Overview: Nationals

[Bcahn836]

I just wanted to know what you thought about this years championship, what you liked, disliked or both. And how it compared to years past.

[Nick Mac]

I truly think that this years national was run without flaw. I don't remember any field mistakes in my division (newton) or during the finals in einstein. The only thing that I didn't like was I'm sure everyone's complaint, the walk from the pits to the stands. It was hard doing scouting in the pits and then flying to the stands to try to see a team in motion or your own team's match (we timed 6 minutes, 47 seconds and then 17 hundredths of another second). I hear that plans are already underway to correct that problem. The only other problem I thought there was, was that the pit area seemed kind of small. It felt as if there was a lot of room in that building, but we were kind of confined. Other than those two minor problems I had a great time. It was run fantastically and in my opinion the best one in the last three years. I can't wait until next year, hopefully the small problems will be ironed out.

[tiffany34990]

It was cool-- yeah baby

okay only thing once again a lot of walking but yeah got use to it after a while
the conferences were really good to-- i went to one--it was alright--but overall S.P.A.M. though they were good and glad that FIRST started them

but it was awesome as always-- GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!!
SEE YA'LL NEXT YEAR-- ENJOY AND TAKE A BREAK AND GET SLEEP!!

[Koko Ed]

I was unhappy with the sound system on Newton and the video feed was poor.
I also was unhappy with the fact that there was no video for the opening ceremony. You already know about my opinion about the announcer.
What happened to the parade?
I like the facilities and the food was handled realitively well (the service was a bit slow and distracted but considering the circumstances I think we can all let that one slide).
The walk between the pits and the staduim was BRUTAL! Hopefully they could figure out a way to shorten it (How about a Segway for everyone? )
Security was a bit uppity but I'd rather have them looking out for our safety instead of allowing bad things to happen.
I was very happy with the Hall of Fame display but I think it would have been better suited if it were placed upstairs in the main hall instead of down in the pits.
The afterparty was great and the competition ran pretty flawlessly.
I liked it better than Houston but I also think alot can be improved as well.

[Bcahn836]

There is something that was better than last year and i am sure you will agree is the shorter distance to push or pull your robot to the playing field. It wasn't as bad as houston but the only peolple that could push the robot were the drivers and the mentor. We wanted to switch or get some help pushing our robot from one or two of our team mates, but we couldn't.

[LoganB]

Nationals were awesome. We were only at the wrap up party for about 30 mins before we headed home. But as for logistics and other behind the scenes items I liked it. The only thing I might not have liked is the somewhat long trip from the pits the field. But it was a lot better then Houston I think due the escalators.

[DCA Fan]

LIKES:
Good venue, hotels
Wrap party
Organization was excellent
Hall of fame
FIRST Conference

DISLIKES:
They need more media badges for teams, at least 2.
Distance to field a wee bit long
Walk from pits to stands WAY TOO LONG, I ended up shortcutting
FOOD! PRICES!
Cramped pits, we should invade the exhibit hall next to us
ONE set of escalators to get to and from dome from WCC....so frustrating during peak time

[suneel112]

Yeah, I have some complaints, but I will NOT be posting them now.

All I can say is congratulations to team 494, 435, and 71, FOUR TIME WINNER

FIRST should have a SUPER SPECIAL AWARD for any team that wins 5 times or more.

[Kit Gerhart]

Originally Posted by Bcahn836

I just wanted to know what you thought about this years championship, what you liked, disliked or both. And how it compared to years past.

I liked the venue better than last year. It was much better than Houston for the drive teams' getting robots from the pits to the playing field. It was still slow for my ten or so trips a day between the pits and arena as a non-drive team member, with too many crowded escalators. I guess most uses of dome stadiums with nearby convention centers don't involve a lot of people going between the two facilites several times a day, so they aren't designed to make it easy. On a positive note, as in Houston, the situation was good for watching matches within the divisions.

Regarding food at the competition site, we are once again reminded that, compared to what we've had the last two years, Disney was pretty good. There were more choices, generally better food, and they didn't run out of pizza and start shutting down the food service halfway through Saturday's activities. The food this year was probably better than Houston, but the "food nazi" situation was worse. You couldn't even bring your overpriced food from the pits into the arena, even though some of the overpriced food vendors are probably the same in both facilities.

The wrap party, while very expensive, was good IMHO. The party is discussed in a separate thread.

The hotel situation in Atlanta was MUCH BETTER than Houston with several hotels within easy walking distance of the venue. That was nice.

Since we're going to be in Atlanta for two more years, We can hope that a few things can be made better, but overall, this year's championship was a very good event.

[Joe Matt]

My only big complaint FIRST can deal with is the robot parade. WHAT WAS WITH THAT!?!?!?! About half the teams acutally got to do it, and the our team was turned away after queing for it for a while! Can someone from FIRST explain what went wrong? Otherwise, it was great, MUCH BETTER than Houston.

[CyberWolf_22]

Overall it went great the time to get from the pit to the field with the robot was shorter but to the stands was forever. It was shorter to go back to my hotel from the pits then it was to go to the stands. The only problem I had was with teams saving seats in the stands that got quite annoying especially when everyone was moving over to Einstein. The pits did seam crowded but there is entire other room about the same size right next to the pits that looked like it could be used next year for expansion. I liked the First store display and the scholarship desks. The wrap party was great with them giving out all the extra drinks to anyone that wanted them including the less fortunate (homeless). The Olympic park was a great location, Wednesday night me and a few friends went over there and read a lot of the statues they were really cool, so were the water jets. The hotel was great I loved staying at the Omni with a lot of the other teams. I liked going to Underground Atlanta it was pretty cool place to see.

[Stephen Kowski]

Oh my god I remember when i practice field was exactly that...A PRACTICE FIELD....not another competition field that you only get ONE CHANCE A DAY TO PRACTICE ON. Also it is was only open certain times.....the pits were still going to be open for another 2 hours on Friday when they shut down the practice while we had been in line and were next to go on.....frankly threatening to disqualify a team for practicing on anything but their "practice field" is absolutely ridiculous....i like Houston's practice field policies MUCH better....

Other than some of the over anal traffic control, and the practice field the pits were fine....

The field on the other hand....I hated the fact the crowd just sat around like lumps...no animation other than when their team was on the field....if that was FIRST's goal with the no noisemakers etc rule they got EXACTLY that....

Bring back the fun to the national competition PLEASE....

On the upside the walking distance compared to Houston was GREATLY reduced which I loved, and I like the venue a little more...

[Mike8519]

That was a pretty good walk time to the field for the robots. Along the way there was a problem though..... to get the the fields it was a single door opening. No double doors or large opening. I know a few teams had to lift their robot through the doors because their cart+robot was too high.

Wrap party : Great. The hypnomania thing was pretty funny. "fluff" your pillows everyone .

The spectator walk was horrendous but still better than houston.

They raised the prices on the second day so they didn't have "odd" prices and people only had to use FIRST dollars. Even more expensive..... why? Limited food selection for veggie people, but better than previous years.

Pretty good overall minus those few complaints.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Stephen Kowski

Oh my god I remember when i practice field was exactly that...A PRACTICE FIELD....not another competition field that you only get ONE CHANCE A DAY TO PRACTICE ON. Also it is was only open certain times.....the pits were still going to be open for another 2 hours on Friday when they shut down the practice while we had been in line and were next to go on.....frankly threatening to disqualify a team for practicing on anything but their "practice field" is absolutely ridiculous....i like Houston's practice field policies MUCH better....

Other than some of the over anal traffic control, and the practice field the pits were fine....

The field on the other hand....I hated the fact the crowd just sat around like lumps...no animation other than when their team was on the field....if that was FIRST's goal with the no noisemakers etc rule they got EXACTLY that....

Bring back the fun to the national competition PLEASE....

On the upside the walking distance compared to Houston was GREATLY reduced which I loved, and I like the venue a little more...

The only team that had any real consitent enthusiasm on Newton was 547 F.E.A.R. and people were telling them to sit down and shut up. All they wanted to do was have fun and alot of people were just acting plain nasty to them. Way to show the spirit.

[Arefin Bari]

nationals was very organized... food was good and nice facility... the walk wasnt that bad... the stairs made the walk longer thats all... the wrap up party was awesome too... i was sitting down watching the show the whole time... it was funny... moreover teams were very helpful and helped each other out...