Overview: Nationals

[Kevin Kolodziej]

You can find most of my thoughts (and other people's as well) in this three: Championship Thanks and Final Thoughts.

Kev

[lunchbox1126]

I understand that cheering infront of people may be a slight problem, however other teams should understand that cheering is just aboout only happening for that one match. As far as scouting, if teams are scouting a match where one of the teams is standing infront of you it shouldn't be to difficult to find a seat either infront or to the side of the cheering team. People put a lot of time into these bots and teams, cheering should be encouraged and celebrated over sneared at.

[The First Lady]

Originally Posted by JosephM

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.

I am not from FIRST, but was on the field during the parade. They realize there was a problem and they have ideas to make it better next year. It was a good idea and I hope they try it again next year with different traffic pattern.

[greenfrickinday]

Good Things
-shorter walk to playing fields
-didnt have to push robots up 5 flights of ramps
-shorter walk to stands from pits
-FIRST apparel shop
-Large screens in pits with Field action and Rankings for each division
-Better packing/loading situation on saturday
-Wide selection of restraunt choices in Atlanta
-Social!!

Bad Things
-screens in the middle of pits, we had alot of people standing in front of our pit which made leaving and coming back with the robot a little difficult
-Having to lift the robot off the cart and move it through a door barely big enough for the bot to fit through when there was a huge bay door 20 ft away, and only about 3 of the small doors were open at any given time.
-Food prices
-Lack of organization during Thursday unloading, the police in Atlanta werent very helpful in helping us find a spot to park and unload and threatened alot of others with tickets when they were trying to find a spot to park

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I must put the walk from pits to stands and back on the top of my "must fix" list. We were on Archemides and if the robot left the pits anytime after the the second call, we were not able to make it to the stands for the match. I estimate the walk at near two miles one way. Other than that, other problems seemed to be handled relatively well as they came up.

[Bcahn836]

I don't think that team 836 will be in atlanta unless we win a regional. If it is going to be in atlanta the next few years why go three times? Instead go to a regional that is small and far away from home. I think it would be a better use of time and money.

[Bcahn836]

Originally Posted by The First Lady

I am not from FIRST, but was on the field during the parade. They realize there was a problem and they have ideas to make it better next year. It was a good idea and I hope they try it again next year with different traffic pattern.

What about walking three by three instead of single file? That might work.

[Klondike Mike]

My complaints:

1. It was a 15 minute walk from the Archimedes field to our team in the pit area. This really seperated the team and hurt our unity. Cell phones did not work very well.

2. No video of the opening ceremony on Einstien!

3. No signs directing people.

4. The Robot parade was a great idea that in execution violated almost every principle of FIRST. Cut out some speakers - its about the kids and the robots. Circle the whole stadium - or post the route so know where to sit.

5. No one at the Dome or Convention center knew anything about the competition on Wed. It was mass confusion on Thursday morning.

6. There was a real lack of FIRST presence in the stands. Got the feeling that the people in the stands were on the outside looking in while everyone important was on the field.

7. Put the pits in the DOME!

8. Open more doors!

9. Food Nazi's make everyone's life miserable. I refused to buy food in stands as a result.

10. Is Atlanta an Indian word for "take the longest path between two places"?

Good Things:

1. Team party
2. CNN Center
3. On schedule
4. Atlanta was ok
5. Dome was good.
6. Pitts seemed ok.
7. Best Closing Ceremonies Ever (they will get better if they get shorter)

[Bcahn836]

We are not bashing houston in fact the starting post reads "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 didn't say limited to houston. Just wanted to clear that up.

[Kit Gerhart]

Originally Posted by Bcahn836

We are not bashing houston in fact the starting post reads "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 didn't say limited to houston. Just wanted to clear that up.

I have another post on this thread, but since you want to know what we thought of this year compared to past championships, this is my opinion, based on my having attended nine years of championships:

1) Overall, I like Epcot. The atmosphere is fantastic. The food is decent. If your team stays on-property, you are probably the best place in the world for turning 15,000 teenagers free to have fun without getting into trouble. It is not that great for watching matches on the "big stage," but otherwise, from the competition standpoint, it is pretty good.

2) Atlanta, overall, is much better than Houston. There were hotels close to the competition site. The food was somewhat better. It was much easier for the drive teams to get from the pits to the playing fields. It was a little better for the spectators to get from the pits to the playing fields, and the "wrap" party was very good. The party was, to me, better than the ones at Epcot.

If I had my choice, we'd still be at Epcot, but overall, this years championship was a very good event, and with lessons learned, should be even better next year.

[DougHogg]

Definitely better than Houston.

However there needs to be 4 practice fields, 1 for each division. They don't have to have all the electronics, just a field where teams can work on their autonomous code.

We added a small lexan arm on the Thursday to hit the 10 pt ball and it was impossible to get enough practice time.

The walk for the robot was a big improvement but we burned up a lot of valuable time going to the stands and back.

[The First Lady]

Originally Posted by Bcahn836

What about walking three by three instead of single file? That might work.

If I am asked, I will relay that suggestion.

[Pin Man]

Originally Posted by Kit Gerhart

I have another post on this thread, but since you want to know what we thought of this year compared to past championships, this is my opinion, based on my having attended nine years of championships:

1) Overall, I like Epcot. The atmosphere is fantastic. The food is decent. If your team stays on-property, you are probably the best place in the world for turning 15,000 teenagers free to have fun without getting into trouble. It is not that great for watching matches on the "big stage," but otherwise, from the competition standpoint, it is pretty good.

2) Atlanta, overall, is much better than Houston. There were hotels close to the competition site. The food was somewhat better. It was much easier for the drive teams to get from the pits to the playing fields. It was a little better for the spectators to get from the pits to the playing fields, and the "wrap" party was very good. The party was, to me, better than the ones at Epcot.

If I had my choice, we'd still be at Epcot, but overall, this years championship was a very good event, and with lessons learned, should be even better next year.

You have no idea on how much I agree with you...

[George A.]

I can't reall add all that much, due to the fact that everything is covered by previous posts. Anyway, overall EPCOT was my favorite by far, I went once as a freshman for the competition and once as a sophmore as part of Lego League. I also agree that Disney is the worlds best babysitter, but you also have to realize that turing thousands of teens loose on a park, can lead to inciedent regardless of their belief in GP. From what I heard one of the factors of the Nationals moving out of Disney is the fact that the employees of Disney spent weeks removing stickers and logos, and whatnot from their rides that were place there by FIRST team members. Granted there had to have been other reasons behind the decision but that was one of the contributing factors. Just figured i'd throw in my $0.02

[Pin Man]

Originally Posted by M.O.R.T.

I can't reall add all that much, due to the fact that everything is covered by previous posts. Anyway, overall EPCOT was my favorite by far, I went once as a freshman for the competition and once as a sophmore as part of Lego League. I also agree that Disney is the worlds best babysitter, but you also have to realize that turing thousands of teens loose on a park, can lead to inciedent regardless of their belief in GP. From what I heard one of the factors of the Nationals moving out of Disney is the fact that the employees of Disney spent weeks removing stickers and logos, and whatnot from their rides that were place there by FIRST team members. Granted there had to have been other reasons behind the decision but that was one of the contributing factors. Just figured i'd throw in my $0.02

I agree... The stickers and stuff did over do it... hahaha We did that but didn't have stickers... We put up signs and put buttons everywhere... It was awesome... I went in my freshman year and it was unbelievable... I would do anything to go back there...