I was wondering (kinda like the Nats thread), what makes it worth your time and money to travel to a local pattern contest? What things would you like to improve on if you could?

Friendships and hanging out shooting it?
The flying?
The competition?
The results?
The trophies?
The raffle prizes (if any)?

Expand, am curious about it.

For me, it's being able to go a day early (most times) and help other pilots with setting-up planes and watching them fly their patterns and give pointers. Ocala was great for this as I was able to help about half the pilots there with something.