Atlanta - activities/ammenities I'd like to see

[dez250]

Hey if anyone would like to help me out, ill make out some large posters, i have access finally to multiple ploter printers and things and i have the FIRST Vector image so i can resize it. I will be working on some mock up designs and things and post them and things, if you all would like to, we can add different designs and things before its printed and it can be placed some wheres at the event for everyone to have access to, and then can organize a place later for it to be displayed at after the event...
~Mike

My contact infos on my profile and my email is m.dessingue@team250.org

[Tom Fairchild]

Originally posted by M. Krass
I've looked a bit at the World of Coca Cola website and I'm not exceptionally impressed by what it has to offer. It looks like nothing more than a few exhibits, a food court, and a place to test Coca Cola's international product line. Still, access to it, particularly for food during the day, is probably a good thing.

Your impression of the World of Coke (I love that name... sounds like a 1950's newsreel) seems to be pretty accurate. Its kinda neat, but at the same time its more or less an incredibly large advertisement for Coke that you pay for. The part at the end where you drink coke from around the world is by far the best part. Overall its something that's kind of neat (and kinda cool that you can say you've been to see it) but nothing to get incredibly excited over.

~Tom~

[E. The Kidd]

Being the sports fan that I am i know that stadiums give tours. If anyone feels like touring the GA Dome, it would be nice to know if there are any forseen ramps or other obstructions that would make travel to the playing fields or pit more difficult then it has to be.

[Adam Y.]

I've looked a bit at the World of Coca Cola website and I'm not exceptionally impressed by what it has to offer. It looks like nothing more than a few exhibits, a food court, and a place to test Coca Cola's international product line. Still, access to it, particularly for food during the day, is probably a good thing.

Didn't they have something exactly like that at Epcot??? It was a giant igloo and you got to test some differnt foreign drinks.

Hey if anyone would like to help me out, ill make out some large posters, i have access finally to multiple ploter printers and things and i have the FIRST Vector image so i can resize it. I will be working on some mock up designs and things and post them and things, if you all would like to, we can add different designs and things before its printed and it can be placed some wheres at the event for everyone to have access to, and then can organize a place later for it to be displayed at after the event...

Hmmmmm...... If 564 goes to nationals I would probably bring some neon signs to nationals. Then again I must just start dressing up my teamates in this stuff depending on how cool it works. Heheh I come up with the wackiest of ideas. http://www.elamusainc.com/

[dez250]

Originally posted by Adam Y.
Didn't they have something exactly like that at Epcot??? It was a giant igloo and you got to test some differnt foreign drinks.

I was thinking the same thing adam... Thats where some of our team-mates and myself had a snowball fight while in Epcot. Man good times that was!
~Mike

[Eric Brummer]

wow, this is my 3rd time mentioning it so it sounds like i'm plugging it, but really i'm not getting money lol. I'm going to Atlanta next tuesday (july 15th for a week) and all the same places are catering to us, hotels, Georgia Dome, Georgia World Congress Center, etc. My friend, Lisa (a fellow CD forum member) and I will be scouting this place out, doing the things that the locals may not have access 2. Any pointers/requests as to what to look into would be great. I know for the ELCA national gathering, which is hosting 20,000 high school kids, we get a bracelet which gets us free rides on MARTA (Atlanta's rapid transit system) which goes to Atlantas airport. Everyone was put into a hotel so all members going are in one of however many hotels they have total. I think both free transportation, (or covered through entry fees, or i guess teams could take care of itself, but maybe offered a discounted price would be great for outta the area teams. I think it would be a big step up for first to basically rent a group of hotels, and then divide it up between teams attending, that way u know, this, this this, and this hotel have first teams in it. The hotels, (not in charge of it) but all have "hotel life" events scheduled every night for the week. Different hotels are given different activities, so one hotel has like games, arcades, those giant blow up slides and velcro walls etc. Another hotel will have a dance. the website for the gathering is here http://www.elca.org/gathering/home.html I'm really impressed with what they are doing, and will have a blast. If Atlanta can take care of 20,000 high school students for a week (there are 2 sessions back to back, so it is actually 2 weeks for Atlanta, one week per person going) with those kind of benefits, i think they can do some great things for first as well. Thats my rant for the day. Thanks for listening.
Peace
-Eric

[dez250]

hey eric, just try to get some photos of the places down there and time yourself (if you can) walking form where the pits would be to the fied and see if theres interferences or not (ramps and things)... It will be nice to see what also is around there for entertainment.
Thanks,
~Mike

[Madison]

I just wanted to reply back here with some sketches of ideas I'd mentioned earlier in the thread. Hopefully, this'll get the ball rolling again so that the folks who are putting this event together can get a good idea of what you want as participants and what the event needs to draw in the public.

First up is a variant of the "Signing Wall," concept that was mentioned here.

What I've envisioned, and what's shown here, is the simplest form of this concept. Given proper attention and importance, this could grow to be something FIRST can use over and over as an ambassador to the public.

The "FIRST Ambassador Pavilion," -- a name I've made up just now -- represents the point of confluence between the students, engineers, and teachers of FIRST and the uninitiated public visitor.

(Forgive the quality of that drawing. I hadn't intended it to be detailed or encompassing.)

Essentially, this exhibit would combine the "signing walls" concept with the efforts FIRST's been making to spread their message. It would be largely symbolic in its architecture and function in several ways.

Most important is where the signing would take place. A circular rim of curved surfaces -- canvas and lexan have been suggested as possible materials -- would line the circumference of the tent ceiling and act as the support columns for that roof. The number of individual walls hasn't been determined, but it could be something relevant to FIRST, or it could simply be whatever is structurally sound. Imagine that each is approximately 8 feet tall and 6' wide.

FIRST participants would be asked to sign the outward facing portions of these walls. Visitors to the event would be invited inside the circle, however, and asked to leave messages of support and inspiration on the inner walls. This symbolic action would represent the breaking down of the barriers between FIRST and the regular culture. It'd mean welcoming people to our event by showing that they don't need to be a spectator; they can be at the heart of the action.

In the center, we'd find a turntable that's divided into hemispheres by a large wall. On one hemisphere, the unassembled kit of parts would be displayed. On the opposite side, a complete robot will be on display.

Michael (Dez250) suggested that we also prominently display the kick-off date and ship date on the appropriate side to really drive home the abbreviated schedule under which we work.

Maybe it'd even be wise to paint the kit parts in some bright, solid colors on both sides to quickly illustrate their creative uses.

The possibilities for such a pavilion are really endless, limited only by space considerations and budget. But, really, I think this provides us as participants with the best possible chance of garnering the interest and devotion of a passerby. That said, I'd love to see it erected outdoors in Centennial Park or in some other highly visible, inviting location.

Second, I worked out a brief picture edit that shows how someplace large and sterile like a domed stadium can be dressed up a bit. It helps to make the venue a little more personalized and scales things down a bit so that the building doesn't overwhelm its inhabitants.

By controlling our views of and in the building through using streamers and fabric and and other decorations, it'll be easier to focus our attention on the show. Therefore, it stands to reason that a presentation that's similar in scale to what's work successfully in the past -- at Epcot's Einstein Stage, in particular -- will be sufficient.

Otherwise, I think FIRST stands the chance of overextending itself by trying to fill a building it's too small for. For now.

Your feedback is appreciated. I've been doing this as a labor of love with the hope that someone will take notice of these ideas and work with them to make the event something really magical and special and spectator friendly. But, it's your event as much as it's mine, and I'd like to know what other people think of these ideas and others, in addition to their entire philosophy and design ethos where putting a show on is concerned.

[pauluffel]

About making the Dome fit our needs; this past year, the WGI World Championships were held in a rather large arena (for hockey, I believe) but all the space that was needed for the performers was a basket-ball court sized area. They rectified this problem like you did, M. by having a HUGE black curtain cut out about 2/3 of the floor space and also all the excess seating. Like you suggested, a simple curtain could sut the Dome down to the size we need and also provide staging room for teams to get into the area, get in line, and get out without being cramped.

I like the signing shed idea and I think Centennial Olympic Park would be a great place for it (around lunchtime it generally has many schoolchildren running around playing in the fountain, and this would be a great way to get them interested in LegoLeague and later FIRST) but I think we could make it more interesting by doing things like having information about past years and having former robots and so forth involved with it. If you have one wall per year and on that wall have an explaination of that year's game and a robot or two from that year, it would show how long this program has been around. These walls of history could alternate with simple white walls for signing and thus the pavilion would have some more information on the program and help 'draw the public in' more (or even have each year's robot on the outside and the explanation on the inside, so the pretty bot catches an eye, but they have to get inside to understand it).

[Paul H]

I really like the renting hotel idea. The best thing about regionals in my mind was meeting all of the new people at night, in the pool or around the hotel. In Houston, out pool was broken (freezing!), and they had nowhere else for us to go. What did we do? We played wiffle ball in the parking lot and we hung out at Big Lots. That's right, a majority of my time outside of competition in Houston was spent in and around Big Lots. There was nowhere to go to meet new people. We met one team that challenged us to a wiffle ball game (we won, of course!), and that's it. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Astrodome, which had no other hotels near it. I'd like to see a group of hotels within walking distance of each other, if possible. FIRST could either rent the hotels, or say stay at these hotels. I have some friends from regionals that I'd like to hang out with, and it would be nice to be able to do that during the extended time we spend at nationals.

Let's just hope we qualify! With Jordan and I at the sticks, it shouldn't be a problem!

[Dan Richardson]

hrmm forget hotels and stuff.. can't all of first just camp out in the parking lot and the olympic park .. :-) it would be so much more fun

just think

:: smores ::

yum

[Paul H]

Dan, I like the way you think!

[E. The Kidd]

Originally posted by Paul H
I really like the renting hotel idea. The best thing about regionals in my mind was meeting all of the new people at night, in the pool or around the hotel. In Houston, out pool was broken (freezing!), and they had nowhere else for us to go. What did we do? We played wiffle ball in the parking lot and we hung out at Big Lots...... There was nowhere to go to meet new people... I'd like to see a group of hotels within walking distance of each other, if possible.

Here's an idea.... maybe not a good one, but an idea none the less. What is FIRST raised the entry fee for championship to include x number of hotel rooms and the other "perks" that went along with the packages of last year.

If teams choose not to take advantage of this option they can just pay the $4,000 entry fee and stay in the same general area as the rest of the teams. By paying a very small fee they can take part in the same events as the other teams.

This would not only allow teams to be placed in hotels that are reletivly close to each other but also drive down the cost per room because of the volume of rooms that would be rented. Thus making social gatherings easier to plan and easing some of the burdens of travel planning.

Well its just a thought to play with (note: I never said it was a good idea), maybe this will spark a better idea down the road.

[DarkRedDragon]

I dont know about u guys, but i am a avid computer gamer, and maybe if we talk to some of our sponsors, like microsoft, a lan party/pavilion could be set up. If anyone is interested in this idea, let me know, we could email some computer game firms in the area, and they could do something, and we would benifit!

Andrew W.K.

[Jeremy Roberts]

Originally posted by DarkRedDragon
I dont know about u guys, but i am a avid computer gamer, and maybe if we talk to some of our sponsors, like microsoft, a lan party/pavilion could be set up. If anyone is interested in this idea, let me know, we could email some computer game firms in the area, and they could do something, and we would benifit!

Andrew W.K.

For anyone thinking about contacting companies directly you should re-think it. I'm sure FIRST appreciates ideas and efforts to obtain sponsors for potential Nats. activities, however anything to do with sponsorship related to the Championship or any other local competition for that matter should be routed through the appropriate FIRST leaders/representatives.

This helps eliminate multiple people approaching a company with more than one proposal for an organization called FIRST.

I'm not saying your or any other idea is good or bad (I happen to love lan games). Just my thoughts.