What personal items to take to St. Louis?

[Bill_B]

I reccommend a lacrosse ball for your bouncy ball. There are some baseball-sized squeezable balls sometimes called stress-relief, but you may have trouble running one down.

Instead of a power strip, see if you can find a power cube to multiply the outlet count in your room. Also avoid plugging into an outlet which has a lamp that is controlled by a wall switch at the door. Your electric device(s) that you were expecting to be charged overnight may be turned off by accidental switch movement. Murphy stalks the entire 'verse. Some even say e=mc**2 fails when you least expect it!

[waialua359]

If you plan on renting cars, get full coverage that includes hail damage.
When we returned ours last year, we saw tons of cars with hail damage with NO insurance.
Thank god we elected to pay more to park in the covered structure Saturday of the tournament with basic coverage.

[216Robochick288]

I feel like this should be said...

Prepare for rain.

I feel like it needs to be said yet again, as when we were unloading in 2012, it started off as a slight drizzle that in 20 min turned into a downpour. I was very thankful that I was rooming with a friend of mine who wasnt in the early group to head to the competition that I trusted, I had her run through my stuff ad grab me more things to wear.

It was wet and rainy on and off that day, and downpouring when we packed up. Just before it was dinner, and during Einstein, there was gigantic hail and awful weather outside. I would also recommend a brain and a laptop or some device to be able to check the most recent weather updates and be able to contact someone at home with. [We had a fair share of terrified mothers who had my number. I was flooded for nearly an hour with calls after a robodawg mom and dad or two got a hold of my phone number.]

Aside from that, having so many people around, being polite about hygiene is a must. Have something fun, small, and contained to keep you busy, especially if you are stuck in the pits like I was [a joy of being team captain]. Don't forget to wander the pits and make sure to talk to some of the Lego League teams! Some of those kids are amazing!

[JoeWithTheSpecs]

A few decks of cards. Everyone likes to crowd around a circular table for a good game of Egyptian Ratscrew!
Might I also suggest; a few extra team shirts for trading.

[jwallace15]

I haven't been to worlds, but I assume one would want to bring a bag for buttons

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by jwallace15

I haven't been to worlds, but I assume one would want to bring a bag for buttons

Wear comfortable shoes. The pits are massive (the champs are like MSC but 10 time bigger). Also try to be patient when walking around. Security is very tight and will not allow you to walk into certain places whatsoever (there is no access to the arena floor at all if you are not part of a drive team like at the events) so have a good idea how to get from the pits to the stands.

[CENTURION]

Don't forget to bring your Gracious Professionalism!

[/Dorky mentor]

[Taylor]

Pre-load your phone with the necessary apps & services:
FRC-Spyder
Q&A
Manual
FRC-Megaphone
Also bring a charger to use in your hotel room AND the pits. Batteries usually last about 80% as long as you need them, and that last 20% is CRITICAL.

[Carolyn_Grace]

Items on my "essential" list for competitions, besides the ones already mentioned:

1. Clipboard! ...preferably one bought brand new at the beginning of the season, or one that has been "refurbished" with colorful duct tape and stickers. My own scouting notes are quite interesting (less robot-esque and more people-watching...), and a clipboard is completely necessary for this.

2. Purple pens ...my team is Purple Precision. If you're Marjie Jenkins, your pens will all be pink. Basically, a pen with your meaningful color of choice.

3. Permanent marker ...for those random sightings of awesome people. Awesome people can be defined any way that you like it. I've outgrown my "OMG it's DEAN!" phase, but I still adore talking to Mr. Flowers given the opportunity. He is such a gentle person. I also like to have a marker on hand for when I run into friends that I haven't seen in a while.


And, it's been discussed already, but DEODORANT!
I can NOT emphasize this enough. Please, please, please reapply every two hours, or more as needed. I know of a friend who carries Febreze to competitions with her, just in case she needs to freshen her team up. Bringing deodorant can greatly reduce your chances of random sprayings of Febreze.*

...*I do NOT condone the random spraying of strangers. It was just a funny scenario. I mean, imagine someone walking through the pits just randomly spraying some of the unfortunate people who forgot their deodorant. The safety advisers would have a field day, poor Green Shirts.

[Alexa Stott]

In addition to deodorant, I'm a big fan of face wipes and dry shampoo. Not 100% necessary, but I like it because I just start to feel really gross by 3 or 4 in the afternoon.