Airplanes. Airplanes everywhere!

[dodar]

Originally Posted by BrennanB

Aha you do bring up a point. Though they are arguably different things.

Are they both not paper?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by dodar

Are they both not paper?

Confetti is rather more expected. It would be in the venue paperwork somewhere that "yeah, verily, we intend to release a cloud of confetti at some point during this event" and the venue would then go "Oh, yeah, these guys plan to release confetti, we'll need extra man-hours to clean that up, not a big deal" and either plan more time or plan more personnel.

Paper airplanes, on the other hand... ain't nobody gonna know they're comin' from the venue side, or at least that's what you should expect.

[wireties]

I had a professor in college once who said that you don't pour sidewalks where you prefer but where the grass is already gone. In other words you sometimes go with the flow even if you don't get it - human engineering.

I understand people who don't agree with the paper airplanes. Personally I think calling the throwers rude is a step too far. And are they all that dangerous, really? Plus the level of effort to pick them up is not all that crazy, nowhere near the effort to clean bathrooms etc. The airplanes are good clean, if justifiably annoying to some, fun.

Perhaps we should go with the flow and ask people to throw them at the same time? Or make a contest out of it?

[Anna3098]

I love the paper airplanes, I think most of us do. And yeah I don't think that the volunteers have to clean them all up, but I don't see a huge problem with them before Einstein or opening ceremonies, but it seems so tied to me when people throw them while there are people on stage speaking. It seems like it gets kind of out of hand.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Anna3098

I love the paper airplanes, I think most of us do. And yeah I don't think that the volunteers have to clean them all up, but I don't see a huge problem with them before Einstein or opening ceremonies, but it seems so tied to me when people throw them while there are people on stage speaking. It seems like it gets kind of out of hand.

Some of the volunteers were shoveling paper airplanes to the side to move game pieces to tear down.

[MechEng83]

Someone from the upper deck just threw a plane onto Newton field at the end of match 68. Completely unacceptable! They should be ejected from the arena.

[the_godfaubel]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

Someone from the upper deck just threw a plane onto Newton field at the end of match 68.

Did it count for 4 points?

[planetbrilliant]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

Someone from the upper deck just threw a plane onto Newton field at the end of match 68. Completely unacceptable! They should be ejected from the arena.

I feel like that's the main issue with the paper airplanes: when they land on the field. Keeping them in the stands is okay, but they can still get difficult to control. It's all in good fun but fun can still have consequences.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by planetbrilliant

I feel like that's the main issue with the paper airplanes: when they land on the field. Keeping them in the stands is okay, but they can still get difficult to control. It's all in good fun but fun can still have consequences.

Not difficult to control if you have control of your team. Last year someone thought it would be funny to dump a load of shredded paper from the upper deck. The real question is-how did the mentors not know?

I love the airplanes. I have a problem with teams not watching their members.

[dmaggio744]

its only gonna be a problem in the 2016 water game, because the staff will have to fish out all the soggy paper airplanes from the field.

[planetbrilliant]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

Not difficult to control if you have control of your team. Last year someone thought it would be funny to dump a load of shredded paper from the upper deck. The real question is-how did the mentors not know?

I love the airplanes. I have a problem with teams not watching their members.

Yeah, that makes sense. It's likely that maybe some team members split up from the team, but that's a different issue altogether regarding keeping track of ones team.
I remember last year our chief mentor told everyone on our team to pick up as many paper airplanes as they threw, to try to take care of at least some of the waste.

[lamk]

I actually love the airplanes and I miss coming to St. Louis this week. For personal reason I was not able to come with my team despite this is our most successful year and I am the main mentor and sponsor.

One simple way to deal with the "litter" is to place multiple green recycle container in each section of the dome and have a small competition just before the ceremony start to see which section can put all their "litter" into the green recycling container the fastest.

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by lamk

One simple way to deal with the "litter" is to place multiple green recycle container in each section of the dome and have a small competition just before the ceremony start to see which section can put all their "litter" into the green recycling container the fastest.

I foresee many spectators and team members getting trampled during this...

[cadandcookies]

To clarify, volunteers do not pick up the airplanes. In fact, when we started we were told to stop because there was a union that took care of it.

[lamk]

Originally Posted by Hallry

I foresee many spectators and team members getting trampled during this...

OOps, you are probably right.