IRI - Comments, Suggestions,

[Mark Garver]

Originally Posted by Kit Gerhart

About my only criticism would be that it was too difficult to find information such as the team list, rules changes, dodge ball tournament entry, the webcast, etc. Information was spread out over the indianafirst.org, Team 234, and Chief Delphi web sites, and it took too much searching to find out about the webcast. That's about my only suggestion. Consolidate this info and make it easy to find.

Agreed completely. It seemed like the information just wasn't out there like it was last year. Searching the ChiefDelphi site you were able to find a lot of 2005 information on the White Pages but only one or two posts about the 2006 event in the White Pages.

[Chris Fultz]

We did not do a good job of consolidating the information and it was spread between two or three sources and it got buried in threads quickly.

For 2007, we are already planning a dedicated IRI website that will be kept current and will be the official location for information about the event.

Thank you to everyone for the comments, both "positive" and "areas for improvement". We will consider all comments as we plan for next year.

[Beth Sweet]

The one comment that I did hear recently from other participants was that the only place to find information on this event was this site. FIRST's site featured no information on it, and for those not on CD (or those who don't check it religiously as I do), they would be left out of the fantastic time that the competition provides. Perhaps FIRST could send out a blast regarding it?

[Daisy]

a bit of a side note: is there any way to improve the webcasts? It was about a frame a second. The audio, on the other hand, was AMAZING. The announcer, and MC, were fantastic.

Thanks,

Daisy

[Mark Pierce]

I agree with some of the comments about information and layout, but the relative minor level of criticism speaks volumes about how fantastic the event was. I had a great time on my all too short visit on Saturday (only 8 hours!).

I did receive a suggestion from several people that I'll try and work on for next year: However, can having team 85 compete again really add much to such a competitive field? I'm sure my teammates would have a blast!

[Josh Murphy]

This was the best competition that I have ever attended in my 3 years of FIRST, thanks to everyone who made it the experience it was and I am looking forward to next year. It was great don't change a thing.

[Woe]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

Good point.



No, that has nothing to do with it. There are 3 things:

1. Electrical distribution
The spacing is such because of limitation we had for electrical power for feeding the pits. If we spread out the pits more, we would need an improved electrical distribution system.

2. Tarps
Wherever there are pits, there must be tarps

3. Vex
We had the other side of the gym set up for a Vex tournament, but when it was decided that we were not going to play a Vex competition, it was too late to create more electrical hardware for better pit distribution.

We'll improve on #1 and #2 next year. Who knows, we may be able to bring back Vex at IRI also.

Thanks for the input.

Andy

I liked having the Vex bots available without having a competition. Several of our team's siblings had the chance to drive and were very enthused!

[Mark Garver]

I am not sure how it was for other teams that were located near the emergency exit, but I know for at least our team it was difficult to hear some of the matches being announced. But in no way am I suggesting that we need to have a speaker in our pit which seems to happen more times than not at the Great Lakes Regional (having to face it against the wall and cover it with a jacket...).

Overall though, the best competition of the year for the money!

Championship Event = $5000
Championship Event Matches = 7
Price per Match at the Championship = $714.29
Price per Second of Drive time at the Championship Event = $5.95

IRI Event = $350
IRI Event Matches = 8
Price per Match at IRI = $43.75
Price per Second of Drive time at IRI Event = $.036

Nice job to the IRI Planning committee and the volunteer crew.