Last week I had the opportunity to travel to Orlando, FL for the 2011 VEX Robotics Competition World Championship. This year’s event was held in the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World Resort. It was VERY cool.
I had previously attended a VEX competition at this venue two years ago. “They” had me go down there to be the MC / Announcer for the inaugural VEX All-Star Challenge. This did not prepare me for the scale of this year’s World Championship… AT ALL. I was totally blown away. Walking around the event was surreal for me – it really hit home how huge the VRC is getting and the impact that VEX is having.
The event was great for me – very low stress, lots of fun. I got to spend a lot of time talking with teams, and VEX partners. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. The VEX new product unveiling was at lunch on Friday, and the 2011-2012 Game Unveiling was on Friday evening, on top of that I was given the honor of presenting this year’s Mentor(s) of the Year Award.
Everything flew by. I was on a plane back to Dallas before I knew it.
Some random thoughts and reflections from my week at the VEX World Championship:
I always feel like a blubbering idiot when I’m on camera or doing an interview. They seem to turn out okay. Thank goodness for talented and kind editors.
When I went up on stage to give a speech during the opening ceremony on Friday morning, I was blown away. I can’t tell you what it was like to be up there staring at a baseball stadium filled with VEX competitors. UN-real.
I love BEST Robotics teams. I can’t get enough of their spirit. During the opening ceremonies they were cheering whenever someone said “BEST”. We started joking that it was “the B-word.” Whenever someone said the B-word, we knew what was coming…
Joe Astroth from Autodesk was around quite a bit, and it was great to hear his thoughts on the future of STEM education. During the closing ceremony I asked him if he was ready to go up on stage and he replied: “Put me in coach!” After returning from VEX Worlds he wrote a great article which I thought was right on the money.
Since the turntable bearing is out, does that mean Foster will finally stop asking me for it?
I received a lot of compliments on the new products we unveiled, especially the turntable bearing kit. I was proud to tell people “Yeah… that one was designed by a high school intern.” I love my interns, and am totally blown away by some of the work they’re doing.
I was very proud of VEX intern Parker Francis – he had a lot of responsibility this weekend and handled himself very well (even when confronted by people much older than him).
Every time I walked by the VEX “countries” signpost I saw the Sweden sign. Every time (every single time) I started doing an impression of the Swedish Chef impression talking about VEX. My girlfriend was not amused.
Signing autographs is weird.
We did a few “social media” giveaways. I would post a tweet saying where I was, and the first person who found me and mention the tweet would get a prize. I was amazed at how quickly this happened. The power of new media!
“Text Message Queuing? Really? THAT IS SO COOL! I didn’t know we were going to have that!”
Sometimes people joke about the VEX engineers building a robot to compete against the high school or college teams. I don’t think this is funny. We’d probably get our butts kicked. There are a number of VERY impressive teams out there, and it is clear they’re spending way more time iterating and competing than we could spend. It would be bad.
20-foot inflatable Protobot? Yes, Please!
The volunteers at this event were fantastic. I really enjoyed the time I got to spend working with them. We’re fortunate to have a community with so many people committed to the same goals and values that we are. At VEX Worlds I felt like it truly was “all about the kids” and this was in large part because of the great, passionate volunteers we had helping out.
The scoring system we have (provided by the fine folks at DWAB Technology) consistently impresses me. It functions like good software should. It is visually striking, and provides all the necessary information to the audience, but most importantly it is so intuitive to use. Every time I play with it I’m thrilled with the “it just does what I want without making me jump through weird hoops” nature of the software. We’re lucky to have DWAB supporting VEX because they make some great software (ohh… and the guys from DWAB are pretty cool too, I guess.)
Did you know that looking down from above, Brandon, Sean, and I look very similar?
My father (John “regular” Neun) came down to the event and got the chance to judge (this was his 2nd year). I was very happy he got a chance to see this event, because I’m proud of all the work our company is doing and I think this event really showcased it. I won’t lie, it added some pressure to the moment knowing he was sitting in the stands watching my speech Friday morning…
The volunteer check-in people were very confused “why John has two nametags” until someone explained my father and I have similar names.
I thought it was pretty neat to setup the field for the VEX Gateway unveiling right in the middle of a busy competition arena. We had a 20-foot high curtain and a crew of Disney security to keep things hidden. I felt like this only added to the power of the unveiling. Very cool.
I was serious when I said this – the groan of the crowd when we unveiled the “negation barrel” made all the months of game design hard work TOTALLY worth it.
“Okay, so we’re going to announce the 2012 Championship, do the Excellence Award, play the final matches… and then the entire place is going to explode!!!” – “Don’t worry, we’ll tell you where to stand.”
I got to work with Kari Byron during the closing ceremony, and it was a lot of fun. She was such a good sport about the whole thing, and very cool to talk to. I think she really enjoyed getting to see the VRC at its best.
I received lots of feedback from VEX customers. Most of it was pretty good, but some of it was about things we need to do better. I’ve got a list going. The day we got back Paul Copioli (President of VEX Robotics, Inc.) and I sat down and made a list of items we wanted to improve. I’m not sure how much of it we’ll be able to get done, and I’m not sure how fast… but please rest assured, we’re listening.
So yes… a great event. I’m excited for next year in Anaheim, and of course – excited about the future of VEX. I still feel like the work we’re doing could change the world. After a weekend surrounded by VEX students it was hard not to feel reinvigorated and ready to double our efforts (after a long nap, of course).
Thanks to everyone who took a minute to say “hi” or talk to me about VEX. I appreciate your time!
Also big congratulations to everyone who made this event as awesome as it was.
-John
These guys were a lot of fun to talk to (even if it seemed like they were always away from their pit :p) They truly amazed me with their robot and some of the other things they were working on!
