QotW 10-26-03: Team Socials.
 

By special request, we're going to have two questions this week.

Normally, I'd use this great question next week, but your answers to it may be time sensitive, so I thought it best to get it out there so that we can start discussing it and give the people behind the scenes the time they need to properly consider our suggestions.

Question of the Week 10-26-03: What activities would you like to see at Team Socials and at Regional Events? What has been enjoyable in the past? What has not?

Now is a good time to be heard. Planning for these events is already underway and, in an effort to better accomodate all of the participants, those involved are looking for suggestions that help make these exciting events even better.

Please, keep the suggestions within reason -- that is, I don't think anyone's budget has enough surplus for a Dave Matthews Band concert or something -- but be creative!

How about a Dave Matthews Band concert!

Err, on the other hand, I'd settle for a projector and a screen at SBPLI this year...

In all seriousness, I never did anything at the socials. I'd go off with members on my team, or maybe other teams, and spend an hour or two playing hacky sack or frisbee. Oh, and we'd eat some food at some point too.

It's just the way that the socials are organized, they play, what I feel, is crappy music, if it can even be considered music at all, and you can't really do much, legally, because of the issue two years ago. If they could just play some good music, give us good food, and hacky sacks and frisbees, I think that'd do it for me :p.

Re: QotW 10-26-03: Team Socials.
 

All in favor...

<raises hand>

<cough>Blue Man Group</cough> ;) :p

If there is one thing that anyone likes, it's loads of FREE ice cream and a place to hang.

Don't forget pizza. :) Anyway, I thought the Phoenix social was pretty good at the Arizona Science Center, but the food was mediocre.

Yeah, something to that extent for the Midwest Regional. A different setup more like previous years with the bright anoying Gym lights off and more then one little camera sitting up in the boonies. The Midwest Regional was a great regional until all the budget cuts and Motorola dropping their name out of it made it obvious that it has become a low budget regional.

Oh, and how about a team social for starters too...

Hopefully decent food this year.

That and maybe open the field up for a dance/party (controlled) thing.

If they return the screens to SBPLI I'd like to see replays with some good music playing, maybe announcer commentary? Just something to watch and enjoy

Dancing probably wouldn't be such a hot idea with all those 130lb chunks of sharp pointy metal, and if the field has any ramps.....ehhh....better not to risk it.

I am really interested in input for the Canadian Regional. There is on idea that is floating around about a talent show. Teams could do skits, sing, play instruments or generally showcase any talents that they have. Of course there would be limits but if mentors approve of presentation then it would probably fly. Of course we will have food. What about video of that days play like last year.

The Canadian Regional continues to grow and I know they try to make it the best. We might not beat the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but we can easily be the 2nd best party with proper input.

Thanks for starting this post as with proper input things can improve. :D

Dancing was banned by FIRST for liability reasons. I doubt we'll ever see a come back of that. Not that I really miss it. The dancing portion of the team social never was particularly good.

Matt

I must have missed this "legal issue" 2 years ago. Anyone care to enlighten me?

Didn't it involve somebody breaking their neck at a regional during a concert, involuntary crowdsurfing or something?

Yeah I agree. My advisor said someone broke there neck during the social. He was riding a mosh pit. The guy had a full scholarship to Drexel. Also it was not two years ago it was three.

I believe it was 2002 that it happened and it was at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was watching from directly overhead when it happened. This mosh pit had been stopped at least 3 times before the accident. It put a real damper on the event. It seems that no matter how many times you try to stop things people still feel they can.

Replays would be great...and maybe throwing in some animation entries also.

The talent show idea would be awesome, but it might turn into a lengthy event if each team has one entry. Example: 40 team regional (general estimate...most have more). Five minutes per act = 200 minutes = 3 1/2 hours (when you add in introduction times what not).

Then again, if some teams opt not to do it I think that would be awesome as long as the talents are reasonable yet entertaining.

If this becomes a serious consideration, I wonder if they would allow bands to play??

Dillard a long time ago used to bring the marching band with. I wasn't around when they did this, but from what Ive heard it was amazing to get to watch the entire Dillard High School Marching Band (One of the best bands around btw), head on through nationals. However, apparently, another team thought that was a cool idea and started doing it too. At that point, you had two bands there, ours good, theirs was, from what I've been told, not so good. At that point, FIRST declared no more live bands, and we've been sad ever since, heh.

The link to the actual post about the injury at the team party isn't working for some reason. Here's a link the Community Bulletin that references it (I think):
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...t+at+nationals

I'm a bit hazy as to where it happened but I seem to remember it happening at Nationals but I could be wrong. Here's a post referencing an accident that apparently happened at Cleveland so I'm assuming that's what I'm thinking of:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...t+at+nationals

To make a long story short, someone got dropped during the dancing portion of the team party. They had to go to the hospital and go into surgery. Because of this, FIRST felt there was too much of a liability involved (or so I've been told). Because of that, dancing was banned and the name was changed from Team Party to Team Social. There's actually a specific section of the Regional Planning Guide that gives an example of inappropriate behavior at the Team Social including dancing.

Matt

As much as this might seem "crazy" or an off the wall idea I am going to say it anyway.

I would personally like to see "robot matches", now I know what you all are thinking, but think of how many times you have gone to competition and your "team driver" (one, two, etc.) people are the only ones that get to drive a robot in a competition setting. I would like to see a "mini-field" set up even if it is just a 10 foot by 10 foot area (does not have to be carpeted) where you can bring last years robots, practice robots, edu-bot robots, ne thing with wheels that moves and have mini-events with other teams and just have fun. I think that this would be a great way to interact with other people. I know personally that meeting someone new over a friendly robot match is very beneficiary to relations between teams.

If you think about it, we all have the same thing in our robot, It does not matter if you are on the top end of the spectrum such as Wildstang or Chief Delphi, or on the other end, as a rookie team with little experience. We all put the same 6 weeks of work in, and we all read the same manuals, refer to the same part diagrams, and use the same auto-desk programs to create our images. What better way to meet with other teams then to talk to them about what we know....ROBOTS. The discussion and driving of practice robots, last years robots, thrown together in the basement robots....will bring us together. How many times at a regional did you really want to go against a certain team just to see what happened, and never got that chance, in a "mini-event" like this you would be able to do fun matches, drive every kinda drive system imaginable, and learn what other techniques can be used in creating your robot for the next year. Knowledge is power, and most of us FIRST people want every bit of it that we can get, what better way to get it then to talking to our equals from other teams, and getting a better idea of other peoples idea.

Well that is just a suggestion, I am not saying you have to agree, just simply stating my opinion.

-Greg The Great

Last year we considered an obstacle course with time trials. Would this be something along the line you were thinking of? We thought teams would rather work on robots and have a break instead.

Good ideas, any others?

While the team socials were fun, I don't really think they are necessary.

The money spent throwing the social together could be used more towards competition. And what's more, my best memories aren't from the socials, but from hanging out with my team and other teams in the hotels. Everyone has a hotel story.

So to heck with them. They're fun, but wouldn't it be cool to have our jumbo screens and cameramen back?

Most teams would have trouble shipping a second robot to the regional. It was enough hassle, this past year, getting even one robot at some events, much less two.

You are thinking correctly. This accident happened in the 2002 year at the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame team party for the Buckeye Regional. I did not see it happen, but many of my team members did. It's unfortunate that it happened because that was a great team party. The live band was excellent, and a few FIRST people even got to play some of the band members' instruments on stage. I'd like to see the return of this, but due to liability issues I doubt we will.

I would like to competitions between teams that do not involve the robot. Something less intense, more fun. Like a Human Player competition. It would liven up the mood while still keeping people in the competitive state of mind.

It cost about 10~15k for the food at a team social, that is if the venue is provided by a sponsor. Compare to the overall budget of a regional that's 170k, it's not exactly a huge expense. Keep in mind that sometimes when a regional raise money, the check they get is specified for "2004 *** regional", and that money can only be spent during 2004 and 2004 only. I know that's not a good excuse to have a team social, but it's not a bad one neither.

Also, keep in mind that a lot of the regional committee didn't have to find the money to get a team social. They didn't sacrifice some other portion of the regional just to get a team social. I know the silicon valley regional had to decide between the A/V or the team social, and ALL team agreed to keep the A/V.

The Arizona regional committee worked really hard last year to get the team social happening last year, and I know for sure a lot of people had a great time because of that effort. The committee set out one of their goals to have a team social at the Arizona regional, and did fund raising specifically for that goal. I think without that determination, the money wouldn't have been raised, and the regional wouldn't have a team social, nor the money for that team social.

I personally got to talk to some cool people because of that. Sometimes when the competition is done for the day, people are just too tired and leave to get their own food and disappeared. It is hard to meet with those people without an organized effort. Sometimes during the competition it is really stressful/hectic to have a nice chat with other teams or with FIRST staff. And having a team social provide for that opportunity.

What happened in silicon valley is team 192 Gunn Robotics Team invited WRRF teams to come to a party at their high school robotics room after Saturday award ceremony, and about 5 different teams showed up + mentors from other WRRF teams, and that was lots of fun.

Sometimes, when you put all the teams together in a non-competitive environment just to have a good time, you get unexpected results. Some of your quiet team members might make some friends on another team, or get to hear some of the most dedicated FIRST-a-holics talk in groups and learn to look up to the mentors. I know the latter happened because that's how I got hooked into FIRST, when I was quietly sitting there listening to a group of Engineers/mentors chat about the game and the whole program in general.

Besides, a lot of friendships are forged when they weren’t on the field battling each other with their robots. For the teams far away from everyone, it’s not easy for them to meet others. Having a team social will give them a chance to do so, even though they might choose to sit in the corner and enjoy the food and music.

So, you never know. ;-)

I agree, I'd rather have a better competition over 3 days than a better 4 hour party IMHO. As I said before, play music, give out free icecream, and let people TALK. Teams love to socialize to eachother, and other set-ups don't work. Plus, it's FREE. No money.

The UTC Hartford regional last year had a separate venue area right next door filled with inflatable fun things!!

Inflatable life-size foozeball, inflatable mountain climbing, inflatable bungee run, inflatable things everywhere.

And a few other "carnival" type games to mess around with.
(Oh and BTW, they had free food there too, it wasn't the best food on the planet, but it was great for a wind down meal at the end of the day!)

The big thing with entertaining us is the ability to bring in the entertainment to the said venue area (or next door as the case was at UTC) and then remove it in as little time as possible. That's why the easiest thing to do is have a DJ come in and set up. All you need is an area to dance...

But from what you are saying now, it looks like that is not an option anymore!!

So bring on more inflatable carnival type things!!!

Us computer and technology geeks are stereotyped as being lazy and not able to do anything physical, (would rather play on the computer all day than run around) so by all means, BRING ON THE ACTIVE FUN!!!!

Many team parents travel to a regional, or someone from your team can get one there, if not, bring an EDU bot, its more of a robot peronal forum then an event.

I think this would also be a good idea.....

Can NE1 say Segway Races, maybe we should run this by Dean, see if he will lend us a few segs. hey, ya never know.

-Greg The Great

Official Team Social 2003: zero

Official Team Social 2004: probably zero

:mad: :(


Un-official Team Social 2003: Laser Tag in NYC Times Square
and dinner

Un-official Team Social 2004: to-be-determined
:):)

Good Point, although I am sure everyone is :mad: after no social in 2k3.

-Greg The Great

Ok, that would be one of the most amusing experiences of my life. I can't even IMAGINE what people would come up with.

Yeah but every team has an edubot and I seriously doubt anyone has trouble moving those around. ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

We all get edubots, and most teams build something out of their edubot b4 regionals, I would love to set up some edubot type game, ne1 else up for designing a game with me?

Shoot me an e-mail if you want to make an edu comp at the regionals.... G.ullstam@comcast.net

-Greg The Great

I like the idea of teams putting on skits or performances of any sort sounds fun (band camp skits, mmm) and those could be done at any standard regional's "team social" without changing anything except having some teams plan and expect to put on a performance. Even without a set up stage and MC for the skits, something improv could come up where a team was let out onto the field to put on a skit or some sort of talent show performance. This could be done without changing anything about the social except how teams planned for it.

Can't wait to do Rocky Horror excerpts at Peachtree Regional Team Social 2004.