[Brandon Holley]

Most of the argument to keep the pits clear during ceremonies boils down to 2 items: 1. Keep noise to a minimum while people are speaking and 2. Pack the stands to show the VIPs how enthusiastic the crowd is. Both valid points.

I was the event chair for the Northeastern District Event this year and was able to see both sides of the fence (team perspective and event chair perspective). Honestly though, there seems to be a very reasonable compromise (which is partially outlined in the rules). No power tools or loud working (hammering, robot operation, etc). No more than X people TOTAL left in the pits per team (3-4 sounds reasonable).

I instructed my volunteers to encourage people to leave the pit and attend ceremonies, but explicitly instructed them to not attempt to 'kick' anyone out of the pit. To my knowledge, no team left a dozen people in the pit, or attempted to fire up a dremel and grind something off their robot. Teams who felt they needed to work on their robots were able to do so (btw this should be something an individual team decides, not a volunteer), and the crowd for ceremonies was full and energetic.

A team is perfectly within their right to work on their robots during ceremonies as outlined in the rule quoted by Aren. At the end of the day- why put the rule in the rulebook if its not meant to be the guide to event to event consistency?

-Brando