Airplane Traveling

[BakingSodaVolcano]

Originally Posted by Tom Mosher

Glad your travel experience wasn't terrible.

Has anyone else noticed that this forum automatically blocks the word that starts with 'c' and is a synonym for "inexpensive"? Look, I'll demonstrate there. _____. That turned into five underscore characters, didn't it?

That's because legos aren't _____!

[dna1990]

A bird chirped a cheep _____.

[Gary Voshol]

To get past the filters, you have to cell things for cheep.

[jsanchez]

Originally Posted by dna1990

But certainly flying a whole booth/pit setup is a challenge. PVC pipe cut to fit and re-assembly worked well. And also stealing an idea from FRC, we had _____ and very lightweight shelving units that pack flat. We used three units and stacked these up vertical. Great for hanging posters, etc - but also great storage for getting things off the floor and keeping the pit organized.
.

Ok, what? Booth set up, I am missing something here, whole booth /pit setup? what is this all about, I had no idea I needed to worry about this. Can someone elaborate on this please, we fly on Wednesday morning and we do not have anything for the booth/pit, I was not aware of any of this. is this something I should worry and try to get something done tomorrow or once we get get there?

Any advice on this please.

[Life is Good]

Your 10x10 PIT area is where you can display items from your team....you will have a table to place items on. Teams hang banners, fun items, decorate with some balloons--whatever. It's not mandatory, just something fun to do. We will be using some of our props from our research project along with our team posterboard. Don't stress about this, if you feel the need once you get there, send some parents out. I also have extra balloons--come see me--team 1502 TAZ BOTS.

[dna1990]

[QUOTE=jsanchez;58401]whole booth /pit setup? what is this all about./QUOTE]

Well given the timeline I would not worry much about it. I also don't know what LegoLand events have done in the past. A quick search thru youtube might give some ideas of what the pits looked like in previous years.

The typical is a 10x10 space, sometimes with a table, sometimes not. I have seen everything from very elaborate tents, lighting, and AV - to a single banner or sign hung across the table. This is a good teamwork activity, so get the kids to make some simple poster board (you may wish to find and measure your large suitecase to see what poster size should be), but you can pack many of them laid flat. Put your team name, maybe some photos, certainly your hometown info, etc. Think trade show, but just pick a scale.scope you can complete before leaving and can fit into some suitcases.

Take some duct tape or sticky-tack to aid in hanging these up or displaying.

At many events, they wish at least one person (usually a travelling parent) to staff the pit/booth. If you have a large team, they can rotate shifts. This allows you to talke with VIPs, judges, other teams, etc. It also makes for an easier way for the admins to track your team down, should they be late or needed to attend a certain function. That person should have cell #s for your adults or key team leaders.

In FLL you see both pit/booth used. In FRC it is definitely a pit - full of tools and parts where some serious work is done on the bots between rounds. But in FLL it is mostly for show to help advertise your team, spirit, GP, etc.

Probably too late and I am not sure how popular at the invitationals, but button trading is big. Instead go get some round or oval Avery Labels, and print up and much of 'stickers' with your team name or hometown, etc. Hand these out to other teams. If you do this, use a laser printer...most ink jet stickers will eventually smear/run.

[timdavid]

Originally Posted by dna1990

Well given the timeline I would not worry much about it. I also don't know what LegoLand events have done in the past. A quick search thru youtube might give some ideas of what the pits looked like in previous years.

Last year, at LEGOLAND California, the pit area was extremely limited. In fact, most teams had to share their pit area, with one team occupying the space in the mornings, and another team using the space in the afternoon. I think sharing space ended up working out just fine, but large booths and elaborate displays were certainly not encouraged.

Things could be different this year, with two LEGOLAND tournaments happening this month. But in any case, just go and have fun. Perhaps it is just me, but I'd be far more interested in another teams' robot or their project than how their pit area is decorated.

[jsanchez]

Well, this will be a learning experience, traveling across country with the team.
I have gone to the San Diego, Ca. Legoland Open invitational they host in February, but they run that just like a regular FLL competition, somewhat of a low key, and the pit area is small, a half circle table with some desktop PC's on them. For what I understand this will be Legoland FLorida first Open Invitational.
Well we'll see what happen, once we get into Orlando I might go buy some balloons and maybe have the kids make some posters, something simple.
TAZ BOTS we will definitely look you guys up, at least just to say hi.