Post-BSB - What worked, what didn't, what to do better next year!

[Louis L]

A list of items to address next year. The level of detail varies. Some have known answers, others need time to develop further. Not in any order of importance.

   
• Label and enforce route between pit and field. This is more of an issue with more teams, a deeper queue and more traffic.
• Label and enforce entrance and exit to/from the field. There are 4 gates on the field itself. 2 are to enter and 2 to exit. We should enforce them. It wasn't as big a deal playing 2-v-2 but at 3-v-3, there's much more traffic.
• Mark and enforce queue location. We only used a 1-deep queue. A 2-deep queue would require better robot placement.
• Mark and enforce robot cart placement.
• Better queue management. Queue volunteers need to be more aware of the state of the matches.
• Better communication tools (radios?) between all team members - field, pit, queue, etc.
• A/V, Music - need a dedicated DJ who knows how the FRC matches go and what it takes to keep the audience entertained
• Scavenger Hunt - an otherwise good idea but needs tweaking on execution. If there are questions of varying difficulty, put easier ones up front to give people hope! Use the display to show the question. Use the display to show the current status of responses.
• Game rules - Set aside a display of the rules of the game. This will serve late arrivals who missed the early challenge reveal video. Also do an annotated video for the nuances of the rules if needed.
• Emcee/announcer - need another set of emcee/announcer so they don't have to do it the entire day. Add team info into delivery - make cheat sheet with all team info up-front. Mention rules during play-by-play. Keep public informed.
• Presentation/flow-of-the-day - better use of the projector to show status and other information.
• Food - better guess of how much food to get?
  Only printed order forms - no downloads to confuse the the orders.
  Do we have enough cups for coffee?
  Get diet soda.
  Figure out a way to get large quantities of food on time.
  fruits/candy/donuts/coffee/soda - what sold, what didn't, what made money
  Need $1 bills
  This is the single most important item to consider next time.
• Activities - more emphasis, better management, more volunteers, more up-front planning. Had dozens of interested parents but did not get names/numbers.
• NHS Volunteers - better overall coordination, have things for volunteers to do, etc. Need volunteers who are committed to doing things.
• Volunteers - need to take better care of them. Do we need a volunteer lounge?
• Refs - better prep for referees.
• Field reset - better prep for field reset.
• Setup and Teardown - went pretty well. Need to make sure all parts are there! No need for set groups for certain functions.
• Tables - on return of tables, put them outside for easy pickup by Taylor.
• Gym floor covering - maybe have more covering next year?
• Team packet - make one.
• Communications - need walkie-talkies
• Advertising - simplier billboard. Nice picture but not good for billboard. Do more. Spread the load.