Streamline Awards Ceremonies?

[Nemo]

What if the 6+ event finalists and champions were recognized on the field immediately after finals matches?

The unfortunate things about those awards are 1) everybody knows who those teams are already, so there is no sense of anticipation, and 2) it's six teams, so that's a lot of high five lines to wait through. This is the point in an awards ceremony when one might feel that things are starting to drag on a bit.

Tradition dictates that "this is how we've always done it," and I know that logistically it's nice to have the field setup a certain way for the high five line and have the judges out there and so on. I get that. But from the perspective of creating an awards ceremony that doesn't seem to drag on for an indeterminate time period, does this idea make some sense to anybody else?

Other idea that Big Al mentioned: give out a few awards between finals matches.

[Anthony Galea]

Originally Posted by Nemo

Other idea that Big Al mentioned: give out a few awards between finals matches.

I think that if the event is running very late, they are given permission to do this. I know that they did this at Center Line this year.

[Jon Stratis]

Part of the problem is prepping the field for the awards - generally speaking, some amount of field disassembly is done to make room for the judges on the field. To implement either idea effectively, we would need to move the judges off the field to do their high fives.

To me, the thing that makes it drag on forever is large teams. I know having everyone Come down to high five the judges is great. The students all love it, and getting to do that can be inspirational. But when you have to wait for a bunch of 40+ member teams to walk up and down the stairs, it does really drag on.

I believe at champs they've done awards in the past with just two team representatives up front - those reps then collect the awards shake hands, and sit down. With that, you eliminate all that time spent running up and down stairs, and waiting for so many people to make it through the receiving line. I don't want to take away from the impact running through that line has on students, but implementing something like that at a regional level would make things go a LOT faster.

Even if it was just for the winners/finalists - have the drive teams come out to collect the awards right after competing, and instead of handing out individual medals give them a box of medals to distribute to their teams. With those not being judged awards, you don't necessarily need to set up the entire receiving line of judges either - a smaller receiving line of refs could be appropriate, and fit in front of the field while it's being set up for the rest of the awards.

[Lil' Lavery]

At the latest, you have a 6 minute field timeout between SF-4 and F-1. Use those 6 minute breaks (as well as any earlier 6 minute timeouts called by teams or necessitated by back-to-back matches) to start giving out awards. I know that teams wouldn't be able to step on the field, as there's still robots and game elements moving on and off of them. However, the judges are already field side by the start of eliminations, so just have the teams accept their awards and do the high fives next to the field.

[Foster]

I love when they give out awards between QF4,F1 and again between F1 an F2. "While the Robots and drivers prepare for their next match ..." You have lots of people still there to see some of the awards.

To be honest, I'd like to see some of the Judged awards happen before alliance selection. Lots of teams don't get picked and they go home. I'm willing to bet lots of parents don't know about the varied awards because they are in the car (or home) before any awards are given out.

Do awards rather than dance breaks!

[sdangelo]

Originally Posted by Nemo

What if the 6+ event finalists and champions were recognized on the field immediately after finals matches?...Tradition dictates that "this is how we've always done it,"

I believe these awards are given later as clear way to denote which teams are moving on to the next level--the MC can just say, before the event winners are awarded, that "all the rest of these awards qualify these teams to move on to the (next-level event)!" instead of specifying for each individual award whether it qualifies the team or not. I've heard a few MC's say this, at FTC competitions and on FRC webcasts. I imagine it's helpful for extended family members and other event visitors.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

generally speaking, some amount of field disassembly is done to make room for the judges on the field.

If they can move a portcullis onto the field, they can move judges onto the field. Maybe put 'em on wheels...

[Peyton Yeung]

Maybe this is a crazy idea but you could do awards like they do at champs and just have 2 students from each team come and collect them.

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by Foster

Lots of teams don't get picked and they go home. I'm willing to bet lots of parents don't know about the varied awards because they are in the car (or home) before any awards are given out.

This can stand by itself as a reason to move from grouping all of the awards at the end of the event. From the floor, it's very visible just how many teams start packing up and leaving the stands right after alliance selection, and even more right after the last finals match.

There are easily hundreds who don't stick around for an award, sometimes the very team or person who wins something. Why not make these awards more visible? You can still leave the big ones like Chairman's, EI, and Rookie for the end. It can also address this:

Originally Posted by sdangelo

I believe these awards are given later as clear way to denote which teams are moving on to the next level--the MC can just say, before the event winners are awarded, that "all the rest of these awards qualify these teams to move on to the (next-level event)!" instead of specifying for each individual award whether it qualifies the team or not. I've heard a few MC's say this, at FTC competitions and on FRC webcasts. I imagine it's helpful for extended family members and other event visitors.

Give out the winners and finalists medals immediately after the end (or closely following), only allowing the drive team to do so for timing and logistics purposes. Then every award at the ending ceremony is a Championship qualifier.