Friday Night Entertainment - will.i.am with special guests

[thefro526]

I was one of those who was strongly opposed to a concert going into the Championship. I felt that it would take away from the event. I felt that moving two fields to the pit to have a stage in the dome was some sort of an atrocity.

I can honestly say that I was dead wrong.

After seeing the stage and the spectacle that followed, I can fully understand the reasons for making room for the concert to happen. The stage was definitely awesome, and it was cool to see the various HOF robots on Stage. I really like how the High Level FLL, FTC, and FRC award winners were recognized during the concert and not upstaged by the finals on Einstein, though I wish they would've played Team 359's Video at some point. Recognizing the Dean's list winners in front of their peers in such a high profile setting was cool as well, many people did not get a chance to make it up to the initial DLA presentation.

My only complaints about the concert are very minor, Will.I.Am saying "US FIRST" was pretty annoying, and Willow Smith yelling "St. Louis" every 15 seconds was pretty bothersome. (I'm still fairly certain that she had no idea where she was other than being in St. Louis.)

I'd like to see this sort of show return in the future - but I'd like to see them leave the stage up for Saturday and play the Einstein matches on it.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by thefro526

I was one of those who was strongly opposed to a concert going into the Championship. I felt that it would take away from the event. I felt that moving two fields to the pit to have a stage in the dome was some sort of an atrocity.

I can honestly say that I was dead wrong.

After seeing the stage and the spectacle that followed, I can fully understand the reasons for making room for the concert to happen. The stage was definitely awesome, and it was cool to see the various HOF robots on Stage. I really like how the High Level FLL, FTC, and FRC award winners were recognized during the concert and not upstaged by the finals on Einstein, though I wish they would've played Team 359's Video at some point. Recognizing the Dean's list winners in front of their peers in such a high profile setting was cool as well, many people did not get a chance to make it up to the initial DLA presentation.

My only complaints about the concert are very minor, Will.I.Am saying "US FIRST" was pretty annoying, and Willow Smith yelling "St. Louis" every 15 seconds was pretty bothersome. (I'm still fairly certain that she had no idea where she was other than being in St. Louis.)

I'd like to see this sort of show return in the future - but I'd like to see them leave the stage up for Saturday and play the Einstein matches on it.

I wonder if they'd do a show next year and if they did would they do another big stage show and would the Black Eyed Peas be back or who else will they get to perform?

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I wonder if they'd do a show next year and if they did would they do another big stage show and would the Black Eyed Peas be back or who else will they get to perform?

I wouldn't mind seeing Pink Floyd do a show on Friday night

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by rsisk

I wouldn't mind seeing Pink Floyd do a show on Friday night

If Pink Floyd was going to do a show they would probably require the whole arena plus you'd need extra security to keep Exploding Bacon from snatching their flying pig.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by rsisk

I wouldn't mind seeing Pink Floyd do a show on Friday night

2012...Justin Bieber w/ special guest Jaden Smith. Willow goes and tells bro how awesome it was, and he tells the Biebs....

I'm going to go ahead and call it right now. Maybe Koko Ed can make guessing the act part of Fantasy FIRST....

[Bob Steele]

I think that many of the perceived difficulties from the concert could have been easily dealt with by using better communication.

I will give you an example. We were one of those teams that got a match booted from the Dome and sent back to the pit fields.. We had to wait until 6:00 to start those matches... no big deal BUT we had our team dinner planned and we had food coming in addition to having to be at the Phillies and Willies for AutoCAD at the same time as being on the field to play our matches... this was tough to deal with because we didn't find out anything until 5:00 ... or a few minutes before...

If the information on how this was going to be handled was given to teams ahead of time we would have made our arrangements based on this contingency....

in the end we felt awkward about leaving the AutoCAD awards to go to the field to play... it felt like a snub to all of the other teams that worked so hard to get their awards...

Better communication.... the answer to many things... in fact ... it is always the BEST ANSWER...

We had a great time in St. Louis... we will be back... and now we can anticipate things better...

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

in the end we felt awkward about leaving the AutoCAD awards to go to the field to play... it felt like a snub to all of the other teams that worked so hard to get their awards...

Better communication.... the answer to many things... in fact ... it is always the BEST ANSWER...

We had a great time in St. Louis... we will be back... and now we can anticipate things better...

I am glad that FIRST is finding additional supporters that have the fame to be able to get FIRST more 'out there'. I will never condemn FIRST for that. Thanks go to the Black Eyed Peas. You made many FIRSTers feel special by being there (along with the huge boost in publicity).

We also had a good time in St. Louis, however FIRST will never sell me on the way this was handled.

1. I do not want to play in the pits. Some people seem to believe that the ends support the means: that the increased exposure for FIRST justifies the inconvience and decreased value the teams recieved at this year's championship. I wholeheartedly disagree.

2. Secrecy. The teams have begged for more transparency. Yet, FIRST has now come forward and said that FRC fields were going to be in the pits with or without the Black Eyed Peas. They had to plan that well in advance. So where was the upfront team feedback, the requests, the surveys, the trial balloons? Why weren't teams told in advance how it was going to be handled? Our team spent our Friday night elsewhere because we were not going to wait two days before the event to figure out how we were going to feed and entertain 80 people.

FIRST overall continues to be a positive experience for our team. I see areas in which they are improving, and trying to improve. FIRST Choice has the potential to be great - as long as FIRST doesn't use it as a way to decrease the total value we receive and then spin it as a positive. At the same time, I grow upset when I see problems the teams bring up glossed over as if they did not happen.

The true mark of an organization that works FOR it's participants is honest feedback. Admitting that people are upset or inconvienced, or that something didn't go off as well as had been hoped. An honest Mea Culpa gains far more respect in my book than a policy of trying to ignore mistakes. Putting a positive spin on an issue that doesn't deserve it results in a total loss of respect. I will use the rookie kit vs. the veteran kit as an example: when FIRST tried to spin that as an increase in value for veterans it was an insult. Indeed several posts on Chief Delphi documented that the decrease in the value of the kit - in useful parts - far outstripped the 'savings' to the team.

Stop spinning things. Give truthful explanations. Give REASONS. Give the teams as much warning as possible. Communicate, communicate, communicate.

For instance - I certainly hope FIRST is planning on giving honest feedback on the surveys we all sent in. What were the top issues? How does FIRST plan on addressing them?

St. Louis was a positive experience, but FIRST can be so much more.

[Bill_B]

B.E.P. watch - ABC Sunday 22nd - Billlboard awards show scheduled appearance. Who's going to be "disappointed" if they don't mention their little soirée-gig in St. Louis?

[pfreivald]

Why would you expect them to mention the FIRST gig?

[548swimmer]

Originally Posted by thefro526

My only complaints about the concert are very minor, Will.I.Am saying "US FIRST" was pretty annoying, and Willow Smith yelling "St. Louis" every 15 seconds was pretty bothersome. (I'm still fairly certain that she had no idea where she was other than being in St. Louis.)

That's 'cause the teleprompter told them to

[Bill_B]

Can anyone here post links to web-places on which the non-FIRST community discuss this event? That is, are there any BEP fan blog postings? I'm curious to read of what the "outside" world has to say about this.

[cziggy343]

Originally Posted by thefro526

I'd like to see this sort of show return in the future - but I'd like to see them leave the stage up for Saturday and play the Einstein matches on it.

YES!!! I really hope that they consider this. My friend and I said through the whole concert: "You know, it would be awesome if this was Einstein tomorrow." That would also kill two birds with one stone... you get more floor space in the dome, and you get Einstein on an awesome stage