Is combining two groups a good idea to push the schedule?

[abunickabhi]

World Cube Association

The World Cube Association governs competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as 'twisty puzzles'. The most famous of these puzzles is the Rubik's Cube, invented by professor Rubik from Hungary. A selection of these puzzles are chosen as...

forum.worldcubeassociation.org

Pros:

• If the competition resources is capable of holding 2x number of people (more solving stations, more cube covers, bigger waiting area, more crowd management inclined setup), then combining groups is a good thing to do
• The only solution to speed up competition keeping the same format (cutoff, number of participants, time limit)

Cons:

• It never works in practice and creates more problems and incidents during the group due to more activity and less control over the solving area
• It destroys the tempo of the competition if there is less manpower
• It may not make the “two groups to finish” time in one group time, 2x faster thus not saving any time at all

Disclaimer: I know this discussion is very subjective and there might not be a conclusion on it. Please add to it if you want to make the discussion more directed. If you do not understand or think this is a bad topic/idea to discuss, please do not reply with hasty remarks.

 

[gsingh]

World Cube Association

The World Cube Association governs competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as 'twisty puzzles'. The most famous of these puzzles is the Rubik's Cube, invented by professor Rubik from Hungary. A selection of these puzzles are chosen as...

forum.worldcubeassociation.org

Pros:

• If the competition resources is capable of holding 2x number of people (more solving stations, more cube covers, bigger waiting area, more crowd management inclined setup), then combining groups is a good thing to do
• The only solution to speed up competition keeping the same format (cutoff, number of participants, time limit)

Cons:

• It never works in practice and creates more problems and incidents during the group due to more activity and less control over the solving area
• It destroys the tempo of the competition if there is less manpower
• It may not make the “two groups to finish” time in one group time, 2x faster thus not saving any time at all

Disclaimer: I know this discussion is very subjective and there might not be a conclusion on it. Please add to it if you want to make the discussion more directed. If you do not understand or think this is a bad topic/idea to discuss, please do not reply with hasty remarks.

If you have the resources to run two groups at once just make bigger groups

 

[Lord_Oscar]

If you have good running and data entry systems, I don’t think it’s impossible. We tried having groups split across two stages for Nats ‘23 and I just don’t think it worked. A competitor could only solve on the correct stage, and there were times where we had lots of runners but not enough judges.
In conclusion, I think it’s possible, but not without significant planning by the delegates and organisers

 

[ProStar]

All the comps I’ve been to in my area have two groups competing simultaneously, and from a competitor’s perspective it’s seemed to work out well; we’re almost always ahead

 

[IsThatA4x4]

In the UK we always run simultaneous groups even in small comps, stuff doesn't get mixed up because it's just left and right stage and the runners would never have to cross to the other stage so cubes don't get mixed.