[Ed Law]

I think the event was very well done for the price.

Here are the positives and negatives. Please note that the negatives are not complaints and in many cases not a big deal, treat them as areas that can be improved.

Positives (in no particular order)

1) There are 13 matches to allow teams to rotate their drivers, whether they want to use it to evaluate their potential drivers for next year or just let everybody have a chance to drive the robot and have fun since not everybody got to drive it during regular season.

2) The mentors match was fun with 8 alliances and 24 teams. We won it with Team 47 and Team 1718. I truly appreciate how difficult it is to drive the robot to exactly where you want it. The matches were low scoring and the field was filled with missed throws and dumps/shots by robots. I would say keep it. A suggestion is to make it into part of the fundraising event and charge a small fee $10 to enter. This may reduce the number of alliances down to 4 and not take up as much time. However I don't think it was too much of a problem. Most teams went to the pig roast after their mentor matches were done. It actually is a good way to avoid a very long line if everybody goes at the same time.

3) The door jambs were removed to allow easier flow of traffic. The pit layout is better than last year even with more teams.

4) There are teams from Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio which was great. I hope they tell other teams in their area to come next year. Because of the Michigan district model, teams in Michigan do not get too many chances to meet teams from outside of Michigan.

Negatives (in no particular order)

1) I think 12 matches just like the regular season would be enough. It will cut down on the length a little.

2) One restroom is not adequate for the number of people there. There is only one stall in the men's room and people were standing outside waiting quite a bit. If the school will not open up another one, you will need to bring in portable ones.

3) There was no list of teams or pit maps. It was very difficult to find teams. A piece on paper on the table got covered very easily. There should either be a stand at each pit, a pit map for every team or at least one posted on the wall. Even the pit administration do not know where teams are.

4) The heat was a problem in the gym but the pit area was nice and cool.

5) Four teams to an alliance in the elimination round does not work. I understand the inclusive part of it. This has been discussed many times on CD. Do you want the best robots in the elimination round to make it an exciting sporting event like the Michigan State Championship to attract more good teams to come like IRI or do you want to let everybody plays? The qualifying rounds served no purpose.