**FIRST EMAIL**/Important Pit Load In and Load Out Information

[Mark McLeod]

Greetings 2008 Championship Teams:

We have updated information to share with you regarding Load In and Load Out. As some of you have seen, we recently updated our Essential Event Information document to reflect a new process for Load In Wednesday night. After receiving team feedback, we have decided to rework the Load In process as outlined below. We thank all teams who provided input.

We also want to share with you what has driven this process change. Due to storm damage, the pit layout has been modified making aisle and entrance space much more limited (1/2 the size) than in previous years. Please note team pit station space will remain the same, 10' x 10' x 10'. Additionally, we are very concerned about team safety as last year we witnessed teams moving excessively loaded carts into the building, as well as unsafely carrying large quantities of items. Although we want you to maximize the opportunity to move things in Wednesday night, it must be done in a safe manner.

Finally, we want to take this opportunity to urge teams to not bring more than what is needed due to the space constraints. One thing we do encourage everyone to bring extra of is gracious professionalism as we will all be sharing this smaller pit space over a three day period - pit staff will be packing an extra dose too!

LOAD IN


* One (1) adult mentor and (4) team members from each team will be allowed a single entry to the pits on Wednesday evening.
* You may bring items in one (1) cart (only) that is safely packed and not overloaded. Volunteers and staff will be at the doors and will refuse admission to those with overloaded carts. If your cart is overloaded you will be asked to remove items until cart is deemed safe to proceed. Please use common sense when assessing what is safe or unsafe! If items are sticking way over the sides, or you can't see past what is piled on the cart, this is not safe.
* Team members are not allowed to unload, go back to the entrance, and have team members "re-load" them. This is a one time in process only.

Once in the Pit


* Find your Pit Station
* Uncrate robot
* Unload items
* Plug in batteries
* Register
* Depart

IMPORTANT: Wednesday evening is not meant for pit setup. Once your one (1) adult mentor and (4) team team members have uncrated the robot and plugged in the batteries they must exit the pit area. A team may uncrate the robot(s) of another team(s) that has made advance arrangements with them, but the one (1) adult mentor and (4) team members members must do so before leaving the pit area on their initial entry; additional team members will not be admitted as proxies of another team. Please assist us in making this a smooth and trouble-free process by adhering to the above guidelines.

TIP! FIRST provides a world class machine shop at the Championship - please do not bring unnecessary items such as drill presses, etc.

LOAD OUT

Teams should plan for load out to potentially take longer this year as pit entrance way space will be significantly reduced on Saturday.

Teams finishing early should request their crate(s) from Shepard and start breaking down their pit areas as soon as possible. The goal should be to finish packing up by award ceremonies - if this is not possible then to have as much done prior to them. Please remember there will be 344 teams all needing to exit the building via the pit entrance on Saturday.

To help with an orderly and timely load out, we ask team leaders to create a plan that allows for only those team members critical to load out to still be in the Pit post 5:00 pm. As part of this plan, please note that team members in pit past 5:00 pm should be there for the express purpose of assisting with load out. Please make a plan for student chaperoning (as needed if your team has excess members that do not need to participate in the load out process. Non-essential load out team members remaining in the Pit after 5:00 pm will be asked to leave. Please remember The Finale starts at 6:30, and food is served for only the first two (2) hours.

ROBOT TAKE HOME: Teams must have an authorization from FIRST to take their robots home directly. A list of approved teams will be given to Shepard and Pit Administration. All teams taking their robot home must stop by Pit Administration prior to leaving the building with their robot so they can be officially "checked out" by FIRST staff. There will be no dock access for loading out of a crate, and no pallet jacks available to go out the front. No crates can be left behind or a disposal fee of $250.00 will be assessed.

THURSDAY PIT OPENING CHANGE

The pit will open at 7:30 am - not 8:00 am. The public agenda has been updated to reflect this at http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles...blicAgenda.pdf

Thank you all in advance.

We look forward to seeing you in Atlanta!

Go Championship Teams!

[GaryVoshol]

Where are all the expressions of glee?

This is exactly the kind of compromise that is needed. Thank you, FIRST.

[Aren_Hill]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Where are all the expressions of glee?

This is exactly the kind of compromise that is needed. Thank you, FIRST.

i was getting to it, lol THANK YOU FIRST!! (now what constitutes a safely stacked cart...) lol

[Justin Montois]

Teams provide input, FIRST responds. Well done, I wish they were more open to other change as well sometimes, but that's already been covered numerous times on this website.
Thanks FIRST for listening!

[Mr.G]

Jumping up and down.

Thanks

[Derek Bessette]

I think that this can process can be improved further.
I suggest the following for next season.
-Three wristbands per team.
-Uncrate your robot.
-Bring in your material with as many trips as you need.
-Set-up your pits.
-Do not work on the robot.

[Tonya Scott 476]

The new information says the 1 adult plus 3 other team reps (total of 4 people) can come in for load in.

The agenda still says only 3 people.

This causes a lot of confusion!!!

I hope that FIRST will update the change the agenda to reflect the changes.

It doesn't say if the 4 reps can carry things in???

I'm sure that the organizers have had to deal with a lot to keep this event going. Kudos to Steve Krowic and his people! (I'm sure I misspelled his name--sorry)

Steve was overly accomodating to us at the OKC regional---he was very open to our suggestions and requests. I'm sure the teams will have a great experience, and everyone will get to know each other a little better by being cozy!

See you in Atlanta.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Tonya Scott 476

The new information says the 1 adult plus 3 other team reps (total of 4 people) can come in for load in.

The agenda still says only 3 people.

This causes a lot of confusion!!!

I hope that FIRST will update the change the agenda to reflect the changes.

It doesn't say if the 4 reps can carry things in???

I'm sure that the organizers have had to deal with a lot to keep this event going. Kudos to Steve Krowic and his people! (I'm sure I misspelled his name--sorry)

Steve was overly accomodating to us at the OKC regional---he was very open to our suggestions and requests. I'm sure the teams will have a great experience, and everyone will get to know each other a little better by being cozy!

See you in Atlanta.

The email quoted above says

* One (1) adult mentor and (4) team members from each team will be allowed a single entry to the pits on Wednesday evening.

Does the (4) team members include the (1) adult mentor, or not? Is it 4 people or 5?

And in reply to Derek, limiting it to one trip and not setting up the pit helps make the crate removal easier. There's less traffic and less materials in the way. That's especially important this year with the reduced open space, but is likely a factor to consider any year.