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Qualifying Events 2007Welcome to the FIRST LEGO League tournament for Washington State. This information will help you plan your day with us. Advancement InformationThe purpose of the regional events is to provide all teams with an outstanding FIRST experience. Every team has a great opportunity to shine at its regional event. The event is also used to determine which teams are eligible to advance to the state championship in Bellevue, WA. The advancement criteria are as follows. Each regional will determine 5 teams who are eligible to advance to the state championship. The winners of the following qualification awards advance
The Tri-Cities event is substantially larger than all of our other regional qualifiers. Because of the number of teams competing is 50% larger than other regionals, the Tri-Cities event will be sending a total of 7 teams to the state championship. The two additional teams will be awarded a wildcard entry by the judging teams based on their subjective determination of the two most qualified teams among those were not awarded another qualifying award. General InformationAll of our events run using the same basic format. The exact scheduled times are different, but the approximate schedule is as follows All venues: December 1st, 2007 Times for all venues, except Tri-Cities
The Tri-Cities event will have a different start time
LocationsThere are 6 locations for the regional qualifiers.
Edmonds Regional
Richland Regional
Seattle Regional
Moses Lake Regional
Issaquah Regional
Des Moines Regional
Who can attendThe events are open to the general public. The event is being hosted in gyms and cafeterias. There should be room for everyone, and we don't want to discourage anyone from attending. However, in practicality, the venues only seat a limited number of people. So, we ask that each team consider informing the parents that the contest area is going to be crowded. The spectator portion of the contest doesn't begin until after the lunch break. The contest is also a long day, so small children may not be able to handle a 6 hour day in a crowded gym. The bottom line: Bring your team. Bring your coaches. Bring those who are heavily involved and interested. As for entire families and other casual spectators, perhaps some nice pictures and a private demonstration would be a good idea. Team ChecklistAll of the events require you to bring the following
Team RegistrationThe pit area will have a registration table. Your team leader needs to check in at this table. You need to bring to the registration table:
When you register, you will be provided with a day schedule that has the time slots for your teams judging sessions and contest times. Your team needs to be at your pit table 15 minutes prior to any scheduled judging or contest time. A FIRSTWA volunteer will come to collect your team approximately 15 minutes before your scheduled event. Coaches MeetingThere is a short informational meeting before things get started. We ask that only the primary coach for each team attend. We will be making any last minute schedule changes, announcements, and words of encouragement at that time. This meeting will only last about 10 minutes. Being on time for such a short meeting is critical. The Pit AreaYour team will be assigned a pit table. This is a conference room table that has your team number on it. This is your teams home base. Space at a FIRST event is always at a premium. Please try to conserve space by fitting into your teams pit area. The pit area is where your team will be based. Your team needs to be at your pit table 15 minutes prior to any scheduled judging or contest time. A FIRSTWA volunteer will come to collect your team approximately 15 minutes before your scheduled event. The pit area has a limited number of power outlets. If you have a laptop computer available for doing your onsite programming, please insure that the batteries are charged the night before. We will make every attempt to accomodate the electrical needs of all teams. However, there are going to be limits on what we can do. Bringing your own charged computer batteries, and being sensible on computer usage during the day would really help us out. JudgingJudging sessions require a 15 minute time slot. The judging, which is done in a classroom elsewhere in the school, will involve our taking your team to a panel of judges where the team will spend about 10 minutes on the current topic. Your team will be returned to your pit table. The Project presentation: The presentation is expected to be approximately 5 minutes in length, leaving 5 minutes for the judges to ask questions. Your team should bring whatever materials are needed for your presentation. There is no multi-media support. Our experience is that PowerPoint presentations and video presentations require too much time overhead to setup, and are prone to failure. You should rely on posters, paper, etc. The Robot Design Judging: Robot Design judging involves your team bringing along your robot and its attachments. Your team will have an interactive session with the judges. The judges are looking for design, construction, and team knowledge about the design. The judging will be about 10 minutes long. Your team needs to be at your pit table 15 minutes prior to any scheduled judging or contest time. A FIRSTWA volunteer will come to collect your team approximately 15 minutes before your scheduled event. Some teams will only have 10 minutes between events, and should try to organize themselves to make the transition with a minimum amount of fuss. CleanupAfter the final robot contest, we will have a short break in which the teams are expected to clean up their pit area in preparation for the end of the day. The Awards CeremonyAt the end of the day, we will hold an awards ceremony. Your team members will receive a participation medallion. All participants will receive this medallion. Your team may or may not receive additional awards based on scoring or judging. |
