[FRC BLOG] This isn't a Robot, Housing, and Throwing Things

FIRST General Forum
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FRC Blog post. Posted on 12/22/16.

FIRST Championship Housing

Championship housing opened last week, and for the most part, seemed to go fairly smoothly. A few folks, though, had questions about availability and pricing, and I want to see if I can help answer those.

Just like in any other cities, if there is a big convention in town, room prices rise. We’re bringing tens of thousands of participants to both Houston and St Louis. All these folks want good quality housing near the venues. Prices will go up at desirable properties, it’s a basic supply and demand situation. We do however, negotiate prices with hotels that want to be part of our hotel blocks. Their incentive to negotiate is that they want attendees to be able to easily find their rooms. We use this as leverage to reduce prices. However, that leverage is not unlimited. So, if you compare prices at some of the hotels during a non-peak period with prices during Championship, it’s not surprising that they may be higher during Championship. However, it’s unlikely you will be able to find a group of rooms at the same hotel during the same time period for less than you can get by going through our housing provider. Maybe not impossible, but unlikely.

Also, not every hotel in the area is available to every attendee through our housing provider. Some may have decided not to be part of our block, some may not have had the quality we were looking for, and some may be reserved for other programs, volunteers, or staff. We try to allocate rooms to the participants in a way that makes sense for all. As an example, FIRST Tech Challenge participants have access to hotels closer to Union Station in St Louis where most of their activities are being held, while FIRST Robotics Competition teams do not. FIRST LEGO League Jr teams, while they are fewer in number, get access to some very close hotels, as we want to minimize walking and travel times for our youngest (and, BTW, most adorable :slight_smile:) participants. Staff and volunteers also get closer hotels, as they tend to be on their feet constantly during what can be some incredibly long days. And tired, cranky staff and volunteers do not create positive experiences for teams.

I hope all this makes sense. The system isn’t perfect, but we do try to do the best we can with the resources we have and our understanding of the situation.

Throwing Things

We’re making it official for the 2017 season. It will be against the rules to throw things from the stands or bleachers at our events. Paper airplanes count as things. As well as being a safety hazard, throwing paper airplanes can be disrespectful, depending on what is happening on the field. We probably should have put this rule in place years ago, but I hope we can now count on you to help keep our events safe and respectful.

Frank

*Yes, the voiceover says ‘hydraulic’ when they probably meant ‘pneumatic’ or just ‘mechanical’. Please listen for the poetry, not the precision.

Wow, looks like paper airplane throwing finally against the rules.

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"We’re making it official for the 2017 season. It will be against the rules to throw things from the stands or bleachers at our events. Paper airplanes count as things."

Oh boy here we go

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So now are they going to schedule things so that we don’t have to sit at Einstein for long periods of time doing nothing?

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Thank goodness for FIRST coming to their senses and making throwing things against the rules. It was so ridiculous watching Einstein this year with the field getting bombarded with paper airplanes.

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Throwing Things

We’re making it official for the 2017 season. It will be against the rules to throw things from the stands or bleachers at our events. Paper airplanes count as things. As well as being a safety hazard, throwing paper airplanes can be disrespectful, depending on what is happening on the field. We probably should have put this rule in place years ago, but I hope we can now count on you to help keep our events safe and respectful.

Frank

In case I haven’t said this enough…
**
FRANK, YOU’RE THE MAN.**

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For those curious here is the link to what the first part of the blog title is referencing, and what the asterisk is for.

Also shout out to 1065 and 5872 for representing Florida in the video. (If you are a Florida team and I missed you sorry)

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Thanks Frank! Yes we all can grow up and be a little mature and show respect and gracious professionalism at FIRST events. If anyone of you are bored at the events, please bring your favorite book or coloring book and keep yourself busy!

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  • talk with teammates about cool matches you seen
  • discuss upcoming matches and make predictions
  • reflect on what your team could have done to make it to Einstein
  • plan out dinner for the evening
  • play games on phone
  • bet on whether will.i.am will be allowed in the building…

The list goes on.

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Beautiful video. I agree as Frank mentions in the post, that the poetry is the device that gets the message across. Thanks for linking the video for those who have yet to see it.

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TSIMFL?

(Locked) :smiley:

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Huge +1. I sat and watched all of Einstein this year and I was never once bored.

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You obviously didn’t have to sit through Einstein 2015. :rolleyes:

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I may or may not have been spotted with a sudoku book–and a pen–in my hands at one or more events…
I may or may not have seen someone watching Holy Grail on a laptop in the stands some years back…
I may or may not have reading material in my backpack at any given event…
Ditto for a deck of cards…

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+1

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Will the enforce this any better than no seat saving?

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It may be a little bit easier to enforce. It’s a little more obvious when UFOs are spotted airborne. Identifying the originator(s) may be a little less easy than spotting violations, but a couple of announcements of “Will the persons throwing paper airplanes from Section XYZ please cease and desist before event staff arrives to enforce cleanup” ought to do the trick.

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The bigger story here should be the video. It really is great (if you can get past the “hydraulic arms” part), its captures how powerful a tool FIRST can be for positive change, and why I support the program. I think they finally got their messaging figured out, now how do we spread this message farther.

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It’s really cute how people think that there won’t be paper airplanes everywhere just because there’s a rule about it now. :rolleyes:

Maybe if FIRST had said something 6 years ago when it first happened, there was a shot at that, but at this point they’re closing the stable door well after the horse has bolted

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So does this also mean no more beach balls bouncing around the stands?

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They are things. So yes. No beach balls.

I’d also like them to make a point of mentioning lasers. For the past 2 years there has been a small group firing lasers around the dome. It hasn’t gone unnoticed though they might think it has.

Finally - it’s time to print up some signs and hang them at the entrances to the stands.

FRC Rules in the Stands

  1. No throwing things.
  2. No saving seats.
  3. No lasers.
  4. Clean up after yourselves!

Then folks who are having trouble remembering the rules can be given a gentle reminder. We shouldn’t need this sort of thing, but it’s pretty clear that mentors from some groups simply don’t keep a close enough eye on their team members. Finally - stop giving out so many copies of the programs, etc. Have them where they can be picked up, in the pits, by people who want them. That will deprive a lot of people of their ammo.