[tckma]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

5. Spectators
We were always amazed at the lack of spectators FIRST would bring in from the Disney parks when it was located there. WDW did a poor job of advertizing the event, and people did not take the time to leave the park and come into the tent city of FIRST. A few people did make this trip, but not as many as might be expected. Having the Championships at WDW did not add spectators (except people who were on FIRST teams to only go to WDW).

I didn't really think about it, but yes, having the event outside the actual park hurt our chances at getting outside spectators. I don't think they could have held it IN the park, though.

The Championships needs to be in a city where FIRST takes over for the weekend. There is a fine line between the city being too big where the FIRST Championships would not make an impact and a city being too small to not be able to host the Championships. Imo, FIRST did not take over Atlanta. Unless you talked to a FIRST team member, were in the convention center or Georgia Dome, you would not know that there was a robotics event in the dome. Yes, there was some media coverage (both on the local news and the local newspaper), but there could've been more attention to FIRST robots in Atlanta.

Hm, I think that would be neat, if we "took over a city" for the weekend. That's a good point. I don't think people outside the Georgia Dome or local hotel staffs even knew what was going on.

It could be a dream:
Waitresses would be asking how you did during qualification matches. Policemen would be wanting to know if you used PID control for your arm motion. Cabbies would be looking over your top 20 picks after your Friday night strategy session. Hotel busboys will be telling you that although team

I'd love that! But do you think a policeman (who doesn't have a FIRSTie son or daughter) would even know what PID control is? We can dream.