[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Gotta do my duty and point out the defieincies with suggestions.

1. Kinect: More trouble than it's worth.

SUGGESTION: If FIRST is going to tack on some game element due to a big sponsor offering up a big endorsement make it worth teams while to use it (like givng extra points for scoring using it). If they have no incentive then they are going to do what they did this year and simply not use it. The only thing it really did was cause replays.

2. FMS issues.
SUGGESTION: Obviously further testing is needed. Maybe additional week zero events would help.

Animation Competition. 75 out of 2300 teams participated. The contest is irrelevant. What does a dopey little alien have to do with what FIRST teams are doing? No wonder so many teams don't bother with it.


SUGGESTION: Why not combine the animation, CAD work and video work to create reveal videos and judge them for awards? At least it would cause more teams to use the program more often than they do now.


FOR WEEK 1 ALAMO:
The event is a bit too ambitious for it's own good.
SUGGESTION: Perfect running the FRC aspect and then start to tackle FTC and FLL all at once.

Crowd control issues. Too many kids kept wandering down onto the field area repeatedly.

SUGGESTION: Partly my fault and Jess offered a suggestion the will keep that from happening again. There needs to be serious consequences for going down into the field area just like in other sports (wander onto a basketball court or football field in the middle of a game and see what happens to you). You are disrupting the event when you do that.

Walk in volunteers would just disappear at the end of their work shift without so much as a word and leave us in quite a bind.

SUGGESTION: Walk in volunteers need their own co-0rdinator to work with Jess (she has enough to do) so they can better handle their comings and going and let us know when it's time to go home so we can properly adjust to their absence.



FOR WEEK 2 FLR:
There was alot of space in the pit area but the pits still seemed all squished together.

SUGGESTION: Perhap spreading them out a little bit more wouldn't hurt.



FOR WEEK 3 MONTREAL:
The seating was ill concived (960 seats are no where near enough for a FIRST event. even a small one.
The queing entrance and the main entrance for the audience criss crossed causing a bottleneck and a safety hazard.
SUGGESTION: The only solution would most likely be going to a new venue.

Volunteering was a bit undermanned. More crowd control was needed badly (I must have turned away 500 people that weekend from coming into the field).

SUGGESTION: Just be mindful of the needs of crowd control.

FOR WEEK 4 BOSTON:
I know VIPs are important and bring alot of money and even attention to the event but they need to be better controlled. Too often they get in the way and disobey event rules (if the participants have to wear proper shoes and safety glasses why can't they. Is it too much to contact them and instruct them what they should and should not wear to the event?).

SUGGESTION: Have FIRST design a booklet to give to VIPs on what to do at the events including proper attire so there will be no problems.

Killer stairs. It just seems like the climb to the top of the Agganis Arena is significantly higher than any other arena I've seen. You need mountain climbing equipment to get to the top.

SUGGESTION: Honestly I have no idea how to make this one better.

Parking. If Angry Eric didn't rate a parking pass then who did?

SUGGESTION: Let volunteers know ahead of time if they have or have not gotten the free pass and how much they will have to pay to go to the event so paying out of pocket won't be such a shock to them.

FOR WEEK 5 DC:
Load in.Rather jumbled and kind of dangerous.

SUGGESTION: Have more control down on the street. Too many teams seemed to be scrambling up to the docks and practically climbing over each other to drop the robot and stuff off.

Allowing teams to go back to their pit during elims. The pits were spread out far and wide and a couple of teams nearly missed their match.

SUGGESTION: Keep them by the field and just have a courier bring them batteries.


FOR WEEK 6 QUEEN CITY:

Outcast Pit. Many of the teams had no idea what was going on in the arena.

SUGGESTION: Find a way to wire in video and standing back there so they don't feel so isolated.

Volunteer Room was really far away. The room was nice but no way I was climbing four stories to get food. Thank God the elevator worked.

SUGGESTION: Is there a closer room available?




FOR WEEK 7 MSC:
The food. Particularly breakfast. A bagel just isn't going to cut it.

SUGGESTION: Could a better variety be offered? Just a couple more options would be nice.

The crazy pit structure. I know FiM is loyal to the arena but man o man is it hard to get used to teams being so spread out like that.

SUGGESTION: It would be so cool if MSC could go to an big stage where such an event as spectacular as it could really shine like Ford Field but I know that really isn't possible. I guess the pit issue is just something to deal with.

FOR THE CHAMPS:
The tunnel leading up to the arena has too much traffic causing teams to struggle to make their matches.

SUGGESTION: A separate passage to FTC team may have helped ease the congestion a little bit.

The Hall of Fame. It's a joke. Period. I feel badly for 359 who worked long and hard to get to the HOF and all they get is a little table to show for it. FIRST keeps saying the Chairman's Award is it's highest honor but they sure don't treat it that way.

SUGGESTION: Let the Hall of Fame teams run it. Many of these teams run off season events and even regionals. I bet a committee from each of these teams could come up with something that would bring honor to the Hall of Fame.

Scary weather. Two years in St. Louis. Two years severe weather has threatened the event.

SUGGESTION: Uhmmm..is the Georgia Dome still available....?

I dont really care for spending too much time complaining about the negatives, as we are still very humbled by winning the award in 2011.
I will say this though.
No one from FIRST contacted me at any point during the season about the change in the HOF setup.
Here we spent the last several months planning and creating a booth space, including lugging it all at VEX Worlds the week before, only to find out from Cory (Team 254) here on CD the day before CMP that we get a little table.

Why even have a main contact in TIMS?

And I will say this again...if FIRST values the CMP CA as its highest award, and given the opportunity to decide who gets to go to the White House to celebrate the meaning of FIRST, they shoot us down.
The worst feeling was getting phone calls from some very respectable people in FIRST while they were in DC asking where we were staying? My response, "Uh? You guys are visiting who? When?"
Our congressional representative did some investigating for us in DC and gave us some interesting info that I dont ever care to share here on CD.