The game/quiz idea is great, and I've seen teams do it as an activity and it's very effective. But the personalization of it is usually what makes it fun (a selfie contest that involves getting shots with different teams and mascots is a lot of fun). However it might lose some of its fun if it's turned into what they do before movies in the theater, with generic quizzes playing on the scoreboard.
I don't know about your competitions, but ours plays the animation a lot. And seeing it repeated over and over again would be super annoying. Maybe if someone created a short cut that people could go to on their phone to see the game animation and other important links. I don't know, but putting it on repeat to fill the silence seems like overkill.
If we end the blue alliance, red alliance chant, someone will make a new one that will become the adopted chant. That particular one's nice because everyone knows it, so three different teams could be cheering simultaneously and it becomes a group effort. In all honesty, I'd like to see an end to the super long, confusing chants that no one can ever tell what's being said because it just seems like extra noise. Yes, the repetition should stop because hearing it over and over again is awful. This could be solved by someone making generic cheers that everyone could adopt, and more of them so that if someone wants to chant they have a myriad of things already available, and wouldn't always default to red alliance.
But overall, I don't think the dances and songs have to stop. Sports games do them, and that's basically what we're emulating. Reiterating my previous point, more variety in the songs, dances, and games might make them more bearable for people who aren't into them and more enthusing for people who are.One thing I saw at GTR Central and North Bay was they would play videos made by teams. For example, Team 4001 made a music video “It’s all about the totes” that got played presumably at every regional they showed up at.
We also saw safety videos and videos from other teams (including FRC Rhapsody). I thought this was neat, and inspiring. So if you want to help shake things up, encourage your team to make a video!
Between both teams and announcers, it can get very confusing when people refer to the game pieces variously as totes, containers, RCs, litter, noodles, crates, bins, barrels, garbage cans, yellow totes, coop totes, “cooperation” totes, cans, et cetera. Can we get some consistency (especially from the announcers)?
Edit: Regarding chanting “red/blue alliance”, it’s very similar to chanting “Let’s go Huskies [or insert other team name here]”.
Both of these were also played in Las Vegas during Playoffs field timeouts. I know I enjoyed them.
I usually go by the manual
Litter
Yellow totes
Grey totes
Recycling containers
Step
Scoring platform
Tote chute
Auto zone
Landfill
Those are the manuals words and what I think the words announcers should use.
One way to confuse the public less is to simplify the scoring rules when explaining them. “Each grey tote stacked is worth 2 points, and if there is a recycling container on top that triples the score of that stack, and if there is a pool noodle in the container then it is worth 6 more points.” That explains the game well enough for an observer. and occasionally say “If they can stack four yellow totes on the center step that is worth 40 points for both teams.”
I got the chance to walk a seventh grader who had heard of FIRST but hadn’t experienced it first hand through the semi-finals and finals at the Sacramento Regional. Seeing the joy on his face when he saw what robotics was like for the first time was amazing. He loved the dancing and the craziness (as well as the pool noodle range)- it’s a window into an important part of the experience for other teams, and a great reminder that FIRST is more than an engineering competition. The pits were closing and people were packing out, but there were still things to check out. This is a cool way to show outsiders an element of the “fun” side of things, and to keep it light.
Yes, no more dancing. Robots is serious business :rolleyes:
To the people in the pits (who are usually the most vocal CD users) it is to the general FIRST public they’re there for fun so to be honest this thread is really us being a bunch of grumpy killjoys (me included. I can go hide if they start playing the Chicken Dance). Let the people who tend the robots do their thing and let the people who are there to enjoy the show, enjoy the show including the part that doesn’t involve robots.
One cool crowd activity they did at the Wilsonville District in 2014 was a single-elimination rock-paper-scissors tournament. I think it was to fill a field timeout (so the MC could plan it ahead a bit), but basically he got everyone to stand up, and you would play someone near you, and sit down if you lost. Eventually it ended with the top 4 playing off in the middle of the field.
Not related to FRC or the teams, but it was a fun break and nice alternative to 2 more dance songs.
I really like the idea of this. I think an improvement in the pit would be having more calls for match cueing. At Hub City, our alliance partner almost missed the match due to “last call for match ___” not ever being said. Same goes with Dallas. The Pit Admin called “Cueing for match ___” once and never followed up until the next match is being cued.
the games themselves are quite confusing, but we can’t really get rid of those
noooo not the Macerena :’(
On a different note; these competitions are not done for the bystanders, but for those who spent an inordinate amount of their time building a robot and want to have fun at these events. and let me tell you, after 2 hours straight of sitting, scouting matches, a dance break is more than welcome (especially at districts- those darned bleachers hurt!). Part of the atmosphere of FIRST is having fun at events, being serious only when needed and having fun the rest of the time. and awards cannot necessarily be given in between matches; if not given at the end of the event, some teams’ improvements/cool stuff they do cannot be seen until near the end.
I could also go off on a tangent about how much I dislike your petition to end the shouting of robot, because that was another thing I liked about the atmosphere of FRC competitions, but that’s for another place
As someone who probably hasn’t danced at an FRC competition since 2009 (my freshman year of HS), I think it’s obvious the effect it has on the energy level of the students and the competition. As odd as it is to have so much dancing at a robotics competition, removing it I believe would be detrimental to the impact that FRC has.
Yes, I liked the fact that showing up at an FRC event felt like going to any other sporting event like a hockey tournament, complete with silly music, sound effects, cheering, the wave, and so on.
Anything that makes STEM seem like a fun party time is a good thing, I think.
My local university used to broadcast courses on a cable TV channel. One that I would periodically tune into was some civil engineering course where the project was to build a bridge out of popsicle sticks. The prof would then load-test each bridge design to see how much weight it could handle before catastrophic failure. It was fun to watch - sort of - the guy was your typical dry stuffy prof and there was obviously mostly silence as he did the work in front of a quiet classroom. Your average jr high or high schooler would have got bored and switched the channel pretty quick.
Compare that with the energy levels at an FRC regional.
I think this thread went off bad. The op was never saying to ban dancing just to mix it up a bit.
3 years we got rid of our VIP program for the Chesapeake Regional and created a visitor program that allows visitors (including VIPs) to pick what they want to see and how much time they want to spend. We have menus, trained student and adult ambassadors, and have branded this “FIRST Stop”. Stops can include sitting with an ambassador field side for a few matches, following an inspector, getting a tour of the NASA machine shop, visiting FLL/FTC/Jr.FLL, doing a round with a safety advisor, sitting with a team, talking with volunteers. It personalizes the visits, gives the “behind the scenes” look and the visitors leave understanding a lot more about the culture of FIRST (including all the dancing). It has been very well received.
A FRC event can be a confusing place for the uninitiated.
I think the single thing that would make matches less confusing for the public is for the announcers to use team names instead of numbers. (And of course for the names to be displayed as prominently and visibly as the numbers currently are.) Team numbers just aren’t memorable for most people (with a few exceptions like 2468).
As a game announcer, I’d dispute that some teams made their numbers all that prominent! :rolleyes: It’s actually in our training to pair the number with what will help the crowd keep up with the action…but part of that social contract is that teams have to give us something to work with! I’d love it if every team had a sick color scheme or was loud about their sponsors or just had a neat gimmick. Instead, (and I link to one of my past robots because I’ve been guilty too), we ship plain robots. (We did fancy that one up in the pits, to our credit.) It’s something to work on for a lot of teams.
With the dancing, I see why FIRST generally does it that way: it keeps the energy level high versus starting and stopping as awards tend to be. Championship is different–more speakers force the hand, plus awards in the past–but Championship also has 100% of HQ’s focus, planning, and manpower to pull it off. The rest of us are amateurs. 
I do like using the scoring display for more timeout detail than the field timer can display. Alliance timeout vs. field timeout, perhaps a backup team countdown, things like that. I know most events I attend have kids dancing on screen during a timeout, so it’s not like it’s running over a sponsor roll every time–but if so, just block out a safe area and plan accordingly. Easy!
I like that this thread has not taken a turn toward overly opinionated viewpoints, and has not focused only on the dancing. Really, we’re answering the question of “Who exactly is Joe Public and what does he think of our program?”
I like some of the suggestions brought forth so far.
I like Koko Ed’s suggestions. I could do without the Macarena and the Chicken Dance song. These are the two that really make me feel like “What is this and where is the robotics competition?” when I walk in the doors.