Over all I was pleased with Atlanta, but it could be even better with simple changes. Hopefully Atlanta and FIRST will listen to make it even greater next year. The Saturday Party was perfect I believe. Here’s my take on Atlanta, please let me know what everyone else thinks.
Good
-food much better than Houston’s (well, food I guess)
-Robots much closer to fields than Houston
-hotels were closer to event
-Party was awesome, best ever
Bad
-time from pits to stands was horrible (must be addressed), there were team members I never seen all day because of this.
-Most employees I ran into were not friendly
-Anywhere but the event and hotel was very unsafe after dark
-Our MC at Newton Division obviously was new to FIRST and knew little about the robots, Please pick people with some FIRST background.
I hope everyone had a great year and looking forward to next year already.
The worst part about the long trip from pits to stands was the georgia dome talking to you. That was very annoying when you were stuck slowly going down the huge escalator. Especially if you moved between the two places multiple times in the day.
I respectfully submit that you were not, in fact, served dog meat in Houston. Could you please try to be a little more respectful when you talk about a city that worked its butt off for 4 months so there would even BE a Nationals last year?
-Our MC at Newton Division obviously was new to FIRST and knew little about the robots, Please pick people with some FIRST background.
So true, I really wanted the 2 guys we had from our Florida Regional, they were awesome
I think if they would give some kind of walk way at field/pit level with a ramp into the stands without all the stairs it would be alot nicer and still keep a robot walkway to the field clear
Honestly I felt pretty safe, I dont think it was too bad, Atlanta has alot of bad rep that it doesnt deserve I liked it.
One thing that I did not like, was the fact that I was parked in Gold parking, under 200 feet from pit door, and on saturday when i was trying to cart out my tools they wouldnt let me go that way, and i had to pull around to the loading dock for no reason. When my car was actually parked closer to the door than the loading dock.
Personally we loved the announcer at Newton. It was pretty awesome with his crown interaction, even though he didn’t know a whole lot about the game he was very very funny. We talk about him all the time on the flight home etc… So we hope to have Mark Leon and Sir Charles Team up for the best announcing team ever at PNW next year that would be the best
Nate
The announcers always thought our robot followed the white line too. It really just sorta went out there and did it’s own thing. It was pretty funny because it would look like we were heading for the ball tee on the line, and then not quite get there and the announcers would yell about how we just missed the line.
Running back and forth, doing the scouting thing, I found it easier to just take the stairs than stand in line for the escalators… And man do my legs look great! I’ve decided that the Georgia Dome is my new fave alternative to the stairmaster.
I’m pretty tolerant when it comes to food, but you have to be kidding about the food in Houston. It was the worst food, not only at a robotics event, but that I’ve ever had. I can handle cold hot dogs and such, but a cold and mushy fish sandwich on a stale bun. Most of our team threw there food coupons out and waited till after the competitions to eat elsewhere. I know it wasn’t just our team, becasue I’ve seen about a thousand posts on this forum complaining about the same thing. There is no excuse for food like that when we have paid $10 a ticket for it and especially when you are feeding kids. Houston food was much better. Also, don’t forget it’s OK to complain about things like this so that we can improve and make things even greater for years to come.
The announcer was very funny, but made statements about the game and robots that were not even close to correct or game related. A combination of his crowd involvement with someone expierenced to FIRST would be awesome. I guess I’m spoiled because in Michigan we always get (forgot his name for some reason) the guy who knows all robots and there history over the last bazillion years.
I’m pretty tolerant when it comes to food, but you have to be kidding about the food in Houston. It was the worst food, not only at a robotics event, but that I’ve ever had. I can handle cold hot dogs and such, but a cold and mushy fish sandwich on a stale bun. Most of our team threw there food coupons out and waited till after the competitions to eat elsewhere. I know it wasn’t just our team, becasue I’ve seen about a thousand posts on this forum complaining about the same thing. There is no excuse for food like that when we have paid $10 a ticket for it and especially when you are feeding kids.
Jeez it was the best dam food ever. I loved the variety and the food booths had decent food. Then again the only food I ate inside the Georgia Dome was Nacho’s which were actually quite good for the price. The rest of the food I ate in the convention center which was probably 1000 times better. Nooo… I could have used those food coupons. As I have said before free starbucks.
I loved the variety and the food booths had decent food. Then again the only food I ate inside the Georgia Dome was Nacho’s which were actually quite good for the price. The rest of the food I ate in the convention center which was probably 1000 times better. Nooo… I could have used those food coupons. As I have said before free starbucks.