[Libby K]

Quietly working on the robot may not even be enough at a particular venue.

For example, during alliance selections at MAR champs this year (yes, I know, not a pits-closed time, but bear with me here) a team was working in their pit was right next to the field. Even just the talking and use of some tools, coupled with the mediocre acoustics in that gym, made it near impossible to hear the picking until someone asked the team to stop until the ceremonies were over.

In some events it's just not realistic to say people can work, because it creates an acoustics problem. At the other events, it just comes down to basic respect for the people helping make your event happen. (At some MAR events, people talk -in the stands!- through opening ceremonies. Don't even get me STARTED on that level of disrespect.)

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

Don't make it a judgement call. Allow 3-4 members from every team to stay back and explicitly disallow power tools. Done.

I do like this. Set a hard limit on number of people to stay back, but in that same rule remind the teams that the purpose of the rule is to be respectful to the guests and to the ceremony. That way, the team can make their own call - do we NEED those 3-4 people in the pit, or can we all sit in the stands and show our respect to the event & its speakers as an entire team?

This is just like that cell-phones-during-speeches thread many years ago, and the airplanes one last year. It's down to the teams to make sure we're creating a culture for ourselves where disrespect for FIRST/speakers/the event is not tolerated.

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Most of the time I see a politician at opening ceremonies there is a joke about "You kids are doing something I could never do" followed by some nervous laughter. But this could be a function of the majority of our political leaders have zero engineering background.

I've seen the same kind of statement from Rush Holt at NJ events - and he's a rocket scientist. It's more about 'Wow, you guys are insanely smart, and I wish I'd had the opportunity to learn all this when I was your age.'

Originally Posted by Taylor

I've never seen any VIP laugh about illiteracy or 'ha ha dumb is cool' - I guess I missed the regional Jessica Simpson judged.

I understand your sentiment here, but keep in mind Jessica Simpson is actually an incredibly successful businesswoman. One remark about Chicken of the Sea does not (and should not) define her.