Regional competition
Hopefully, your local regional is close enough to make sure your entire team is there for each day of the competition. For our local regional our team is dropped off and picked up each day at the venue. Each student on our team is assigned a regional job the week before so once we get to our event everyone knows what they will be doing and where they should be.
If you are having to travel to a regional hours away it is helpful to first consider how many student will be traveling with your team and if it is during a school vacation or will they need to miss school to attend. We have a priority list of who travels with our team if space is limited for competition travel. That list goes:
- Drive team
- Pit crew
- Chairman’s presenters
- Pit speakers
- Scouts
- Seniors
- Juniors
- Sophomore
- Freshman
Once you know how many team members and mentors will be traveling then you should consider what will be the best way to get your team and robot to your competition. If you will need to charter a coach bus get quotes from several companies in the area, sometimes there can be hundreds of dollars difference. The cargo bay under the bus can usually hold your robot, and all totes and luggage. Remember you will be required to pay for the bus driver’s hotel room, sometimes the hotels will comp you a room for the busdriver. Do not be afraid to ask. Also, look for a team close to you to share the bus with your team, not only does this help split the cost of the bus but it is a great way to get to spend some fun time with another team.
Flights
If you are flying with a group of ten or more contact the Group Reservations at the airlines. The prices are a little bit more than what you can get online but you have the convenience of being able to change passenger names up to 48 hours prior to the flight and you all fly and arrive together.
Take baggage fees into the total price of tickets, $25.00 per bag each way adds up when you have to check in totes.
Be careful packing your totes, airlines are really strict about the 50 pound weight limit. We zip tie our totes and tape 2 extra zip ties to the top of the totes so after they are inspected by the airline, most of the time they will re-zip tie them. Be sure to pack your batteries in your crate since they are not allowed to be checking onto the airplane.
It helps to have team members carry-on their bags and only check team supplies. Remember if your students have utility knives please be sure they are put into the totes.
Shipping your Robot to Regional or Championships
Regional Competition
FedEX no longer pays for shipping of robot crates to regional or district events so take this into consideration when choosing a regional event, shop around for pricing or see if you can find a sponsor who will pay for the crate shipping.
Remember that you need to crate and ship your robot the Tuesday after your last Regional event. You should receive your FedEx papers at your qualifying regional, if not contact your Regional Director.
Be sure that your crate does not weigh over 400 pounds! For all FIRST information about shipping your crate go to http://frc-manual.usfirst.org/viewItem/7#5.8.
Hotels
Contact Steel Meetings for rooms, they usually have deals in the area of the venue. Generally quad rooms are available at hotels, these can sleep 4 and help to bring down the cost of rooms.
Try to find a place that includes breakfast, it will save a meal cost and time in the morning.
Steele Meetings, Inc.
6346-65 Lantana Rd
Suite 117
Lake Worth, FL 33463
888-5STEELE (578-3353)
561-292-3314 (P)
561-649-5396 (F)
FIRST@steelemeetings.com
www.steelemeetings.com
www.steelehousing.com
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