Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

I can vouch for this. How many other museums have a ball pit?

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

What he said.... definitely

Make sure and meet other teams!!!
Cheer for everyone!!

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

Quick question: How do you register for the conferences?

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

My biggest recommendation is to see as many robots as possible in the pits. No matter how many you see, you'll probably wish that you had seen more. To me, at least, there's honestly nothing more inspiring than going to the pits at Champs and seeing hundreds of amazing teams and hundreds of different robots all designed to play the same game in hundreds of different ways.

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

The Championship is a celebration of all FIRST programs. There is so much stress when you compete, but try to take time and visit with some FLL and FTC teams. Invite them to your pit.

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

When Team 766 was there in 2011 we found this store useful: Culinaria http://www.schnucks.com/stores/store.asp?store=301

It is a grocery store, like a Whole Foods, with tea/coffee, breakfast, lunch, and even dinner to take out. It's at 315 N. 9th Street, an easy walk from the dome and most of the downtown hotels.

We are looking forward to being there again ...

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

This. You'll generally also be surprised how happy some of the kids on the team are to give you a "tour" of their robot. All you have to do is ask! See a really cool manipulator on their robot? Just ask how it works. Most people are proud of their engineering accomplishments and are very enthusiastic about showing it off.

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

This is a fantastic thread! I haven't been to Championships since it's left Atlanta, but reading these posts makes me excited to get out to St. Louis and Championships as soon as possible. Keep up with the great ideas!

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

Bring lots of safety glasses and plenty of extras. Express that everyone should have them at all times (and take some time to thank the safety glasses volunteers, they have the worst job at Championship.)

Be prepared to walk, walk and walk some more.

And like Meredith said, spend some time with the FLL kids, they're awesome.

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

Conference info including abstracts and registration information is here: http://www3.usfirst.org/roboticsprog...nd-conferences

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

Take a dedicated camera with a 8GB+ SD card. Phone cameras are "fine", but generally don't do as great a job. Fill the camera with robot photos, pit photos, team photos, cart photos, etc - including detailed ways that things work. I can't count the number of photos I've reviewed only to find extra things I wasn't even thinking about at the time. Photos are good for everything from mechanism mounts, wiring guidelines, awesome roller intakes, battery cart setups, etc. They also provide a good foundation for teaching others what works well in an FRC game.

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

Top 4 things to bring (besides the necessities):

1.) Good shoes
2.) Camera
3.) Chapstick
4.) Extra shirts!

You will be doing a lot of walking wanting to take pictures of everything and will probably end up with very dry lips at some point during the competition. Shirt trading can be pretty big and pretty fun too, especially if you have a cool design!

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

One thing that has gone around a few times on our team when we qualify is extra socks. You will be walking a TON and especially if you are running around for your team or working between the pits and stands all day a change of socks midway through the day can totally refresh you!

(Also drink water :) )

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

The FRC pits especially can get fairly toasty. Drink plenty of water and don't dress too warmly.

Re: Tips for First Time Championship Attendees
 

Take care of yourself. Make sure you get enough sleep. You can go one day, maybe two, on little sleep, but it catches up to you. And drink plenty of water (not soda, coffee, energy drinks). You don't want to come back from the trip with a cold or anything worse.

I hate seeing people sleeping in the stands - besides being a bad image, think about what they are missing out on.