New England Teams - this email was sent to team contacts earlier this week, we are looking for your input & ideas on what YOU would like to see at the NE CMP!!
(Also any non-NE teams that have attended the Boston Regional in the past - we would love for you to take the Boston Regional Feedback part of the survey, especially in terms of travel, so that we have some more data on what went well and what we can improve!)
Thanks!!
Hello New England Teams!
It looks like you are all ramping up quickly for the 2014 FRC Season! With 154 teams registered and 10 events across New England, this is sure to be an amazing season for us all!!
As you all plan for the upcoming season, we hope that everyone is getting excited for the New England Championship which will be held at Boston University’s Agganis Arena (the prior home of the Boston Regional) on April 10-12. We have some amazing new plans for the event that will make it the biggest and best FIRST event ever held in New England, but we are looking for your input!!
We would like at least one student and one mentor from each team to fill out the following survey:
Please be aware that this is just a way for us to gather team perspectives on the New England Championship event. All official communications will be done through http://www.nefirst.org/ or http://www.usfirst.org/. And a quick reminder, that all 10 events will need volunteers, so any interested team members & family should sign up in VIMS today!!
I sent one in for 1099’s student side. Our team has been the only CT team to be going to the Boston Regional for years (I have been around for 3 times now, but I think the team has gone 6 years in a row). Hopefully our input is helpful.
The Boston Regional location was a great choice due to their areana atmosphere. Every match seems is so professional, and the finals every year get more and more suspenseful. This year every seat and stair was packed and everyone was on the edge of their seat. It was spectacular to be in such an environment.
My only concern (which I voiced alot. Was that with the 50 teams we had this year, and that are normally there, its tight!) The pits are not a full 10 x 10, the aisles are a bit small, and seating can get packed during eliminations.
Im hoping they have a plan to change this so that if more than 50 teams are at NE champs, we actually have room to work and be safe.
We welcome multiple responses from teams! We don’t need every single team member, but 5-6 per team would be great, as you often get different opinions and perspectives from different people, and at least in the comments and what you would like to see sections, it gives us new ideas for improvement.
As for the space issues, we unfortunately cannot make the venue itself any larger, but aside from going to a convention style layout (ie CT) where seating is often a major issue, Boston does have an amazing setup. More details will come in the online welcome packets and future communications, but note that we do have some exciting new ideas of how to maximize the space we have, and let’s just say in our walkthrough with the Agganis staff we are now likely to use nearly every available space and room to help us spread out and add new features!!!
Safety & utilization of space are definitely our top priorities, so know that they are being worked. This is why YOUR input is important, though, if there are things in the past you have liked or not liked, or ideas you have for improvement, let us know!!
To date, we have received 68 responses, from 51 different teams, so make sure any teams you know get in there and submit
Can I ask: Is the hallway around the whole arena that is at the top of the stairs going to be used for pits?
The hallway is really wide and really long(BIG Pits), but theirs a huge issue of bringing the robot down to the areana floor. I know there’s a giant elevator but that could potentially be a huge slow down point especially for those teams running to their match because their late, or for fixes needed during eliminations.
Ask away! The upstairs concourse is going to be used for Sponsors, Scholarships, Vendors, Food Service and Robotics Companies. The Pits will be located where they always were down on the Ice Level. On the Concourse level there would be an issue with providing power, providing safe exits, the ceiling height and protecting the floors. For these reasons and that there would be a distinct disadvantage (queing time, access to practice field/spare parts/machine shop) if we placed any teams on that level. All of the Pits will remain on the Ice level.
I’m guessing that many of these questions are aimed at fitting more teams into the NE CMP. We are currently approved for 53 teams, which is actually 33% of the NE District. MI takes 64 teams (27%), MAR 54 teams (52%), PNW 64 teams (42%), so you can see we are right in line with the number of teams at each CMP, and in the middle in terms of percentages.
The layout for the event will be mostly the same as the Boston Regional. We are doing what we can to increase the number of seats with a view of the field if possible (also somewhat depends on the 2014 field design), and are looking at ways to provide storage so that teams don’t have to keep “stuff” in the stands taking up seating space. We will be working to add a lot more small features (Robotics Company Row, Mentors Lounge, Alumni Event, etc).
Very happy to hear that the upstairs concourse will be used this year. Its always been so empty.
Also I’d love to be MAR, where each team has a 52% chance on reaching the next level, district champs. My opinion, MI is to low and PNW is close to perfect. 40% would be my perfect number (just opinion)
