First year volunteering

[Bomberofdoom]

Hey guys, long time no see.

This will be my first year volunteering at the Israeli FRC event. I entirely willingly volunteered to assist in the pit desk for all 3 days of the event.

I might be exaggerating with this request, but as this is my first year volunteering, and FIRST and the spirit of the competition throughout all year are very important to me, I really am looking forward to do my best to assist the event and let those kids have a heck of a fun.

So beside the obvious 2 Gallon water to pack for myself for each day, what kind of tips could you give me for operating the pit desk the best for everyone's benefit?

I received a briefing for the whole event, and I was given a lot of inputs and requests, even to execute some at that evening and I Already starting feeling the pressure of handelling the event (poor FIRST Israel Director, Alisha )

In order to keep myself organized, I'm going to bring my laptop with me and work tonight on setting up a fitting virtual environment for the event, so I can add teams request, handle schedules etc.
Help on that part will be appreciated too.

I believe I'll be (sadly) using paper to write down notes and requests from people. Those will probably be later added to the laptop to insert to the current schedule.


Aright, I'm looking forward to a friggen' awesome week!!! (ANDY BAKER IS HERE!!! OMG!!!!!! )

GOOD LUCK ALL TEAMS!!! GO GRACIOUS PROFESSIONALISM!!!

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by Bomberofdoom

So beside the obvious 2 Gallon water to pack for myself for each day, what kind of tips could you give me for operating the pit desk the best for everyone's benefit?

Be friendly, and work quickly (but don't rush through your work). From a student's experience, a smiling figure (no matter how tired you may feel!) at the table always makes going there less intimidating or stressful.

[Koko Ed]

Make sure your instructions are heard clearly. there were teams at Alamo saying they couldn't hear the Pit Adman and missed matches because of it (it was not because of Pit Adman. I heard them clearly on the filed call for the teams. The pit setup may have been the problem). Make sure your radio is fully charged and make sure and know what channel the Key Volunteers are located (FTA, Field Supervisor, Lead Que, Volunteer Co-ordinator, Lead Showready Person ect.)so questions can be answered properly. Stay on channel 5 to stay in contact with team que unless otherwise needed. Your main job is to get teams to the field. Know what match is happening. You shouldn't have to tell teams to come to the field, they have a schedule, unless the event is behind schedule. Calling teams to the field teaches them bad habit that won't prepare them for the championships because they cannot be called to the field with four divisions present. It would be chaos! announce which match it is but you shouldn't have to call teams out.

[DonRotolo]

When you are given a break - you should get a few (such as lunch) - try to stay away from everything and recharge.

Paper is not so bad. It is really rare for it to crash or run out of battery, for example...

[savage]

Good Luck.

I have never been a pit admin, I have been a Ref, Safety Advisior, and a few other roles over the years.Pen and paper will workBetter then a laptop, you will be very busy. Saftey Glasses with your name on them so they dont run off, but they should never leave your head anyway. By Day two you will get the hang of things, Day One is very busy.
Have exra copys of the match schedule, teams will lose theirs.
HAVE FUN!!!!!!!and ask for help if you need it!

I miss the Israel Regional, I was a ref back in 2006 and a mentor for 1948.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by savage

Good Luck.

I have never been a pit admin, I have been a Ref, Safety Advisior, and a few other roles over the years.Pen and paper will workBetter then a laptop, you will be very busy. Saftey Glasses with your name on them so they dont run off, but they should never leave your head anyway. By Day two you will get the hang of things, Day One is very busy.
Have exra copys of the match schedule, teams will lose theirs.
HAVE FUN!!!!!!!and ask for help if you need it!

I miss the Israel Regional, I was a ref back in 2006 and a mentor for 1948.

Yeah, not too many teams go to the field on Day One. They'll be busy fixing and building their robots. The most important thing on Day One is everybody needs to get out to the field so they can link up. If they can't they will kill the event on Day Two.

[Bomberofdoom]

Thanks to everyone who have replied!

It was an insane first day - There were soo many requests going on, team that needed to be registered, queuing that kept urging us on the radio to bring more and more robots to the field, teams asking general questions, looking over parts to give to teams that ordered them - ALL AT THE SAME TIME, WITH A MICROPHONE STUCK TO YOUR EAR!!!
....It was very stressful to focus on giving the announcements and making sure each team gets a satisfactory answer to their request.

We're a duo of pit administrators, and we made sure we always had one of us or both of us working at the pit (we both agreed that it was kinda fun to help out the teams, even more than watching the matches - though I am super glad I was able to persuade the event managers in the Nokia Hall to give us a personal video feed of the field to watch while we're on the job. ). I hope we'll be organized properly for tomorrow, probably working 3 hour shifts with the last hour of the first and the last hour of the second (or less) will be both of us working together and briefing each other on new events.

I did some kind of mistake and I was yelling some times, not even realizing it, and at the end of the day I am almost voiceless (people told me I was a totally different person from the morning). I announced in the microphone, but I did not yell, as far as I know...I did talk a lot...some would say too much (it was really important for me to give relevant information to everyone...probably was TMI), and yet I am still with a sore throat....YAY!

Thanks for the tip, Karibou, I did realize I was sometimes unfriendly to people, because I wanted them to understand that I was serious about the topic I was discussing with them, with the idea of the competition being very strict on the rules (yeah....we call it "very american")at the back of my head, and that the students and the teams need discipline in the competition...I need to be careful about that...I'll do my best to be more friendly from tomorrow, but I gotta' say - the need to do things fast and immediately and not to waste time is a very Israeli feature, and it is a very challenging thing to cope with against another Israeli.

I hope that things will go smoothly tomorrow.
I will be using other volunteers assistance in the pit administration table more often tomorrow.

Thanks again!

[Bomberofdoom]

@ the end of the 2nd day, I am left with no voice at all.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Bomberofdoom

@ the end of the 2nd day, I am left with no voice at all.

That's normal. Rest your voice. Day three is coming. The rest of your voice will be gone afterwards.

[wendymom]

If you still have any voice left at the end of the Regional, you did something wrong. Keep cough drops handy