Ian, I was very impressed with how well run and organized the Waterloo Regional was this year, definitely an improvement over 2006 (where it was my favorite regional!).
to answer some of your questions:
- The team social was a lot of fun, you did a good job trying to get as many teams as possible involved in the activities. It was a nice to be able to sit and talk with everyone, or go down and have some fun in the arcade. My only suggestion is to have a few more directions up so people knew were the arcade is, and where the food is at ect. if I was a rookie I would be a bit confused where everything located.
- is it possible to get the match lists before the event
- 11 matches is awesome... we can never get enough matches, one of the reasons this regional was so offensive is because we got so much time to practice and improve our robots.
- its kinda hard for pre-ordered lunches to beat Tim Horton's, but if that means there are less people in line waiting for timmies then go for it.
- As for the pits, I loved our location this year (and last year), they didn't seem any smaller then the other regionals (but i did see a few that were oddly shaped). The biggest improvement was placing the practice field in the middle of the pits! Genius! it opened up the pits, made the practice field more visible, and was just a great location. It certainly kept me entertained while we were programing.
My only real complaint this year would be how crowded the field got during the elimination matches. During the quarterfinals matches it was almost impossible to move around without walking through the drivers station. That side of the field felt very cramped (especially when we were trying to fix our bot after every match). My suggestion would be to try and move the guard rails back as far as you can during the elimination matches to allow the teams more room. Some teams even set up their 'pit' outside those railings
It was my favorite regional in 2007 and I will be back in some form next year.