Courtesy during awards.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Question for the peanut gallery: Is it rude or inconsiderate for a member of a large team to insist on hugging, shaking hands, or talking with every single judge, delaying the awards ceremony for everyone? Related question is if it would be rude for a team to stand around for 5 min before walking for their award because they were waiting on an absent member. Basically, at what point do you think a team delaying the ceremony would start to be inconsiderate?

[BigJ]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

Question for the peanut gallery: Is it rude or inconsiderate for a member of a large team to insist on hugging, shaking hands, or talking with every single judge, delaying the awards ceremony for everyone?

I've never seen this happen (except for WFFA, but at the events I normallly frequent, WI, IL, and MN, the WFFA is awarded and congratulated by all other WFFA winners in attendance), but I could understand it for the last award of the night (WFFA or Chairman's).

Related question is if it would be rude for a team to stand around for 5 min before walking for their award because they were waiting on an absent member. Basically, at what point do you think a team delaying the ceremony would start to be inconsiderate?

I've never seen a team not stream onto the field, maybe with a couple stragglers. I think waiting around unless you're around 5 or less people who were somehow much closer would be rude.

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by BigJ

I've never seen this happen (except for WFFA, but at the events I normallly frequent, WI, IL, and MN, the WFFA is awarded and congratulated by all other WFFA winners in attendance), but I could understand it for the last award of the night (WFFA or Chairman's). I've never seen a team not stream onto the field, maybe with a couple stragglers. I think waiting around unless you're around 5 or less people who were somehow much closer would be rude.

I've seen both, several times at regionals. (I'd say it's mildly inconsiderate, but nothing to be too concerned about.)

It's historically been more complicated at the Championship, because the field can be so difficult to access from the stands. At some point (by 2004 for sure), FIRST started asking teams to designate a few members to accept awards. (I don't know what procedure was used in St. Louis last year.)

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Haha, I didn't say you had to agree with what I thought about certain awards, no need to be sorry for that. I simply appreciate it when large teams send up a few students to receive something like website and animation awards because those were, in fact, only worked on by certain students/mentors.

Interesting that you would pick animation as an award you think only a few work on.

For those of you who don't know I started out doing animation and have been a website mentor for several years now. I can absolutely say that the notion that these subteams don't work hand in hand with the entire team is absolutely wrong. The team must support them in their passions, they must provide content for the website, ideas for the animation, and feedback on both. There is nothing more discouraging than hearing someone tell you that what you are doing doesn't matter or even not backing you up on what you're interested in.

By your logic I shouldn't go up with my team if they win an award for a mechanical system or a cool construction technique because I had nothing to do with it. I think even you would think this is stupid.

If you can't find the extra time to wait for the WHOLE team to celebrate their team's accomplishment I suggest you find a new hobby. I believe in celebrating greatness in all forms, even if it involves celebrating people who supported their team mates. Actually, strike that, I think that people who support their team mates should be celebrated especially hard.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Interesting that you would pick animation as an award you think only a few work on.

For those of you who don't know I started out doing animation and have been a website mentor for several years now. I can absolutely say that the notion that these subteams don't work hand in hand with the entire team is absolutely wrong. The team must support them in their passions, they must provide content for the website, ideas for the animation, and feedback on both. There is nothing more discouraging than hearing someone tell you that what you are doing doesn't matter or even not backing you up on what you're interested in.

By your logic I shouldn't go up with my team if they win an award for a mechanical system or a cool construction technique because I had nothing to do with it. I think even you would think this is stupid.

If you can't find the extra time to wait for the WHOLE team to celebrate their team's accomplishment I suggest you find a new hobby. I believe in celebrating greatness in all forms, even if it involves celebrating people who supported their team mates. Actually, strike that, I think that people who support their team mates should be celebrated especially hard.

If that is how your team operates, then by all means send them all up if you truly believe everyone lends a hand in the work. I simply disagree.
And yes I brought up website and animation specifically because I do think that only a few work on these things and deserve to be recognized in front of their peers. If you want to continue to argue about opinion, PM me.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

And yes I brought up website and animation specifically because I do think that only a few work on these things and deserve to be recognized in front of their peers. If you want to continue to argue about opinion, PM me.

I'd prefer to talk about facts -- such as the fact that a lot of good team web sites have content contributed by many team members. It's not just the web "coders" who are responsible for the award-winning sites.

[gyroscopeRaptor]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

I'd prefer to talk about facts -- such as the fact that a lot of good team web sites have content contributed by many team members. It's not just the web "coders" who are responsible for the award-winning sites.

Say a website has a photo gallery. All students are in the photos there. Each photo is then contributing to the content of the website which I believe is one of the evaluative criteria. Each person has contributed and should walk on stage.

[Gray Adams]

Originally Posted by gyroscopeRaptor

Say a website has a photo gallery. All students are in the photos there. Each photo is then contributing to the content of the website which I believe is one of the evaluative criteria. Each person has contributed and should walk on stage.

If you're trying to say that you believe all members should walk on the stage based on a technicality, you should probably rethink your position. I'm not saying that not every member should go up, but that's a really weak reason for taking this position.

[Big Ideas]

As for FAMILY members walking, I say yes. Here is my reasoning:

As a volunteer for various activities for many years I have observed that:

the volunteers give their expertise but the FAMILY gives their TIME.

If a Mentors child (Robot Orphan) feels invested in the team enough to celebrate with the team, they should.

This holds true for post season parties also. Teams should celebrate and thank the families also.

[robochick1319]

When I played sports as a child, my father would always say, "You play as a team, you win as a team, you lose as a team."

Therefore, I do not think there is anything wrong with letting entire teams go up (even parents). Whoever wants to go up to accept the award should go and teams can use their best judgment. And if a team is oblivious to a faux pas that others find annoying, other teams in the audience should be GRACIOUS (that is what the term means, after all).

Should the entire team go up for website? Of course! The entire team would go up if they won the regional or if they won an imagery award. It is a motto for my team: We win and lose as a team. No matter what, we are all together.

Why is this even a big issue anyway? Aren't there more pressing issues for FIRST fans to address? Like blatant safety violations, overcrowding of venues and inconsistencies between regionals?

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

4. If you can, stand and cheer. You may be looking at a team playing their last event.

Great way to drive the point home. I hadn't ever thought of it that way.

[one4robots]

I would like to add Team 2169, King-Tec, as an exemplary example of a team that celebrates the awards of others. Recently my team won the GM Industrial Design Award at the Lake Superior regional, and on our way down to receive the award, members of King-Tec on the aisle were high-fiving us and all of their members were cheering as if they had won the award themselves.