Luo wrote: and the setup of the PowerPoint display was better in 2011 because you weren't able to hear the state announced in advance of the team (which, in 2012, ruined the suspense). I also didn't like that there were inconsistencies in the team name entry in 2012 (for some schools, like New Trier High School, they'd only say "New Trier," whereas for other schools they'd say the complete name, which led to occasional confusion). The lighting at the 2011 ceremony was also better-done than in 2012. Another feature of the 2011 ceremony that we appreciated was that the scores were posted online (on Avogadro) immediately at the conclusion of the ceremony, which prevented the usual mobbing of the stage/coach/captain to see the hard copies. I know Avogadro isn't being used this year, but it would be great if the scoresheet was online immediately so that we could access it on mobile electronic devices.
As long as I can remember, they always announce the state first then the team name at Nationals (and I've been to a LOT of National awards ceremonies;). Watching the archived video, for whatever reason the local MC decided NOT to announce states at all (which I didn't even notice at the time). Of course Gerard also is usually one of the announcers, and he didn't do that in WI for some reason. We will likely follow the 'tradition' and announce the states first, since I think it helps build awareness of where everyone is from (for example, it's really nice when a team from HI sometimes medals and the crowd gives them a a standing ovation). Also keep in mind that for ~40 of the 60 teams, there is only 1 team from their state, so announcing the state doesn't 'ruin the suspense'.
The school name thing is always an issue, since it's entirely based on what the coach provides when they register. We manually review the names and do catch occasional errors, but in general we defer to what the coach entered since we assume it's their preference. The announcers will occasional drop the 'high school' part, but that just due to the flow and crowd reaction.
The final result PDF WILL be available immediately after the ceremony (in fact it will be up before then, but we won't give out the URL until the very end when we display it on the scoreboard).
We will be running a full scale Invitational (120 total teams) at Wright State next Saturday (1/12/13), and we are treating the awards ceremony as a dress rehearsal for Nationals. We'll be streaming it live online starting about 5:45PM Eastern (link will be posted on
http://www.wright.edu/scienceolympiad/events.html ). If any of you have some free time please consider viewing it and providing feedback, so we can make it even better for Nationals.