although this thread has been made before, our team is currently looking into getting an off season tournement going and i was wondering if anyone give us some tips and ideas of how to get one started.
any advice or ideas would be most helpful
also this can be a place to get new ideas for off-season events flowing
thanks!!!
We posted a white paper in the ‘misc’ section that has all the details about the 2004 IRI. You can pick and choose what you would like to have included in your event.
You might also PM or Email Libby Ritchie from 393. She helped lead a forum at Atlanta on starting your own tournament.
First thing you need to do is round up resources!
You need money, equipment (audio, video), PEOPLE, and most important you need a good venue!
Good Luck!
I’m also trying to help organize this, but we have to decide where our pits will be…so what is better: more cramped pits with very short walks to and from field or larger pits with a short walk and a couple of ramps (all indoors) to the field? Thanks,
-Diobsidian
Yes.
Lots of factors in running an off season competition, but the key thing before doing anything is see if there is a need to do so. It may sounds just complete fun to do an off season event, but make sure you got enough teams who will participate before you invest the time and resource in it.
For example, in California we do California Games in the fall. FIRST teams in the area can take advantage of the event and introduce their new member as well as their school administration to the competition. It is especially valuable to rookie team who never been in a competition before.
Once you discover the need for an event, may it be in the summer or fall, that’s when you figure out 2 important things: Location and time.
Depending on the colleges you have around your area, you may be able to set it up at a community college. High School gym will be ok if you have the necessary pit space. The key is to make sure you have enough space for the field, the pit area, and enough seats for audience.
Then you should look at dates. Try not to have them on major holiday, religious holidays, or test dates. For sample, Jewish holiday and SAT days will be bad days for you.
After those two factor, you have to figure out how much money you need to get a field to the event, be it shipping from FIRST, or build your own. You have to count costs for carpets as well.
Now that the easy part is done, here are the hard parts:
Registration system for teams to sign up and pay entry fee.
Schedule the agenda of the day and stick to it.
Lay out the pit area so teams have enough space to work in them.
Find volunteers to inspect robots, ref the matches, score the matches, queue the teams, and coordinate the volunteers.
Food for participating teams, such as concession or BBQ.
Signage for the event.
A/V system such as a projector and a big screen, or paper score boards.
Music with a DJ.
Awards for teams.
Judging of the awards.
Field setup and tear down.
Clean up the place so it is as clean as it was before the event.
And finally:
Learn what you did wrong, what can be better, and repeat the steps above except next time you do it better and better.
Good luck! Post more specific questions if you got them. Otherwise it is hard to cover everything.
Organization. Period, end of story.
Why has RiverRage lasted so long? Because the RR Planning Committee works year-round to make sure that everything is in it’s place and everyone knows what they’re doing. More importantly, they empower eachother to get stuff done, which makes them feel confident in what they’re doing, which creates a vitruous circle. Im sure that the other off-seasons that have been around for a while are run the same way.
Choose a core group of people to help you out. Keep communication really open and clear, just like you should at any robot meeting, and you’re sure to get things done more efficiently and effectively than you would any other way. And dont forget to empower eachother…give people tasks, congratulate them often, show that their input is important all the time.
It’s like aerobic vs. anaerobic activity. A few amount of people doing an activity that’s unplanned, just like sprinting, is anaerobic, and can only last for a short amount of time. But A lot of people working together and communicating well to create a planned event is like when you’re jogging, an aerobic activity, which allows the runner (or the group) to last longer.
You might also consider volunteering at another off-season event and ask to ‘shadow’ the leader or someone very involved. Ask to be a part of the planning and organizing meetings, and also a part of the after event discussions on what went well and what could be improved.
You will learn far more by ‘doing’ than by ‘reading’ and make some new friends while you’re at it.
just a suggestion… try to get in touch with team 1083, Emoticons… they have done an awesome job of running "robot rodeo (Florida offseason competition) last year… and also they are organizing it this year… they would give you great advice…
Levin571,
If you plan on going to the Blitz this weekend, you could follow me around a little bit and I’ll discuss with you the different items you’d need, and how/where to get them.
I learned a lot about how to run offseason competitions by volunteering at many of them last year (2003): PARC, Springfield Demo, BC@WPI, & IRI