2007 Waterloo Regional feedback

[Ian Mackenzie]

For any teams that were at the Waterloo Regional this year, is there anything you'd like to see done better next year, or things that you'd like to see continue? Our planning committee is very interested in any feedback you might have.

I know pit size was an issue, and we'll certainly try for slightly larger pits next year (e.g. move a couple more teams behind the practice field, make the aisles slightly narrower), although I'm not sure we'll be able to get up to the full 10x10 (especially if we add any more teams). Here are a few more ideas to start the discussion:

• If you came to the team social, did you like it? What might convince you to come to the team social in the future? What could have been done better?
• Is there any more information you'd like to receive before the event?
• Was 11 matches too few, too many, or just right?
• Where did you go for lunch? What would make the on-site pre-ordered lunches or concessions more appealing?

[JBotAlan]

I *loved* Waterloo. I think it was probably the best planned and executed regional I've been to. The only problem we ran into that I can think of is the pit size; we had an incredible amount of spillage out of our pit (band saw, belt sander, toolboxes, etc.). I can't honestly think of anything else. except for the awful bleachers that you could drop...anything...down. I'd love to know what the strangest thing someone hauled out of there is

I loved having wireless there. GLR had no such feature; same for Atlanta. There is also a very personal, small feel to Waterloo that I like. I hope we come back next year; I'll definitely look forward to it.

We didn't go to the team social; I would have, but everyone was tired, and our HP was injured, so we decided to go back to the hotel, mostly for her sake.

I can't judge the in-house food; I only had 1 bag of popcorn the whole weekend (and it was burned, but that isn't something that needs to be addressed...I'm sure it was accidental).

JBot

[Jonathan Norris]

Ian, I was very impressed with how well run and organized the Waterloo Regional was this year, definitely an improvement over 2006 (where it was my favorite regional!).
to answer some of your questions:
- The team social was a lot of fun, you did a good job trying to get as many teams as possible involved in the activities. It was a nice to be able to sit and talk with everyone, or go down and have some fun in the arcade. My only suggestion is to have a few more directions up so people knew were the arcade is, and where the food is at ect. if I was a rookie I would be a bit confused where everything located.
- is it possible to get the match lists before the event
- 11 matches is awesome... we can never get enough matches, one of the reasons this regional was so offensive is because we got so much time to practice and improve our robots.
- its kinda hard for pre-ordered lunches to beat Tim Horton's, but if that means there are less people in line waiting for timmies then go for it.
- As for the pits, I loved our location this year (and last year), they didn't seem any smaller then the other regionals (but i did see a few that were oddly shaped). The biggest improvement was placing the practice field in the middle of the pits! Genius! it opened up the pits, made the practice field more visible, and was just a great location. It certainly kept me entertained while we were programing.

My only real complaint this year would be how crowded the field got during the elimination matches. During the quarterfinals matches it was almost impossible to move around without walking through the drivers station. That side of the field felt very cramped (especially when we were trying to fix our bot after every match). My suggestion would be to try and move the guard rails back as far as you can during the elimination matches to allow the teams more room. Some teams even set up their 'pit' outside those railings

It was my favorite regional in 2007 and I will be back in some form next year.

[bilal1219]

Good Day Everyone,

We Team 1219 went to Waetrloo this year. It was the best reagional i ever saw interms of less teams and more fun and more matches to play. Even though our results were surpurising this year because we lost some of the grade 12 students and our mentors and it was a student build robot. Apart from this more than 80%students were from grade 10 and there were 2 grade 11 and 2 from grade 12. so we were the senoir people staying late nights. and in addition ur mechanical team made up of grade 10 students had no idea about how everything works and their pros and cons. In total we had 40-45 students last year and 15-20 students this year.Interms of matches, I would say FIRST needs to work on their algorithim. I saw a team playing with 1114 5times and some teams playing against them 5 teams.So my point is a team should get to play most of the teams in the 11 alloted matches.
Our team social was also good. Although we never participated in vex Competetion. We had dinner and made some new good friends.
I hope to come back next year for Waterloo 2008.
So i hope next year we Have a Good season since its gonna be my last year.

[Jeff Waegelin]

Team 830 has been to Waterloo twice, now, and it's definitely our favorite event! We love the small-regional feel, and getting to play 11 matches is a great thing. It can get somewhat hectic at times - we had one match where we only had two matches off until the next one - but the benefits of playing that many times outweigh the downsides, in my opinion.

One of the great additions this year was the practice field. It was really nice to have a full rack available for practice. Last year, we spent a lot of time working on our tracking code in conditions that were less than favorable. This year, having the practice rack right there made it so much easier to practice and test things out.

Overall, Waterloo was a great event, and there's a pretty good chance we'll be back next year!

[Ian Mackenzie]

Originally Posted by JBotAlan

I can't honestly think of anything else. except for the awful bleachers that you could drop...anything...down. I'd love to know what the strangest thing someone hauled out of there is

Apparently the university has been looking at improving or replacing those bleachers for a while, so let's keep our fingers crossed for next year; not only are they a hassle for dropping stuff, but they're also a significant safety hazard for small children (who have the potential to fall between the seats). I've talked to a few people about it already.

Originally Posted by Jonathan Norris

The team social was a lot of fun, you did a good job trying to get as many teams as possible involved in the activities. It was a nice to be able to sit and talk with everyone, or go down and have some fun in the arcade. My only suggestion is to have a few more directions up so people knew were the arcade is, and where the food is at ect. if I was a rookie I would be a bit confused where everything located.

Good point. I think we had a lot more signage in general this year than last, but that's certainly one place we could have more.

Originally Posted by Jonathan Norris

My only real complaint this year would be how crowded the field got during the elimination matches. During the quarterfinals matches it was almost impossible to move around without walking through the drivers station. That side of the field felt very cramped (especially when we were trying to fix our bot after every match). My suggestion would be to try and move the guard rails back as far as you can during the elimination matches to allow the teams more room. Some teams even set up their 'pit' outside those railings

Another good point - we were working the whole weekend to try to get a good balance between space inside and outside the playing field area. Now that we know what it's like with both sets of bleachers fully out, we'll be a bit more prepared for next year, but unfortunately there's only so much room in that gym.

Originally Posted by Jeff Waegelin

One of the great additions this year was the practice field. It was really nice to have a full rack available for practice. Last year, we spent a lot of time working on our tracking code in conditions that were less than favorable. This year, having the practice rack right there made it so much easier to practice and test things out.

I'm glad everyone liked the practice field, but we can't take too much credit for that - FIRST supplied it

[IntensifiedAmp]

I believe that the organizing committee at the Waterloo Regionals did a tremendous job with the regional itself.

Although space was small in terms of the pit size, it was sufficient enough (at least for our team). I can understand that the pit sizes were forced because of the limited space available to the event -- But you guys made it work just enough for teams to be able to work.

Traffic in-and-out of the pit area was optimal, or atleast that's my personal opinion.

I couldn't find a single (critical and reasonable) flaw within the regional myself. All the mistakes that were made were by me.

haha dropping my safety glasses under the bleachers

EDIT!: The space for the bleachers were also great. I loved the "balcony" that was above the bleachers, of which again, there were other bleachers.

[Kate00]

As I've said many times before, this is my team's favourite regional, and it only improved from last year.

• If you came to the team social, did you like it? What might convince you to come to the team social in the future? What could have been done better?

The team social was amazing - the vex was very, very cool, however, it would have been nice if there had been better designed robots. The game was really easy to pick up, and the element of having to have alliances composed of different teams (ish) was really, really cool.

• Was 11 matches too few, too many, or just right?

It was perfect - it was really cool to be able to play that many matches.

• Where did you go for lunch? What would make the on-site pre-ordered lunches or concessions more appealing?

The supplied food was very good - my only complaint would be the peanut butter cookies, which rendered myself unable to eat any of the cookies on the platter.

Another thing...

The new bleachers setup was amazing. More bleachers = more seats. Even though you opened up an entirely new set of them this year, they were still packed, and it just added to the intensity of the event, to have cheering from both sides, and made my scouts very happy to actually have room.

Another amazing year for the Waterloo regional. Thank you to all of the amazing organization committee for once again making this my favourite FIRST event.

[T3_1565]

I agree with above. Waterloo is amazing and has always been in my opinion. It also seems to me to be one of the closest regionals, so I have heard. Everybody has met everyone by the end of the weekend and I think thats great Keep up the good work guys and see you next year!!