BOILERMAKER comments or suggestions

[AmyPrib]

Hello all,

Boilermaker is under way. Wondering if you have any positive and/or not so positive comments or suggestions about the entire event.
How was the event run, field setup, spectator setup, concessions, staff, volunteers, activities, social, etc.
Please let us know.

Also - please try to keep to this particular topic. There are other threads that will discuss game play and teams performance.

Thanks!! We look forward to hearing your comments.

[Kit Gerhart]

Originally Posted by AmyPrib

Hello all,

Boilermaker is under way. Wondering if you have any positive and/or not so positive comments or suggestions about the entire event.
How was the event run, field setup, spectator setup, concessions, staff, volunteers, activities, social, etc.
Please let us know.

Also - please try to keep to this particular topic. There are other threads that will discuss game play and teams performance.

Thanks!! We look forward to hearing your comments.

I couldn't make it to the event but am watching it on the webcast. I can't say much about the layout, but the opening ceremony was well conducted. I wish I could have been there, as Boilermaker appears to have more of the "powerhouse" teams than any other regional.

[Rick TYler]

I'm watching some of the Webcast (thanks!). My only comment is that your announcer needs to hold the microphone farther from his mouth, or the sound people need to turn down his gain. His voice is signficantly distorted.

How about that. Even people 2,000 miles away have opinions of your event...

[AmyPrib]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

I'm watching some of the Webcast (thanks!). My only comment is that your announcer needs to hold the microphone farther from his mouth, or the sound people need to turn down his gain. His voice is signficantly distorted.

How about that. Even people 2,000 miles away have opinions of your event...

Hay..... we want comments from anyone watching, visiting, seeing, hearing...
thanks!

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

As a spectator today, here are a few of the things I noticed personally.

It ran very smoothly I felt, I don't nkow how web quality was, but I didn't have many problems with hearing announcers.

I would request that, as a general thing I noticed at 2 regionals I've been to this season, make the people who are giving handouts in the pit wear safety glasses! That is the most dangerous situation. For people actually in the pits or scouting, it didn't seem to be a problem, but for hander-outers, I was getting worried about some of them. Other than that, safety was fabulously enforced, and it was good that the info desk constantly had glasses avialable so I could give them to people touring or random individuals without them.

Mention the lost items box more! I lost my keys today, and I got them from there.

The last thing is the layout behind the scoring station. It is dreadful. People cut through like mad, and it killls scouting and touring. You know which end I'm talking about...

- Genia

[dangerousdave]

We (parent with #1002 Wheeler High CircuitRunners - Marietta, GA) just returned home from our 9 hour bus ride from the Boilermaker and we had a blast.

The positivies were:
* great competition
* overall weather not bad for N. Indiana
* very reasonable concession costs and allowing us to bring in other food a big plus
* very very nice awards presentation and facility
* very friendly and helpful Purdue students and other volunteers
* unbelievable dinner Friday night at the Purdue cafeteria
* lots of sporting activities and a band concert for the students after dinner Friday.
* the Triple XXX family Restaurant - great breakfast & lunch and great root beer, very friendly staff

The negatives were:
* lack of space for the event including spectator seating especially Saturday, queuing and the pits
* (sound system) almost impossible to hear the announcer and why not stop or lower the music when he is announcing the teams? Quite a few people could not hear the announcement that the awards were in another facility and were just sitting there waiting for them to start
* parking way too far from the event unless you could score a pass

Overall a very positive regional!

Dave

[MattB703]

I really like having the awards ceremony in the auditorium next door. It would have been next to impossible to do it in the armory.

[Chris Fultz]

If you have comments that you do not want to post in a public forum,
you can PM either me or Amy P and we will pass along the comments to
the planning committee and not share your name.

We want to hear both positive and negatives, so we know what to keep
and what to change for the 2006 Boilermaker Regional!*


* I really wish gold showed up better in type, I really dislike using red (it reminds me of that other Indiana college).

[roboticsguy1988]

The only negatives i noticed at the competition was:
*You could not here the announcer over the music at times
*There was not enough space in the stands for people to watch (i know many people that resorted to standing and going to the pits and watching on the web cast, and there were also people who watched the TV back in the pits)
*There were no real restrooms, just porta potty things, and you had to wash your hands in the cold, using cold water.
*I also noticed during a few of the matches that the refs did not call a penalty when they should have (there were a couple times that there was huge safety violations, and no penalty was called)
*The guage of wire they were using to supply power to everyone in the pits was not very thick. Especially considering the fact that you have lights, chargers, laptops, and many power tools running off of it.

Other than those things everything was great. I hope to see those things improve next year when i am there. I had a really great and fun time while attending the boilermaker regional.

[Amanda Morrison]

All the suggestions that are being made here on the forums are great, and as people are getting home and getting their ChiefDelphi fix, we certainly want to hear more to make next year's regional the best ever.

Please keep in mind - suggestions like the referee's calls, music, etc. are not handled by the people who plan the regional. What kinds of things would you change about the venue, the setup, the tours, etc?

[Ryan Dognaux]

Excellent regional this year. For next year, I would look into having it somewhere other than the Armory. This regional will draw an even larger crowd next year and the Armory will be even more cramped than it was this year. Also, the time inbetween the last match and drafting was very very short. An extra ten minutes would have been very helpful in deciding alliance pairings.

The tours and concessions were excellent. I thought the music was at a perfect level too.

Have it somewhere closer to me...the 1 block walk from my building to the armory was too much

Anyway, onto serious issues,

1. Larger Venue for sure...I heard that they were originally planning on having seating for only 75% of what we really did have....that would have been a real disaster... If it was a bit smaller regional, I think the venue would have been perfect.

2. Eliott for the award ceremony was excellent, plenty of room and it just seemed like the perfect enviornment for an award ceremony....the best part being Blair riding that kiddy bike in on saturday

3. Team party was excellent

4. I personally didn't go on any tours especially since I tour campus 5 days a week for class, but from what I heard they were excellent.

5. Last thing is the activities in the Union on Thursday night should have been publicized a bit better (more announcements, flyers hanging around, etc)....I heard that they only had 1/5th of what they had prepared for actually show up...

Other then that everything was excellent, it was probably the best regional I've ever been to...

[roboticsguy1988]

When i was talking about the music, i didn't mean the music itself, that was fine. I was talking about the announcer, not the one that gave info to the pits, but the one that introduced the teams at the beginning of each match was hard to hear at times. If the gain on his Mic was turned up a bit more then that might have been better.

As far as the other stuff goes, everything was excellent. Except like i said before, someplace else besides the armory may have been better, because there was such a large crowd that there were many people standing around the field instead of sitting (because there was no more seats). Which in result caused more people to walk around the pits which also at times were way crowded.


And yes the concessions were great, and i also liked the practice field setup. And very much liked the after events. I didn't get a chance to go on any tours of the campus or anything like that. One thing i know a few people were complaining about is the time of the tours. If the times could be arranged like more later in the day when there are not as many matches, or at a time during the evening, it would be nice. That way everyone including the drivers, and the pit crew on the team would get a chance to go. I think that would also help the members on smaller teams that have like 10 students.

Overall I give this regional an 8.65 out of 10. It was great and i had a lot of fun. For a rookie regional i think it was very well organized and coordinated.

[JAH]

Overall, it was a great regional. A different venue would be preferred for next year. The stands didn't have near enough seating. The bathroom situation worked, but nicer facilities would have been preferred. Something I extremely liked about the UCF regional was how they saved a good amount of seating for teams who were on the field playing in that match. That way, the pit team and others can be right in front with the action. I don't understand why the first row of seating wasn't allowed to be used. I understand it was to keep aisle ways clear, but were those not portable bleachers? Couldn't they just have been set up 5 feet farther back to accommodate this problem? The VIP section was a great idea. Electricity in the stands would be appreciated, but I understand that is hard to accommodate. Overall, it was a great competition with great teams.

[AmyPrib]

Hay All,

Just a few comments. We know that seating was limited. Originally we were told we'd have less than what we did, but we pushed for more. We got it, but unfortunately not enough. That is one thing that will be worked on for next year.
On the other hand, to put a positive twist on it, don't you think it added to the huge energy and excitement that the place had? That place was slammin', people going nuts, yelling, screaming, and it got more intense as days went on, it's hard to get that kind of energy pumpin' with a HUGE arena with people spread out all over. While it may have been standing room only at times, people came together (closely!) and rocked the house!
We tried to get a larger venue (other campus facilities) but were not able for various reasons. It will be worked on next year, and if it has to be held in the Armory again, there can be some setup differences to allow more space or seating. We didn't have a ton of say in the setup, but definitely will look at it for next year. We planned for and expected high attendance but we got even more than that.

We did block off the first row for safety and to keep traffic moving. I personally think that no matter where the teams were sitting in the stands, they were pretty darn close to the action. I think it would have been tough to block off a section up front for playing teams with limited seating as it was. I think that would have caused overall less seating (those teams would already have another section they were sitting in, and then plus a reserved section taking up space they'd be moving back and forth to - spectators and others would have fewer places to sit). We actually had quite a few spectators from off the street that heard about it and attended with young children. I think that's awesome - spreading the word.

The only parking that had distance (1mile) was for the buses and trailers. We just could not accomodate them all in the lot behind the armory, but we did provide shuttle service for bus drivers. The parking garage across the street (1min walk) was reserved and free for everyone attending the event.

We also know the number one complaint was the bathroom facilities. We apologize for this, but we originally had better plans which fell through. This is high on the priority list for improving next year.

I was also shocked at the lack of time for alliance selections, but again that is out of our hands. Many issues are under FIRST control, but we can surely pass on the comments.

The campus tour times - already under discussion to work on better timing. Due to having the Union activities on Thursday evening (which all teams were informed about and confirmed to attend, and numerous announcements were made, but unfortunately few teams attended), we didn't have tours planned for that evening. We wanted to get to as many students as we were able and understand we were not able to accomodate drive teams better. We had good turn-outs for the tours despite that and think it worked out well... I am glad that we had these - I think it showed what Purdue is all about without pushing it on people.

We actually did have a few lines run for electricity in the bleachers, on the west side a couple rows up. But I don't think it was publicized as it was a late addition during the event. How 'bout the wireless internet? Did that work out ok for people?

We appreciate all the postive and negative feedback so far. We strive to make it enjoyable for everyone . The people that helped put this together are all experienced FIRSTers who care about making it a good, fun event. This is why we take your feedback seriously.
Keep them coming, and as Chris said, you can PM him or I with comments.

btw, Dangerousdave - can you give more details about the problems with queuing and pits? That was in your negative list, but not sure exactly the problems?

I am thoroughly impressed with the action packed competition and game-play that went on... I myself was skeptical about the action involved in this game, but it was fierce this past weekend.

Thanks!