[Jon Stratis]

Part of the problem is prepping the field for the awards - generally speaking, some amount of field disassembly is done to make room for the judges on the field. To implement either idea effectively, we would need to move the judges off the field to do their high fives.

To me, the thing that makes it drag on forever is large teams. I know having everyone Come down to high five the judges is great. The students all love it, and getting to do that can be inspirational. But when you have to wait for a bunch of 40+ member teams to walk up and down the stairs, it does really drag on.

I believe at champs they've done awards in the past with just two team representatives up front - those reps then collect the awards shake hands, and sit down. With that, you eliminate all that time spent running up and down stairs, and waiting for so many people to make it through the receiving line. I don't want to take away from the impact running through that line has on students, but implementing something like that at a regional level would make things go a LOT faster.

Even if it was just for the winners/finalists - have the drive teams come out to collect the awards right after competing, and instead of handing out individual medals give them a box of medals to distribute to their teams. With those not being judged awards, you don't necessarily need to set up the entire receiving line of judges either - a smaller receiving line of refs could be appropriate, and fit in front of the field while it's being set up for the rest of the awards.