Overview: Nationals
 

I just wanted to know what you thought about this years championship, what you liked, disliked or both. And how it compared to years past.

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

I truly think that this years national was run without flaw. I don't remember any field mistakes in my division (newton) or during the finals in einstein. The only thing that I didn't like was I'm sure everyone's complaint, the walk from the pits to the stands. It was hard doing scouting in the pits and then flying to the stands to try to see a team in motion or your own team's match (we timed 6 minutes, 47 seconds and then 17 hundredths of another second). I hear that plans are already underway to correct that problem. The only other problem I thought there was, was that the pit area seemed kind of small. It felt as if there was a lot of room in that building, but we were kind of confined. Other than those two minor problems I had a great time. It was run fantastically and in my opinion the best one in the last three years. I can't wait until next year, hopefully the small problems will be ironed out.

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It was cool-- yeah baby

okay only thing once again a lot of walking but yeah got use to it after a while
the conferences were really good to-- i went to one--it was alright--but overall S.P.A.M. though they were good and glad that FIRST started them

but it was awesome as always-- GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!!
SEE YA'LL NEXT YEAR-- ENJOY AND TAKE A BREAK AND GET SLEEP!!

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

I was unhappy with the sound system on Newton and the video feed was poor.
I also was unhappy with the fact that there was no video for the opening ceremony. You already know about my opinion about the announcer.
What happened to the parade?
I like the facilities and the food was handled realitively well (the service was a bit slow and distracted but considering the circumstances I think we can all let that one slide).
The walk between the pits and the staduim was BRUTAL! Hopefully they could figure out a way to shorten it (How about a Segway for everyone? ;) )
Security was a bit uppity but I'd rather have them looking out for our safety instead of allowing bad things to happen.
I was very happy with the Hall of Fame display but I think it would have been better suited if it were placed upstairs in the main hall instead of down in the pits.
The afterparty was great and the competition ran pretty flawlessly.
I liked it better than Houston but I also think alot can be improved as well.

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

There is something that was better than last year and i am sure you will agree is the shorter distance to push or pull your robot to the playing field. It wasn't as bad as houston but the only peolple that could push the robot were the drivers and the mentor. We wanted to switch or get some help pushing our robot from one or two of our team mates, but we couldn't.

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

Nationals were awesome. We were only at the wrap up party for about 30 mins before we headed home. But as for logistics and other behind the scenes items I liked it. The only thing I might not have liked is the somewhat long trip from the pits the field. But it was a lot better then Houston I think due the escalators.

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

LIKES:
Good venue, hotels
Wrap party
Organization was excellent
Hall of fame
FIRST Conference

DISLIKES:
They need more media badges for teams, at least 2.
Distance to field a wee bit long
Walk from pits to stands WAY TOO LONG, I ended up shortcutting
FOOD! PRICES!
Cramped pits, we should invade the exhibit hall next to us
ONE set of escalators to get to and from dome from WCC....so frustrating during peak time

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Yeah, I have some complaints, but I will NOT be posting them now.

All I can say is congratulations to team 494, 435, and 71, FOUR TIME WINNER

FIRST should have a SUPER SPECIAL AWARD for any team that wins 5 times or more.

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I liked the venue better than last year. It was much better than Houston for the drive teams' getting robots from the pits to the playing field. It was still slow for my ten or so trips a day between the pits and arena as a non-drive team member, with too many crowded escalators. I guess most uses of dome stadiums with nearby convention centers don't involve a lot of people going between the two facilites several times a day, so they aren't designed to make it easy. On a positive note, as in Houston, the situation was good for watching matches within the divisions.

Regarding food at the competition site, we are once again reminded that, compared to what we've had the last two years, Disney was pretty good. There were more choices, generally better food, and they didn't run out of pizza and start shutting down the food service halfway through Saturday's activities. The food this year was probably better than Houston, but the "food nazi" situation was worse. You couldn't even bring your overpriced food from the pits into the arena, even though some of the overpriced food vendors are probably the same in both facilities.

The wrap party, while very expensive, was good IMHO. The party is discussed in a separate thread.

The hotel situation in Atlanta was MUCH BETTER than Houston with several hotels within easy walking distance of the venue. That was nice.

Since we're going to be in Atlanta for two more years, We can hope that a few things can be made better, but overall, this year's championship was a very good event.

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My only big complaint FIRST can deal with is the robot parade. WHAT WAS WITH THAT!?!?!?! About half the teams acutally got to do it, and the our team was turned away after queing for it for a while! Can someone from FIRST explain what went wrong? Otherwise, it was great, MUCH BETTER than Houston.

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Overall it went great the time to get from the pit to the field with the robot was shorter but to the stands was forever. It was shorter to go back to my hotel from the pits then it was to go to the stands. The only problem I had was with teams saving seats in the stands that got quite annoying especially when everyone was moving over to Einstein. The pits did seam crowded but there is entire other room about the same size right next to the pits that looked like it could be used next year for expansion. I liked the First store display and the scholarship desks. The wrap party was great with them giving out all the extra drinks to anyone that wanted them including the less fortunate (homeless). The Olympic park was a great location, Wednesday night me and a few friends went over there and read a lot of the statues they were really cool, so were the water jets. The hotel was great I loved staying at the Omni with a lot of the other teams. I liked going to Underground Atlanta it was pretty cool place to see.

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Oh my god I remember when i practice field was exactly that...A PRACTICE FIELD....not another competition field that you only get ONE CHANCE A DAY TO PRACTICE ON. Also it is was only open certain times.....the pits were still going to be open for another 2 hours on Friday when they shut down the practice while we had been in line and were next to go on.....frankly threatening to disqualify a team for practicing on anything but their "practice field" is absolutely ridiculous....i like Houston's practice field policies MUCH better....

Other than some of the over anal traffic control, and the practice field the pits were fine....

The field on the other hand....I hated the fact the crowd just sat around like lumps...no animation other than when their team was on the field....if that was FIRST's goal with the no noisemakers etc rule they got EXACTLY that....

Bring back the fun to the national competition PLEASE....

On the upside the walking distance compared to Houston was GREATLY reduced which I loved, and I like the venue a little more...

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

That was a pretty good walk time to the field for the robots. Along the way there was a problem though..... to get the the fields it was a single door opening. No double doors or large opening. I know a few teams had to lift their robot through the doors because their cart+robot was too high.

Wrap party : Great. The hypnomania thing was pretty funny. "fluff" your pillows everyone ;).

The spectator walk was horrendous but still better than houston.

They raised the prices on the second day so they didn't have "odd" prices and people only had to use FIRST dollars. Even more expensive..... why? Limited food selection for veggie people, but better than previous years.

Pretty good overall minus those few complaints.

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The only team that had any real consitent enthusiasm on Newton was 547 F.E.A.R. and people were telling them to sit down and shut up. All they wanted to do was have fun and alot of people were just acting plain nasty to them. Way to show the spirit.

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nationals was very organized... food was good and nice facility... the walk wasnt that bad... the stairs made the walk longer thats all... the wrap up party was awesome too... i was sitting down watching the show the whole time... it was funny... moreover teams were very helpful and helped each other out...

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Being our first nationals .. I dont have much to base this on. There were some things that stood out -

- Awful video and sound in the pits and in the dome. Whoever put up the LCDs and screens, must of not realized the light between the two. The entire screen was washed out. There was countless times in the pits where feedback killed your ears. Also, the Einstin field's sound during the FLL, outperformed most of the matches in the dome.

- That walk, sucked. Thankfully (well .. kinda) our team captain lost his voice, and asked me to take over. He regained it on Saturday afternoon, but by then, I had a "Team Support" sticker for the finals. Our team timed the walk from the pits to the Curie field, something like 8 minutes I believe.

- The food. It wasnt bad, but the prices were past ridiculious. Aside from the fact they jacked up the prices on the second day, $4 for a 32oz coke that was 3/4 full of ice .. that was just lame. And $3 for a bottle of water that is found in most coke machines for $1.

- Security. This might be going back to the walk thing, but those people were everywhere .. and god forbid you needed something in your pits. Walk briskly .. and get yelled at. I know running might be a safety hazard, but if you need something .. they should be somewhat understanding.

- Entering and Exiting the dome. Right after the alliances got picked, the teams ran back to the pits. Well, tried to at least. The line at the door, only because they wanted people to go thru those little counter thingies, filled up most of that area under the second floor inside the area. Same thing with all the esclators.

- Poorly trained refs. I know you cant argue with them, but we had numerous flags thrown on us, for entering the ball chute (which .. from my view on the floor 5 feet away, we didnt) They heard our bot hit that aluminum "L", jumped over as the bot was driving away, and threw a flag. They should of had a ref at each box, watching only the chute, or some sort of camera system. There was also alot of restarts, because the balls didnt drop in auton (if the 10pt was hit) or even at the 45 sec.


Geez .. I think this is the longest post in here :P

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

Likes:
Hearing one of my fave songs on Sat.
The Seats
All the people who came to the Hall of Fame Booth

Dislikes:
Food Prices
The walk from the stands to the Hall of Fame area
The escaltor kept breaking down
Some of the music in Curie before the matches started wasn't loud enough

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

escalators don't break....They're just temporarily stairs :D

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It was a great time... Yeah there were minor problems but those can be fixed... I still say my favorite nationals was Epcot 3 years ago but it was still close none the less... I can't wait till next year!!!

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When you get pop you have to tell them no ice cause the'll give you more ice then pop. Even though your drink won't be cold fro long it's better having that then a cup of ice.


LOL

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

That happens to be a joke that comedian Mitch Hedburg(sp?) has done..."Escalators can never be broken - they can only become stairrrrrssss"..... He's hilarious in case anyone was wondering.

The walk for the robots was obviously much better than Houston, as everyone stated. Hopefully Atlanta has a decent plan and facility capability to help the spectators long walk. The traffic flow was the major obstacle in that long walk.

I didn't have to take the long walk too much, but one of the few times I did, the outside down escalator wasn't working... And you know what? I was happy! Because it meant that people had to move themselves down the escalator, which meant that people traffic flowed a little quicker!! (never saw if the Up was broken)
If I had any complaints about the escalators and time of travel between pit and field, it would be that people consistently stood on ALL "downs" to the pits (instead of using one as walking and one as standing since there were usually 2 down). But there were stairs down the hall, so no big deal.

That distance is a big problem for any pit crew that wants to watch the matches their robot is in. They cannot feasibly make it in time (esp in Archimedes being the opposite corner of the entrance!). It would be nice to have some allowance for "Team Support", or 3 extra field passes to pit team members for all matches (not just finals). The "white" space in the arena is so large that I don't think it'd cause a problem having 12 extra team members on the sidelines during matches. This could also allow them to take the robot back to the pits, while the driveteam could go straight to their seats to watch matches.

And yeah.. the food prices seemed ridiculous... I don't know what else you can say about that... especially for those without the coupons.

I must commend the queuing staff. The organization and operation of that process seemed to go quite smooth and much improved since regionals. All of the refs and volunteer staff are greatly appreciated. With this years game being so involved, with so many possible penalties (locations and types of penalties) and all the functions, they did the best they could. I think there were roughly 6 refs on each field (?) and may have been beneficial to have a couple more due to the complexity of the game... but they may not have been obtainable.

Overall, having only been to Houston, I'd say the positives outweigh the negatives in all respects so far and we look forward to Atlanta next year.

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I don't know what you're talking about - Curie Division was ROCKIN' :) Of course, we had some of the most spirited teams in FIRST (Chief Delphi, 461 Westside Boiler Invasion), not to meantion a CRAZY announcer and MC pumpin' people up! :D

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

88 got going on Friday because Thursdays are scouting... Saturday no other team was up and going so we kind of just died down... If you want the true side of TJ then its best to have other teams going crazy with us... You should have seen us at NJ with MOE!!! OH BOY!!! Or in Long Island!!! WE WENT COMPLETELY NUTS!!!

After the pickings though we decided to head to Einstein because we were really down about not getting picked... We finally got our robot rocking being seeded #5 at the end of day 1 (going 4-0-1) but then on day two we droped to 16 (going 0-1-1) because we went to the bar too late...

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

I heard that Nationals are going to be in Atlanta for the next 3 years or so is that true?

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I heard that also. Someone from FIRST asked our head mentor if he could change one thing about the ATL championship .. what it would be. He said the walk from the pits to the dome. But yea, I heard that it'll be there for 3 more years also.

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

yaeh, i heard that too. Someone told me that FIRST signed a 3 year contract with the Georgia dome folks, so the championship will be there for 3 years.

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Yes, it's true.
That's a good thing.

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

I thought that Atlanta was an excellent site for The Championship Competition. The GWCC is a HUGE building that could easily hold 1000+ teams (there were at least three more staging areas just like the one we were in and from what I recall all were bigger!). The Georgia Dome wasn't too big nor was it too small (Epcot perhaps a wee bit too small and Reliant Stadium a wee bit too big). I agree the walk was at times a nuisance, but I never really minded it. There were some fantastic shortcuts but most weren't available during competition. I never even saw Building C but if that building has access to the Dome the walk for everyone might be easier.

On a non-competition note I thought the venue was perfectly situated around the downtown area. Access from our hotel (the Days Inn) was only a 10 minute walk and I enjoyed every bit of it (I went through Centennial Park every morning and evening and it was awesome). There are lots to do and most are within walking distance. We even found a bowling alley (although its 15 minutes away by bus :( ).

All in all Atlanta is the place to be come Championship weekend. The people I met, the competition I saw, everything was awesome. Hopefully I'll be able to see it all next year!

-Tom

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

Overall, I loved everything about Atlanta except for the spectator walk. Being a booth member in Galileo, I kinda got spoiled and only made the long walk once. The food was years better than Houston, but I never eat breakfast so I would load up on lunch... It was akward going through the single doors, fortunately we were able to move our robot's arm on the fly. I pity those teams (469, etc) that had to lug their robot through the doors every time. I would also reccomend that next year teams stay at the Omni hotel- we would wake up and literally walk downstairs to the pits, it was amazingly close and conveinent, trips to the hotel midday were realistic and even common. Nothing comes close to Epcot, but I'd like to thank FIRST for finding an awesome site....

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Well if they were blocking anyone's view of the game then that was rude. You can't block anyone's view of the game even if they are sitting down. I remeber two guys in front of me in the Newton field were politely telling other teams that they were blocking their view. It was getting kind of annoying.

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

You can find most of my thoughts (and other people's as well) in this three: Championship Thanks and Final Thoughts.

Kev

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

I understand that cheering infront of people may be a slight problem, however other teams should understand that cheering is just aboout only happening for that one match. As far as scouting, if teams are scouting a match where one of the teams is standing infront of you it shouldn't be to difficult to find a seat either infront or to the side of the cheering team. People put a lot of time into these bots and teams, cheering should be encouraged and celebrated over sneared at.

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I am not from FIRST, but was on the field during the parade. They realize there was a problem and they have ideas to make it better next year. It was a good idea and I hope they try it again next year with different traffic pattern.

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Good Things
-shorter walk to playing fields
-didnt have to push robots up 5 flights of ramps
-shorter walk to stands from pits
-FIRST apparel shop
-Large screens in pits with Field action and Rankings for each division
-Better packing/loading situation on saturday
-Wide selection of restraunt choices in Atlanta
-Social!!

Bad Things
-screens in the middle of pits, we had alot of people standing in front of our pit which made leaving and coming back with the robot a little difficult
-Having to lift the robot off the cart and move it through a door barely big enough for the bot to fit through when there was a huge bay door 20 ft away, and only about 3 of the small doors were open at any given time.
-Food prices
-Lack of organization during Thursday unloading, the police in Atlanta werent very helpful in helping us find a spot to park and unload and threatened alot of others with tickets when they were trying to find a spot to park

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I must put the walk from pits to stands and back on the top of my "must fix" list. We were on Archemides and if the robot left the pits anytime after the the second call, we were not able to make it to the stands for the match. I estimate the walk at near two miles one way. Other than that, other problems seemed to be handled relatively well as they came up.

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I don't think that team 836 will be in atlanta unless we win a regional. If it is going to be in atlanta the next few years why go three times? Instead go to a regional that is small and far away from home. I think it would be a better use of time and money.

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What about walking three by three instead of single file? That might work.

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My complaints:

1. It was a 15 minute walk from the Archimedes field to our team in the pit area. This really seperated the team and hurt our unity. Cell phones did not work very well.

2. No video of the opening ceremony on Einstien!

3. No signs directing people.

4. The Robot parade was a great idea that in execution violated almost every principle of FIRST. Cut out some speakers - its about the kids and the robots. Circle the whole stadium - or post the route so know where to sit.

5. No one at the Dome or Convention center knew anything about the competition on Wed. It was mass confusion on Thursday morning.

6. There was a real lack of FIRST presence in the stands. Got the feeling that the people in the stands were on the outside looking in while everyone important was on the field.

7. Put the pits in the DOME!

8. Open more doors!

9. Food Nazi's make everyone's life miserable. I refused to buy food in stands as a result.

10. Is Atlanta an Indian word for "take the longest path between two places"?

Good Things:

1. Team party
2. CNN Center
3. On schedule
4. Atlanta was ok
5. Dome was good.
6. Pitts seemed ok.
7. Best Closing Ceremonies Ever (they will get better if they get shorter)

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

We are not bashing houston in fact the starting post reads "I just wanted to know what you thought about this years championship, what you liked, disliked or both. And how it compared to years past."
I didn't say limited to houston. Just wanted to clear that up.

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

I have another post on this thread, but since you want to know what we thought of this year compared to past championships, this is my opinion, based on my having attended nine years of championships:

1) Overall, I like Epcot. The atmosphere is fantastic. The food is decent. If your team stays on-property, you are probably the best place in the world for turning 15,000 teenagers free to have fun without getting into trouble. It is not that great for watching matches on the "big stage," but otherwise, from the competition standpoint, it is pretty good.

2) Atlanta, overall, is much better than Houston. There were hotels close to the competition site. The food was somewhat better. It was much easier for the drive teams to get from the pits to the playing fields. It was a little better for the spectators to get from the pits to the playing fields, and the "wrap" party was very good. The party was, to me, better than the ones at Epcot.

If I had my choice, we'd still be at Epcot, but overall, this years championship was a very good event, and with lessons learned, should be even better next year.

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

Definitely better than Houston.

However there needs to be 4 practice fields, 1 for each division. They don't have to have all the electronics, just a field where teams can work on their autonomous code.

We added a small lexan arm on the Thursday to hit the 10 pt ball and it was impossible to get enough practice time.

The walk for the robot was a big improvement but we burned up a lot of valuable time going to the stands and back.

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If I am asked, I will relay that suggestion.

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You have no idea on how much I agree with you...

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I can't reall add all that much, due to the fact that everything is covered by previous posts. Anyway, overall EPCOT was my favorite by far, I went once as a freshman for the competition and once as a sophmore as part of Lego League. I also agree that Disney is the worlds best babysitter, but you also have to realize that turing thousands of teens loose on a park, can lead to inciedent regardless of their belief in GP. From what I heard one of the factors of the Nationals moving out of Disney is the fact that the employees of Disney spent weeks removing stickers and logos, and whatnot from their rides that were place there by FIRST team members. Granted there had to have been other reasons behind the decision but that was one of the contributing factors. Just figured i'd throw in my $0.02

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I agree... The stickers and stuff did over do it... hahaha We did that but didn't have stickers... We put up signs and put buttons everywhere... It was awesome... I went in my freshman year and it was unbelievable... I would do anything to go back there...

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No one seems to be talking about the cost of these different locations.

Money is a huge factor. Comparing WDW and Epcot to Atlanta, our team saved $15,000 by going to Atlanta.

Our team loved WDW. We like the security of the grounds and the "play time" especially. Is it worth $15k? Good question.

Andy B.

Re: Overview: Nationals
 

Our team didn't save anything between Epcot and Houston (we spent more at Houston), but I think they would save just a little bit more money by going to Atlanta, this including airfair, and we took a bus. I think it's up to the teams if the extra 15k is worth it. If kids get excided about technology and more people want to join FIRST since it's held at Disney, then it's worth the extra $15k.

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Very very true... I agree... I loved having it at Epcot... They told us we would not be buying the hopper passes unless we fund raised that for ourselves and you better believe within a week we had enough money... It was an unbelievable experience and I would do anything to get back there...

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Cost is, indeed a factor for many, if not most teams. With the usual number of TechnoKats during the years I was with Team 45, that $15K would be maybe $350 a person, but that is for a one or two day longer trip, flying rather than driving, and with at least one full "play day" at Disney before or after the competition. Is it worth it? I guess that depends on how much you like the "play time," how good your team is at fund raising, how willing team members are to pay more money "out of pocket" and various other factors. Also, by having the championship somewhere other than WDW, you tend to get team members more interested in the competition, and less for a "fun vacation." That can certainly be argued to be a good thing.

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Well of coarse it would be 15K for a big team like his... For 45 (which is a smaller team) it of coarse would be less... I don't know... You're right I guess... Money is a factor for most teams...