2015 Lessons Learned: The Negative

[RoboMom]

My perspective was from the Information Booth, aka, the crossroads of the worlds. Over the past 5 years - I believe I have heard every question there is out there dealing with team questions, volunteer questions, spectator questions, family questions, venue questions, first aid questions, and FIRST program questions (on and on).

We invite spectators in. We advertise the event at every Metro link stop and throughout St. Louis. Bring the kids! See robots!

Well...maybe. On Sat. at noon badging was packed up and moved out. But the throngs of people and lots and lots of kids came pouring in. We invited them! But think about this. What is there for them to do on Sat. afternoon.? FLL was closed. The pits were closed to the public. The Innovation Faire closed at 2. And FRC, if you found your way to the Dome - was it a 2 hour break???The Student Ambassadors were also packed up. And Union Station was shutting down.

What are we showing exactly?

And it was interesting that badging, which was SUCH A PRIORITY, on all the other days, causing some mentors and teams to stand in horrible lines on Wed. for 2+ hours (until it was decided to call off the required badging, BUT required to resume on Thurs - so teams would not miss the 5pm drivers meeting) and then it took at least 5 minutes to fill in the information for each badge, print it out, put in in the sleeve, put on the lanyard if the person is not pre-registered. But suddenly it become a non-priority on Sat. at noon. Boom. BUT how does that information get out to all house people so they know the change in status and that badges were no longer needed? It was a bit bumpy.

And suddenly, how do the VIPs get badges, and find their way to the VIP area and get access?

So the volunteers in the Info Booth are doing our best to give out the right info, and come up with suggested activities and actions and explaining what FIRST is.