Championship 2008 - Atlanta - Your Thoughts Please

[Billfred]

One that Kathie Kentfield reminded me of: media badges.

Now, I've had a media badge for the past two years, and they are quite necessary for many things. However, I see many media-badged people who don't seem to be in the act of creating media.

My solution: people badged as media should have to show some kind of equipment in addition to their badge in order to gain access to controlled areas (queueing and the Dome floor come to mind). Exactly what kind of equipment is not important--point-and-shoot cameras are just as welcome as bajillion-dollar HD video cameras--but you'd have a hard time convincing me that you need to be on the floor as a media rep when you have no method of recording that which is around you.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Billfred

One that Kathie Kentfield reminded me of: media badges.

Now, I've had a media badge for the past two years, and they are quite necessary for many things. However, I see many media-badged people who don't seem to be in the act of creating media.

My solution: people badged as media should have to show some kind of equipment in addition to their badge in order to gain access to controlled areas (queueing and the Dome floor come to mind). Exactly what kind of equipment is not important--point-and-shoot cameras are just as welcome as bajillion-dollar HD video cameras--but you'd have a hard time convincing me that you need to be on the floor as a media rep when you have no method of recording that which is around you.

Media can refer to print media as well.

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Cory

Media can refer to print media as well.

And my girlfriend is a print journalism major--good thing she's not on CD!

I suppose a reporter's notebook would fall under the domain of equipment as well.

[Mike Martus]

Hmmmm no one has mentioned the pairings for the seeding...strange not like the regionals?

It looked like teams were grouped.....then matched... or do I need to buy a lotto ticket? We never played or were with a team higher than 111.... what are the odds against that in seven matches.

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by Mike Martus

Hmmmm no one has mentioned the pairings for the seeding...strange not like the regionals?

It looked like teams were grouped.....then matched... or do I need to buy a lotto ticket? We never played or were with a team higher than 111.... what are the odds against that in seven matches.

The minimum match spacing set too high and the teams not randomized before being entered into the algorithm likely combined to result in this behavior.

[Chris Fultz]

Originally Posted by Ryan Foley

Announce the Woodie Flowers Award winner on Saturday. It is one of the top honors in FIRST, and deserves to be with the other top honors during the Saturday awards. Yes, it will add more time, but only what, 10 minutes?

The WFA was moved to Friday a few years ago so that teams could greet and congratulate the winner during the two days of competition. If it is announced on Saturday afternoon, many would not see the winner again for several months.

Friday makes it more personal.

[ExarKun666]

Originally Posted by Vikesrock

The minimum match spacing set too high and the teams not randomized before being entered into the algorithm likely combined to result in this behavior.

Well if this is the case they need to have more randomized, rather then grouped, because some teams, rarely, who aren't good get into quarter finals, who don't really belong there just because of a previous alliance that made them look really good.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by ExarKun666

Well if this is the case they need to have more randomized, rather then grouped, because some teams, rarely, who aren't good get into quarter finals, who don't really belong there just because of a previous alliance that made them look really good.

Another thread handles this discussion -

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=67108

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Mike Martus

Hmmmm no one has mentioned the pairings for the seeding...strange not like the regionals?

It looked like teams were grouped.....then matched... or do I need to buy a lotto ticket? We never played or were with a team higher than 111.... what are the odds against that in seven matches.

Y'all played with us the same time you played with 111, but you might not remember us because we played the worst defense in the history of FIRST Robotics. FLL teams play better defense than we did.

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by Billfred

media badges: My solution: people badged as media should have to show some kind of equipment in addition to their badge in order to gain access to controlled areas (queueing and the Dome floor come to mind). Exactly what kind of equipment is not important--point-and-shoot cameras are just as welcome as bajillion-dollar HD video cameras--but you'd have a hard time convincing me that you need to be on the floor as a media rep when you have no method of recording that which is around you.

In order to stay on the daVinci Fields, they had to show me proof that they were indeed media people.
I thought the people of Atlanta were wonderful! Every one of them was pleasant. The amount of damage to the area was unexpected; I didn't realize so many buildings had lost so much glass. Kudos to the city for cleaning up and welcoming us so graciously!
I loved checking in the FTC teams in Bldg. C on Wednesday; the FLL teams had to walk by us to get to their check-in table so we got to see teams from both programs.
I love the excitement of being on the Dome floor for competition. I wouldn't want FLL or FTC competing in another building, even if it meant that we didn't have schedules and AV systems competing with FRC. I wish more of the 800 FTC teams could have qualified to attend. I wish more people would come by and cheer for the teams. I wish more people would volunteer to help on the FTC fields. The volunteer pool is starting to grow, but it isn't quite there yet. I can't say enough Thank You's to the folks who did volunteer; we had an awesome group!
I disliked having to share the AV system between Franklin and Edison. I hope FIRST can resolve that in future years. And add a DJ so we have some music on the floor.
I respect that we needed to hold off on starting our matches Friday morning until the FRC Opening Ceremonies were complete, but it would have been nice to be able to see what was happening. Someone said we had a former President there??? We couldn't see nor hear anything of the ceremonies on daVinci. I understand wanting FRC teams to sit near Einstein to fill the stands, but FTC HAD to be ready to go as soon as they ended, so we couldn't go watch.
I apologize to the volunteers and teams who were so late leaving on Friday night - I know many of you had people waiting for you for dinner and team social plans.
I love that so many mentors attended our NEMO meeting on Friday and wish that I could have spent more time with you all (Thank you Jenny!), and am sorry that I missed the CD Web Hug and most of the FIRST Senior Mentor meeting - I need to be cloned.
For those of you who kept checking with me, my final pedometer reading for The World Championships was 36.6 miles! Next year I encourage everyone to wear one to each competition they attend, and let's keep an ongoing log - can you imagine how many miles we'd log over the course of a competition season?!

[zivo123]

i have only one suggestion for improvement- im sure this probably came up before but maybe it should come up one more time to make a difference:
didnt you find the uncrating day a bit unneccecary?
Maybe the first day should be uncrating in the morning and then beggining with practice matches (after a couple of hours to work on the robots)..
then the second day could be part practice part qualifications, the third and the fourth day will remain the same.
what you have gained by this cange is about 2-3 more qualification games for each team which i think is neccesary for determaning the seedings.
What do you think?

[ebarker]

The uncrating is important because it gives the staff time to move all the crates out of the way without risking injury. It is a logistical and safety issue.

It is also important that the teams respect the planning decisions made by FIRST regarding who and what goes in on Wednesday. Whether 1000% of us agree with it or not is irrelevant. I don't want to start that argument again. I know there were people lawyering and breaking the rules again, not GP. I hope we can all agree to have a nice streamlined Wednesday night unpacking.

[artdutra04]

On a somewhat random (and more positive note), the city of Atlanta is definitely one of the most Segway friendly cities I've been to yet. Especially at the hotels, where the people working there encouraged me to ride it.

And while on the topic of environmental sustainability issues, here is something that I believe needs to be addressed for next year's Championship Event: recycle bins. Maybe it's because I've grown up my entire life in the Northeast, where our deposit programs and other recycling measures usually ensure stuff gets recycled anyway, but I found the lack of recycle bins in Atlanta to be annoying.

A few strategically placed can/bottle recycle bins, along with some paper recycling ones in the pits would be a good idea. Even a scrap metal bin in the pits for all those bits and pieces of broken robot parts might be a good idea.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by CzarValvador

My only issue is the location.

A place where some guy was pestering us because he wanted to give us the tour of the "underground", doesn't seem to be a good place to have a bunch of highschoolers and Lego League kids.

The Atlanta dome is amazing and all, but Atlanta itself...

Over the years one of the bigger issue I've had is the Atlanta bashing.
So there's homeless people. So there is crime.
Name me one place in America. In the world where there is not crime, poverty and homeless people.
And don't give me the "we can all go back to Disney thing because contrary to popular belief not every team could afford to stay on the Disney campus and had to actually stay out in the "real world".
The bashing reeks of elitism and worse things that I thought smart people like us would be above.

[GeorgeTheEng]

I know this may seem somewhat readical, but FIRST considers the opening ceremonies on Friday to be the "FIRST Championship Welcome". If that is true, they should give some consideration to doing them at like noon on Thurs. By Friday morning FLL and FTC are half over. It's no longer a welcome.

It's just a thought. At the same time I have to congratulate FIRST on integrating the other programs into what has historically been an FRC focused event.