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Unread 13-04-2003, 21:50
Wayne C.'s Avatar Unsung FIRST Hero
Wayne C. Wayne C. is offline
hey- I think we did pretty good?
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I personally would like to see the event in a big stadium again. Whether or not that is Houston is the question-

Pros-
1. the venue was very BIG- there would be plenty of room to add 1/3 more teams at least.

2. visibility- there were plenty of seats for everyone to view a field. The view from up high was probably better than the one downstairs.

3. price- compared to Orlando the accommodations were cheap if you follow the FIRST package

4. the Closing Ceremonies- FIRST listened and kept them short. The staging could have been better. For example- the sound system could not be heard by the competitors- hence Woody's handshake call was totally ignored by the finals teams (we aren't bad guys- honest). Chuck Yaeger was terrific. I did miss the CEOs making promises of support like last year though.


Disappointments-

1. the rodeo left two weeks ago- why wasn't there a huge FIRST banner on the front of the Reliant to draw the public in?

2. the food- I live off fast food- the stuff they were passing off as the prepaid lunch was bland, cold and insufficient. If you went to the few concessions open you needed to mortgage your home to eat. Nearly $4 for a bottle of Coke- come on!

3. the buses- generally the buses were nice and clean and the drivers were great. But nobody seemd to know where they were supposed to go, in the evening they simply stopped running and shortly after the closing the whole shebang moved over to 6-Flags leaving equipment laden crews sitting at the arena.

4. the venue in general- it seemed that there were big cutbacks in operations this year. For example- the only screens showing the scores were way up in the rafters obstructed by hanging equipment. There weren't even signs labelling the fields the first day.
The walk to and from the pits was long, uphill and tiring. If there was rain it would have been tragic because there would be no way to avoid getting robots soaked as they passed through the "high security" checkpoint.


Some positive suggestions-

If we were to return to Houston I suggest the following

1. stage 6 fields on the arena floor - along the perimeter. Put the pit stations in the corridors in the levels above them. Totally avoid the Astrodome itself or use it as a food court and meeting place.

2. make a barricade wall on the perimeter of the arena lawns and do a single security chack there. Let the robots and teams flow freely between the buildings. And please hire some staff who have common sense and courtesy as opposed to the automatons I met up with this past weekend.
Frankly, the checks done were pathetic and might as well have been scrapped- if there WAS a terrorist bomber in the crowd they could probably make their device right in the pits if they really wanted to.

3. we looked for some sort of souveneir from the "SuperBowl of Smarts"- there was NOTHING! Yes I got my shirt but you would think that the arena would jump on the chance to sell merchandise. I would have been happy with an arena pennant for a friend of mine.

4. the flags and big screens that have made the Nationals an Olympic type of event in the past should be returned. FIRST has always been a high class event in my eyes. Somehow it seemed a lot more watered down this year.

I realize FIRST has a huge job each year setting up the Nationals and hopefully they are already well into the preparation for NEXT years'. They did an awesome job this year and deserve our praise and help. Maybe each team or regional group can offer something to help the event work?

In closing of this lengthy post- my team would happily play the competition in a pup tent in a swamp if we can get ALL the teams back to the Nationals. End the even/odd system and lets figure out a way that everyone can come together for the big event. No matter how bad the venue may be, there is nothing like competng in the nationals. Everyone deserves a chance to experience that.

WC
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Last edited by Wayne C. : 13-04-2003 at 22:10.
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