Before you post your event, check whether your event fits the day you have in mind. The Event Day Builder uses your program, team capacity, number of fields, and venue hours to build a realistic event day. It then shows whether the schedule works, how much spare time you have, and how many volunteers you may need.
Enter your event details
Fill in the fields below. The Event Day Builder updates your plan as you type, so there's nothing to submit. Try a few versions, such as a different team capacity, an extra field, or a later end time. Changing one thing at a time is the quickest way to find a day that works.
Event
- Program: VEX IQ or VEX V5. V5 runs Alliance Selection and Eliminations, and VEX IQ runs Finals Matches.
- Team capacity: the most teams you'll accept. Plan for a full event. 16 is the minimum for a qualifying event.
- Competition fields: the fields you'll run Qualification Matches on (1 to 3). The Event Day Builder adds Robot Skills and practice fields to your plan.
- Events you've hosted: 0 to 5+. The level beside the slider (Novice, Experienced or Expert) sets the match pace, how many head referees you get, and the largest recommended crew size for your level.
The day
- Event start: when doors open and check-in begins.
- Must be out by: when you have to be out of the building, teardown included. Enter the actual time your venue requires. Not sure yet? Tick No set end time and the Event Day Builder shows the shortest possible day and the end time to request from your venue.
- Break: a 30-minute break during or just after Qualification Matches. Your plan shows exactly when the break falls. Robot Skills and practice fields can keep running through it.
- Judging: none, remote, or on-site. Judging doesn't change the schedule, but it adds judges and a Judge Advisor to your crew. Remote judging needs more volunteers and extra coordination with teams before event day, so if you offer judging, we suggest on-site. For a first event, we suggest none. Your plan shows how many volunteers each choice adds.
Under the fields, a one-line result shows the verdict, the finish time, and the volunteer count, so you can see what each change does without scrolling down to the full plan.
Read your plan
Start at the top. Start with the timeline at the top, which shows your full day. The verdict below the timeline says whether the day works. Green means Recommended, the day works. Yellow means Questionable, the day works, but the timing, length, or crew size needs a closer look. Red means Not feasible, the day does not fit. The next section explains each part of the plan.
What each part of the plan means
At the top of the plan, the timeline draws the whole day to scale, with your must-be-out-by time marked by a red Hard stop line (there's no line with No set end time). Each color is one part of the day. The hatched slivers are buffer: 30 to 60 minutes, depending on team count, spread across the day for the things that may run long. Buffer time is built in on purpose and counts toward the length of the day. The last block, Teardown, runs from the end of awards to your hard stop, so you can see how much time you have to pack up.
Under the timeline, the verdict:
- Recommended: the day fits with room to spare, and the crew is a reasonable size for your experience.
- Questionable: tight finish: the day fits, but with little time left. Either awards end too close to your must-be-out-by time to pack up (30 minutes or less at a VEX IQ event, 45 minutes or less at a VEX V5 event), or the day has almost no spare time for delays. One slow stretch could push you past your end time.
- Questionable: event length: the day fits, but runs past 8 hours, which is long for volunteers and teams. Consider another competition field (if you're not at 3 already), fewer teams, or fewer matches per team.
- Questionable: volunteers: the timing is fine, but the crew is large for your experience level. The verdict says how many of them judging adds, and what one field fewer would save.
- Not feasible: the day doesn't fit before your must-be-out-by time. The verdict tells you what end time, or how many fewer teams, would give you a day that works, and whether another competition field would.
If a plan has more than one of these concerns, the verdict shows the first and names the others after its message, for example “Also a long day: 8 hr 50 min.”
With No set end time ticked, there's no end time to check against, so the verdict reads Shortest day (unless the crew or the day's length is a concern) and tells you what time to ask your venue for, with enough room for teardown.
Under the verdict:
- Finishes around: when awards should end, and how much time that leaves for teardown before your must-be-out-by time (or how late it would run). With No set end time, it shows how long the day is instead.
- Volunteers: how many people you need to run the day, including you as the Event Partner.
- Fields: your competition fields plus the Robot Skills and practice fields the event needs, for example 2x Competition, 1x Robot Skills and 1x Practice. Events over 30 teams get a second practice field, and events over 40 get a second Robot Skills field.
- Matches per team and Time per match: how many Qualification Matches each team plays, and the time from one match start to the next, in minutes and seconds (3:00).
The day, block by block lists the same day as an agenda.
Volunteer crew lists each job and how many people each job needs, so you know who you're recruiting. You, the Event Partner, are listed first and counted in the total. Some jobs need training: you as the Event Partner, Head Referees, and the Judge Advisor must be certified, and certification is recommended for judges and scorekeepers. Those jobs are tagged, and the crew heading counts how many certified people you need, including you. Recruit for those first, since certification takes time.
Equipment you'll need lists the fields, field kits, scoring tablets, and other gear for your plan, with counts that follow your plan and VEX part numbers for this season's game. Click it to open the list, and check it against what you already have before you order.
Other ways to run your day shows the other options the Event Day Builder tested and how each would turn out: 1, 2 or 3 competition fields, and 6, 7 or 8 matches per team, with one or two head referees (three for an Expert event on 3 fields). It lists only the options that fit your day and your experience, and none that run past 10 hours. The highlighted row is the plan shown above. When you pick another row, the original plan is tagged Builder's pick. The other rows show how much longer or shorter the day is and how many more or fewer volunteers it needs. Pick a row to see your whole day that way, and use Back to the Builder's plan to return.
Print summary puts your inputs and the plan on a single page (with the other ways to run your day when the plan isn't Recommended), with the equipment checklist on a second page. Bring the summary to planning meetings or keep it with your event paperwork.
Before you commit to a plan
Use the Event Day Builder as a starting point for your plan. The Event Day Builder is based on the pace of real VEX events, and every event runs a little differently.
- Estimates lean long, on purpose. Plan for the day the Event Day Builder shows. If things go smoothly, you'll finish early.
- Single-day events only. The Event Day Builder doesn't cover multi-day events or days split across venues.
- Account for your venue. Setup and teardown, when you can get into the building, and the walk between pits and fields all shape your day. Fit setup and teardown around the window you enter.
- Account for your teams and volunteers. A room full of first-year teams, a new scorekeeper, or a field that needs repairs will slow the day. Seasoned volunteers and teams will speed it up.
- The crew is the minimum to run the competition. It doesn't include concessions, a Tournament Manager operator, greeters, or other roles you might want. Add those on top, and recruit a few spares, because someone may cancel.
- The Event Day Builder supports up to 64 teams. For a larger event, contact your Program Support Team to help plan your day.
A day that works in the Event Day Builder is a strong starting point, but not a guarantee. A day that doesn't work usually needs more time, fewer teams, or more fields before you post it.