What would you like to see at a regional?

[Greg Needel]

I am posting this on behalf of the RIT FIRST club responsible for planning parts of the Finger Lakes Regional next year at RIT. At our last meeting we decided that it would be a great use to us to find out what that first community at large is looking for to make the regional experience a pleasurable and one that will run smoothly for all teams.

So please post in this thread with the following:

things that you have seen at other regionals which you wish would be improved

ideas for fun and creative socials

special requests that would have made your regional experience better

and anything else you think might benefit our committee knowing


this information will be directly reported to the planning committee and all input will be greatly appreciated

How about...a snack bar with reasonable prices?

The regionals I've been to have all been awesome, I never really had much of a problem with anything except that you MUST HAVE A PRACTICE FIELD. Make plans with teams ahead of time and have them set up on the Wednesday before the regional.

[Kevin Sevcik]

I've no idea if the teams at LSR liked it or not, but they seemed to, so here's a bit that we did in lieu of a social:

Cheering contest to see which side got throw out gifts.
Big mascot dance number on the field.
Mascot/Team Rep shoot off for prizes. (Note, this seemed really big)
Door Prize raffle thing. (This was slow due to kids losing tickets)
Bag of Prizes anyways for each of the teams.

We're planning other things along these lines for next year, as well.

Also, about the 2003 Nats thing, I have to comment:
We all realize that was a problem. It wasn't necessarily a problem with the venue or the city itself, as there are ways to solve that problem. If Nats does come back to Houston, I can categorically say that it will be much better.

[DarkJedi613]

Make sure the pits are of decent size.

Make sure the aisles are big enough and clear to move through in the pits. At the Philly regional some of the teams kind of pushed out in the aisle and you couldn't get past them to get to your own pit.

Make sure the crates are moved away quickly after they have been emptied. Some crates were still out at Philly until pretty late on Thursday. This also goes with the making sure the aisles are clear, it's hard to get a robot out when there are crates in the aisle.

[Eric Bareiss]

If there is going to be a team social, make sure that it is in a place that can keep kids busy. Idle hands are the devil's playground. in AZ we had it in the Arizona Science Center. They had lots of hands on exibits to keep the kids busy. The science center practically paid us to have it there, they wanted to have the whole competition there but it's not big enough.

On a more personal note, I would just like to add that you need to keep the regional friendly. The regional should still seem professional, but at the same time it should make you feel comfortable. Pick an MC, Announcer and Pit Announcer from the people in your area. Try to have fun with it. If you make it a comfortable atmosphere, when something goes wrong people can laugh it off instead of getting mad. The AZ regional did a great job and it felt like a big sleep over.

[Raven_Writer]

<*WARNING*: This thread mainly deals with the Palemetto Regional cons. It was fun, but there was a lot of mistakes, errors, etc... *:WARNING*>

1. Allow us to dance - I know almost (if not everyone) at the Palemetto Regional was really disgusted at the fact that they said you can't dance. The ground wasn't bad (I tested it before I danced). If you are going to do music and no dancing, play music you can't dance to (come on, when you hear the cha-cha song, or the electric slide, you're gonna wanna dance to it)

2. Don't shove college stuff down our throats - This is just my personal preference, but think about it. At Palemetto, the only reason it was where it was is to try to get us to go there. Everything they had (to give away) had the USC logo on it. I don't mind hearing stuff like "Come here because we have good programs you might enjoy." Or "This campus is a really clean campus, come join us to keep it cleaner" every now and then, but when they keep pushing us to go there, it gets really annoying.

3. G-rated music - The regionals have been really good at playing 5-year-old music (like Avril Lavigne, Good Charlotte, etc...), but I don't think many parents want their kids listening to straight-out *unappropriate* songs. Songs like "Lose Yourself" (censored), and stuff like that isn't bad, but the skirt song at Palemetto was just not right.

4. Score correctly - So many times there's been a score change because of various reasons.

5. Don't give out penalties wrongfully - If a robot (B) pushes robot (A) into the plate, you shouldn't give a penatly to (A). I know this probably shouldn't be here, but should be suggested to FIRST, but it's also the ref's responsibility to call them fairly.

6. Make people kneel - Not everyone, just the people that are at the walls (curtains, etc...). It's very aggrevating trying to look on the side of someone to see match, to realize that more people are around him/her.

7. Pick good venues - Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Palemetto had excellent venues IMO. I'd gladly goto any one of those again, but not anything like Nationals last year. I think we all know why. Another reason for me though is because I always travel from stands to pits for various reasons.

8. Play team themes - This isn't a big thing, but if a team has a special song for their team (like we have Beethoven's 5th symphony), let the DJ's play it.

9. Variety - Play different types of music. 'Nuff said.

[Koko Ed]

[quote=Raven_Writer
3. G-rated music - The regionals have been really good at playing 5-year-old music (like Avril Lavigne, Good Charlotte, etc...), but I don't think many parents want their kids listening to straight-out *unappropriate* songs. Songs like "Lose Yourself" (censored), and stuff like that isn't bad, but the skirt song at Palemetto was just not right.

[/QUOTE]
I was kinda stunned when they were playing that Tweet song. Didn't they know what that song was about? Why not just play Cake's "The Distance" while you're at it.

[JakeGallagher]

Originally Posted by Raven_Writer

1. Allow us to dance - I know almost (if not everyone) at the Palemetto Regional was really disgusted at the fact that they said you can't dance. The ground wasn't bad (I tested it before I danced). If you are going to do music and no dancing, play music you can't dance to (come on, when you hear the cha-cha song, or the electric slide, you're gonna wanna dance to it)

3. G-rated music - The regionals have been really good at playing 5-year-old music (like Avril Lavigne, Good Charlotte, etc...), but I don't think many parents want their kids listening to straight-out *unappropriate* songs. Songs like "Lose Yourself" (censored), and stuff like that isn't bad, but the skirt song at Palemetto was just not right.

8. Play team themes - This isn't a big thing, but if a team has a special song for their team (like we have Beethoven's 5th symphony), let the DJ's play it.

9. Variety - Play different types of music. 'Nuff said.

How about a Dance Dance Revolution Mix with Team music, techno, and some other stuff. You would definately be able to dance, there will probably be appropriate songs--since most techno has no words, or talks about random dumb stuff--you could try throwing in remixes of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, etc. (Pachabel ), and if adll this went down, there would be lots of different kinds of music.
=My 2 cents as a DDR Freak

[Edit]

Originally Posted by Raven_Writer

Like, setup a DDR thing at a social...

I guess someone got to it before me. Teaches me for not reading all the posts. I mean have a DDR set up all the time though, and if a match ends in a tie... settle it on the dance floor like they did in the 70's.
[/Edit]

[Billfred]

You know, I guess this creates a new niche for team members in FIRST...DDR nuts.

Although from the FIRST standpoint, I can see where FIRST would have a problem with it. Perhaps for dispute resolution?

man, that'd be devilish...(grin)

[karinka13]

For Socials:

1) They should be fun. Fun includes good music and dancing (cough)(Palmetto)(cough). As you might have noticed if you were at Palmetto, by the end of the social the only team left was 433 because they were waiting for a ride.

2) Has anyone ever thought about having a social without a competition? Just like a 'have fun with your robotics friends' social for no other reason? The Firebirds are considering hosting one but we need feedback.

3) I definately agree about special awards at socials. I especially would like a "Button" award (I was the girl at Palmetto with the buttons down the sides of her jeans) and a "Mascot" award (I was also the girl at Drexel wearing the Firebird head and cape, not much of a mascot, we wouldn't have won that award).

[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally Posted by karinka13

For Socials:

1) They should be fun. Fun includes good music and dancing (cough)(Palmetto)(cough). As you might have noticed if you were at Palmetto, by the end of the social the only team left was 433 because they were waiting for a ride.

Dancing is prohibited by FIRST rules, unfortunately. It sucks, and it was a bit of an overreaction by FIRST, but a student got seriously injured at the social at the 2002 Buckeye Regional, and dancing has been banned ever since. Unfortunately, in order to get insurance for the events, FIRST had to take such action. I remember in the 2003 rules, there was something where your team could get assessed a minor penalty for "dancing at the Team Social" Not sure what the rules are now, but it was a major liability issue, so I doubt it'll change much anytime soon.

[kjohnson]

Originally Posted by Jeff Waegelin

Dancing is prohibited by FIRST rules, unfortunately. It sucks, and it was a bit of an overreaction by FIRST, but a student got seriously injured at the social at the 2002 Buckeye Regional, and dancing has been banned ever since. Unfortunately, in order to get insurance for the events, FIRST had to take such action. I remember in the 2003 rules, there was something where your team could get assessed a minor penalty for "dancing at the Team Social" Not sure what the rules are now, but it was a major liability issue, so I doubt it'll change much anytime soon.

There were people dancing and doing the limbo at the VCU regional during the competition - and nobody said anything. Theres really no stopping people when you play the cha-cha slide - the whole point of it is to dance.

Teams should be allowed to bring in their "team song" to play during the competition. At VCU they just played the same 3 or 4 mixed CDs over and over.

[Lisa Perez]

Oh.. If the venue isn't decided yet, make sure there is enough space for teams and spectators alike. Detroit was really awesome, but there definitely wasn't enough space - it was like a can of sardines in there.

[Bcahn836]

I would like to see more variety in food selection. After the first day nothing at the concessions looked very appetizing.

[Zzyzx]

A nice Frizbee tounement, if there is a park nearby, would be fun.