Posted by lucia Sevcik at 03/18/2001 7:07 PM EST
Other on team Leopards from Booker T. Washington sponsored by ExxonMobil.
I would like feedback from teams that attended the Lone Star Regional this past weekend. Pit Area, Team Party, Food issues (I know eating at the Astro Arena is expensive)but this is out of our control due to an exclusive contract the arena has with Aramark. I sent information to teams prior to the regional for eating places in the area. We know about the webcast from NASA. We almost didn’t have one but a big THANK YOU to the people that went the EXTRA MILE to make it happen. Game issues are handled directly by FIRST but as a regional coordinator I can give your feedback to them. Thanks.
Posted by Ed Sparks at 03/19/2001 1:46 PM EST
Engineer on team #34, The Rockets, from Bob Jones High / New Century High and DaimlerChrysler.
In Reply to: Re: Feedback on Lone Star Regional
Posted by lucia Sevcik on 03/18/2001 7:07 PM EST:
Hi Lucia !
I would like to personally thank you for all of the hard work I know you put into this event. I thought that the LoneStar Regional went very well and I had a blast (you may remember me if I told you I was the coach with the “Rocket through the head” cowboy hat).
Things I liked:
- The pit size was great.
- The isle width was great.
- The arena/facility was good.
- Lighting was good.
- I liked the seperation of the floor area from the crowd
- Proximity of the parking lot to the pits was fantastic.
- Matches flowed well.
- Good job with the party. (all of the glow-in-the-dark stuff was great!)
Things to improve:
- Paying to park wasn’t cool.
- Could not understand the announcements very well.
- Selection of food/prices.
- The Radisson was dissappointing (very bad condition).
- The playing field controller problems were unfortunate (FIRST’s problem).
I hope to see you again at next years LoneStar regional.
Ed
Team 34
Finalist 2001 LoneStar Regional (YEH!)
Posted by Kevin Sevcik at 03/19/2001 2:18 PM EST
Other on team #57, Leopards, from BT Washington and the High School for Engineering Professions and Exxon, Kellog Brown & Root, Powell Electrical.
In Reply to: Re: Feedback on Lone Star Regional
Posted by Ed Sparks on 03/19/2001 1:46 PM EST:
I already know the answer to some of these things, so I think I’ll post them and save her the trouble.
-Paying to park wasn’t cool
Yes, we know about the parking situation. It was enough trouble to try to get free parking for the volunteers and VIPs organized. I’m sure something is in the works for next year, but there’s only so much we can ask the AstroArena people to do.
-Could’t understand the announcements
Frankly, I wasn’t in the pits much at all, so I can’t really comment here, but I’m sure this will be taken under advisement, and we’ll try to improve the quality of annoucements next year.
-Selection of food/prices
Sorry, but there just plain isn’t anything that can be done about this. Aramark has an exclusive deal with the Astrodome complex that says they’re the only ones who can cater or sell food. Or something like that. I know that we couldn’t get another food vendor in there if we tried. About all I can do is point you to the McDonalds just down the street.
That’s about all I can really comment on. I don’t know a thing about the hotel situation, or the playing field controllers, though I did watch them consistently break a round or two after they were fixed.
Posted by lucia Sevcik at 03/19/2001 10:59 PM EST
Other on team Leopards from Booker T. Washington sponsored by ExxonMobil.
In Reply to: Re: Feedback on Lone Star Regional
Posted by Ed Sparks on 03/19/2001 1:46 PM EST:
: Hi Lucia !
: I would like to personally thank you for all of the hard work I know you put into this event. I thought that the LoneStar Regional went very well and I had a blast (you may remember me if I told you I was the coach with the “Rocket through the head” cowboy hat).
: Things I liked:
: - The pit size was great.
: - The isle width was great.
: - The arena/facility was good.
: - Lighting was good.
: - I liked the seperation of the floor area from the crowd
: - Proximity of the parking lot to the pits was fantastic.
: - Matches flowed well.
: - Good job with the party. (all of the glow-in-the-dark stuff was great!)
:
: Things to improve:
: - Paying to park wasn’t cool.
: - Could not understand the announcements very well.
: - Selection of food/prices.
: - The Radisson was dissappointing (very bad condition).
: - The playing field controller problems were unfortunate (FIRST’s problem).
: I hope to see you again at next years LoneStar regional.
: Ed
: Team 34
: Finalist 2001 LoneStar Regional (YEH!)
Ed,
Thanks for the kind words! Steve Alaniz and I do this for the kids. Not enough money in the world can replace those wonderful smiling faces and all the hugs.
I appreciate the feedback and will cover some of the issues with event people. If you could elaborate on the parking I can be emailed at lsevcik810@aol.com. I agree with you on the announcements, I assume you are referring to the pit announcements. I can take this back to the audio/visual people. I would appreciate more comments on the hotel. Were the rates too high for the service you received. Please email me on it. The food prices are high, that’s why we tried to offer alternatives. One solution is to get box lunches from AraMark for teams that are interested. This we can explore. Let me know your thoughts.
Posted by Ken York at 03/20/2001 9:42 AM EST
Coach on team #476, Adidarons, from Ponca City High School and Conoco Inc./Mertz Inc./ Smith International.
In Reply to: Re: Feedback on Lone Star Regional
Posted by lucia Sevcik on 03/18/2001 7:07 PM EST:
: I would like feedback from teams that attended the Lone Star Regional this past weekend. Pit Area, Team Party, Food issues (I know eating at the Astro Arena is expensive)but this is out of our control due to an exclusive contract the arena has with Aramark. I sent information to teams prior to the regional for eating places in the area. We know about the webcast from NASA. We almost didn’t have one but a big THANK YOU to the people that went the EXTRA MILE to make it happen. Game issues are handled directly by FIRST but as a regional coordinator I can give your feedback to them. Thanks.
Lucia first thanks to you and all your volunteers great job.
The lighting in the pits made it easy to work and you didn’t feel like you were in a hole all the time.
Would like to see a big screen or poster with results and rankings, may be a FIRST thing. Had trouble hearing annoucements also, maybe it’s cause I’m old. Needs resolution although did not miss any important things.
The food and drink issue needs to be resolved sometime. 3 bucks for a bottle of water? We bring our food with us and eat in the parking lot not only is it cheaper but much more nourishing, also gets us all outside away from the noise for a while.
Team Party good job I think the kids enoyed it even though we had some kids who did not want to join in. Maybe look at some other icebreaker events to get all involved.
Ken
Posted by Dana Hobbs at 03/20/2001 1:33 PM EST
Other on team #34, Bob Jones High School/ DaimlerChrysler Electronics, from Bob Jones High School and DaimlerChrysler Electronics.
In Reply to: Re: Feedback on Lone Star Regional
Posted by lucia Sevcik on 03/18/2001 7:07 PM EST:
Lucia,
FIRST of all, congratulations to you and Steve on being the recipients of the FIRST Volunteer Award. We appreciate you and all the time and hard work that goes into organizing an event of this size.
I wanted to comment on your request for feedback:
- Very, Very Dissatisfied with Radisson. “Group Unfriendly”. This is an issue I’ll address to The Moving Company.
- Disliked the smoke, understand it was for special effects with the lighting.
- Thought the staging area was to dark
- Felt FIRST should have a continuous seeding count. I suppose this is FIRST’s own fault because we have come accustomed to having this. Yes, we are spoiled!
- I was unprepared to pay for parking. I’m sure in the stack of emails I received from you and FIRST it mentioned it somewhere and I just failed to read it.
- Food cost, I paid $3.00 for a bottle of water.
Near and dear to my heart:
- You sitting with us during the some of the finals.
- Arena floor control. I would suggest to FIRST to have other event sites to look at the way you guys control robot traffic on and off of the playing field and staging area.
- Food was great at the party, our students had a great time. Loved the glow in the dark everything. It was obvious that alot of work went into this party.
- Pit size.
- Easy and close access to unloading the vehicles for the pits.
- Close parking to the event.
Personally I had a great time, I danced and cheered all three days, saw old friends and made new ones. I hope to see you at the Nationals and to attend the LoneStar Regional again next year.
Dana Hobbs
Team #34
Rocket City Robotics