The Defense Coordinator's Lament (or: have your crap together for queueing!)

[Billfred]

As the first person suckered into drafted for assigned to the Defense Coordinator role, I had a lot of feedback to share with FIRST HQ. Some of it was bugs (as those who follow me on Twitter saw), some of it was just display improvements.

But you know what really gnawed on me after the fifteenth time?

"I'd like the teeter-totter..."
"That one!" (points)
"I'd like the rock wall, the rough terrain..."
"Wait, these aren't the ones we go against?"
"Give me the (whatever the audience selection category is...)"
"We'd like the door."

You've had six weeks, people! The number of times like this at Palmetto was surprising to me, since Palmetto is usually a decent regional. I was able to sort out everyone eventually, but your event may not will not have me working this job! Here are your protips to make the DC at your event happy:

• Know the defense names! This alone was infuriating. I learned them at the same time you did. There are only eight you're picking from. You have at least a few days. Bone up on this. Make flashcards. You really sound silly (at best) when you make up names. (Free pass on "shuffle the fries", though.)
• Have your picks ready! The DC screen is organized to take picks from position 2-5, left-to-right. (1 is the Low Bar.) A lot of teams ended up putting, say, category B in 2, C in 4, and D in 5. You don't have to do that at all, but it helps the flow immensely when you can reel them off in order. Most of the teams that were on point here had them written down on a board or tablet or paper. Check with the queuers at your event, but you probably want the alliance's one representative (and please, just one because you totally have your act together, right?) to be at the front of your alliance's line so you can go directly to the DC stand.
• Don't make us chase you down! Know Section 5.5.10 and the deadlines in play. It will be even easier for DCs in later weeks to call up randoms than it was for me. It gets very hard in playoffs in particular; about half of our randoms for the whole regional were issued there. Have your gameplan ready.
• Know the audience selection category. It's on your match schedule for a reason. It's okay if you don't know which defense got picked, because you don't pick it anyway. Just know that you will irritate the DC and look pretty foolish if you pick from that category.
• Understand the printout. I didn't take a picture of one, but the printout is always the defenses that will be on the far side of the field, starting in position 2 (because 1 is the low bar). On practice matches, they will also be the ones you selected. In qualification and playoff matches, they will be what the other alliance selected. Don't overthink this, or you will confuse yourself.
• When it prints, don't ask for changes. You won't get them, because I've already given the bottom third of the sheet to the field supervisor so he can be ready with that match's defenses to speed up match cycles.

Have fun out there, and take it easy on your DCs. They have a long day!