I'm going to make this pretty clear. I draw a line between pit scouting and networking. I value networking way more then I value pit scouting. This year for pit scouting what I personally need is speed, dimensions, drive base. That's it, I want the information quickly I want it clean and once that's done I want students to network.
"But what do you mean by networking?"
Networking to me is socializing and helping other teams, figuring out how other teams function and learning about what makes teams successful. Serious announcement where a team requests something over a P.A system? I want a scout on that. Sweet dance group going on nearby the field? Lets see if we can scout up a game of ninja or get something fun going on. Six weeks of building and working hard and I want students to enjoy the regional. Last year we had a student because he had free time got to talk to an engineer at Lockheed Martin, considering that he is going into college and enjoying engineering this was far more valuable then any data he could have found in a pit. All sorts of people show up to these competitions and its a wonderful chance for all the students to make connections into the industry they want to pursue upon graduating highschool.
TL
R Scouting is important for winning but my personal biggest priority is not that we win a regional, its that the students get the most out of the time they have.