Ohio 2013

[chalker7]

I'd have to say it went very well, although there were a few little bumps, (for example a piece of caution tape strung across the rotor egg drop landing zone tore apart my rotors)

Those will be pulled back further at Nationals. There was a class for the university that had to have access to the lecture hall behind the stairwell yesterday, preventing us from roping the whole area off. That class won't be in session in May.

[earthbot25]

Here's the complete PDF of all the results (in both team number and rank order version;) from the WSU Invitational
http://db.tt/BQvyws6T

Would love to hear feedback (both positive and negative) on the tournament so we can make appropriate changes for Nationals.

Everything seemed pretty great, except my team got really lost finding the Nutter Center. We ended up trekking through the woods, and then going in a circle, and then the wrong direction before finding out we were supposed to head to the Nutter center that was along the highway. The map of campus seemed to contradict google maps. But we made it just as they announced anatomy so yay!

[A Person]

Everything seemed pretty great, except my team got really lost finding the Nutter Center.

I agree with the difficulty of finding things. There seemed to be too many doors without signs posted. But I think that the University was a great place to host. Lunch was pretty hectic, though.

[jgrischow1]

Here's the complete PDF of all the results (in both team number and rank order version;) from the WSU Invitational
http://db.tt/BQvyws6T

Would love to hear feedback (both positive and negative) on the tournament so we can make appropriate changes for Nationals.

Thanks for providing this. Will the spreadsheet be available as well, like last year?

[Orange714]

Our team went to Wright State but left before the Awards, will they ship the results/medal/tests to us? And when?
Thanks so much for posting the pdf results too!!

[Luo]

Our team had a very positive experience at the invitational. We had ample space in our homeroom, all of the events ran smoothly, and signage around campus was very good, making it easy to find each building. As I discussed with chalker yesterday, a few specific events had issues, such as the Circuit Lab exam (which included topics explicitly prohibited in rule 3d) and Thermodynamics (with an unfair hot water distribution method). Since different people will be running the events at Nationals, I assume this will not be an issue. The Wright State students who volunteered at certain events seemed somewhat confused, and if they are utilized again at Nationals, I hope they will have more comprehensive training or else not be in roles directly related to the administration of an event.

We thought that the awards ceremony went very well. The announcers were clear and enthusiastic, and the ceremony proceeded at an appropriately rapid pace. The picture-taking for each award worked well too, especially with Division B/C staggered and on opposite sides of the stage.

The lunch situation was quite chaotic. During the 11:45-12:30 block set aside for lunch, everyone converged on the Student Union cafeteria at the same time, causing overcrowding and lines/waits that were sometimes 30+ minutes long. Several students who had an event at 12:30 arrived at the cafeteria at 11:45 intending to eat a quick lunch, but ended up eating no lunch at all after waiting in lines for 40 minutes and then having to run off to their event. I didn't have an event at 12:30, so I stayed later, and I noticed that the cafeteria was drastically emptier by 1:00. At Nationals, I would recommend opening up another cafeteria (such as the Hangar, which was open on Friday but closed on Saturday) or encouraging people to eat their lunches during the 10:45 or 12:30 blocks if they don't have an event during that time.

Overall, the invitational was extremely enjoyable and very well-run. Kudos to the Chalkers and everyone else involved in making it a fun and satisfying experience. The National Tournament is going to be awesome!

[Skink]

So my friend and I are at wright state right now, and we conducted a little experiment...
It turns out that the score board that displays how many events remain to be scored is a huge hoax!
It's just a loop that automatically counts one down every 140 seconds. And people cheer like fools every time it counts down

I'm infinitely curious. What, exactly, did this look like?

[Luo]

So my friend and I are at wright state right now, and we conducted a little experiment...
It turns out that the score board that displays how many events remain to be scored is a huge hoax!
It's just a loop that automatically counts one down every 140 seconds. And people cheer like fools every time it counts down

I'm infinitely curious. What, exactly, did this look like?

http://i.imgur.com/1pUsB.jpg

[Mr Sarcastic]

So my friend and I are at wright state right now, and we conducted a little experiment...
It turns out that the score board that displays how many events remain to be scored is a huge hoax!
It's just a loop that automatically counts one down every 140 seconds. And people cheer like fools every time it counts down

Haha, I feel like such an idiot now! I think pretty much everyone around us thought it was actually counting down too.

Anyway, I thought the awards ceremony went along very smoothly, considering the amount of people on stage and having to get video and pictures for both divisions. I liked the way that B and C were on opposite sides of the table, which made everything run just a little bit quicker than I thought it would. Trying to get out of Nutter Center wasn't a nightmare either which is always good.

However, the lunch plan might have to be a bit different at Nationals. The 45 minute break just was not enough time, and luckily I didn't have any events at 12:30, or else I would have had to go hungry till after the competition was over. It was absolute chaos in the lunch area at that time.
Lunch was pretty interesting for me, though. I ended up waiting for a sub for about 30 minutes, then waiting in line to buy food for another 30 minutes. About halfway through waiting to buy my food, I realized that what I had in my pocket was not my wallet, but my calculator, so I had to borrow money from someone else .

The events, for the most part, were always on time, and were conducted efficiently. One thing I do have to say though, is that one of my events (Heredity) that was a station event was a mess; people were jumping all around from station to station, but not in order.

I do have a question about the event at 7:00. Why did that one event have to start so early and why did all the teams compete at once?

[Orange714]

On the subject of stations one of my friends complained about how Rocks and Minerals was run. There were 10 stations that was not put in any order, so whenever a station opened you ran to that station hoping to get it before another team. She also complained that at the end one team just sat at a station that a couple teams needed to do.