2004 Nats??
 

I know I am jumping REALLY far ahead but I was wondering how many of you think next years Nationals will be back in Orlando.?

I hope it will be...so I dont have a 18 hour bus ride next year

I liked nats in Florida. It was a fairly good venue, with fairly good stuff to do after the competition. Not only that, airfare was fairly cheap. The only problem was that Diseny over charged by like 150% for their packages. Oh yeah, then I could also see all my friends on teams from Florida.

Cory

I don't know
 

I wouldn't know because I'm not in Houston for nationals this year. I'm an alumni from an Orlando team and I LOVED Nationals at Disney.

What do you guys think? Is Houston better than Orlando, or is Orlando better than Houston? I know I wish soooo bad it was back in Orlando but Disney did overcharge. It had something to do with them loosing money though because they usually charge for parking and I guess those days they had to give out the parking for free. Still though, Orlando in my oppinion seems like the natural choice for nationals. I miss it :(

The Reliant complex is an amazing place for the Championship event. Granted, I live in Houston, and might be a little biased, but it is incredible to be in the Astrodome and to see the pits laid out in front of you. 118's pit is a stone's throw from the home bullpen, which is cool, but the whole building is amazing, historically and architecturally. And if you like orange, are you in luck! The biggest difference is the size of the pit area themselves

Even though the individual pits themselves aren't any bigger, there is tons of room for people to spread out and test their robot. I love it. And if we come back next year (the big test will be tomorrow afternoon), I'd like to see nationals opened back up to all teams. We have the space for it, and the more the merrier.

I really don't like this whole qualifying deal. I mean it just hurts the students feelings. I am VERY lucky that I was an even numbered team on my last year of FIRST. That was the first year they initiated the qualifying. I think it was probably an issue of money and not being able to support so many teams. With as many teams as they have now, if all were able to go to nationals then they'd probably need 1 or 2 more fields.

Though I hope first comes back to Orlando (my hometown), if it means that they were to get rid of qualifying, Houston would be a much better place to hold it.

And the discussion begins...

I think that Nats will probably be somewhere entirely different next year. The Reliant complex was decent, but the pits and fields were way too far apart. You don't realize how far it is until you have to lug a robot there and back about 5 or 6 times in one day.

As for qualifying, I'm afraid it's probably here to stay. The criteria will only get tougher as time goes on. FIRST is just too big to have an open national event. It's disappointing, but there's just no way to make it so that 800+ teams can get an open invitation to Nationals.

Qualifying makes sense. Nationals has to be a little exclusive to be special. And FIRST isn't about an annual vacation.......attending TWICE in a high school carreer is fair.

There was MUCH walking at Houston.......but I liked it.

It would be unfair to odd teams return to Disney next year.

Random cities around the country would be cool.......like those BALL-CENTERED sports do for championships! lol

Lisa T =)

well...
 

Ok now that Nationals are over, for those of you that did attend ....would you say Houston or Orlando??

While qualifying is probably here to stay, FIRST needs to move the Nationals further back for next year. I don't think its fair for teams to have 15 minutes to decide if they'll be shipping the robot. 3 days is not much time to prepare a trip like this.

i'm still wondering if nationals could be held after APs. i know that many schools (silly floridans, for example :p) get out right after APs, but that time of year is much better, as teachers can't kill us poor students for missing school :).

i'd love to have it back at disney next year, as when i went last year, it was definitly one of the coolest things i've ever done. my team was prety liberal, and walking around the parks/competition with friends and everything, was just amazing. i know the same thing probably happened at houston, but i dunno, disney world is sort of magic, in a way :p. either that, or i've seen too many of those commercials...

:) Some ideas

Houston Better for:

Lots of pit space, you could walk around. Space to sit in the stands to eat a meal. The view of the pits from up in the stands was awesome. Lighting was good. 4 fields separated enough that the sound did not interfere from one field to the other.

Epcot Better for:
The excitement that the closeness of pits and playing fields brings. You got absolutely absorbed by the event. It was easier to watch other divisions events. Easier to move from pits to playing field for quick repairs.

Ideas to improve at Houston -
An easier way to move between the buildings.
Video on a screen behind the playing field -timers were tough to see from the stands.
Standings displayed near the playing fields.


I think both locations have good and bad points.
I like the idea of a new location each year - Lots of big cities have Domes and Convention Centers linked - like INDIANAPOLIS!

Although I agree with this statement, I do think that not just any location be considered. Similar to the Super Bowl, the nationals should be kept in the southern states such that it is a warmer climate, making it more enjoyable. This is more than likely why Houston was chosen. No offense to those who live farther north (I used to live in Calgary myself), but a colder climate would just be more difficult to work with.

Re: well...
 

I wasn't at nationals but...

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Personally, I think Houston. Before I get chewed out, consider this:


Epcot is becoming too small... I remember last year, trying to find seats in the small bleachers behind any divisional field (besides Einstein, which was sweltering hot anyway). I remember a space only the size of the pits to contain the pits. While some would call it "cozy," I think it limits the growth potential of the largest competition FIRST currently has. I feel with a venue as large and spacious as Reliant Park, there is much more room for growth. With that much space avaliable, maybe next year there could be 5 divisions, with 400 teams able to qualify. At the rate FIRST is growing, there will be well over 1000+ teams very soon, and if only 300 are allowed to advance, it becomes farther and farther away for teams. Inside Reliant Stadium, many more fields can easily be built with room to spare, and in the Astrodome, the pits can be expanded exponentially. Just because a shoe doesn't fit now does not mean it won't be grown into. I think it just needs a chance to find out what FIRST is and what it's about before spirit can develop. The walk from pits to fields can be overcome in many different ways, from splitting the fields and pits (2 divisions with associated pits in one place, the other 2 in the other), or signing waivers allowing golf carts to move teams around. All in all I enjoyed Houston a lot more this year than Epcot last year. I am curious to see what others think though, so we'll see what happens.