[itsjustjon]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

I notice that you went to the Orange County Regional this year, which happened to be held at Valencia High School. Do you have any photos of the venue/event, or would you explain how you feel that this regional that was held in a High School was more polished an event than a district held in similar venues? I also see that there were 42 teams present, please elaborate how this event was better than a district that again has similar number of teams.

I am not attacking you personally just trying to understand your point of view, when it seems you went to a district event this year that was disguised as a regional.

Please understand that the views I hold about the OC Regional are not reflective of my team's views.

The OC Regional, despite being well-run for a 1st year regional, was lacking in comparison to the other regionals 3309 competed at due to the fact that it was held in a high school gym, like many district events. This might seem petty to the average robotics member but it makes a huge difference when you're seeing FRC for the first time, IMO.

The things that negatively set the OC Regional apart from other Regional Events:
- Lack of A/C: This was a big one. The stands were very uncomfortable for the spectators, scouting teams, and VIP that I led around during my time volunteering as Student Ambassador.
- Odd Practice Field Placement: Teams had to access the practice field via a small set of stairs, so you either had to carry your bot up the stairs or use a wheel-chair lift.
- Small aisles between the pits: Pits got very crowded at times and it was tough to move through the aisles.
- Power in the Pits: Pit power was not available on Wednesday Set-up, and the power supplied to the Pit Area.
- Overall Layout: To get from the pits to the field, teams had to walk around the entire gym building. There were only two doors that led to the field, and the closest was reserved for queuing. Other layout issues include the fact that VIP and volunteers had to walk across campus to get to the Volunteer Lounge. Make of that what you will.

The things that set apart the OC Regional from many District Events:
- Official FRC Lighting and Display: I've researched the requirements for Districts and it seems that FIRST doesn't provide district events with the lighting truss for the competition field. This lighting truss A) makes many regionals consistently well-lit (barring any vision camera issues) and B) easier for spectators to see the field. That being said, I do not know what districts typically do besides relying on the venue for lighting.
- Minimum Standards: All FIRST Regionals are held to minimum standards in many, many ways. Here's the link for Regional Standards and here's the link for District Standards. I can't make any comments as to how often the standards for District events are met and exceeded, but the quality standards for regionals set by FRC makes the over-all regional experience consistent. Production value is also maintained, as well.
- Practice Day Robot Unbag vs. 6-Hour Unbag: Again, I don't fully understand the rules of districts. However, based on what I believe I know about the 6-Hour Unbag Rule, Regional Teams get around 12 hours to modify their robot if they choose to not participate in practice matches. This is double what District Teams are given in their shops the day before competition starts.
- Practice Matches: Looking at the documentation for District Events on this page, it seems that there is very little time for practice matches. Could you please actually explain to me how practice matches work at District Events?
- Overall Support from FIRST: Based on my research on FIRST's website, the overall documentation support and quality standards that are provided for Regional Events far exceed the ones for District Events. I think this puts Regionals at an advantage (FIRST should provide Districts with the same support, IMO) and that advantage ensures that Regionals are consistently high in quality.

All of my points have been drawn from research on FIRST's website, so my personal understanding of how Districts are run might be completely different to the way things actually are.

Also, my stance on Regionals v. Districts isn't that Districts are a bad system, but that Districts should not be put in place everywhere and the same goes for Regionals. Despite that fact, I think Regionals have some more pros than District events.

My views on this will be further explained on Sunday's show, as well.