Chairman's Outreach

[Kuhnahtt]

I'm thinking of greatly expanding my team's outreach program this upcoming year. Do any teams have experiences with good programs or ideas that have worked for them that could work for my team? We have about 30 active members.


Thank you so much,

Elizabeth Knott

[Ichlieberoboter]

We won the judges award for our outreach this year at the Lake Superior regional after we created an app, reached over 30 countries with said app, and created a petition to increase funding for STEM education in our state. Plus, we do demonstrations and presentations in a lot of festivals and expos and exhibits regularly.

[Jacob Bendicksen]

Outreach is definitely something that is very specific to each team and its circumstances. That being said, there are some categories that many teams' outreach efforts fall under:

Demos at community events - drive your robot in a parade, present at your local Maker Faire, present at industry conferences, etc.
Offseason competitions, though you need to be pretty 'on it' to pull one off successfully. Harder if there are already some events in your area.
Community service - use your STEM knowledge to benefit your community! We've done some neat stuff with this - check out our website for more info.
Mentoring other FIRST teams, whether they're JrFLL, FLL, FTC, or rookie FRC teams.
Hosting a conference for teams to share knowledge - it's a fun way to bring the community together and spread the love. People who know about drivetrains present on drivetrains while learning about scouting methods and LabView - it's a great experience.


That's just what I can think of off the top of my head - there are as many ways to do outreach as there are FRC teams. Look at the websites of successful Chairman's teams, especially Hall of Fame teams, if you're stuck - they know what good outreach is.

[YAK'ker]

we have done and are doing some unusual things in our community, simply because they "fit" our goals so well:

-helped run an electronics recycling day with our county solid waste dept.
-ran surplus sales/giveaways with our county government
-ran a "sciencepalooza" workshop at our school
-ran workshops for all grades using the SWE's bridge building model
-hosted a Nerdapalooza game night (this year we will also DJ a techno dance for one of the school's clubs to help raise money for school improvement)
-helped buy a bottle-filling water fountain for our school (they had none) and have helped save over 6,000 plastic water bottles since it was installed (in Jan.)
-run a tech help desk for our school - showing staff and students how to organize and save their files, how to defrag and tune up their computers, and what sort of files to avoid opening
-building (we are still working on it) a t-shirt cannon that sports groups and organizations can use at their events
-helped run a coding workshop
-helped run a mini-Makerfaire for holiday gifts
-demo'd our robots at county fair and other events
- running a trebuchet/catapult booth at our local renaissance fair (next month)
- helping with the OSU Engineering Expo (we set up robots with other local teams and let them see what FIRST robotics is about...we let visitors drive the robot, if they want to)
- hosting a showing of Underwater Dreams (or Spare Parts, when it's released) (We've even had a robot film festival on a dreary winter night)

There are a BUNCH of great ideas about workshops, etc. you can host here: http://www.mastersindatascience.org/blog/the-ultimate-stem-guide-for-kids-239-cool-sites-about-science-technology-engineering-and-math/

My advice...though others may disagree: do what FITS your group and your community. Don't worry so much about starting new FIRST teams; build interest in science and engineering and what your team is doing. Identify a need, find an opportunity/niche that fits your team's identity. If your team doesn't enjoy it or find it relevant, their attitude will show and it will turn the public off.

[cadandcookies]

The key is to do something that your team is passionate about. Find a project that gets your team excited and run with it-- even if it seems far off or impossibly difficult, it's amazing what you can accomplish when you ask.