Lesson 3: Building Your Event Day

Knowing when an event happens, where it happens, what it costs, and who staffs it still does not tell you what time the first match starts.

Chapters 2 and 3 covered everything that happens on an event day: check-in and inspection, the Event Meeting, Qualification Matches, Robot Skills, finals, and awards. Lessons 1 and 2 covered the decisions that come before any of it. This lesson brings those together into a plan for the day.

Time, Matches, and Pace

A schedule has to satisfy three things at once.

• The day is a fixed length. How teams in your area travel to events sets the outer bounds. Find that out first. Lesson 1 covered why the start and end of your day are often set for you.
• Every team plays at least six Qualification Matches. More teams means more matches, and all of them have to fit inside that fixed length.
• Your fields and your crew set the pace. A second competition field shortens the time between match starts, because one match is being set up while another runs. A field only moves as fast as the people working it, and a crew running its first event tends to work more slowly than an experienced one. How many fields you can use depends on the room from Lesson 1, the crew from Lesson 2, and how much of the day you can spend overseeing rather than working at a station yourself.

These three work against each other. A room that fits four fields does not help if you cannot staff them. A team count that works on paper can still be too many if matches run slower than you planned.

Drafting the Day

The Event Day Builder in this article helps you draft your event day. You input information about your possible event: the program, how many teams you plan to host, how many competition fields you plan to run, when your day starts and ends, how many events you have hosted, and whether you are offering judging or a lunch break. The Event Day Builder returns a recommended plan for the day including needed materials and volunteers.

What the Tool Decides

The Event Day Builder makes the recommendations that are hardest to work out by hand:

• How long your day runs. The Event Day Builder begins calculating match times with six Qualification Matches per team, the qualifying minimum, so you see the shortest version of your event.
• How much cushion your day has. The plan is evaluated on how much unassigned time is available to absorb delays and for teardown.
• How many volunteers you need. Every role the plan requires is listed, including judging roles if you offer judging, and what volunteers need to complete a certification.
• What materials are needed. The tool provides a quantified list of kits and other hardware needed to run your event.

Your field count changes how quickly Qualification Matches run. Try one, two, and three fields to see how each one changes the length of your day and the size of your volunteer pool.

The Event Day Builder also adjusts recommendations to your experience level. A first-time Event Partner gets a plan that is simpler to run and needs a smaller crew.

What the Result Tells You

The Event Day Builder shows your day drawn to scale, from check-in through awards, along with feedback on the plan. That feedback tells you whether the day fits in your window, whether it leaves enough cushion for delays, and whether the volunteers needed suits your experience level. When a plan falls short on any of these, the feedback points to what to revisit.

The draft recommendation is a starting point. Bring it to your Program Support Team when you talk through your schedule.

What Makes a Day Realistic

Two things separate a plan that works from a plan that only adds up.

• Cushion. A realistic schedule keeps time that is not assigned to anything. Fields get stuck, a robot needs a second trip through inspection, a match runs long. Cushion lets the day absorb those delays without pushing awards past the time teams have to leave.
• Overlap. The Robot Skills field opens early in the day after the Event Meeting and runs until Qualification Matches finish. The practice field, if you have one, runs the same way. Neither appears as a block on your schedule, because neither takes schedule time. Each needs a field and a volunteer instead. That is why adding a Robot Skills field and a practice field does not make your day longer.

When the Day Is Too Tight

If your draft does not fit, or fits with too little cushion, you have several options. Some change the day itself:

• Set up the evening before, so your first match can start earlier.
• Run a rolling lunch, where teams and volunteers eat between matches instead of pausing play.
• Add a competition field, if your room and crew can support it.
• Open more inspection stations, so inspection finishes sooner.
• Plan for teams and spectators to help with teardown. The more hands, the better for getting out on time.

Others change the event:

• Reduce your team capacity. This is easiest to do before you post your event.
• Extend your hours, if your venue and your teams' travel allow it.

Each option has a cost. A rolling lunch needs enough volunteers to cover breaks. A new field needs a crew. A smaller team count raises what each team pays, as Lesson 1 covered. Change one thing at a time, and check your draft again after each change.

What Teams Will See

Most of what you have worked out stays with you and your volunteers. What teams need to see when your event is published is shorter: when doors open, when the Event Meeting starts, when matches run, how lunch works, when awards start, and when the event ends.

That short list is your event's agenda, and it is what teams will plan their travel around.