FIRST ® LEGO® League Challenge�Tournament Director Training for Arizona 2025

Rick Kale

Tournament Director | Many seasons of FLL in AZ

Objective

Provide high-level guide to new and experienced tournament directors

Offer some “best practices” that I have developed over the years that seem to lead to successful qualifier tournaments

Share experiences I have encountered to help others have awareness of or avoid.

A Little About Me

Earned a B.S.E. in Aerospace Engineering from ASU in 2013

Reliability & System Safety Engineer since 2015

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On my high school’s FIRST® Robotics Competition team my senior year (2008 – FIRST Overdrive)

Volunteering at FIRST® LEGO® League events since 2009 (learned via e-mail blast while at ASU)

Tournament Director (since 2014 … 17 events across 10 seasons)

• ASU Polytechnic (x6)
• Ridgeline Academy (x1)
• Red Mountain High School (x4)
• Chandler High School (x3)
• AZ State Championship (x3)
• Plus advised/supported another tournament director a few times

Tournament Director in a Nutshell

Mission (as Rick sees it)

• Ensure everyone is prepared to have a fantastic event day

Path to Success?

• Preparation, organization, communication ☺

Most of our work occurs in the weeks leading up to event day

• On event day, you should be able to walk around, monitor your volunteers and help as needed, and interact with the teams
• Be aware that you may need to think on your feet at a moments notice to solve a problem or rearrange the original plan

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High-Level Preparations Overview

Event Venue

• Review the available space to determine locations for the team pits, judging pods, judging deliberations, robot game matches, lunch, etc.

Event Schedule

• Robot game matches (each team has: 1 practice and 3 official)
• 1 judging session (Robot, Core Values, Project)

Supplies

• Robot game tables; Judging resources; Referee resources; Printed materials; General office supplies

Teams

• Provide information to the teams registered for the event

Volunteers

• Ensure the event is properly staffed with enough volunteers

Event Venue

Event Venue – What do you need?

At minimum, a qualifying tournament needs the following areas:

• Robot game competition area and audience seating
• Team pits (their “home base” for the day)
• Judging pods (separated rooms)
• Volunteer hospitality room
• Judge deliberations room

Note: the size/quantity of areas are dependent on how many teams will be attending

Event Venue – Know the Space

For a first-time tournament director or starting at a new location, walk through the facility to review available spaces

• Ideally, this would be a month+ ahead of the event date
• Ask for a map of the venue or make notes about where the areas are located
• Specific room numbers
• Restrooms
• General size of areas (e.g., will the area for the team pits fit 10 teams or 20 teams?)
• General distances between areas (e.g., is it a long walk between pits and judging?)

Recommendation: take photos and/or make notes about what you see

Event Venue – Navigation

How easy will it be for teams to find where they are going?

Some venues are more spread out than others

• Where will teams park (automobiles vs buses?) and how do they get to the tournament area?
• Identify locations for signage to assist directing teams and spectators between areas
• Create an annotated map of the venue and key points (pits, competition area, judging pods, etc.)

Recommendation: send the map(s) to teams prior to event day

Event Venue – Navigation – Example

ASU Polytechnic

• Pulled the publicly available map
• Added colored boxes and corresponding labels
• Provided ahead of the event so teams knew where they would be parking and where they would need to go once on site
• How the FLL event was fit into the venue:
• Aravaipa – robot game / closing ceremony
• Santan hall – team pits
• Peralta hall – judging rooms
• Union – food court

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Event Venue – Other Thoughts – Food

What about food (i.e., lunch)?

• Depending on the venue, it is possible that food is not allowed in certain areas
• The teams will be there all day so they will need to eat lunch at some point
• Ensure there will be somewhere that the teams can take a lunch break at

Another consideration … what food locations are nearby?

• Some teams may bring a ‘brown bag’ lunch with them
• Other teams will have a parent go out and bring back food for the team
• Some tournaments are run by the host school’s robotics team and may use the opportunity as a fundraiser (e.g., selling pizzas and/or drinks)
• Recommend planning ahead and letting the teams know this is going to be an option

Event Venue – Other Thoughts – Lighting

Poorly lit robot game tables can affect the functioning of the various visual sensors some teams use in their designs.

Depending on the venue, the lighting in the area selected for the robot game may not be ideal.

• This instance was the stage in Aravaipa Auditorium at ASU Polytechnic … great from an audience perspective, but not great for some of the robots
• Next season, I created a solution to improve the lighting at each table

Note: I have only encountered this at one venue but sharing if it helps anyone else.

Event Venue – Other Thoughts – Power Sources in Pits

Are there power outlets available in the area to be used as the pits?

• Teams will have laptops for updating code, need to charge robot batteries, etc.

Potential options:

• Power at the team pit areas/tables
• Designated charging tables located around the pits

Some teams bring extension cords to bring power to their pit

• Venue may have a requirement regarding that scenario
• Or it may be left to as long as it is a safe practice (reduce trip hazard potential)

Event Venue – Other Thoughts – Robot Game Projection

The audience is usually sitting at the same level as the robot action.

A nice-to-have is the ability to project the game table action for the audience

Various options exist to do this. Be creative.

• Webcams mounted near the tables and connected to the computer/ projector. Free software ‘OBS Studio’ can make it easy to switch between showing different views to the audience.
• I cobbled together a solution using a Raspberry Pi and a software package usually used for a security camera function to provide a live view to the audience. Wireless data transmission and while I used a power cord it could have been completely wireless with a battery pack instead.

Event Schedule

Event Schedule – What is required?

Minimum for a FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge qualifier, every team will have a schedule with:

• 1 robot game practice match [2.5 minutes]
• 3 robot game official matches [2.5 minutes per match]
• 1 judging session (Robot, Core Values, Project) [30 minutes]

The fun challenge as the tournament director is creating a schedule that fits in the required matches and sessions and balances time to provide a great experience for everyone

• Minimize the time a tournament takes to complete
• Budget enough time in-between segments so the schedule runs smoothly

Event Schedule – Overview

What to consider while developing the schedule:

• FLL events are highly scripted to a time based schedule
• Teams will have varying levels of experience at the qualifier (rookies to veterans)

Recommendations:

• Allow as much time between a team’s scheduled events as possible
• Develop the practice matches with larger gaps between rounds
• Both volunteers and teams will be learning how the process works
• Include a gap between the end of practice rounds and beginning of official matches because it allows for
• (a) break time for the volunteers and/or (b) time to catch up if the practice rounds run behind

Event Schedule – Constraints

Number of teams attending

Number of robot game tables

• Defines the number of robot game matches that can occur
• Robot game is 2.5 minutes + time before/after for setup and scoring

Number of judging pods

• Defines the number of judging sessions can occur at one time
• Each team has a 30 minute judging session
• Recommended 15 minutes between teams for judges to finish their notes

Robot game needs to be complete before judge deliberation can begin

The judges need at least 1.5 hours to complete their deliberation (depends on the number of teams at the event)

Event Schedule – FLL Tournament Scheduling Spreadsheet

I have been using a scheduling tool developed by Bryan Lee for many years now (ever since I started as a tournament director)

• User specifies event parameters and the tool generates a schedule
• Randomly assigns teams to schedule slots
• Powerful tool but it has some limitations that may make it frustrating to a first time user
• Macro enabled Microsoft Excel spreadsheet

Note: there are other resources for creating schedules

Event Schedule – Spreadsheet Tool Benefits – Outputs

Graphical Schedule By Time(P)

• Provides a visual layout of the event schedule where a box represents the time of a session and includes the team number

Match Schedules

• List of the Official and Practice rounds (time, table, team number)

Judge Schedules

• List of the judging sessions (time, judging pod room, team number)

Schedule by Team #

• List of the teams and their associated robot matches (time, table) and judging session (time, room)

Graphical Schedule

• Provides a visual layout of the event schedule by team number which shows if any teams have short periods between events

Emcee Match Schedules (Practice and Official Rounds)

• Provides the team number and team name of each team competing at a given time

I generally make the practice rounds have a longer period between matches starting.

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This allows the teams and volunteers to learn how the process works.

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Remember, time between matches also includes the other tables running as well (assuming both tables are not running at the same time).

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My recommendation is 1 match per time slot so that there isn’t a period of no action on stage.

When possible, my recommendation is to include a break period between ending of Practice Rounds and beginning of Official Rounds.

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Provides a buffer to use if the Practice Rounds start to deviate from the schedule. Allows for catching back up to the scheduled match times.

All judging now occurs in a single 30 minute session per team.

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Provide the judges at least 15 minutes after the session to finish their notes.

The judging session is a major constraint for scheduling the event. The number of judging rooms dictates how quickly all of the teams can be seen.

Note: the blue and green boxes added manually for visualization purposes.

When scheduling a small tournament, it is possible the scheduling routine will fail to produce a schedule.

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A likely cause of this is based on the configuration of the robot game, a round may finish in less than 30 minutes. When this is true it is impossible for a team to have a judging session and a robot match.

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Solution:

• Expand the time between robot rounds until a schedule is successfully produced.
• Then tweak the schedule inputs as desired.
• A simple solution may be to add a specific schedule break to allow teams to finish judging and then have their robot match.

Graphical Schedule By Time

Event Schedule – Spreadsheet Tool – Output Examples

Match Schedules

Judge Schedules

Emcee Schedule

Event Schedule – Spreadsheet Tool – Output Examples

Provides the output of the schedule in a tabular format by team number.

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This can be provided as-is to the teams or I generally take this data and process it into an individual sheet for the teams (see next slide).

Schedule by Team #

Event Schedule – Team Printout

Other notes important to all teams or specific teams can be included

• Livestream links (as text and/or QR code)
• Recommendation: Use a serif font so URL letters are more easily recognizable
• Highlight if a team has the first practice round or judging session

I think this is a “nice to have” for teams; otherwise, a printout of the previous slide provides the same information

• Hint: made using MS Word mail merge and the “Schedule by Team #” tab details

Event Schedule – After Robot Matches and Judging Sessions

The judges will need at least 1.5 hours (depends on number of teams) to deliberate after the judging sessions and robot matches are complete

Good idea to have a plan to keep the teams entertained during this time

• Have them come up to do a just for fun run (one more time to run their robot)
• Ask if any teams would like to share their presentations with the larger audience
• Come up with a new challenge using some of the mission models
• Simple rules and something that the teams can do quickly and without damaging the mission models

Once the judges are finished deliberating, the closing ceremony will be held

• Time depends on number and size of teams at the event but usually complete within 30 minutes

Teams

Teams – Do they appear magically?

Kind of …

The FIRST Program Delivery Partner (i.e., here in AZ it is Elaine in ASU Engineering Education Outreach) handles the management of team registration

As teams register and the tournament date approaches, you will receive the list of teams who signed up for your qualifier tournament

Teams – What to do with the list?

This information is needed for two main purposes

• Finalize the event schedule with team numbers
• Enable communication with the coaches of the registered teams
• Remember: use the BCC line when sending e-mails

Teams – Provide Basic Information

The teams will be eager to hear from the tournament director once they have been registered/confirmed to a qualifier

I generally send the first e-mail to them ~2 weeks ahead of the qualifier date

• I introduce myself so they know who they can contact with questions
• Provide the tentative event schedule (mainly start/end times)
• Reiterate the event location/address
• My contact information (just e-mail at this stage)

Teams – Provide Detailed Information

I generally send my next e-mail on the Sunday before the event with the following type of more detailed information:

• Event address and special directions (if necessary)
• Check-in process
• Event schedule (times of when the event sections begin)
• General notes about what to expect at the event (help rookie teams)
• Lunch
• Any other announcements (might be looking for additional volunteers, etc.)
• Request them to reply and confirm their team name (sometimes a team changes their name after original registration … all the volunteers will be addressing them by that name)
• My contact information (e-mail plus my mobile phone…useful event day if teams have trouble finding the venue)

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Teams – Event Schedule

Thursday evening I send out a final e-mail to each team with their individual schedule.

• Brute force by manually creating/sending separate e-mails to each team [best for ‘smaller’ tournaments]
• A “flow” in the online Microsoft PowerAutomate tool can be created to automate sending an individualized e-mail and attachments. [or a mail merge would work too but I am unaware of a way to include recipient specific attachments]

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Recommendation: include a small ‘watermark’ version number or date in the footer of the document, in the event you need to adjust the schedule after sending it the correct one can be identified at the event.

Teams – Miscellaneous

You will likely receive questions from teams

• Depending on the question(s), I may include the question/answer in my next e-mail to all of the teams

Does your venue require additional waivers?

• If so, make sure to send those out with enough time to get them signed by parents for minors.

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Supplies

Supplies – Overview

A lot of “stuff” will be necessary to have a successful event

Other than the robot game tables, nothing is “special” (i.e., can be found at an office supply store)

Some supplies are general to have and others have a quantity based on the specific tournament configuration

Recommendation: break the supply planning into areas to help plan where everything needs to go on event day

Supplies – List of Items – Robot Competition Area

Robot Game

• Robot game table
• Sawhorses (x2)
• Game mat and mission models per game table

Referees (set per referee)

• Clipboard
• Pen
• Stack of scoresheets or tablet w/ Internet
• Rule Book (head referee only)

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Scorekeeper/Timer

• Laptop with access to scoring software (online or spreadsheet calculator tool)
• Projector and speaker
• Playing start/stop timer & sounds
• Display scoreboard

Queuing (set per queuer)

• Clipboard
• Pen and/or highlighter
• Robot game schedule
• Pits layout map

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*List provides a good idea but is not 100% exhaustive

Supplies – List of Items – Judging

Judging Pod

• Laptop computer w/ Internet access (ideally)
• Judging guidance materials
• Judging rubrics
• Pens
• Stopwatch/clock
• Judging schedule
• Scratch paper

Judge Advisor/Deliberations

• Laptop
• Internet access for the Event Hub or Judging Lite spreadsheet (judge advisor preference)
• Projector
• Pens
• Award script sheets
• Advancement certificates

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*List provides a good idea but is not 100% exhaustive

Supplies – List of Items – Miscellaneous

Team Pits

• Table for each team (chairs are nice, if available)
• Paper sign for each pit identifying the team
• Practice fields – robot game table/ sawhorses(x2)/ game mat/models
• Paper & stopwatch (practice field attendant)

Volunteers

• Volunteer T-shirt (comes from the ASU team)
• Refreshments (water bottles; snacks)
• Note: see other sections for supplies needed for that specific area

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Other

• Medals and trophies
• Scissors
• Crowd control device (caution tape, rope, stanchions, etc.)
• Tape (blue painters most commonly used)
• Office supplies (paperclips, pens, etc.)
• 2-way radios (if large venue)
• Access to copier/printer (can be helpful if last minute changes are needed)

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*List provides a good idea but is not 100% exhaustive

Supplies – List of Documents (example)

Hint: I apply a letter/number ‘code’ to my documents as an organization technique to keep track where documents are needed at the event.

Volunteers

Volunteers – No event happens without them!

Volunteers are the heart of the event … without them nothing is possible

Part of event planning is to identify the number of volunteers needed

• Certain roles have a minimum based on the event size/configuration
• Referees (1 referee per robot game table + 1 head referee)
• Judges (3 judges minimum per judging pod)
• Some roles are nice to have more of but can be done with fewer
• Queuers (minimum 2, more allows for more flexibility tracking down teams)
• Scorekeepers (minimum 1, larger events may want more)

A properly staffed event enables a more smoothly running event

Volunteers – Core Team

Four key roles for each tournament who oversee the major aspects of the event (planning and implementation)

• Tournament Director
• Head Referee
• Judge Advisor
• Volunteer Coordinator

People for these roles should be identified early in the event planning process

Volunteers – Other Roles and Quantity Needed

Hidden = Not seen by volunteer applicants. I generally don’t need/want those roles.

Volunteers – Volunteer Management System (VMS)

FIRST provided tool for managing the volunteers who register for the event.

Enables the volunteer coordinator (and tournament directors) to:

• Configure the roles they need for the event
• Pre-loaded roles or custom roles can be created
• Assign volunteers to the event roles

VMS will not allow you to assign a volunteer until they pass the ‘Youth Protection Screening’ … in these cases I send the volunteer applicant an e-mail reminding them to complete the screening

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Volunteers – Training

Some roles need more training than others.

• The roles with training will have their training assigned via VMS once they have been confirmed their role.
• Mainly important for referees and judges. The AZ head referee and AZ judge advisor will also have virtual training sessions to try and calibrate everyone for a consistent experience across the state.

Recommendation: have notes on event day for how certain roles will operate. There have been times where I expected to brief the volunteers but became busy troubleshooting something else.

• Examples:
• Check-in table – what to collect from teams vs volunteers; where to direct the volunteers, etc.
• Robot match queueing – how the queuing process works to have a smooth schedule

Volunteers – Food

Don’t forget to make a plan to feed your volunteers lunch!

• Pizza is always an option
• Or if you have other ideas of something cost effective and easy

Light breakfast items (coffee, juice, bagels, donuts, fruit, etc.) are typically appreciated too, if budget allows

Note: there is a stipend available to each qualifier (details to follow from Elaine and team)

Volunteers – Event Information

The week of the event is when I will send an e-mail to all the volunteers with the event specifics (similar to the e-mail to teams)

Information such as:

• Location address and parking info
• Event schedule
• Arrival time/procedures (judges and referees will have a meeting with their leads starting at a certain time)
• Lunch – make them aware they will be provided a lunch
• My contact information (e-mail and mobile phone number)

Remember: use the BCC line when sending e-mails

Tools & Resources

General Tools

My recommendations:

• Have an organized folder structure for storing files
• I use Microsoft OneNote to keep track of random notes/info in a single location.
• I have developed a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for organizing most aspects of the event (consolidated separate files into one)
• Venue details, supply list, docs list, volunteer status, team contact info, etc.
• Key point: password protected once sensitive contact info is added
• When possible, think about re-use for next season.
• Your first tournament will likely be the hardest to plan for because your next one will benefit from copy/paste ☺

General Resources

Elaine makes a Google Drive folder with various resources to help in creating the event

FIRST website has useful resources

• Challenge, Updates, & Resources – https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/fll/challenge-and-resources
• FIRST Brand and Logo Files – https://www.firstinspires.org/brand
• Event Music – https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/event-music
• General Volunteer Resources
• https://www.firstinspires.org/ways-to-help/volunteer/event-volunteers
• https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/volunteer/general-volunteer-resources

Event Hub – Overview

FIRST has an online portal called “Event Hub”

Enables a central location for event results to be posted for teams to retrieve after the event.

• Robot game score sheets
• Judging rubrics

Judge advisor during deliberations enters the teams who won awards and advanced to the next competition

Event Hub – Pre-Event Preparation

Enter the teams into the event and invite the coaches

Create a single robot game table and assign all teams to it

• The system should show each team with a practice and 3 official rounds

Create the number of judging pods as per your schedule

• Per the schedule, use the dropdown menu to assign teams to their pods
• The judge advisor will likely invite their judges to the Event Hub and assign them to their judging pods

Recommendation: do not use the auto-assign feature. It won’t match your schedule made outside of Event Hub.

Event Hub – Event Day

Depending on the available technology, the referees may have tablets and can score the teams directly into Event Hub. Otherwise, the referees can score the teams on a paper scoresheet and a scorekeeper can enter it into the Event Hub for scoring.

• Recommendation: write the calculated numerical score onto the scoresheet, as a backup
• Recommendation: have the Excel spreadsheet score calculator ready, as a backup

Judges generally use the paper rubrics while the team is presenting. Then during the time between teams, one of the judges will enter all of the inputs into the Event Hub judging page.

Note: personally, as much as I like technology, I like having paper because it is a backup in case the network (local or broader) becomes unavailable.

Event Hub – Post-Event

After the event is complete, there will be a button to finalize the event.

Once the event is finalized, the teams will be able to log into their Event Hub accounts and see their individual results.

Event Day!

Event Day – Setup

Highly recommend setting up everything the night before (i.e., Friday)

• Note: ensure this will be possible when discussing the event with the venue; hint … sometimes there are school events occurring in a cafeteria or gym on Friday nights

Recruit people to help as you see fit … the more hands available, the quicker set up will go

• Recommendation: have copies of a written plan for what needs to be set up in the various areas
• Especially useful if the helpers have not supported an event before

Note: last minute things are always found in the morning which will require your attention to resolve

Event Day – Coaches Meeting

Reiterate the details and any specifics of the day

Site rules

• I like to mention that although today is exciting, remind the students to walk … robots are fragile
• Guidance about restricted areas

Site map

• Where are the restrooms?
• How to get to the judging pods?

Schedule overview

• Highlight to the teams about the highly scheduled nature of the event
• Judging sessions have priority over robot game
• Recommend that teams arrive at their next session ahead of time

Closing ceremony agenda

• Request students sit along edges for easy access to walkways
• Brief explanation of the approach

Robot game notes

• Remind your teams that the robot game scoring sheet is final after it is signed by the team

Provide any notes from the judge advisor about the judging process

Describe advancement from the event

Head referee to address the coaches

Q&A with coaches

• At end, invite 1 coach per team to come and inspect the robot game tables (their only chance for the day)

Event Day – Opening Ceremony

Option of having an opening ceremony

I generally focus on trying to keep the schedule as short as possible and thus skip an opening ceremony

• Allows to get straight to robot competition and judging sessions after the coaches meeting

Event Day – Schedule is Running

Hopefully, once the event gets underway, you can step back and your volunteers will own the show.

• Ensure your volunteers have what they need
• Troubleshoot any issues that may arise
• Schedule running behind, restrooms, technology failure, fire alarm
• Enjoy interacting with the coaches and teams

Event Day – Prepare for Closing Ceremony

Prior to judges finishing deliberation:

• Pack up the robot competition tables
• Note: gently and orderly … they will likely be used by another tournament next week
• Set up a table with the trophies displayed and some medals unwrapped and displayed

After the judges finish deliberation:

• Announce the closing ceremony is about to begin and have all teams, coaches, parents join in the ceremony area
• Recommendation: have team members sit along edges for easy access to walkways
• Invite the volunteers to form a line across the front of the ceremony area
• Have clusters of medals handed out to each volunteer

Event Day – Closing Ceremony

Commence the award ceremony:

• Congratulate the teams on their performance today
• Invite each team across the ‘stage’ to receive their medal
• For each award, read the award’s description, the judge hints, and finally the winning team number and name at which time they will walk across the ‘stage’ and receive their trophy
• Announce the teams who have advanced to the Arizona State Championship Tournament

Close out the event day and wish all teams and volunteers a safe trip home

Event Day – Clean Up

As areas are no longer needed, start packing/cleaning:

• Judges deliberating now? Clean/reset the judge pods.
• Robot matches complete? Pack up the practice tables and competition tables; teams can start packing their things too

Some areas have to wait until the very end

Ideally, it will appear like the event never happened

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Recommendation: at the end of your day, think about … What worked well? What would you do differently next year? Etc.

You made it!

Any questions?