Championship 2011 - St Louis - Your Thoughts Please?

[CrystalWolf]

Unfortunately, I could only spend a few hours at the event and did not attend the concert, Einstein matches, or the finale, so I'm probably not as qualified as others here to make a complete list of the good and the bad. But there are a few things that haven't been mentioned yet.

Good:
- Clearing up the mess quickly at the airport or using different concourses. I wasn't there, but it was great to see that everyone actually made it here.
- The shorter distance between the pits and the stands, as already mentioned.
- Having the entire venue in one building. It keeps out the elements when walking between the pits and the stands.
- Having the St. Louis Metrolink nearby made for easier transportation.
- No bag checks at the Dome. It's nice to actually be able to carry full water bottles to the stands for once.
- Getting the word out, both through signs and ads all over the city and through celebrities and sponsors.

Bad:
- Lack of signs. I'd like to say I'm good at finding my way around unfamiliar places, but I was utterly lost initially. Wandered around until I walked into the pits, had to ask for directions to the Dome. It would be helpful to provide FIRST-related maps, not just general venue maps.
- Lack of organization in the pit area. It was hard to determine which division I was in, and everything not pit-related was pushed to the sidelines.
- Lack of large division signs or banners. In Atlanta, there were large banners that read, "Archimedes," "Newton," etc., so we knew which division we were watching. In St. Louis, these were too small to be readily noticeable. Maybe this is not a big deal for most, but it would confuse anyone new to FIRST.
- Pit fields. I understand the rationale but did not like the general idea any more because of it.
- I miss the CNN Center food court...
- The overall layout of the area was more cramped than in Atlanta. I think St. Louis is a smaller city and having the venue in the downtown area didn't help matters.
- It got very crowded in the FIRST store at times. This was just like Atlanta, but they could at least expand a little without having to add more items.
- They could enforce basic safety rules in the pits better. Safety glasses on at all times, hair ties for girls, close-toed shoes, etc.

[pathew100]

Originally Posted by Cory

Cons:

Volunteers being extremely over zealous about safety glasses in the pit entrance. If all you are doing is walking to the pit fields, why do you need safety glasses? Compounded by the fact that they will not hand out safety glasses to team members (I understand the reasoning, but come on, just let people walk to the field without them).

You needed safety glasses to get to the fields because you went through the pits to get to them. Who knows when an accident is going to happen?

There needed to be a way to get to the pit fields without going through the pits. As there was not, you needed safety glasses to get there. It's easier to try to enforce the rule for everyone entering than trying to ask every individual where they are going anyway.

Safety glasses on in the pits at all times.

[JVN]

Originally Posted by pathew100

You needed safety glasses to get to the fields because you went through the pits to get to them. Who knows when an accident is going to happen?

So by this logic, do you wear safety glasses while walking down the street?

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by JVN

So by this logic, do you wear safety glasses while walking down the street?

No, with that logic you wouldn't be walking down the street at all!

[Don Wright]

Originally Posted by pathew100

You needed safety glasses to get to the fields because you went through the pits to get to them. Who knows when an accident is going to happen?

There needed to be a way to get to the pit fields without going through the pits. As there was not, you needed safety glasses to get there. It's easier to try to enforce the rule for everyone entering than trying to ask every individual where they are going anyway.

Safety glasses on in the pits at all times.

Or they just trust that everyone is smart and thinks for themselves and trusts us to wear safety glasses when working on the robot like we do in our shop.

We aren't children...

And btw...to all the teams that then make the issue even sillier by sending members to stand by the door with signs and yelling at people to put on their safety glasses in order to win the safety award...really, REALLY? Is that necessary?

[pathew100]

Originally Posted by JVN

So by this logic, do you wear safety glasses while walking down the street?

No, but I wear safety glasses when I enter any shop environment. At work, at my teams build site, wherever.

Just because you are walking down an aisle in between pits does not make you invulnerable to injury.

[pathew100]

Originally Posted by Don Wright

Or they just trust that everyone is smart and thinks for themselves and trusts us to wear safety glasses when working on the robot like we do in our shop.

We aren't children...

No, but the children ARE children.

Like I mentioned above, you could also be injured outside of your 10x10 pit area. Every other team is operating power tools, etc as well.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by pathew100

No, but the children ARE children.

Like I mentioned above, you could also be injured outside of your 10x10 pit area. Every other team is operating power tools, etc as well.

It's highly improbable that you could be injured in one of the central walkways leading to the pit fields where there really aren't pits that close to you.

My point is FIRST either needs to put a path directly to the fields like along the wall where the robot path was, or they need to stop being so rude about safety glasses.

[Mike Soukup]

Originally Posted by Don Wright

And btw...to all the teams that then make the issue even sillier by sending members to stand by the door with signs and yelling at people to put on their safety glasses in order to win the safety award...really, REALLY? Is that necessary?

Apparently it is. I think the mascot of the team that won the safety award yelled at me while I was entering the pits to put on my glasses as I was wiping them off to put them on. Since that behavior was rewarded by FIRST with an award, expect more copycats next year.

[ChristinaR]

Now that I'm finally home from my long travel saga, I'll add my 2 cents:

The Good:

• Volunteers and media were very well taken care of this year. The media room was great. We were fed well and all the necessary resources were available (brochures, books, helpful volunteers, fast internet!).
• Lots of maps available.
• No bag checks. It made getting into the dome a lot easier.
• The short walk to the dome floor.
• Nearby, seemingly plentiful parking
• The collegiate demo. While I don't necessarily want a full collegiate FIRST program, it was cool to see the flying 'bots.
• To whomever had that great WALL-E bot roaming around, well done.

The Neutral:

• I'm conflicted about the concert. I'll admit it was great and everyone had a great time. However, I still don't know how I feel about the pit fields.
• While they were fun to watch, I saw someone get socked in the face by a paper airplane. If it were sharp enough, that could hurt!
• The celebrity videos during the concert. They were funny, but the sentiment "my robot is better than your robot" seemed a bit off of the GP base.
• It's harder to travel to STL. It took me 18 hours to get there from Boston because of weather (unavoidable) and lack of flights (ironically, my layover was in ATL, where I slept overnight). I also had to stay another night in STL due to lack of flights out. Of course, this may be tornado related.

The Less-Than-Good:

• It took over a day to get my bearings. The pit layout was very confusing my first few times in there.
• Hard to initially tell what division was on what field for that day.
• Crowd control around the pit fields didn't really exist, especially during eliminations.
• Inconsistent handling of media. Sometimes I could photograph the field from a certain spot, where at another field I'd get yelled at. As someone whose been photographing these events for years, it was frustrating.
• On the same note, the media box location for finals/awards was pretty rough. They did do what they could to help us, but I hope next year it is in a better location, as I could not properly photograph the stage OR Einstein due to people standing in the way.
• This may have been a contract issue, but I wish the concert, or at least the awards there, were webcast. I'm sure the parents of the winning teams that could not attend would have liked to see it live!
• The HOF location was not ideal.
• My main problem with the pit fields: Anytime I'd go there to photograph a match, I felt like I was standing in someone's way, which I was. I felt bad that I'd be blocking the view of folks on the bleachers.
• Bleachers are inherently uncomfortable. As someone with back problems, I'm quite glad I never had to watch matches from them.
• Some of the volunteers were downright crabby. (Most were wonderful!)
• The whole will.i.am versus Dean Kamen FTC thing wasn't handled very well.

[1986titans]

Originally Posted by ChristinaR

The Neutral:

• The celebrity videos during the concert. They were funny, but the sentiment "my robot is better than your robot" seemed a bit off of the GP base.

I couldn't understand much of the song that was repeated throughout the awards, but I could very clearly hear "my robot is better than your robot" by about the third time through. Given the fact that a Google search of that phrase doesn't turn up any song lyrics, I wonder if it is somehow connected to a soon to be released song by one or more of the artists featured in the videos.

[pathew100]

Originally Posted by Cory

It's highly improbable that you could be injured in one of the central walkways leading to the pit fields where there really aren't pits that close to you.

My point is FIRST either needs to put a path directly to the fields like along the wall where the robot path was, or they need to stop being so rude about safety glasses.

First, I completely agree that there needs to be a pedestrian path to the pit fields. This was definitely an oversight when they came up with this floorplan and caused much confusion and confrontation at the entrances.

Second, an eye injury is low probability but high severity. And the chance is non-zero. The policy is safety glasses in the pits at all times. I don't understand why that is so hard to comprehend.

Also, what you might consider rudeness is a volunteer trying to do their job. Because they do their job (which is not easy), your team can compete and have fun in a safer environment for all. You might try thanking them next time instead of brushing them off.

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by JVN

So by this logic, do you wear safety glasses while walking down the street?

You don't? ;P


More thoughts on the pit fields: I agree that they need to be moved to an area that doesn't require safety glasses to get to. Given the non-negotiable path of robot traffic to the dome, this would probably mean placing the fields around where the FTC and FLL areas were. That could move the pits for those programs closer to the entrance to the dome (by where the fields were this year), which I don't have any objection to. Moving the FRC fields there would pose two options for safety glasses: a) the only connection between the pits and the field would be the queuing line, or b) it would have to be made VERY clear where the field ends and the pits start, and another safety glasses table would likely be needed (which presents the opportunity for a huge, dangerous bottleneck).

Also, if anyone decides that they considered the safety glasses volunteers rude (not just doing their job), complaining to or about FIRST about that will do nothing, especially with no substantial and objective proof. While volunteers are a part of and represent FIRST at events, they are not employees. It's not like they can be fired from their job. At this point, all that could be done is scolding.

Edit, to avoid posting twice in one hour:
Ed and Richard are right about reassigning/passing on people. I've heard the stories too. There will still be volunteers every year that are considered rude, though, whether they are the same people or new ones.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Karibou

You don't? ;P


More thoughts on the pit fields: I agree that they need to be moved to an area that doesn't require safety glasses to get to. Given the non-negotiable path of robot traffic to the dome, this would probably mean placing the fields around where the FTC and FLL areas were. That could move the pits for those programs closer to the entrance to the dome (by where the fields were this year), which I don't have any objection to. Moving the FRC fields there would pose two options for safety glasses: a) the only connection between the pits and the field would be the queuing line, or b) it would have to be made VERY clear where the field ends and the pits start, and another safety glasses table would likely be needed (which presents the opportunity for a huge, dangerous bottleneck).

Also, if anyone decides that they considered the safety glasses volunteers rude (not just doing their job), complaining to or about FIRST about that will do nothing, especially with no substantial and objective proof. While volunteers are a part of and represent FIRST at events, they are not employees. It's not like they can be fired from their job. At this point, all that could be done is scolding.

I have heard cases of FIRST passing on people for volunteering before when they prove to be a problem.

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by Karibou

While volunteers are a part of and represent FIRST at events, they are not employees. It's not like they can be fired from their job. At this point, all that could be done is scolding.

Volunteers cannot be fired, but it is possible they can be assigned to a different position the next year or not return at all.

From my experience at CMP, I would say about 90% of the volunteers were pleasant to work with, 9% were extraordinarily wonderful to work with, .9% had their moments, and .1% were in the needs improvement category. Not perfect, but pretty darn close. I'd apply the same percentages to the teams we were working for.

Feedback like we are seeing on these threads is good, it gives a chance to evaluate what we have done right and wrong and provides an opportunity for improvement. It's healthy and appreciated.