Championship 2011 - St Louis - Your Thoughts Please?

[santosh]

although i have a laundry list of things that I along with many other believe should be changed my real quick thoughts are:
concert on einstein to resume previous pit conformation
there is no green space for kids to screw around on
and dear god put up some signs on where to go for pits and stands (or lack thereof).

[Jimmy the Kidd]

Originally Posted by Chexposito

\

the airplane throwing competition was fun to watch though. especially the crowd reaction to them making it far (to the torn down devision field area) or to the awards stage

*cough*

I'll have to take credit for starting that...

[Mike Marandola]

Pros:
-The fields in the pit were cool so I could go see our robot fast between matches
-All of the free stuff!
-In a city with a national monument (The Arch)
-Jack Black in the i.am.first event video
-The Roboprom was cool, especially since Deadmou5 was there
-The comfortable seats in the dome
-The paper airplanes at the concert and Einstein
-Tons of close hotels
Cons
-uncomfortable pit field seating
-poor boxed lunch food
-pit field bleachers were a tad too small
-Hotel service was horrible (Holiday Inn Select)
-Many of the dome floors were sticky
-wearing safety glasses in the pit field bleachers while scouting was pretty annoying
-where was Morgan Freeman, I was told he walked around the pits but that's it?
-The First finale was pretty boring, we decided dinner was more fun and left after staying for about 20 minutes
-there could always be more free stuff!

So after attending both venues, I decided that I enjoyed Atlanta a lot more. I expected this due to the fact that this is the first year in St. Louis. I would only imagine the organizers will continue to learn from the previous year and get better.

[john.hobbins]

Our team (1241) had an amazing time on the Curie field. I cannot believe that we did not get it done (the job)! However, it goes to show you that anything is possible: what a confidence booster! I want to say that this division was strong, well played and organised - kudos to all teams. Regarding the stands, I found myself wondering what we would do if our team brought more than the 12 students? Looking ahead to next year, I am sure that we would bring a bus load, but, where would they sit? I have always thought that saving seats was ok, especially if your team was aggressive enough to seek out the seats. BUT, at worlds, there is not enough seats. Where should all the people go? Back to the matches; why was the ref calling pushing the opponent into the lane a penalty against the pushing robot? Most times, they did not call a single robot in violation of this rule when they themselves crossed the line? Anyway, I can't wait for the day to play Einstein...
Back in 2004, we were picked by team 60 and 33. We had the catcher robot with a very good human player...who remembers??? Team Hot remembers from the Michigan regional...don't you. You capped us just as the balls were dropping - GREAT STRATEGY!
Worlds 2004 -Wow, getting knocked out in the quarters because of the stick-it note that said our arm was touching the doubler ball
Anyway, we have already had several team meetings so that we prepare for next year!

[robobandmom]

The Championship event was a great competition, but like most events, it had its highs and lows.

The Highs

Lots of great hotels pretty close to the venue. We qualified Week 6 and nice hotels downtown were still available.

Impressive facility. I can understand why St Louis was chosen; the Edward Jones dome and convention center are nice, HUGE facilities.

Upper Deck seating for Einstein. We were on the upper deck and you could see and hear things pretty well.

Friday Night Concert. I went as a parent chaperone, and it was great. I'm not really a huge BEP fan, but the concert had lots of energy and the kids loved it. It was a fantastic bonus for the RCA winners that got floor passes. Our kids had a great time. It would have been nice if the teams that had to play in the pits for 2 of the 3 days got floor passes.

Vending machines for drinks. This seems like a little thing, but if you ask me not to bring outside drinks I expect to be able to get a drink easily...and I could.

The Lows
One area to enter the complex was difficult. In Atlanta you could enter thru the Dome and thru multiple sides of the convention center. I don't understand why you could only enter from one area.

Lack of trash cans. This has been mentioned, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that thought this was a problem. One day I carried trash to several overflowing trash cans before I finally just sat my trash down next to an overflowing can.

Three stalls. The 2 women's restrooms closest to the Newton field and pits had 3 stalls each. There was always a line...usually a long line. Why were some of the restrooms in the pits blocked off? Perhaps they were under construction, but we really could have used them.

Layout in the pits for robot traffic. When you entered the pit area, you were immediately crossing the robot lane to get to the dome. This was not safe. I am careful and pay attention so I didn't get clobbered, but I'd be surprised if no one else did. Maybe a crossing guard is needed.

Seating for the Pit Fields. The seating was terribly inadequate. If Championships continues to be run in this way, they will see a drop in attendance. I for one will not bring my family and will discourage extended family from coming. It was too difficult and uncomfortable to sit in the pit fields all day on Saturday. I would expect this to also effect large teams. You can't bring all your students and supporters if you don't have anywhere to put them.

[cluksic]

the fields and pit areas in the same place was cool. not a long walk and everything was nearby. the only thing about the championships is that saint louis is a dead town, not much at all to do or see.

[mgurgol]

I currently live in St Louis and it is not a dead town. Here is a link to 52 things to do in St. Louis to start with. There are plenty of things to do/visit in town if you are willing to look.

http://www.archcityhomes.com/2010/05...s-attractions/

[Debbie]

Originally Posted by mgurgol

I currently live in St Louis and it is not a dead town. Here is a link to 52 things to do in St. Louis to start with. There are plenty of things to do/visit in town if you are willing to look.

http://www.archcityhomes.com/2010/05...s-attractions/

That is a great link. I found a lot to do also... unfortunately.. i couldn't find the time to do any of them.. LOL I had really hoped to get to the zoo, especially since it is free... BUT.. some robots kept me too busy to do anything else...

[Shof]

Originally Posted by mgurgol

I currently live in St Louis and it is not a dead town. Here is a link to 52 things to do in St. Louis to start with. There are plenty of things to do/visit in town if you are willing to look.

http://www.archcityhomes.com/2010/05...s-attractions/

compare to new york city life, i think overall st louis is somewhat of a dead town with everything closing by 8-9pm. The closest subway near the dome closed by 5pm which is a bit strange considering subway here in the city closes around 11pm-12am. Making getting some food nearby around 7pm is a bit of a challenge

[EricH]

When you're comparing to a city that never sleeps, then yeah, you *might* have a point.

But you're comparing a city in the Midwest to a city that never sleeps, and you aren't looking anywhere near hard enough. Admittedly, I've heard that the Landing area near the arena is a place that maybe HS students don't want to go at night--even college students want to go in largish groups. But there are other places to go, within walking distance, that should be open. Like quite possibly the TGI Friday's over near the Capitol building would be open, some pizza places are quite probably open--and those are within walking distance.

[Pjohn1959]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

I was surprised when I heard that FIRST was willing to sanction a standing crowd during the concert. There was an incident a few years ago that caused FIRST to restrict that sort of activity. (I'm not sure where I stand on allowing/disallowing/not caring about that sort of behaviour at an FRC event.)

Well it happened at this concert as well. A student was dropped (crowd surfing) on a female mentor of a team that is a really good friend of ours. She was pretty badly hurt. I saw her in the hallway in our hotel later, and she had to be helped by 2 students just to get to her room. I understand the excitement of the concert, but there should have been some additional safety measures there to prevent this from happening at all.

[Cyberphil]

Although the event was proposed to be a complete disaster by some people, I was pleasantly surprised. This was only my second time to the championship event, but it was not far off from Atlanta in terms of overall quality of the event.

Goods:
The pit fields were very convenient and allowed students on the drive team to take a quick walk over and watch a few matches in between their own matches. They were also extremely exciting and filled with enthusiasm.
Edit:The college level competition was really interesting! Aftering hearing about it when it was first announced publicly, I was excited. Looks like this could be the next FIRST competition.
At least for us, our hotel, The Renaissance Grand, was right across the street from the Americas Center, and a 8 minute walk total to the pits. Could not have worked out better.
Loading and unloading was not bad (besides the rain). It seemed there was plenty of space for the teams to bring their stuff in and out.
I thought it was nice they fed us (Despite how basic it was) on Saturday after the closing. The St. Louis cookies were a nice touch!

Bads:
The stands for the pit fields NEED to be bigger. Significantly bigger! Two times what they had might be enough.
At least in the place in the pits where we were, the lane seemed very crowded. There was definitely not as much space as Atlanta, but with a few changes, I think they could make it work better.
The performance was pretty awesome, but it would've been nice to let some more people into the, "Mosh Pit," area (on a lottery basis or something) as it was kind of dead in there in most parts. I understand that there were smaller kids in there, but it was really calm where we were.
Edit: The only other complaint I had was the placement of the HOF booths. It seems they were figured out last minute where they would go, so they were put in a corner. Maybe this is bias because I was over there more than most people, but I think they should be celebrated a bit more.

Overall, a great experience. I am glad the negative feelings were proved wrong. Great job volunteers, planning committees, and FIRST!

[Dancin103]

Originally Posted by Cyberphil

Although the event was proposed to be a complete disaster by some people, I was pleasantly surprised.
Edit: The only other complaint I had was the placement of the HOF booths. It seems they were figured out last minute where they would go, so they were put in a corner. Maybe this is bias because I was over there more than most people, but I think they should be celebrated a bit more.

Overall, a great experience. I am glad the negative feelings were proved wrong. Great job volunteers, planning committees, and FIRST!

I definitely agree with Phil here. After seeing everything that Bill Miller was blogging I had visions of this event being a complete disaster, and for those of you who remember Houston in 2003, I thought it was going to be worse than that. I must say, I loved Championships in Saint Louis. I loved the intimate setting of the whole thing. I loved the two fields in the pits, although, the stands could have been bigger. My one BIG complaint is where the Hall of Fame teams were located. I feel as though the HOF area could have been placed in a different location in the pit area and more in the FRC area for teams to come and interact with the students more.

The performance was absolutely awesome! I thank the Black Eyed Peas and Will.I.Am for putting on such a fantastic show and for celebrating FIRST. It was also very gracious of FIRST to provide boxed dinners on Saturday as well.

All in all I felt like the event was great and I can't wait for next year!

Cassie Beck

[TD78]

Originally Posted by Dancin103

My one BIG complaint is where the Hall of Fame teams were located. I feel as though the HOF area could have been placed in a different location in the pit area and more in the FRC area for teams to come and interact with the students more.

Perhaps they could have been relocated to just outside the main FRC pit entrance (in the huge common area where people waited in the mornings to get into the pit)? Everyone would have to walk by them then! My only thought against it would be a possible fire hazard for mass exit from the pits?

Lots of positives from St. Louis makes me think next year will be even better. The issue of needing safety glasses to get to a field was a bit of a pain. Since I forsee pit fields in the future, perhaps the fields could be moved closer to the main entrances, and put the pits where the fields were this year? The side doors to the halls could have been better utilized, even if it required more volunteers and more safety glasses to distribute. Would have made the commute to the dome a little easier.

Other than the food at the after party being less than desirable and the mass confusion that was the after party, I thought everything at Championship was great!

[Bill_B]

Lots of thought fodder in this thread. I'd like to see some diagrams made to support some of the relocation ideas proposed. Want larger bleacher areas? where? Better routing? sketch out what you mean. No debris zones? how can that be laid out.

Hey, you're not designing a robot for a while, why not try your hand at "venue" design.