This article explains each input, verdict, and part of the plan in the Event Day Builder, and how to work in the Venue Layout Builder. Keep it open in a second tab while you plan in Planning Your Event Day and Venue Layout.
What Each Input Means
Event
| Input | What to enter | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Program | VEX IQ, VEX V5, or VEX AIR. | Changes some of the pacing and scheduled events during the day. VEX IQ runs Finals Matches. VEX V5 runs Alliance Selection and Eliminations. VEX AIR runs Alliance Selection and Finals Matches. |
| Team capacity | The most teams you will accept. | A qualifying event needs at least 16 teams for VEX IQ or VEX V5, or 12 for VEX AIR. |
| Competition fields | The number of fields for Qualification Matches: 1 to 3 for VEX IQ and VEX V5, 1 or 2 for VEX AIR. | Skills and Practice fields are added for you. VEX AIR events use one shared Skills and Practice field. |
| Events you've hosted | The number of events you have hosted, from 0 to 5+. | The level beside the slider (Novice, Experienced, or Expert) sets the match pace, the number of Head Referees, and the largest recommended crew. |
The Day
| Input | What to enter | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Event start | When doors open and check-in begins. | The 12 hr and 24 hr buttons change how times are shown. |
| Must be out by | The time your venue requires you to be out, teardown included. | No end time yet? Select No set end time to see the shortest possible day and the end time to ask your venue for. |
| Break | Whether your day includes a 30-minute break. | The break, often used for lunch, falls during or just after Qualification Matches, and the plan shows when. Skills and Practice fields can keep running through it. |
| Judging | None, remote, or on-site. | Judging adds judges and a Judge Advisor to your crew but does not change the schedule. See Choosing a judging option below. |
Choosing a judging option:
- None: the best choice for a first event.
- On-site: the best choice if you offer judging.
- Remote: needs more volunteers and more coordination with teams before event day.
The plan shows how many volunteers each choice adds.
What Each Verdict Means
| Verdict | What it means | What to try |
|---|---|---|
| Recommended (green) | The day fits with room to spare, and the crew is a reasonable size for your experience. | Nothing needs to change. |
| Questionable: tight finish (yellow) | The day fits, but with little time left for teardown or delays. One slow stretch could push you past your end time. See When a finish is tight below this table. | Book the room until later, plan for fewer teams, or start earlier. The verdict gives the time to book the room until. |
| Questionable: event length (yellow) | The day fits, but runs past 8 hours. That is long for volunteers and teams. | Add a competition field if you are not at the maximum, or plan for fewer teams or fewer matches per team. |
| Questionable: volunteers (yellow) | The timing is fine, but the crew is large for your experience level. | Change your judging choice or use one field fewer. The verdict says how many volunteers judging adds and what one field fewer would save. |
| Not feasible (red) | The day does not fit before your must-be-out-by time. | The verdict says what end time, or how many fewer teams, would give you a day that works, and whether another competition field would. Select one of those options to see that plan. |
| Shortest day (blue) | Shown when No set end time is ticked, because there is no end time to check against. | Ask your venue for the end time the verdict gives. It includes room for teardown. |
When a finish is tight
A finish is tight when awards end too close to your must-be-out-by time to pack up: 30 minutes or less at a VEX IQ event, or 45 minutes or less at a VEX V5 or VEX AIR event. It is also tight when the day has almost no spare time for delays.
More than one concern
If a plan has more than one concern, 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 chosen, a concern about the crew or the day's length shows in place of Shortest day.
What Each Part of the Plan Shows
The parts below are listed in the order they appear in your plan.
| Part of the plan | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Timeline |
The whole day, drawn to scale.
|
| Finishes around | When awards should end, and how much time that leaves for teardown before your must-be-out-by time, or how late the day 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 Skills and Practice fields the event needs, for example 2x Competition, 1x Robot Skills and 1x Practice. VEX IQ and VEX V5 events over 30 teams get a second Practice field. Events over 40 teams get a second Robot Skills field. |
| Matches per team | How many Qualification Matches each team plays. |
| Time per match | The time from one match start to the next, in minutes and seconds (3:00). |
| The day, block by block | The same day as the timeline, listed as an agenda. |
| Volunteer crew |
Each job and how many people it needs. You, the Event Partner, are listed first and counted in the total. You (the Event Partner), the Head Referees, and the Judge Advisor must be certified. 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, because certification takes time. |
| Equipment you'll need | 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. Select it to open the list, and check it against what you already have before you order. |
| Other ways to run your day |
The other options the Event Day Builder tested: a different number of competition fields, matches per team, or Head Referees (three for an Expert event on 3 fields). It shows only options that fit your day and your experience, and none that run past 10 hours. The highlighted row is the plan shown. Each other row shows how much longer or shorter that day is and how many more or fewer volunteers it needs. Pick a row to see your whole day that way. The original plan is then tagged Builder's pick, and Back to the Builder's plan returns to it. |
| Print summary | Your inputs and the plan on one page, with the equipment checklist on a second page. When the plan is not Recommended, the other ways to run your day are included. Bring it to planning meetings or keep it with your event paperwork. |
Working in the Venue Layout Builder
Start Your Layout
When you select Use selections in layout builder, the Start your layout window opens. Choose the room closest to your venue, then select Make the layout. The Venue Layout Builder places everything your plan needs in that room.
| Room | Size |
|---|---|
| Multipurpose room | 60 by 40 ft |
| HS basketball court | 84 by 50 ft |
| College court | 94 by 50 ft |
| Cafeteria | 80 by 60 ft |
| Gym with sidelines | 110 by 75 ft |
| Field house | 200 by 120 ft |
| Custom size | The width and depth you enter |
Use the ft and m buttons to switch between feet and meters. A room marked "Too small for this plan" does not have space for everything in your plan, so choose a larger room or a custom size.
Change Your Room Size
After the layout is made, the Room panel in the upper right corner shows the room you chose. The room sizes are starting points, so adjust them to match your venue.
Choose a different room from the list, or enter your venue's measurements in Width and Depth.
What's in Your Layout
Your plan sets what is placed: competition fields, Skills and practice fields, queue, tech, inspection, and check-in tables, and one pit table for each team.
Shading shows the space around each item.
| Shading | What it means |
|---|---|
| Tan | The clear space each field needs. At a VEX AIR event, this is the field's Safety Zone, and it must stay clear of tables, equipment, and people during matches. |
| Gray | Walking space, so people can move around each item. |
The Equipment panel counts the fields, tables, and chairs in your layout, and updates as you add or remove items. Use it to check your layout against what you have or need to order.
If a room is too small for your plan, the Venue Layout Builder tells you. You can change the width and depth at any time.
Arrange Your Space
To move an item, drag it, or select it and use the arrow keys. Selecting an item also lets you change it, and you can add more items to the room.
Select an item to rotate, duplicate, remove, or relabel it. Its panel including these options appears under Room.
Add an item from Add to the room: another field, more pit tables, pipe and drape, a charging area, an audience area, a custom area, or a text label. Use text labels for fixed features of your venue, such as doors, power outlets, or bleachers.
Menu Options
Open Menu to save, share, or restart your layout.
| Menu option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Copy link with layout | Copies a link to your current layout, to share with your Program Support Team, volunteers, or venue contact. |
| Start over… | Rebuilds your layout from your plan. |
| Clear the room | Removes everything so you can start from an empty room. |
| Save to a file | Saves a copy of your layout as a .json file. |
| Open a saved file | Opens a saved layout so you can keep working on it. |
| Print or PDF | Opens the print dialog, where you can print your layout or save it as a PDF. |
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Arrow keys | Move 1 ft |
| Shift + arrow keys | Move 5 ft |
| Shift + drag | Move in a straight line |
| Ctrl or Cmd + click | Add to the selection |
| Drag on the floor | Select an area |
| Ctrl or Cmd + A | Select all |
| R or double-click | Rotate |
| Delete | Remove |
| Ctrl or Cmd + D | Duplicate |
| Esc | Deselect, or cancel a drag |
| Ctrl or Cmd + Z | Undo |
| Ctrl or Cmd + Shift + Z, or Ctrl + Y | Redo |
Check Your Plan Against Your Event
The Event Day Builder is based on the pace of real VEX events, and the Venue Layout Builder works from standard sizes. But neither tool can know everything about your specific plans. Before you post your event, check the plan against what you know about your day, your crew, and your room.
The Event Day Builder plans single-day events in one venue, up to its maximum team count. For a larger event, contact your Program Support Team.
Your Day
- Plan for the day shown. Estimates lean long on purpose. If things go smoothly, you will finish early.
- Fit setup and teardown around the window you enter. When you can get into the building and the walk between pits and fields also shape your day.
- Think about 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.
Your Crew
- Add to the crew shown. The crew is the minimum to run the competition. Add concessions, greeters, or other roles you want on top, and recruit a few spares, because someone may cancel.
Your Room
- Measure your space. The preset rooms and item sizes are estimates. Adjust the width and depth to match your venue, check your layout against the game manual, and walk the space before you finalize your layout.
- Mark your building's features. The Venue Layout Builder does not show doors, outlets, columns, bleachers, or stages, so mark them with text labels. At a VEX AIR event, ceiling height and airflow also affect where fields can go.
- Add audience space if your venue needs it. In a gym, bleachers around the court can often serve as audience seating, and that space sits outside the edges of the basketball court room size. At a VEX AIR event, the audience must be at least 10 ft (3 m) from the edge of the field.
- Arrange the pits to suit your venue. The pit tables show how much space your teams need, not where it has to go. Place them in rows, along the walls, or in a separate room.