Hi all,
Our team will be hosting a VRC at our school in early February, and I was wondering what to expect. Does anyone have any insights into what to expect? Common pitfalls hosts might encounter? Or just your experience in general?
Excited to see your replies! 
(sorry if this is formatted oddly, this is my second post)
I would recommend posting on the Vex Forum for help about this. Even better would be the event staff channel on the Unofficial discord server so you can avoid the censorship on the forum and get faster response times.
Hi! I’ve run a VRC Competition before and am pretty well-versed in all of the logistics, from the beginning to the prep for the following year.
The biggest thing I’ve learned is definitely the importance of having a team of people you can rely on throughout the entire process—think of it as some sort of committee. You will be the brains and heart of the event, and you’ll have a larger team that will help shape how you want your event to run. Assign areas of expertise to each person on the committee and make sure to actively communicate progress. Try holding weekly meetings and task updates. For your staff/volunteers, it’s also key to keep them engaged with the event to get more buy-in, build excitement, and potentially have them invite others to help. They might even go above and beyond by finding food or monetary donors.
Another huge thing is to make it memorable and enjoyable for everyone. It’s not common for high school students (or younger) to run competitions, so it really is a unique experience. Making the most out of it with a team you’ve developed a strong bond with makes the experience as organizers a lot more seamless, and your audience and participants will feel that.
There are also a lot more specific, tangible logistics that come with event planning! You need to figure out your event location (high school, function hall, hangar, etc.), dates, and team capacity (other than making sure you have enough space for X number of teams, check the location’s power output; teams will draw a lot of power, and you want to avoid power shortages). You’ll also need certified volunteers (without them, you can’t run the event), such as a certified head referee and judge advisors. Both can be challenging to locate and require a lot of local networking with teams to find adults who are certified or willing to complete the online course before your event.
These are the primary essentials I can think of, but there are many more details to consider.
I’d love to chat more about it if you have additional questions. If your team needs specialized support, feel free to DM me! I’m open to setting up time to chat over Zoom or email. Best wishes to you all!