (each regions receives votes each year, votes used to buy slots)
  • Rotating (slots [wildcards} rotate among regions yearly)
• Grow problem writers (have coaches write problems for other regions)

- More multi-tiered Contests
    Eligibility to register for regional:
        "Be registered in a school (local) or larger community of peers contest (semi-local) contest."  Report all reams attending and the final teams to me.
        "If in database will receive ACM student membership?"

- Improved outreach
    Teams did compete then stopped:  
        Why stopped?  fac member left, or focused on tenure/promotion, ACM chapter doesn't exist.   Sometimes contact is all it takes.
        Would you come back?  

         ACM distinguished speaker list should have a programming contest speaker to speak to chapters.
         Contact ACM crossroads & sigs to post regional contest dates and contact info as PSAs.

- More stuff to do (Challenge)
    scripting contests on Friday night
    ICPC Challenge use this problem for next year's regional
    Java Challenge
    Site has HS outreach contest
    Game programming contest 2 months (have teams play each others games and judge the games.  give results based on this) UNITY engine.

- Raffle slot, Intra-Regional Slots
    a way to give "second place" a slot at WF   
    take any extra super-regional slots and divide into a raffle situation AND have play off (if 4 guaranteed extra SR slots 2 + 2).
    
    (voting:  each region has vote on extra slot -- if you vote and don't get you don't spend the weight, if you vote and get it you start over at zero)



- More rewards for non-top 5
    Ways to reward teams that don't believe they have a chance to be rewarded:
        Best in state
        best school w/only ugrad pgm
           "          "      w/ugrad & grad pgms
        solved problem first time
        best improved team from last year   ( absval[thisyearrank - lastyearrank]  by school
        steadfast programmers (last team to submit correct submission)
        team w/most incorrect submissions before solving a problem (persistence award)
        top team solving only one problem, top team solving one two problems, etc.
        top in site
        top community college (top 1 - n cc)
        division I, II, III, etc. in a region -- prizes for

    Flat fee per school no matter how many teams come.  Chairs feel they are getting a "deal".

    Get another plaque of firsts in Region.

    will send email to all NA RCDS in a week with these choices.

- Grow problem writers (have coaches write problems for other regions)

- High School outreach
  - usaco (web)
  - IOI
  - use admissions/recruitment newsletters and advertise programs, etc.
  

ALI:   following Asia/Russia structure for contests
    Russia:  15 contests in region for entrance to one regional contest
    Asia:       bunch of sites and a team could compete in as many sites as they wanted (now limited to 2 site contests);  Now have three groups of sites and each group has a certain number of slots.  


- Create rivalry
    


- League vs Tournament



Suggestions for report:

To increase participation and deal with equitable access to finals for those in my regions:
    SuperRegional model
    Don't change anything for my reason
    Rotating wild card allocation
    Raffle idea

Create sub-committee to keep this alive?
    http://serjudging.vanb.org/


vanb@vanb.org for access to his blog.

Epscor

Additional Questions:
- School/department support
  - What do we need?
  - How to increase? 
  - What are we doing well?


Publicity
- effect/importance of the contest
- how to promote