2014 Lessons Learned: The positive

[Siri]

Originally Posted by Chief Hedgehog

I think that we saw this play out in the alliances that made it to Einstein - with no team less than a few years old contributing to the field play.

This is virtually always true. The fact that 5136 was even selected by our Newton alliance is impressive. 4334 (2012) is the only rookie in recent history to actually play on the Big Stage. This year may have been a unique challenge for rookies, but looking at Einstein can't illuminate much in that regard.

Originally Posted by Sam390250

Seeing those quick strategic autonomous changes in the Einstein finals was one of the coolest (F-3) most terrifying things I had seen in a long time.

The Einstein closing ceremonies (though only seen through a webcast this year) seemed a lot faster than in the past. Now, I was in the comfort of my own home so I can't speak on how the length was at the venue, but I think that FIRST really hit their goal of having a better length for the closing ceremony that kept everyone engaged throughout.

From the floor, it was much, much better. We knew when we would be playing and how long we had to prepare. The volunteer-to-coach communication was infinitely better than last year (and they really were putting an effort in last year). We all really enjoyed watching, and the pace felt a lot better overall. Of course, not having a last-second scoring error --> bumper switch may be biasing my opinion, but kudos to FIRST. Many thanks!

Fixed your post there for you well, for me, Sam.