Tomorrow is Day 1 of the 2019 Event Partner Summit in Greenville, Texas. The REC Foundation will Webcast all General Sessions starting at 8:00 AM CST. The link for the Webcast is:
We understand that EP’s want to be heard and have added more topics where Event Partners will be encouraged to give their feedback. We will have specific sessions to review last season’s changes. Some specific topics included in these review sessions are Bo3 to Bo1, STEM research project, Signature Events, Skills Only Events, Early Bird registration, Excellence Award and Code of Conduct.
We are also asking for input on such topics as Judge Feedback, Game Design considerations from EP perspective, training resources, RSM support, and hosting events.
Regarding some of the “hot” topics from this past season, we will have General Sessions to discuss Referee Certification and Event Partner responsibilities / certification. We will have breakout sessions on both days to discuss the DQ process, G1 and Code of Conduct (including revisions to address online harassment). There will be other breakout sessions to discuss how the REC Foundation defines “Student Centered” and to review judging.
EP Summit Sponsor MathWorks will host a General session on one of their new fascinating STEM products. The RECF will introduce our new Volunteer Management System (piloted at the 2019 VEX Robotics World Championship. We will also have a General Session hosted by the GDC to discuss VRC Tower Takeover & VIQC Squared Away. Finally, we will have other breakout sessions to discuss a wide range of technical and non-technical topics such as Wireless Raspberry Pi, Leagues and Grants.
And of course, we will answer Questions during dinner.
Once the EP Summit is complete, the REC Foundation will share contents from the Summit to get feedback from those in the community that were not able to attend.
I’m so glad that the RECF and Vex are finally going to talk about BO1/BO3 after I got BO1’d in my senior year at worlds by some low quality vex chain. I am really interested to hear their opinions on cases like mine.
In all seriousness, I would like to see opinions of 1 man teams in the judging and excellence award process added to the EP summit list. It was not a widespread issue because of how few of us 1 person teams there were, but in my region (Southern New England) there was a problem with it.
These are the RPI hats that DWAB created for RECF to fill the need for LED controls on the Fields and integrate Field controllers into one device, no more need for USB to Field control.
The only issue with this setup is you need an external PSU to power the LEDS, but if you build it into an enclosure which I did, you can set it up once and just plug it in and go.
I gotta document everything I bought to getting my hands on some hats for it. The leds for the fields are just so cool.
If you were at Worlds you may have noticed the LED strips that were placed around each field perimeter. These Pi Hats drove those LEDs and took signals from Tournament Manager so that different patterns could be displayed during different match phases and in between matches etc.
Really happy to see these topics being adjusted. I yearn for the excitement best of 3 would bring back to vex. It seems so long ago in in the zone, the adaptations in gameplay you could make to counter your opponent could be endless!
Also about the Code of Conduct, I know this is a setting of intelligence, but I’m the kid that sees it as a competition. We all put in crazy amounts of hours into this, and to say our performances affect how we act for the next months or even year, is an understatement. I am simply a very expressive person, when I win, I celebrate; when I lose, I suffer. It’s a human reaction and it’s a shame we don’t allow standard emotion in our community.
I feel like you are missing the point of the Code of conduct, this is not the only program and not the only thing in life that has blanket rules. Do any of the main points from the Code of conduct seem out of place in this environment?
• Act with integrity, honesty, and reliability
• Behave in a respectful and professional manner with event staff, volunteers, and fellow competitors
• Exhibit maturity and class when dealing with difficult and stressful situations
• Respect individual differences
• Follow all rules as listed in the current game manual(s)
• Student-centered teams with limited adult assistance
• Safety as a top priority
• Good sportsmanship, which includes supporting your alliance partners
I do agree, the code of conduct itself doesn’t seem to pose any problems. However, we’ve seen some very strong interpretations about “maturity and class”, specifically in the region of California. This has happened more than once, where someone disputes a call, because they naturally care about their success, then since the ref can’t DQ them from worlds since hey already qualified, they extend the code of conduct to what they want and season DQ them. It’s horrific, and this interpretation of the code of conduct should never be encouraged.
Some interpretations of the code of conduct don’t seem to match that, unfortunately. We’ve seen teams get yanked from worlds for the slightest of discussions towards referees, and I’d like that interpretation to be snuffed out.
