BOILERMAKER comments or suggestions [Archive]

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AmyPrib

18-03-2005, 11:20

Kit Gerhart

18-03-2005, 12:21

Hello all,

Boilermaker is under way. Wondering if you have any positive and/or not so positive comments or suggestions about the entire event.
How was the event run, field setup, spectator setup, concessions, staff, volunteers, activities, social, etc.
Please let us know.

Also - please try to keep to this particular topic. There are other threads that will discuss game play and teams performance.

Thanks!! We look forward to hearing your comments.
I couldn't make it to the event but am watching it on the webcast. I can't say much about the layout, but the opening ceremony was well conducted. I wish I could have been there, as Boilermaker appears to have more of the "powerhouse" teams than any other regional.

Rick TYler

18-03-2005, 12:29

I'm watching some of the Webcast (thanks!). My only comment is that your announcer needs to hold the microphone farther from his mouth, or the sound people need to turn down his gain. His voice is signficantly distorted.

How about that. Even people 2,000 miles away have opinions of your event...

AmyPrib

18-03-2005, 22:56

Eugenia Gabrielov

18-03-2005, 23:20

As a spectator today, here are a few of the things I noticed personally.

It ran very smoothly I felt, I don't nkow how web quality was, but I didn't have many problems with hearing announcers.

I would request that, as a general thing I noticed at 2 regionals I've been to this season, make the people who are giving handouts in the pit wear safety glasses! That is the most dangerous situation. For people actually in the pits or scouting, it didn't seem to be a problem, but for hander-outers, I was getting worried about some of them. Other than that, safety was fabulously enforced, and it was good that the info desk constantly had glasses avialable so I could give them to people touring or random individuals without them.

Mention the lost items box more! I lost my keys today, and I got them from there.

The last thing is the layout behind the scoring station. It is dreadful. People cut through like mad, and it killls scouting and touring. You know which end I'm talking about...

- Genia

dangerousdave

20-03-2005, 08:28

We (parent with #1002 Wheeler High CircuitRunners - Marietta, GA) just returned home from our 9 hour bus ride from the Boilermaker and we had a blast.

The positivies were:
* great competition
* overall weather not bad for N. Indiana
* very reasonable concession costs and allowing us to bring in other food a big plus
* very very nice awards presentation and facility
* very friendly and helpful Purdue students and other volunteers
* unbelievable dinner Friday night at the Purdue cafeteria
* lots of sporting activities and a band concert for the students after dinner Friday.
* the Triple XXX family Restaurant - great breakfast & lunch and great root beer, very friendly staff

The negatives were:
* lack of space for the event including spectator seating especially Saturday, queuing and the pits
* (sound system) almost impossible to hear the announcer and why not stop or lower the music when he is announcing the teams? Quite a few people could not hear the announcement that the awards were in another facility and were just sitting there waiting for them to start
* parking way too far from the event unless you could score a pass

Overall a very positive regional!

Dave

MattB703

20-03-2005, 08:56

I really like having the awards ceremony in the auditorium next door. It would have been next to impossible to do it in the armory.

Chris Fultz

20-03-2005, 10:04

If you have comments that you do not want to post in a public forum,
you can PM either me or Amy P and we will pass along the comments to
the planning committee and not share your name.

We want to hear both positive and negatives, so we know what to keep
and what to change for the 2006 Boilermaker Regional!*

* I really wish gold showed up better in type, I really dislike using red (it reminds me of that other Indiana college).

roboticsguy1988

20-03-2005, 15:24

The only negatives i noticed at the competition was:
*You could not here the announcer over the music at times
*There was not enough space in the stands for people to watch (i know many people that resorted to standing and going to the pits and watching on the web cast, and there were also people who watched the TV back in the pits)
*There were no real restrooms, just porta potty things, and you had to wash your hands in the cold, using cold water.
*I also noticed during a few of the matches that the refs did not call a penalty when they should have (there were a couple times that there was huge safety violations, and no penalty was called)
*The guage of wire they were using to supply power to everyone in the pits was not very thick. Especially considering the fact that you have lights, chargers, laptops, and many power tools running off of it.

Other than those things everything was great. I hope to see those things improve next year when i am there. I had a really great and fun time while attending the boilermaker regional.

Amanda Morrison

20-03-2005, 18:09

All the suggestions that are being made here on the forums are great, and as people are getting home and getting their ChiefDelphi fix, we certainly want to hear more to make next year's regional the best ever.

Please keep in mind - suggestions like the referee's calls, music, etc. are not handled by the people who plan the regional. What kinds of things would you change about the venue, the setup, the tours, etc?

Ryan Dognaux

20-03-2005, 18:25

Excellent regional this year. For next year, I would look into having it somewhere other than the Armory. This regional will draw an even larger crowd next year and the Armory will be even more cramped than it was this year. Also, the time inbetween the last match and drafting was very very short. An extra ten minutes would have been very helpful in deciding alliance pairings.

The tours and concessions were excellent. I thought the music was at a perfect level too.

D.J. Fluck

20-03-2005, 18:35

Have it somewhere closer to me...the 1 block walk from my building to the armory was too much ;)

Anyway, onto serious issues,

1. Larger Venue for sure...I heard that they were originally planning on having seating for only 75% of what we really did have....that would have been a real disaster... If it was a bit smaller regional, I think the venue would have been perfect.

2. Eliott for the award ceremony was excellent, plenty of room and it just seemed like the perfect enviornment for an award ceremony....the best part being Blair riding that kiddy bike in on saturday :p

3. Team party was excellent

4. I personally didn't go on any tours especially since I tour campus 5 days a week for class, but from what I heard they were excellent.

5. Last thing is the activities in the Union on Thursday night should have been publicized a bit better (more announcements, flyers hanging around, etc)....I heard that they only had 1/5th of what they had prepared for actually show up...

Other then that everything was excellent, it was probably the best regional I've ever been to...

roboticsguy1988

20-03-2005, 19:11

When i was talking about the music, i didn't mean the music itself, that was fine. I was talking about the announcer, not the one that gave info to the pits, but the one that introduced the teams at the beginning of each match was hard to hear at times. If the gain on his Mic was turned up a bit more then that might have been better.

As far as the other stuff goes, everything was excellent. Except like i said before, someplace else besides the armory may have been better, because there was such a large crowd that there were many people standing around the field instead of sitting (because there was no more seats). Which in result caused more people to walk around the pits which also at times were way crowded.

And yes the concessions were great, and i also liked the practice field setup. And very much liked the after events. I didn't get a chance to go on any tours of the campus or anything like that. One thing i know a few people were complaining about is the time of the tours. If the times could be arranged like more later in the day when there are not as many matches, or at a time during the evening, it would be nice. That way everyone including the drivers, and the pit crew on the team would get a chance to go. I think that would also help the members on smaller teams that have like 10 students.

Overall I give this regional an 8.65 out of 10. It was great and i had a lot of fun. For a rookie regional i think it was very well organized and coordinated.

JAH

20-03-2005, 21:17

Overall, it was a great regional. A different venue would be preferred for next year. The stands didn't have near enough seating. The bathroom situation worked, but nicer facilities would have been preferred. Something I extremely liked about the UCF regional was how they saved a good amount of seating for teams who were on the field playing in that match. That way, the pit team and others can be right in front with the action. I don't understand why the first row of seating wasn't allowed to be used. I understand it was to keep aisle ways clear, but were those not portable bleachers? Couldn't they just have been set up 5 feet farther back to accommodate this problem? The VIP section was a great idea. Electricity in the stands would be appreciated, but I understand that is hard to accommodate. Overall, it was a great competition with great teams.

AmyPrib

20-03-2005, 21:38

Hay All,

Just a few comments. We know that seating was limited. Originally we were told we'd have less than what we did, but we pushed for more. We got it, but unfortunately not enough. That is one thing that will be worked on for next year.
On the other hand, to put a positive twist on it, don't you think it added to the huge energy and excitement that the place had? That place was slammin', people going nuts, yelling, screaming, and it got more intense as days went on, it's hard to get that kind of energy pumpin' with a HUGE arena with people spread out all over. While it may have been standing room only at times, people came together (closely!) and rocked the house!
We tried to get a larger venue (other campus facilities) but were not able for various reasons. It will be worked on next year, and if it has to be held in the Armory again, there can be some setup differences to allow more space or seating. We didn't have a ton of say in the setup, but definitely will look at it for next year. We planned for and expected high attendance but we got even more than that.

We did block off the first row for safety and to keep traffic moving. I personally think that no matter where the teams were sitting in the stands, they were pretty darn close to the action. I think it would have been tough to block off a section up front for playing teams with limited seating as it was. I think that would have caused overall less seating (those teams would already have another section they were sitting in, and then plus a reserved section taking up space they'd be moving back and forth to - spectators and others would have fewer places to sit). We actually had quite a few spectators from off the street that heard about it and attended with young children. I think that's awesome - spreading the word.

The only parking that had distance (1mile) was for the buses and trailers. We just could not accomodate them all in the lot behind the armory, but we did provide shuttle service for bus drivers. The parking garage across the street (1min walk) was reserved and free for everyone attending the event.

We also know the number one complaint was the bathroom facilities. We apologize for this, but we originally had better plans which fell through. This is high on the priority list for improving next year.

I was also shocked at the lack of time for alliance selections, but again that is out of our hands. Many issues are under FIRST control, but we can surely pass on the comments.

The campus tour times - already under discussion to work on better timing. Due to having the Union activities on Thursday evening (which all teams were informed about and confirmed to attend, and numerous announcements were made, but unfortunately few teams attended), we didn't have tours planned for that evening. We wanted to get to as many students as we were able and understand we were not able to accomodate drive teams better. We had good turn-outs for the tours despite that and think it worked out well... I am glad that we had these - I think it showed what Purdue is all about without pushing it on people.

We actually did have a few lines run for electricity in the bleachers, on the west side a couple rows up. But I don't think it was publicized as it was a late addition during the event. How 'bout the wireless internet? Did that work out ok for people?

We appreciate all the postive and negative feedback so far. We strive to make it enjoyable for everyone . :) The people that helped put this together are all experienced FIRSTers who care about making it a good, fun event. This is why we take your feedback seriously.
Keep them coming, and as Chris said, you can PM him or I with comments.

btw, Dangerousdave - can you give more details about the problems with queuing and pits? That was in your negative list, but not sure exactly the problems?

I am thoroughly impressed with the action packed competition and game-play that went on... I myself was skeptical about the action involved in this game, but it was fierce this past weekend.

Thanks!

roboticsguy1988

20-03-2005, 23:17

Hay All,

Just a few comments. We know that seating was limited. Originally we were told we'd have less than what we did, but we pushed for more. We got it, but unfortunately not enough. That is one thing that will be worked on for next year.
On the other hand, to put a positive twist on it, don't you think it added to the huge energy and excitement that the place had? That place was slammin', people going nuts, yelling, screaming, and it got more intense as days went on, it's hard to get that kind of energy pumpin' with a HUGE arena with people spread out all over. While it may have been standing room only at times, people came together (closely!) and rocked the house!
We tried to get a larger venue (other campus facilities) but were not able for various reasons. It will be worked on next year, and if it has to be held in the Armory again, there can be some setup differences to allow more space or seating. We didn't have a ton of say in the setup, but definitely will look at it for next year. We planned for and expected high attendance but we got even more than that.

We did block off the first row for safety and to keep traffic moving. I personally think that no matter where the teams were sitting in the stands, they were pretty darn close to the action. I think it would have been tough to block off a section up front for playing teams with limited seating as it was. I think that would have caused overall less seating (those teams would already have another section they were sitting in, and then plus a reserved section taking up space they'd be moving back and forth to - spectators and others would have fewer places to sit). We actually had quite a few spectators from off the street that heard about it and attended with young children. I think that's awesome - spreading the word.

The only parking that had distance (1mile) was for the buses and trailers. We just could not accomodate them all in the lot behind the armory, but we did provide shuttle service for bus drivers. The parking garage across the street (1min walk) was reserved and free for everyone attending the event.

We also know the number one complaint was the bathroom facilities. We apologize for this, but we originally had better plans which fell through. This is high on the priority list for improving next year.

I was also shocked at the lack of time for alliance selections, but again that is out of our hands. Many issues are under FIRST control, but we can surely pass on the comments.

The campus tour times - already under discussion to work on better timing. Due to having the Union activities on Thursday evening (which all teams were informed about and confirmed to attend, and numerous announcements were made, but unfortunately few teams attended), we didn't have tours planned for that evening. We wanted to get to as many students as we were able and understand we were not able to accomodate drive teams better. We had good turn-outs for the tours despite that and think it worked out well... I am glad that we had these - I think it showed what Purdue is all about without pushing it on people.

We actually did have a few lines run for electricity in the bleachers, on the west side a couple rows up. But I don't think it was publicized as it was a late addition during the event. How 'bout the wireless internet? Did that work out ok for people?

We appreciate all the postive and negative feedback so far. We strive to make it enjoyable for everyone . :) The people that helped put this together are all experienced FIRSTers who care about making it a good, fun event. This is why we take your feedback seriously.
Keep them coming, and as Chris said, you can PM him or I with comments.

btw, Dangerousdave - can you give more details about the problems with queuing and pits? That was in your negative list, but not sure exactly the problems?

I am thoroughly impressed with the action packed competition and game-play that went on... I myself was a skeptical about the action involved in this game, but it was fierce this past weekend.

Thanks!

The wireless internet was awesome. I am glad to be able to access the internet at the Boilermaker regional. I know that it was disappointing to not be able to access the internet at other regional events. The only problem i found with that was the signal was weak, especially in the building, outside it was pretty good. may i suggest putting something to boost the signal or maybe even setup a wireless internet router connected to a T1 line if possible... if not even a normal connection to one of purdues servers would be fast enough. I know a lot of people used the internet and appreciated having it. Great job on that.

The only other technical problem i found was the electrical hookups in the pits. The wire supplying power to all the teams in the pits did not seem to be the appropriote guage for the amount of current that was being drawn. However i do have to say that it did stay consistant.

Other than that it looks like you know about the other problems and are working on fixing them for next year. This year was totally awesome and fun. For a rookie regional the planning commitee and everyone else did an excellent job. I give this regional an 8.65 out of 10.

Great job, hope to see everyone back once again next year.

dangerousdave

21-03-2005, 13:24

AshleyD

21-03-2005, 13:46

The internet was GREAT
The ice cream was a good idea
I appreciated the fruit and salad in the conessions
The career/college fair was awesome, it would have been cool to have more booths though if possible
Maybe advertise the tours on the main screen, show exactly what they are. The envision center tour was really cool but I wouldn't have known if one of the college kids helping with it hadn't come up in the stands to get people to go and told us about it.

The team socials need to be advertised better, no one on our team really knew what all was going to be going on at the social so we didn't go. Maybe set up xbox tourney to get more people there, or give away a few games/ geeky stuff.

I know they tried to advertise these a whole lot but there's so much going on that unless it's big, neon, and loud it's easily missed.
Other than that and the other things already posted...it was great!

AmyPrib

21-03-2005, 13:49

Amy, When I mentioned queuing and the pits I simply meant the space available. One entrance brought spectators right through the pits and the pits just seemed a little cramped to me. Also, our team always brings a cybercenter to allow anyone to use the internet on about 4 PC's. They were left on our bus in the parking lot due to lack of room. The queuing area at the end with concessions was cramped.

However, please read my message again as overall the regional was great!
Dave

Ok thanks - I know your overall message was positive, we really appreciate it. I just wanted to understand better the issue with the queuing and pits so it could be improved. I wasn't sure if it was an issue with the queuing process, or the space itself, so I just wanted to clarify.
I agree that the entrance/exit area for robots was cramped and I personally wanted that improved. However, the field and event layout was already setup and couldn't really be changed. There were also people collecting around the tv right at the exit of robots, which got really cramped for people going through. I noticed the holding area near concessions was tight as well, and hopefully that can be improved next year (if held in Armory).

The pit sizes remain basically the same between regionals, usually 8 or 10sq ft for each pit and we cannot change that. The layout of the pits was provided by FIRST, although we did try to make suggestions. I am actually happy there was as much room as there was in front of Pit Admin, the center aisle by the garage door, and areas closer to the field. Some places pack you in like sardines - hopefully that wasn't the feeling in the Armory pits.
Thanks again!

AmyPrib

21-03-2005, 14:07

The team socials need to be advertised better, no one on our team really knew what all was going to be going on at the social so we didn't go. Maybe set up xbox tourney to get more people there, or give away a few games/ geeky stuff.

I know they tried to advertise these a whole lot but there's so much going on that unless it's big, neon, and loud it's easily missed.
Other than that and the other things already posted...it was great!

Ashley,
Thanks for the feedback! We tried to advertise the socials as much as possible, and answer any questions regarding it - the team leaders had full information about it beginning in January and had confirmed team attendance. However during the event, there was some miscommunication w/ information specificially for Thursday nite that was not getting around. Plus the official agenda had not been updated after many requests, so that may have caused some confusion also. If you went to the Friday night dinner, there were people directing the crowds to the after-events. There were many sports activities, and the Dean Simmons band playing was advertised on CD. Actually, congratulations to Team 16 for winning the "WOW Factor" award which was announced at the social - there were several other awards presented on Saturday to the teams who were not in attendance Friday evening. We had a darn good turnout and hopefully everyone had a good time.
We actually gave out a bunch of cool stuff on Friday night - corn shaped stress relievers (just have to see it), frisbees, and word magnets with FIRST related words. We also tossed out some t-shirts during the concert.

Great idea on showing announcements and activities on the big screen - definately something we should implement.
Thanks again!!

dangerousdave

21-03-2005, 18:23

Amy, I forgot about those rubber corn cobs. Our team played dodge corn against another team with those in the gym. They lined up about 25 of them at mid-court, said go, and ran for the cobs. Then they let them fly at each other. It was the funniest thing so I had to get it on tape.

The band seemed pretty good also especially for an old guy like me. The students seemed to really enjoy them. I have all of the give-aways you mentioned with me here at home.

I can't say enough about the wonderful dinner Friday night. What a choice of food and drinks! I told about 6 workers thanks and that we really enjoyed it.

Again the whole weekend was fantastic!

Dave :)

Amanda Morrison

21-03-2005, 21:47

Dave,

We're glad you had such a great time! I think you guys may have appreciated the 'corn' more than the local folks. :)

It was great to have 10 states represented at the regional. We hope you guys will come back!

Amanda

KORN_lover_2007

21-03-2005, 22:43

AmyPrib

22-03-2005, 09:07

Well, I really have no idea who deals with this, but this is the only place I could find to comment on it. The music selection was absolutely horrible. You had a slow, sappy love song playing right at the beginning of a match. That's not going to get everyone pumped up. You need some rock or something heavy, like what would be played at a football practice right before a game.
Another thing that is kind of going along with what others have said is space. I am on the color guard and I was hoping there would be room somewhere for me to do some flag moves, but the stands were so full I couldn't. Also the bathroom facilities were not fun at all. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but our team kind of had the impression that they were trying to get us to go to most of the buildings at the university so they could get some publicity. That is not my personal opinion, because I think it was great that there was a lot more room in the place where the awards ceremony was held at. These are just some of my opinions and you don't have to pay any attention to them at all if you don't want to. :)

The music is not under our control, that is always FIRST. But... at least there was variety, rather than techno all day long.. That's my opinion.

When you talk about going to other buildings on university, do you mean for the bathrooms or in general? If for the bathrooms - we just wanted people to be more comfortable. If in general - we were not trying to push PU in any way on anyone, as we know that pushy advertising isn't cool. We simply had the buildings available for our use, they are awesome facilities (Elliott, Union, CoRec, Dining Hall, EE, all the tours, etc) so we wanted to use them. Sure - we want to show off what Purdue has and is capable of, and even get kids interested in attending there for college. It's a great university especially for engineering and technology. I'm not sure I've ever been to a competition held at a university where they actually show you around, but here you had the option to check it out. Purdue has changed so much in just 4yrs, that I wanted to take some of the tours!!
So hopefully the impression is not that we were trying to brainwash people.. :) Purdue was kind enough to let us use everything that we did - and thank goodness or who knows where we would have put people for awards ceremonies!

Dave Scheck

22-03-2005, 10:58

AmyPrib

22-03-2005, 12:18

Amy - all of us from Wildstang had a great time. For being the regional's rookie season, I think that you guys did an awesome job.

My only complaint was that the DJ recycled a lot of the same songs quite often. I think we counted 7 or 8 Cha Cha Slides and 4 or 5 Chicken Dances. I understand that the music is out of your control, and I know it is hard to fill 2 days with music and not repeat, but maybe you can pass the suggestion to the right people.

To you and the regional comittee, thanks for your hard work in planning and running the regional. I can only imagine how you guys will improve it next year. :)

Thanks! We can pass the info on, but who knows what will happen with that info. :) I heard that from a few other people too, that the music was being re-played.. I didn't even notice. But you would think there are easily 25hrs of different music out there. I've got that in my own collection. Glad you guys had a great time... Hopefully Boilermaker can out-do itself next year!

Amanda Morrison

22-03-2005, 12:23

My only complaint was that the DJ recycled a lot of the same songs quite often. I think we counted 7 or 8 Cha Cha Slides and 4 or 5 Chicken Dances. I understand that the music is out of your control, and I know it is hard to fill 2 days with music and not repeat, but maybe you can pass the suggestion to the right people.

The suggestion was definitely passed. Originally we had the problem of the music being turned up when people were speaking, and slower songs being played at low volume between matches. This, I think, really affected the mood of the regional on Friday.

Later, once that problem was solved, we had the problem of the music being a little too loud and the same songs repeated. I believe someone found out that the DJ was new to FIRST... yikes.

Mike AA

22-03-2005, 12:32

The wireless internet was awesome. I am glad to be able to access the internet at the Boilermaker regional. I know that it was disappointing to not be able to access the internet at other regional events. The only problem i found with that was the signal was weak, especially in the building, outside it was pretty good. may i suggest putting something to boost the signal or maybe even setup a wireless internet router connected to a T1 line if possible... if not even a normal connection to one of purdues servers would be fast enough. I know a lot of people used the internet and appreciated having it. Great job on that.

The only other technical problem i found was the electrical hookups in the pits. The wire supplying power to all the teams in the pits did not seem to be the appropriote guage for the amount of current that was being drawn. However i do have to say that it did stay consistant.

Other than that it looks like you know about the other problems and are working on fixing them for next year. This year was totally awesome and fun. For a rookie regional the planning commitee and everyone else did an excellent job. I give this regional an 8.65 out of 10.

Great job, hope to see everyone back once again next year.

you couldn't just simply get a T1 hooked up for a 3 day event. It'd cost thousands. I admit the connection was a little weak, I kept getting hooked into the circuit runners or another's wireless ( for scouting). I noticed someone had a hardline run all the way around the building so I'm guessing there was a jack.

Now the wire running power to the pits and everything else was more than sufficient. The wires were 1/0 ( one aught) welding wire capable of nearly 190 amp, running 3 phase ( so in essence about 600 amp capable and the audio video doesn't use much ), then the wire running around to individual pits was at least 12, maybe 10 running to each run, there wasn't really any chance of a problem unless someone was using a welder in there ( a big no no ).

dubious elise

22-03-2005, 18:11

Well, apart from the fact that you had quite possibly the greatest band ever playing live at your own team social... the highlights of the event were acess to the sports facility, free wireless internet usage, and, quite possibly the most important aspect ever, you had good food. No, really. The concessions food was awesome; the pork sandwiches and ice cream were amazing and just seeing a huge basket of fresh fruit on the counter absolutely brought a tear to my eye.

My only real complaint would be the huge temperature variations and limited walking/seating space. Going from our pit next to the door where I could wear a coat, up to the top of the stands to watch a match or two, I honestly was so warm I got dizzy. Maybe I was just running around too much and way too excited about 12 things at once, but it was warm and...cozy.

In conclusion, the food was very nice. So were DSKB. :)

Elyse Holguin

22-03-2005, 20:01

I'm a member of Purdue's President's Leadership class, and we all get together on Monday nights and talk with various elite alumni and really cool, successful people, and usually the Jischke's (our president and his wife- really great people) come and join in too.

When I asked Dr. Jischke what he thought about the competition, he said, "It was great, like a rock concert with geeks."

Coming from a man from MIT, I think everyone should take that as a compliment. :D

AmyPrib

22-03-2005, 20:08

When I asked Dr. Jischke what he thought about the competition, he said, "It was great, like a rock concert with geeks."

Coming from a man from MIT, I think everyone should take that as a compliment. :D

Thanks for the info! That's pretty funny...

And, I noticed the temp variation as well. Even though I was running around all day, when I did get in the stands, it was definitely hot. We tried keeping some doors slightly open at times..... Hopefully we can work the angle of another venue next year to alleviate the majority of major issues...

Chris Fultz

22-03-2005, 20:32

Thanks, everyone for all the comments, positive and areas for improvement.

I have mixed feelings about moving to a 'nicer, bigger' location. Too much space and I think you lose some of the excitement.

I think part of what made it so cool was that we were packed in, that you didn't want to get up for fear of losing your seat, and that there were people everywhere....!

Andy Baker

22-03-2005, 23:21

Well, apart from the fact that you had quite possibly the greatest band ever playing live at your own team social...

In conclusion, the food was very nice. So were DSKB. :)

I am sure that the band will appreciate being compared to fresh fruit and ice cream. They will say "thank you" for your compliments.

Rumor has it that this same band might show up at another event this season. We can only hope!

Andy B.

Josh Hambright

23-03-2005, 08:59

In response to some of the comments about the wireless internet.
I must say that over all i thought this was a great idea and very cool of purdue to do! There were several people that worked really hard to make sure there was the internet connectivity at the event and that was AWESOME!

As far as complaints about the speed. I know that i was hardwired into the big switch at the back of the event, and at night i was getting between 50 and 80 mbps which in my mind is AWESOME! I know it dropped to about 10mbps during the day when everyone was using the connection. But regardless thats still a great connection speed!

Overall i'd say great job to the planning commitee, you guys definately outdid yourselves! I still remeber the first conversation about getting a regional at Purdue, and i dont think anybody involved back in the day had ANY idea what it would turn out like! Kudos to you folks!

roboticsguy1988

23-03-2005, 16:37

you couldn't just simply get a T1 hooked up for a 3 day event. It'd cost thousands. I admit the connection was a little weak, I kept getting hooked into the circuit runners or another's wireless ( for scouting). I noticed someone had a hardline run all the way around the building so I'm guessing there was a jack.

Now the wire running power to the pits and everything else was more than sufficient. The wires were 1/0 ( one aught) welding wire capable of nearly 190 amp, running 3 phase ( so in essence about 600 amp capable and the audio video doesn't use much ), then the wire running around to individual pits was at least 12, maybe 10 running to each run, there wasn't really any chance of a problem unless someone was using a welder in there ( a big no no ).

You must be looking at a pretty expensive place to get the T1 line from then. I know places that you could get a T1 line for a lot cheaper. All i was really saying was that a bit stronger / faster connection would be great. But just having internet was the best ever.

I am assuming the wire running to the pits was 12 by the looks of it. I admit that is ok for running normal stuff. But you get a whole bunch of teams running normal stuff (battery chargers, lights, laptops, power tools, etc.) and then you start raising the amount of amperage used. The rating of the wire would also depend on if it was solid or stranded. I also don't know how many rows the were running on one wire. If it was just one row of pits then yeah its ok. But if there running several rows, then i tend to disagree.