[Tom Line]

I think the best thing to do is announce, over the loud speaker and by message on the big screen, that there is NO SAVING SEATS.

Frankly, every time I've encountered this, it has not been a team member or a mentor. It has been a parent or other attendee who probably has not been well schooled in gracious professionalism and does not yet have the vision of how we should act at events.

Instead, they're acting like it's a movie theater where if they get there first, it's "theirs".

Announcements over the loud speakers etc would remind newcomers and would lend teams some needed support when they have to tell someone "while I appreciate that you'd like to save this seat, it's not allowed at a First Competition Venue" - and promptly sit themselves down.