Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

THIS!

The MASSIVE backlog of humanity at the main pit entrance, trying to return to the pits following the opening ceremonies was ABSURD (luckily, I found a path less traveled).

FIRST, do yourselves a favor, FOLLOW YOUR OWN RULES! Curb some of that traffic, and stop trying to forcibly impose your flawed view of "you're only GP if you're at the opening ceremonies" on the relative few pit personnel from each team trying to prep their robot and operations for the day's activities.

Show some appreciation to THIS person who is involved and volunteering HIS own time and effort.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

The Biggest negative I saw this year was in the newton Division you needed a step stool to go to the men's bathroom.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

My only negative besides the one's already mentioned was the referee call to rematch one of our matches a day after the match.

Apparently there was a 4 second time discrepancy. I never noticed it on our match, but I did notice it on another match on Curie (in the dome Friday).

If there really was a 4 second time discrepancy, then it should have been handled right after our match, not a day later. On top of this, that match had a big difference in scores (something like 30 points), and with 4 seconds remaining, the other team had no way to score 30 points.

We tried to challenge the call, but the head referee was very rude about it. We asked if we could view the video footage, and he said no, and that he does not take into account video footage as proof.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

Dennis Howland, Volunteer Resources Manager, FIRST HQ, dhowland[at]usfirst[dot]org, 1-800-871-8326. This is public information.

There was also an overall volunteer coordinator for the event. I don't want to publicly broadcast his info, so I will pm.

Addition: If there is an issue with a volunteer during the event, seek out one of the divisional volunteer coordinators. This year they were wearing light blue shirts. Can find them through pit admin.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

Agree.

The opening ceremonies ran long, then a huge mess trying to get out of the dome, and then to run into that crowd... ridiculous.

Travis, the path less traveled was probably the same that I took: nearer to the FTC pits. No crowd, no problems.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

THIS! I actually saw a Lego Leaguer walk in, take one look at the urinals, say "uh oh", and leave.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

The cynic in my says that at this point, nothing prevents the GDC from changing next year's rules to the exact opposite of what they are this year. Perhaps we'll be fortunate for this one specific rule given all of the mayhem that happened.




Thanks for the info Jenny.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

With 4 seconds to go, 30 points is a stretch.

What about with 14 seconds to go? What if a team thought they had a lot of time to get to the minibot pole, only to find that the minibot race was already over? If one team gets 1st and 2nd, that's a 25 point advantage MINIMUM (more if the opposing alliance didn't get to deploy if time ran out while the clock they were looking at read 4 seconds).

Anyway, I wasn't involved in that match but with the ridiculous amount of points for the minibot race, 4 seconds is HUGE when minibot points are separated by miliseconds.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

It got all over my sneakers and it's almost impossible to get off... I suppose it's good if it eliminates the risk of slipping, but it's still kind of gross.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

Ryan,

I am not trying to justify the issue. However, regarding video replays, he was prohibited from reviewing it even if he wanted to:

Regards,

Mike

Edit: I am sympathetic to the ref in cases like this because I was head ref on one of the fields at VEX Worlds a few weeks ago. VRC had a similar rule in place, <T01>. I had at least 7 teams approach me during the competition with video cameras and I am quite sure that they considered by demeanor "rude" when I dismissed them. However, from my stand point, they were asking me to break the rules. I felt offended and that this was rude on their part...

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

So that explains it. Was trying to figure out what I walked through that smelled like urinal cleaner.:rolleyes:

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

Not trying to be argumentative, but I used to run a sound board back in college (http://lnl.wpi.edu/index.html) for coffee house shows and other events, and I could not get over how poorly eq'd the vocal microphones were. All of the pre-recorded stuff sounded fine, and the opening DJ wasn't bad at all (who was he?), but all of the vocals sounded horrible from the 200 level of the stadium, hopefully it sounded better down on the floor, but I can't see how.

...so FIRST has been and continues to be cool, FIRST is now loud, maybe next year we can be THX Ultra2 certified (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thx)

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

oh i understand. my team and I were on the floor and the vocals were overwhelmed with bass that shook the life out of you! It was still amazing besides the vocal issue!

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

Well, this has been beaten to death, and I wasn't going to continue beating a dead horse, but I might as well get this off my chest.

I knew what to expect regarding the pit fields from reading CD, but our kids did not. I was unable to travel with the team and had to fly in Wed night. I met the team in the hotel for our team meeting, and the kids were excited about the awesome practice fields in the pits. I had to be the one to break it to them that those weren't nice practice fields. Those were the fields where we would be playing our first and third day of quals and our elimination matches, if we were good enough. At first they refused to believe me, then they were horrified.

They wanted to know why all four divisions weren't playing in the dome, and couldn't believe Dean would allow an entertainment act to displace the competition. When idols fall, they fall hard.

My feeling is that if there had been adequate seating for these fields, the tradeoff for the concert might have been worth it. But, because the pit field setup was so incredibly botched, our team and others were deprived of one of the promised rewards of attending the Championships.

The setup was so bad that we don't even have video of our pit qualification matches to show to those team members who were unable to watch our matches from the bleachers. At the two regionals we attended, we recorded all the matches in HD, posted some on youtube, and submitted video to the Blue Alliance. At the National Championships, which many parents were unable to attend, of which the kids most would like a keepsake, there wasn't room to set up a tripod in the center of the field.

The kids rightly claimed that even the off-season event we attend is set up better.

I believe that someone at FIRST made a conscious decision to move these fields to the pits to make room for the concert. I believe any of their claims to the contrary are at best disingenuous and at worst flat-out lies. I sincerely hope that FIRST makes changes for next year. But, for our seniors, who worked their hearts out for four years to finally make it to the National Championship for the first time, that comes too late.

As a rookie mentor, who contributed my valuable time, precious vacation days, and approached my employer for sponsorship money to send the team to this event, I feel I have a right to expect that the kids I have sacrificed for are treated as the stars of the show, not shuffled off to the side.

I await the arrival of the official event feedback survey with baited breath.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

Overheard at one of the fields in the pits: "We invited all our sponsors, where are they supposed to sit?"