James, unfortunately I do not believe the FRA is in a position to accept representation from everyone who wants to run robot events in their garden. You are suggesting that without representation on the committee the FRA was somehow failing you. This is not the case - there is nothing stopping you from taking on board and using the publicly published FRA rules and event guidelines.
At the time of your last application the event you were working on was for someones Birthday party I believe. Whilst in that scenario you would still have to have Public Liability Insurance etc for what you were doing (which Im not questioning you had) it is still an event in a garden, and that is not what the event organisers area of the FRA is about and this is why your application was rejected to join the Event Organisers committee I believe.
You are right - people are people, and you dont have to be a member of the FRA to use and abide by the rules and guidelines which are accepted in the community as being best practice, Event Organisers on the committee are public event organisers - otherwise where does the FRA draw the line, they would be swamped by applications! If you wish to make your events safe and ensure they are running to best practice perhaps I could ask if you are already running to the FRA rules and guidelines ?
Also, joining the FRA doesnt mean that you wont get criticised - in fact it means you are totally open for scrutiny and anything that goes wrong is discussed publicly. For example the recent Inspire Featherweight Smash that happened in December is on the agenda for discussion at this months meeting. You need to be able to take criticism on board and improve where needed rather than just provide justification as to why you thought you were right - some people can react very badly to this !
My suggestion is that before approaching the FRA you ensure that your arena and event procedures fit in with the FRA guidelines.
You can download the safety guidelines here
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/FRAEventSafety.pdf>http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/FRAEventSafety.pdf
And the FRA Build Rules here
http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/FRARulesandGuidelines.pdf>http://www.fightingrobots.co.uk/FRAR...Guidelines.pdf
Ask yourself if this is something that you want to be involved in - you do have a reputation for being somewhat isolated from the mainstream community (for example your mum wouldnt be able to attend FRA meetings if she saw a robot she didnt like) P
Once youve done that, and youre sure that your events will meet the FRA guidelines and run by the FRA rules then youre up and running as an FRA event organiser; meaning youll benefit from the FRA supporting your events, providing you with help and expertise, a dedicated safety officer at your event who looks after the safety independently of you etc etc etc !
Ed
http://www.stormrobot.com>http://www.stormrobot.com
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