"i.am.FIRST -- Science is Rock and Roll" airs August 14th

[nlknauss]

Check out the ABC press release on "i.am.FIRST" ABC special filmed at World Championships this year.

http://www.usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/About_Us/Media_Center/Press_Releases_and_FIRST_News/2011/iamFIRST-ScienceisRockandRoll_FINALrel7-22-2011_FIRSTversion2.pdf

Looking forward to it! :yikes:

[kstl99]

Thanks for posting this. Seems like a great use of the will.i.am name to attract viewers who would not otherwise watch a FIRST special. I am looking forward to it because I was unable to go to the championship.

I still wish he would wear the FIRST hat Dean gave him at the kick-off.

[Andrew Lawrence]

I still wish he would wear the FIRST hat Dean gave him at the kick-off.

As do we.

[rsisk]

Help an old guy out here....

Do I promote this as will.i.am and FIRST?

or Black Eyed Peas and FIRST?

Is it correct to promote the man or the group?

[JamesBrown]

Help an old guy out here....

Do I promote this as will.i.am and FIRST?

or Black Eyed Peas and FIRST?

Is it correct to promote the man or the group?

Not knowing the make up of the show I would promote it at will.i.am, from the Black Eyed Peas, and FIRST. will.i.am is really establishing his personality and brand outside of the BEPs, however I still think there is value in tying him to the BEPs.

[Molten]

Help an old guy out here....

Trust me, your not the only one with this confusion. How do I apply for early membership into the GOM club? Perhaps I should ask IndySam for details.

Jason

[dag0620]

I must say I'm pretty excited for this. It's going to be some great publicity for FIRST.

[Taylor]

I'm struggling to bridge the gap between BEP and Rock and Roll. Just because a classic rock song is sampled in your tune doesn't make you a rock n roller.

[Alan Anderson]

I'm struggling to bridge the gap between BEP and Rock and Roll.

I've decided to give up and just pretend to be enthusiastic about the whole thing.

[Libby K]

Not knowing the make up of the show I would promote it at will.i.am, from the Black Eyed Peas, and FIRST. will.i.am is really establishing his personality and brand outside of the BEPs, however I still think there is value in tying him to the BEPs.

It is will.i.am that approached FIRST to make the show, but the BEP are the performers so I would say "will.i.am, of the Black Eyed Peas and FIRST"

I am SO excited for this show. The concert was a HUGE moment for FIRST. I've been lucky enough to see some of the material from the show (I'm interning at FIRST Marketing, so promoting this is obviously a big part of my job) , and I was fortunate enough to get some time to talk to will.i.am and his mom (who presented Dean's List with my grandmother) at the Championship. HE GETS IT, guys. He really gets it.

August 14th, 7pm on ABC. One more step toward a culture change for us all. :)

[IndySam]

Trust me, your not the only one with this confusion. How do I apply for early membership into the GOM club? Perhaps I should ask IndySam for details.

Jason

We don't have a club, you'll know when you get there.


But this GOM is excited for this show. I can't say I enjoy there music but anything that puts FIRST in the spotlight can be good.

[Conor Ryan]

I actually heard an 30 second clip advertising this on Satellite Radio today. Cool Beans!

[rmhooks573]

there was a miley cyrus, justin beiber, and britney spears there? does anyone recall seeing these people? i don't ::rtm::

[Billfred]

there was a miley cyrus, justin beiber, and britney spears there? does anyone recall seeing these people? i don't ::rtm::
I recall there being several pre-taped bits during the breaks in the performances there (Jack Black and Snoop Dogg come to mind immediately--I've slept since). Perhaps they're in that group?

[Peter Matteson]

there was a miley cyrus, justin beiber, and britney spears there? does anyone recall seeing these people? i don't ::rtm::

I was surprised to hear that over the weekend as well.

[Courtneyb1023]

Managed to find this i.am.first site by accident. It has some quick interviews with some of the folks mentioned in previous posts and has a genuine countdown clock. I thought it was worth sharing.

http://iamfirst.dipdive.com/

I did a quick search and didn't see it mentioned anywhere else here but if it's already out there, sorry :)

[Joe Ross]

Here's a picture of the email I just got from FIRST. Hopefully it worked better for other people.

[Mark McLeod]

It was supposed to look like this.

[davidthefat]

Managed to find this i.am.first site by accident. It has some quick interviews with some of the folks mentioned in previous posts and has a genuine countdown clock. I thought it was worth sharing.

http://iamfirst.dipdive.com/

I did a quick search and didn't see it mentioned anywhere else here but if it's already out there, sorry :)

I actually disagree with Mr. Jack Black. I think that honor of rock star should go to Dr. Richard Feynman.

[JaneYoung]

I was surprised to hear that over the weekend as well.

Promotion, pure and simple.

It's interesting to see what happens when you put analytical, data-driven, break-it-sooner-than-later-so-you-can-fix-it FIRSTers alongside the hype and promotion of a major event such as a concert or a TV special. Especially in CD where we ignore, red rep, and/or publicly chastise posters who hype/promote themselves, their team, or their standing.

Really interesting. I think, overall, we're doing pretty good in riding this wave.

Jane

[keneajer]

I cant wait for it either. I make a show about called "The First Robotics Generation" that aired to the pubilc. I cant wait for this on tho.

[DSM33]

I think that this special might be the thing that sends FIRST into the mainstream. Michigan has already proven that robotics can work on TV (the State Championship Special) and now FIRST is on national television. Hopefully there will be some robot action (although i thought i saw the anchors talking during the Einstein Matches) and maybe soon we'll see FIRST regional/state championship eliminations broadcast on TV. Closer and closer to being a full-blown sport every day :)

[Red2486]

Whoo Hoo! My team is on the new poster!

[PaW]

Will.i.am posted an article on the Huffington Post this weekend, for those of you interested. It's nice to read his explanation, in his own words:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william/science-education_b_920125.html?ir=Technology

Looking forward to the show.

[IndySam]

Hmmmm, now this promotion stuff has got me thinkin'


We started back to school last week, we are on a balanced calendar, how can we use this in school to promote our team? We must find a way to use this for recruitment.

I'm gonna have to come up with some posters and a mention on the school morning TV announcements.

Anyone got any cool ideas?

[Taylor]

I intend to cut and splice the little :20 videos, along with the others already out there with Morgan Freeman, Keanu Reeves, Will Smith, etc. to make a series of callout commercials to air during announcements.
Perhaps also to pump area offseason events - ?
I will say I am intrigued and very impressed with this site. My only complaint is this: How is any "favorite robot" poll complete without Johnny5?

[kramarczyk]

My only complaint is this: How is any "favorite robot" poll complete without Johnny5?

He's not really a robot though... he's alive.

[Vikesrock]

Will.i.am posted an article on the Huffington Post this weekend, for those of you interested. It's nice to read his explanation, in his own words:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william/science-education_b_920125.html?ir=Technology

Looking forward to the show.

While I enjoyed this article, I do want to point out that it does contain a small amount of foul language.

[Ether]

Will.i.am posted an article on the Huffington Post this weekend, for those of you interested. It's nice to read his explanation, in his own words:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william/science-education_b_920125.html?ir=Technology


from the article:
think about and wonder why and who and when and what it's going to take for Detroit not to turn into a slum.

Time magazine ran a cover story (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1926017,00.html) 2 years ago.

[torihoelscher]

Hooray!!! I cant wait to see it! It's going to be so cool to see the special. This is going to be great for F.I.R.S.T!!!


I am definitely recording it!

[Billfred]

Potentially relevant: Will.i.am will be on G4's Attack of the Show! tomorrow night at 7:00 to promote the show. A couple of short Championship snippets were shown during the teaser--the only team I could pick out was 1114.

(Fair warning: AOTS is rated TV-14 and occasionally gets a little less-than-family-friendly for the early hour.)

[Peter Matteson]

Here is a link to an interview with will.i.am discussing i.am.first.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504943_162-20090252-10391715.html

[Karibou]

Here is a link to an interview with will.i.am discussing i.am.first.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504943_162-20090252-10391715.html

One thing that's mentioned in this article is that will.i.am paid for the airtime with his own money. I didn't actually realize that until today, when I saw him talking about it on Twitter. I had never really given thought about how we got the airtime, who paid for it, etc. And now that I actually have thought about it...the cost for such a good time on a major channel has to be outrageous, even when scheduled so far in advance. Between the appearance at kickoff, the small shoutout to science and technology at the Super Bowl, the concert at the Championship, and the TV special, t's really freaking awesome that will.i.am has done all of this for FIRST (and the more broad focus of celebrating STEM and making science cool again), and it just blows my mind.

[smistthegreat]

A commercial for i.am.FIRST just aired on Comedy Central. I can't remember all of it but there was Black Eyed Peas music playing in the background of a montage of robot clips with narration. The only robots I remember seeing distinctly were 254 and 1503 but there were more.

[Katie_UPS]

I like this guy a lot more now... I mean, hearing someone other than ourselves say "not everyone is going to be Kobe" is so refreshing. I mean, like Libby says. He really does get it.

[Molten]

One thing that's mentioned in this article is that will.i.am paid for the airtime with his own money. I didn't actually realize that until today, when I saw him talking about it on Twitter. I had never really given thought about how we got the airtime, who paid for it, etc. And now that I actually have thought about it...the cost for such a good time on a major channel has to be outrageous, even when scheduled so far in advance. Between the appearance at kickoff, the small shoutout to science and technology at the Super Bowl, the concert at the Championship, and the TV special, t's really freaking awesome that will.i.am has done all of this for FIRST (and the more broad focus of celebrating STEM and making science cool again), and it just blows my mind.

I'll admit that I was suspicious of the guy at first. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time a celebrety helped a charity for publicity. After thinking it through, I've changed my mind. I'm a big fan of the cause, but even I have my limits. I can't say I'd have gone to near the lengths he has if I were in his shoes. I might be the only one here willing to admit it though. I may not be a fan of his music, but he's alright by me. If there's a chance that he reads any of this...I hope he knows that his actions are greatly appreciated by many. His impact on history might be bigger than any other singer yet. There really is no telling the extent his generosity will change the world. And yet, I can't help but wonder what his next move is. He doesn't seem like he's going to stop soon. What will he do next? I can't wait to see.

Jason

[JaneYoung]

I've been lucky enough to see some of the material from the show (I'm interning at FIRST Marketing, so promoting this is obviously a big part of my job) , and I was fortunate enough to get some time to talk to will.i.am and his mom (who presented Dean's List with my grandmother) at the Championship. HE GETS IT, guys. He really gets it.

August 14th, 7pm on ABC. One more step toward a culture change for us all. :)

So, does some of this promotion include the - My Robot Is Better Than Your Robot - taunting theme that I'm seeing pop up in Facebook newsfeeds? If so, I'm getting more confused about the message of FIRST and what is being conveyed through promotion and advertising.

Jane

[waialua359]

So, does some of this promotion include the - My Robot Is Better Than Your Robot - taunting theme that I'm seeing pop up in Facebook newsfeeds? If so, I'm getting more confused about the message of FIRST and what is being conveyed through promotion and advertising.

Jane

Jane,
its just for humor. Loosen up a little. :)
This TV special is indeed a great first step towards really showcasing FIRST.

Glenn

[JaneYoung]

its just for humor. Loosen up a little. :)

Sorry to disappoint, Glenn.

To the people that don't know FIRST, they'll see that as the same old message they've grown up with. No culture change there...

I'd rather go for inspiration. Something like, "We're all in this together." Or - "Competing like crazy - we're all in this together." Or, the real message: "Making the grade, we're all in this together."

But that's just me.

Jane

[Ankit S.]

I've been watching all the interview/video things and I noticed two things:

1. All the "Who are the..." teams are Californian and went to SVR,

2. Justin Bieber says "US FIRST" rather than just "FIRST". The irony.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Well, hopefully I'll be able to have someone record this since I don't own a TV.

[RoboMom]

Just heard a promo for this: http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2011/08/10/pm-black-eyed-peas-william-on-the-importance-of-funding-science-education/

On our local npr station at 6:30 tonight.

[NickE]

This is really fantastic publicity. I'm extremely impressed by the great lengths Will.i.am and his crew went through to produce and publicize this special.
All the "Who are the..." teams are Californian and went to SVRSeveral members of the film crew were at SVR filming and interviewing teams. I know 254 and 1868 were interviewed and I suspect 1538 was as well.

[Molten]

its just for humor. Loosen up a little. :)

I'm not a facebook person, so I've not seen any "My Robot Is Better Than Your Robot". I'll admit I've said almost the same thing to Jane in the past when it comes to rumors. (If you've been here for long, you know her opinion of the rumor mill.) In this case though, I have to agree with Jane 100%. Even if its intended to be in a joking manner, it will be really hard to convey this to someone outside of FIRST. If I recall, we've always said work together off the field...compete like crazy on the field. That is one of our biggest selling points that I hope influences the culture today. Let's try to be aware of how an unknowing bystander will see it whenever we put something in the public eye. Facebook is a perfect example. If we continue things like this, it doesn't look good for FIRST. I'm not trying to ruin people's fun, just saying lets keep this sort of thing out of the public eye. At the very least, if you want to brag about your robot do it on CD and not on Facebook. You'll be doing the cause a favor. Just remember, not all publicity is good publicity.

Jason

[JaneYoung]

Jason, it's an actual ad/trailer. The celebrities take turns saying it. It's a part of the current promotion campaign for the Special.

I'm not so sure folks are worried about good publicity or bad publicity at this point. They like -> publicity.

Jane

[Molten]

Jason, it's an actual ad/trailer. The celebrities take turns saying it. It's a part of the current promotion campaign for the Special.

I'm not so sure folks are worried about good publicity or bad publicity at this point. They like -> publicity.

Jane

It would seem its much worse then I had thought. I hope that someone points out the flaw in this campaign and it gets straightened out. We are just starting to get the ball rolling. I'd hate for progress to slow down due to bad publicity. I hope I'm not the only one that sees a big difference.

Jason

[Karibou]

Jason, here's a link to the "My robot is better than your robot" video: http://iamfirst.dipdive.com/media/183664

I do see how some people could take it the wrong way (interpreting it to mean that FIRST is really gung-ho competitive), but I personally can't take it seriously because of the manner in which it's presented. I feel like the little techno voice in the background gives it a friendly-competition-between-music-celebrities feel. If the background music had been more intense, with the people making more violent gestures and having more of an edge to their voice (and even though Miley actually does sound violent, I just cracked up when I heard her say it), I would be a lot more worried.

No matter how it's presented, a lot of people who view the special who aren't in FIRST will automatically assume that it's like Battlebots, because that's what they're used to expecting when they hear "robot competition." I do hope that Coopertition and Gracious Professionalism will be explained and connected to FIRST so as to preserve the image that we want, but I don't expect a huge deal to be made out of it. This special is supposed to promote science, not convert the world to gracious professionalism (though that wouldn't be such a bad idea).

[JaneYoung]

It would seem its much worse then I had thought. I hope that someone points out the flaw in this campaign and it gets straightened out. We are just starting to get the ball rolling. I'd hate for progress to slow down due to bad publicity. I hope I'm not the only one that sees a big difference.

Jason

Perhaps we do need to lighten up, Jason. And, there are 4 more days to promote this event so we may be seeing more material released.

One thing that I think will be interesting to watch for, are teams who decide to use that catch phrase to be cool and how it is accepted during the competition season.

Jane

[Molten]

Perhaps we do need to lighten up, Jason. And, there are 4 more days to promote this event so we may be seeing more material released.

One thing that I think will be interesting to watch for, are teams who decide to use that catch phrase to be cool and how it is accepted during the competition season.

Jane

After seeing the video, I can see that it was clearly intended to be lighthearted. I am a little confused as to why they chose that statement to be repeated throughout the video. There are alot better messages to be sent. From what I've seen, it would seem the celebrities get it. Just not sure if the directors do. Guess we'll just wait and see how the final product turns out. If it gets posted online somewhere, please send me a link. I don't have cable at my apartment currently.

Jason

[Taylor]

The line is repeated throughout the video because it's catchy! It's attention getting, it creates top of mind awareness, it creates interest. Everybody in FIRST thinks "my robot is better than your robot" - otherwise we wouldn't sink hundreds of hours, thousands of dollars, and millions of brain cells into it.
People don't have to "get" it. They just have to know about it. Once they know about it, then they come to it, experience it, talk to it, learn it, then get it. At first blush, people don't need to know about GP any more than they need to know gear ratios, screw classifications, or LabVIEW. It's about Inspiration. It's about Recognition. It's about Science and Technology. That's all it's For; any more than that is just gravy.
We're changing the culture, and Mr. I.Am is helping. But it's not gonna happen in one fell swoop. As small steps go, this is potentially one giant leap.

[XaulZan11]

I don't mind the 'my robot is better than your robot' phrase, but it instantly reminded me of Nike's 'my better is better than your better' campaign (see here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_c9LbS5HgQ) and here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD6oabwzVbQ)) I'm sure I'm in the vast minority who made that connection, but I don't think it is a good thing for FIRST to be associated with.

[Alan Anderson]

2. Justin Bieber says "US FIRST" rather than just "FIRST". The irony.

How many people here still refer to "Nationals"?

The organization's name is the United States Foundation for the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Lots of people who were part of it early on still call it US FIRST.

[Molten]

How many people here still refer to "Nationals"?

The organization's name is the United States Foundation for the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Lots of people who were part of it early on still call it US FIRST.

I really had no idea Justin Bieber had been a part of first that long. He just looks so young. Seriously though, I don't see it as a big deal though I understand that that is partly due to me being in the US. It does hint that his lines might have been written by someone who has been a part of FIRST for a while. This could be both a good and bad thing. It takes away the sincerity of the whole thing but at least we are certain that the message is from someone who has been here long enough to know what FIRST is all about. Perhaps I'm reading too much into the slip of the word.

Jason

[thefro526]

I really had no idea Justin Bieber had been a part of first that long. He just looks so young. Seriously though, I don't see it as a big deal though I understand that that is partly due to me being in the US. It does hint that his lines might have been written by someone who has been a part of FIRST for a while. This could be both a good and bad thing. It takes away the sincerity of the whole thing but at least we are certain that the message is from someone who has been here long enough to know what FIRST is all about. Perhaps I'm reading too much into the slip of the word.

Jason

Will.I.Am has been saying 'US FIRST' since he got involved.

I haven't been able to figure out why.

[Bjenks548]

Just another promotion for the special, E-news had Will.I.Am on. He was interviewed about the special by Ryan Seacrest with his two promo-robots. It showed students being interviewed with the pits in the backround, so that tells me it won't just be the concert.

[Joe Ross]

I'm not sure that what Steven Tyler was describing is science...

[kramarczyk]

Will.I.Am has been saying 'US FIRST' since he got involved.

I haven't been able to figure out why.

Probably from every time he hands out the URL, www.usfirst.org.

[rsisk]

The people in this video are the means of getting our message out to an audience we have not been able to reach before. They are speaking in their terms to their audiences to bring them into our world. This is a great opportunity for us to inspire a lot of people who are being introduced into the world of FIRST for the first time. Get ready for a lot of work with all these new people coming on board, we will have a lot of educating to do, but this is our chance to change their culture, to show them a whole new world they never knew existed. So lets be prepared to welcome and inspire.

There was a discussion on one of the video posts on FB, and here is one of my responses from that conversation, I think it is relevant here as well...

They are just the conduit for our message, not the message itself. The type of audience they will reach are exactly the type of person we want to bring in and inspire. It's easy to reach the geeks and inspire them, its a lot harder to reach the cheerleader and get her involved with robotics but the Inspiration Delta (ID) is much greater.

[Dancin103]

Help an old guy out here....

Do I promote this as will.i.am and FIRST?

or Black Eyed Peas and FIRST?

Is it correct to promote the man or the group?

I specifically remember the show at Championship being promoted as will.i.am and friends, but they were introduced as the Black Eyed Peas. If I were to give this a name it would be will.i.am promoting FIRST. If that makes any sense. If not, I apologize.

Cass

[nlknauss]

I received an email that Dean Kamen and will.i.am will be the featured guests on the Piers Morgan show Friday (8/12) at 9p. Wonder what they could be talking about?!

I'm loving the publicity coming from this!

[Travis Hoffman]

I'm not sure that what Steven Tyler was describing is science...

I'm sure it involved expanding minds, at least. :)

[Jetweb]

http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/12/dean-kamen-on-will-i-ams-involvement-we-sucked-him-in/?hpt=pm_mid

This is part of an interview of Dean and Will.i.am that was on CNN tonight, they talked for almost 20 min. about FIRST and the show. They also played some neat clips from the championship so hopefully the special will have some cool robot footage.

[gblake]

... (I'm interning at FIRST Marketing, so promoting this is obviously a big part of my job) ...

Libby - What can you tell us about FIRST's marketing team's plans to measure the results of this campaign? - Is there a metric folks out "in the field" should keep an eye on? - Blake

[AcesJames]

I know a lot of people were a bit peeved by the whole field/concert stage setup at Championships, but I really think that what Will.I.Am is doing for FIRST is awesome.

He talked at kickoff, and most of us laughed at his "it's dope" comment and rolled our eyes, thinking this would be a 1 shot deal endorsement from a celebrity that would flop after kickoff. A few weeks later we get a shoutout from him and the BEP at the SuperBowl. But then, we received word we'd be seeing him again at the Championship, for a live concert, just for us. And then again over the summer we find out he's invested his own time and money, bought air time from ABC, enlisted the help of close to a dozen other A-list celebrities, and produced a 1 hour special promoting FIRST. Plus, to make sure he spreads the message as far and wide as he can, he talks to quite a few major news sources to spread the special.

Google Will.I.Am right now, and look at the news about him. It's all about his special with Dean and FIRST. That's pure awesome.

Love him or hate him, he's doing a really, really awesome thing for all of us. Something that FIRST as a whole has been striving to do for a long time. Will.I.Am didn't HAVE to do any of this for us.

I think the CD community should try to get into contact with FIRST directly, so that maybe we can send Will a "Thank you" of some kind?

[OZ_341]

In an effort to get our local community to watch, we contacted our online newspaper Ambler Patch. I am not sure what the circulation is because they are new. Here is a link to the article.

http://ambler.patch.com/articles/whss-robot-rocks-out-with-black-eyed-peas-on-tv-special-sunday

Despite its imperfections, this type of national media exposure should create at least some curiosity about FIRST. Prompting America to ask questions about the program can only be a good thing.

Hopefully everyone is getting the word out.

[DSM33]

Love him or hate him, he's doing a really, really awesome thing for all of us. Something that FIRST as a whole has been striving to do for a long time. Will.I.Am didn't HAVE to do any of this for us.

I think the CD community should try to get into contact with FIRST directly, so that maybe we can send Will a "Thank you" of some kind?

What if we got everyone who has a twitter thats on a FIRST team to tweet @ him "thank you!" or something along those lines? I'm sure theres a ton of CD people that have a twitter and can take 30 seconds out of their day to thank will.i.am for this awesome thing he did

[plnyyanks]

What if we got everyone who has a twitter thats on a FIRST team to tweet @ him "thank you!" or something along those lines? I'm sure theres a ton of CD people that have a twitter and can take 30 seconds out of their day to thank will.i.am for this awesome thing he did

Sounds like a great idea. I'd do it. Think we should organize a hashtag? (FYI, will.i.am's twitter is @iamwill (https://twitter.com/#!/iamwill))

[Karibou]

Sounds like a great idea. I'd do it. Think we should organize a hashtag? (FYI, will.i.am's twitter is @iamwill (https://twitter.com/#!/iamwill))

The hashtag that seems to be used to promote this is the same one that we've been using throughout the season for everything else FIRST: #omgrobots.

[DSM33]

I'm with #omgrobots on the hashtag. i think if we just flooded twitter with this at around 6 tomorrow thatd be great!

Sample Tweet:
@iamwill Thank you for everything you did for FIRST this year! Looking forward to the special! #omgrobots

maybe we could get a post on CD to organize this for tomorrow :)

[Molten]

I'm no twitter expert, but how many tweets would it take to catch his attention? I'm sure a guy like him gets a ton of them. Can we generate those numbers on such short notice?

Jason

[miketwalker]

I've posted a graphic (hopefully it will appear in CD photos soon) that we can use to change our profile pictures with on social media sites (i.e. Facebook, etc) for the day to help promote the special. I made it mostly for my own personal use but wanted to pass it on for any who may wish to do the same.

http://www.michaeltwalker.com/iamfirst.jpg

[ebarker]

A little divergence....

We have this Irish American girl on the team that is our webmistress. She has the really interesting purse that a lot of people say "hey, I really like your purse".
I've never seen one like it before. It is made of a ton of beverage can pull tab rings.

So we are watching the FRC kickoff last January and will.i.am comes out wearing this purse, and our webmistress goes "hey, that is my purse, well just like my purse".

Just a random comment for your entertainment.......
.

[Andrew Schreiber]

I'm no twitter expert, but how many tweets would it take to catch his attention? I'm sure a guy like him gets a ton of them. Can we generate those numbers on such short notice?

Jason

Well, #frckickoff was trending during kickoff (I think it hit #5 in the US). So, in some cases we can make a pretty big stink. However, TT is not based solely on raw numbers.

[Red2486]

He talked at kickoff, and most of us laughed at his "it's dope" comment and rolled our eyes, thinking this would be a 1 shot deal endorsement from a celebrity that would flop after kickoff. A few weeks later we get a shoutout from him and the BEP at the SuperBowl. But then, we received word we'd be seeing him again at the Championship, for a live concert, just for us. And then again over the summer we find out he's invested his own time and money, bought air time from ABC, enlisted the help of close to a dozen other A-list celebrities, and produced a 1 hour special promoting FIRST. Plus, to make sure he spreads the message as far and wide as he can, he talks to quite a few major news sources to spread the special.


I have to admit, I was very sceptical of Will.i.am for a pretty long time. At kick-off I thought that he was just going to be promoting himself and the BEP to the FIRST community, but now, I am so thankful for everything he has been doing for FIRST (which is alot). Having someone as popular and as well known as him is giant for us. Every time he posts about i.am.FIRST on the BEP facebook page, thousands of people are seeing it.

And I was definitly one of those people who complained about the stage taking up too much room, but looking back on it, I think that losing some space is a very, very small thing for us to put up with after all that he has done for us. And the show wasn't too bad either. ;)

[Molten]

Well, #frckickoff was trending during kickoff (I think it hit #5 in the US). So, in some cases we can make a pretty big stink. However, TT is not based solely on raw numbers.

Lets remember that was during kickoff. We don't have near the surge power during the off-season that we do at kickoff. If we can actually grab his attention, that is great. Just wanted to see what the odds are.

Jason

[DSM33]

Lets remember that was during kickoff. We don't have near the surge power during the off-season that we do at kickoff. If we can actually grab his attention, that is great. Just wanted to see what the odds are.

Jason

I posted a thread on CD last night about a twitter thank you. if we just spread it to the teams (thru a team email blast or something of the like) i htink that we could potentially do it.

[rsisk]

I really like the idea of changing our profile pictures for the day. All mine are changed.

[nlknauss]

I really like the idea of changing our profile pictures for the day. All mine are changed.

This was a great idea!

Maybe also try to wear a robotics shirt on Monday? Whether it's a FIRST or a team t-shirt it will be cool to see STEM supporters take advantage of the hype soon after it happens.

[ttldomination]

Found this on wimp.com this morning. I have to say, I wasn't expecting it from the title, but it's an absolutely beautiful video.

http://wimp.com/elementaryschool/

[Chris Hibner]

I was checking out articles online about the show tonight and I came across this one: http://www.teenmusic.com/2011/08/12/will-i-am-inspires-the-youth-the-i-am-first-scienc

At the bottom he says he's going to do it every year. Interesting.

[gblake]

Folks

Does anyone (who is willing to share with the rest of us (the final edit of the show has been in-the-can for a while now, I'm sure)), know if this show promotes all STEM programs (the many programs that all together are still falling short of what is needed) or only promotes FIRST?

I hope the core message doesn't get viewed only through a single lens or described from a single perspective. That would be a bit disingenuous and would lead viewers in the direction of wasting some valuable resources..

Many hands make work light and diversity is a source of strength.

Blake

[phoebe.patwell]

I am so proud to be a member of this organization, I'm glad that it's finally getting some decent recognition and publicity. FIRST FTW!!!

[Steven Donow]

Folks

Does anyone (who is willing to share with the rest of us (the final edit of the show has been in-the-can for a while now, I'm sure)), know if this show promotes all STEM programs (the many programs that all together are still falling short of what is needed) or only promotes FIRST?

I hope the core message doesn't get viewed only through a single lens or described from a single perspective. That would be a bit disingenuous and would lead viewers in the direction of wasting some valuable resources..

Many hands make work light and diversity is a source of strength.

Blake

So far it definitely seems to be very FIRST-focused, though what they're generally stressing so far isn't necessarily FIRST as an activity/fun thing, but moreso the message.

Also of note, it seems like FIRST will be on the front page of AOL(actually, as I check now, it is!)


This is actually really huge and awesome for FIRST.

[Eagleeyedan]

Watching it right now :yikes:

[Wildcat]

someone please tell me i wasnt the only one to temporarily change the channel while that justin beibur commercial was on

[Karibou]

I've been watching my Twitter feed fill up with tweets about this! So awesome. I'm surprised that #omgrobots isn't trending yet.


But, the coolest tweet I've seen so far was:

"Science is rock and roll"

Tweeted by one of my school's former cheerleaders. I don't know her very well, she doesn't do robotics, she was really just another face in the hallway. I can't explain how much it meant to see someone from my own community, from that kind of demographic, being affected by the special in the way that it was intended. Way. Cool.

[TPNigl]

This is such an awesome special, I'm so happy will.i.am has been such a big promoter. It's great seeing so many teams that I know are on TV. It just makes me so happy to finally see it greatly appreciated on such a wide scale.

This is actually after having seen someone walking down the street with one of our team's shirts who I didn't know, which made me happy to know we were promoted and how a man at our work knew about our team and thought we were underappreciated and always talked about us.

I am so happy that this program happened to me and that I was blessed for 4 years with such great people and so many memories.

[Eagleeyedan]

I was al ittle dissapointed that it showed so much of the concert instead of actually following the teams. Still great that FIRST got some more publicity.

[stundt1]

someone please tell me i wasnt the only one to temporarily change the channel while that justin beibur commercial was on

No you werent the only one. I turned the channel also :O

[thefro526]

I'm disappointed that this program was found to be 'unwatchable' by some of my closest friends from varying demographics.

I hope the next time Will.I.Am and FIRST partner it's less about Music and more about Robots.

[Walter Deitzler]

I was al ittle dissapointed that it showed so much of the concert instead of actually following the teams. Still great that FIRST got some more publicity.

I think that since this was the first real big publicity that FIRST had, they had to put it in a format to get non-FIRST people interested, and the concert footage is one of the most effective ways to do this.

[Joe G.]

Overall, I thought it was very good. A bit much of the concert for my tastes, but then, die-hard FIRSTers aren't exactly the intended audience. This special will get people talking, and it'll get them curious. It'll get a lot of people into teams that might not have joined or formed them otherwise. And from there, it's our job to corrupt them all :]

My only real complaint was that we never saw any single shot of match play that lasted more than about 10 seconds. The emphasis wasn't really placed on the sport itself, and the excitement of the game. Showing people who have never seen an FRC match in their lives the excitement of an Einstein level match would have been good.

Still, I see this providing a big boost to FIRST next year! Thank you Will.i.am and all your guests, and we hope to see you next year!

[stundt1]

I'm disappointed that this program was found to be 'unwatchable' by some of my closest friends from varying demographics.

I hope the next time Will.I.Am and FIRST partner it's less about Music and more about Robots.

There was way to much music in it.
Did anyone else feel like it was way too short they didnt mention fll at all either.

[dag0620]

I was very, very, happy with how this turned out.

Thanks to will.i.am for putting this together. This did a great job showing others what FIRST is and about, and in general what needs to happen in this country.

Plus....

Our Team's Mascot got in a couple of shots - I was jumping up and down in pure excitement when I saw Agua on TV.

Lastly to Brittany Spears: I think she clearly gets FIRST very well :P

[XaulZan11]

I think the TV special was great for promoting FIRST, Will.i.am and science/technology, but I was a little disappointed with how the show was put together. My biggest complaint is that it was just a bunch of segments and songs for an hour with no real structure or progression. I think they should have had the stories/songs in between Einstein matches (or at least highlights) to give some structure and so there would be some finale to the show (ending with a Black Eyed Peas song as the finale was disappointing). Especially if they want to do this again in future years, as Will.I.am wants, they should watch the FIRST in Michigan show and copy that format.

Along those lines, I'm disappointed that they had no music on Einstein just so they could film the introduction that really could be filmed anywhere or voice overed.

Again, overall I think this is a huge success, but I think it could have been better if they had more footage of actual matches. They do get huge bonus points in my book for using NFL Films music, though.

[Kusha]

WAY too much music in it, I wish it was more robotics based than music. But then again, like others said I'm a FIRST junkie, this wasn't intended for me.

[ebarker]

I thought it was just great....

[skywalker341]

I'm disappointed that this program was found to be 'unwatchable' by some of my closest friends from varying demographics.

I hope the next time Will.I.Am and FIRST partner it's less about Music and more about Robots.



word.

[GCentola]

I loved it. Im glad that FIRST is finally getting more of the recognition it deserves. I think the show was a great way to spread the message, and that we should all be happy that FIRST got an hour long commercial endorsed by media celebrities (even if not all of them completely understand).

[Chris is me]

I didn't see the program, so I will refrain from commenting on it, but a friend who I told to watch the program called me after the show. "I really wish they showed us more of the robots. Those looked really cool. I didn't care about all the celebrities and music."

Take that for what it is. I'm going to assume that most of Chief Delphi was not this program's target audience, though, and thus I probably won't be reading any of this thread.

[Koko Ed]

For what it was intended for it did a great job.For those who are complaining about the music and the celebs do realize they are intended to lure the public in. Once in the special was more about Who We are and WHAT we do. They only had less that an hour to do it and for what they had to work with they did a bang up job. My biggest complaint in what's up with the West Coast bias? They couldn't find one East Cost team to talk to?

[Barry Bonzack]

If you have a single negative thought towards this special it is because you are not the target audience for it. FIRST is Awesome, if you are posting on ChiefDelphi.com, that means you already know this. The goal is to reach out to people who think completely differently, even backwards from us, and show them why FIRST matters.

If Will uses the word "dope", doesn't wear a larger FIRST logo, takes up half of the St. Louis arena, if there was not enough seating in the pits, if the music was killed during finals, it was all justified tonight. We received a huge gift this evening, and all things considered, sacrificed very little for one year.

My brother watched the special with me, and afterward he put it like this. "If two kids from every school who would otherwise have been uninterested in technology watched this special tonight and was inspired to learn more, then the world just changed because of it."

[PayneTrain]

Hard to complain about an hour of primetime TV for FIRST. Too bad there couldn't have been a lot more FIRST :/.

In my dreams, ABC saw the weekend and would consider broadcasting the Einstein field and a few other matches next year. If they did it live, throw in some pre-produced bits.

Seriously, FIRST would love the exposure. Strongmen Competitions and WSOP could take a break for an afternoon of FIRST on ESPN.

[zachmartin1806]

I think they should have put at least one match in there, but not an Einstein match. The necessary strategy in order to win wasn't as entertaining as some of the finals on Archimedes, Galileo, Curie, and Newton.

[Robyn Needel]

I want to thank will.i.am for delivering on his promise to make FIRST Loud! He obviously put out money and effort and hopefully it will make it easier and more fun for all of us in the FIRST community to get more people involved.

[demosthenes2k8]

My neighbors came over to watch it with my family - everyone loved it, except for the Bieber commercial...this was fantastic for publicity!

Funnily enough, my mom asked me during one commercial break "Matt, why aren't they talking about Gracious Professionalism? It's such a huge part of FIRST!"

[galewind]

I think that the rationale here is that in order to bring FIRST into the spotlight, and to have people pay attention, FIRST has to hitch on to popular people in a mainstream setting to be initially recognized. In this capacity, it was very successful. will.i.am's quotes were pretty spot-on, and things that FIRSTers could appreciate. I honestly felt that every other celebrity talking was absolutely fluff, but to associate them with a special about FIRST brings FIRST a bit more street cred.

I agree with many posters that I wish that there was more about FIRST, but look at your key elements -- they talk about coopertition, they demonstrate how FIRST can transform peoples' lives, they demonstrate why it's important, and they showed that science and technology can be fun. In that regard, I believe that they accomplished their mission.

While it may not have been the special that hardcore FIRSTers would have wanted -- it really wasn't made FOR us, and was a good step to try to change the culture into accepting how important it is to promote science and techology education.

In that regard, I am absolutely satisfied, and I hope that it opens some minds. My father, who is technology-challenged, called me from vacation in Florida to tell me about the show and how much he was enjoying it. Now, there's one... imagine how many other people enjoyed seeing it?

[XaulZan11]

If you have a single negative thought towards this special it is because you are not the target audience for it.

I understand what your saying, but if if the biggest reason I'm involved in FIRST (the competition, strategy, sports-like atmosphere) isn't really highlighted at all, I think they may have missed getting people like me interested in FIRST. Dean has been saying for years that they stole the spots model to get people hooked on FIRST. I don't think this special properly utilized or highlighted that advantage or aspect of the FIRST program. It was a great special, but I think it could have been more effective at getting people interesed if they spent some time on the actual competition by showing some match footage.

Again, the special was great and is likely a huge sucess, but I think they have things they could do better next year.

[mikedeggy]

Just curious did anyone record this where I can show it to team members that missed it?

Thanks

[Andy Baker]

In that regard, I am absolutely satisfied, and I hope that it opens some minds. My father, who is technology-challenged, called me from vacation in Florida to tell me about the show and how much he was enjoying it. Now, there's one... imagine how many other people enjoyed seeing it?

I totally agree. This program was definitely not aimed at us (current FIRSTers) at all, which is great. We're already involved.

Thanks to will.i.am and everyone else who made this happen.

I even liked the Bieber commercial.

Andy B.

[emtwo]

Hard to complain about an hour of primetime TV for FIRST.

Dean conveyed it best when he said that "by most standards outside of science and technology...virtually nobody knows about FIRST..."

Tonight, that changed.

[dodar]

If I could get anything out of this, maybe someone should try and get the ratings and # of households that watched this special.

[ebarker]

Just curious did anyone record this where I can show it to team members that missed it?

Thanks

My understanding from the powers that be is that the program will run a few more times in some odd time slots, then be made available to FIRST.

So sit back, enjoy, watch for other time slot assignments, then wait for the release.

That is my understanding.

[EricH]

I like how they focused on the message. However: I wasn't a fan of that much music. I have no problem with putting music in; it's a "hook" for the general populace. Just use some slightly shorter songs.

If I had to offer an overall critique: It was a good show for a first time doing it. If this is done again (and I do hope that it is), I would put in a full match or two from FRC (say, when explaining the game, and use a good match or two--Einstein semis maybe), and show more of the FTC match with will.i.am driving. Maybe go a little more with the "sports show" format used in the beginning. Oh, and spread out where the teams are from a bit; maybe hit up a few HoF teams about why they're in the HoF.


[reflection]
You know, thinking back to all that annoyance over the fields in the pits because of a concert, I think that the disruption was worth it. This was the final product of that. I only wish that there had been some hint of this back when the announcement was made, so there would have been no tempest in a teapot back in April.

[Tim Delles]

Dean conveyed it best when he said that "by most standards outside of science and technology...virtually nobody knows about FIRST..."

Tonight, that changed.

I think it will be interesting to see what Nielson ratings say.

[KHall]

I was rather pleased with the introduction before the show started. How many organizations get such a glowing endorsement from the leader of the free world?

This might be something to start in a new thread, but I thought it would be a good idea to start collecting the messages that were delivered during the show. I'll start.

Wil i am pointed out that all young people love science -- they all use cell phones, iPads, big screen TVs -- they just have not been educated that these things are all based on science.

Loved the show!!

Keith Hall
Mentor
2171 Robodogs

[GCentola]

Wil i am pointed out that all young people love science -- they all use cell phones, iPads, big screen TVs -- they just have not been educated that these things are all based on science.

Science and technology! We cant forget that part.

[Cyberphil]

You know, thinking back to all that annoyance over the fields in the pits because of a concert, I think that the disruption was worth it. This was the final product of that. I only wish that there had been some hint of this back when the announcement was made, so there would have been no tempest in a teapot back in April.

You bring up an excellent point. I agree. I think it was 100% worth it.

[Barry Bonzack]

Overall, I thought it was very good. A bit much of the concert for my tastes, but then, die-hard FIRSTers aren't exactly the intended audience.

There was way to much music in it.

I think the TV special was great for promoting FIRST, Will.i.am and science/technology, but I was a little disappointed with how the show was put together. My biggest complaint is that it was just a bunch of segments and songs for an hour with no real structure or progression.

WAY too much music in it, I wish it was more robotics based than music. But then again, like others said I'm a FIRST junkie, this wasn't intended for me.

but a friend who I told to watch the program called me after the show. "I really wish they showed us more of the robots. Those looked really cool. I didn't care about all the celebrities and music."



I hope the next time Will.I.Am and FIRST partner it's less about Music and more about Robots.

I like how they focused on the message. However: I wasn't a fan of that much music. I have no problem with putting music in; it's a "hook" for the general populace. Just use some slightly shorter songs.


First, let me apologize to all of you for highlighting only this one point in your posts when many of you went on to say many positive things, but I didn't want my reply to be huge.

Yes, there was a lot of music, and that time could have been used instead to talk about other things. How many of us turned off the TV Immediately after the special was over? Realize what came on immediately after, The County Music concert something or another which featured an hour of just music and was advertised by what celebrities were participating in it. If we want to be on primetime, then we have to meet this format to receive views from the general public.

Don't like it? Then lets change the culture.

[Gir_450]

I liked it but I would most like to see it again (i missed the first half hour) and i need to show my team what they missed...both on t.v. and in St. Louis...btw any tips on getting a team more motivated?

[Joe G.]

Don't like it? Then lets change the culture.

"You must spread some reputation around before giving it to Barry Bonzack again"

The special did its job. It got our name out, and generated curiosity. Now, its up to us to change the culture.

[thefro526]

Don't like it? Then lets change the culture.

Barry, posts like this are why I love you.

And you know what? I don't like it. But this gives me an excuse to try to go out with my team and make them hit the community hard. (Metaphorically speaking)

[Frenchie461]

This is the big FIRST (yes I had to do that) step to spreading the word of what we do. People know what FIRST is, so the next step is getting them involved, whether that's getting them to watch a FIRST event, support a child/friend/relative in the program, or joining a team outright. This our big chance to spread the word and change the culture, let's not waste it. So in the words of one Leroy Jenkins, "Time's up, let's do this."

[Gir_450]

So in the words of one Leroy Jenkins, "Time's up, let's do this."

OMG he just ran in.....SEND BACKUP!

[R.C.]

Does anyone know if there is a place to download or view the show after?

Thanks,

-RC

[Koko Ed]

Does anyone know if there is a place to download or view the show after?

Thanks,

-RC
Check and see if it's on ABC's website.

[torihoelscher]

I think that this special was very beneficial and even the Jc Penney commercials were amazing at showing FIRST off. I am very impressed on how they put the culture and team's dedication to building robots. A lot of teams have been doing this for a long time and it shows their dedication and I'm glad the special emphasized on how serious building, competing, and sharing our culture is to us. I am very happy with this special. It was awesome!!

[JaneYoung]

Not having attended the Championship event this year, I had no expectations of what the Special would look like or how FIRST would be presented in a brief one-hour window. One of the delightful surprises that ended up being very emotional for me - was the commercials, especially during that first 1/2 hour segment. I was so proud to sit there and watch those commercials and say, "That's a FIRST sponsor! That's another FIRST sponsor! That's a FIRST sponsor!" It's great to see their sponsorship at events - it's a whole nuther level to see those commercials during prime time TV like that. It was made of win.

I loved the team profiles and realizing anew that every team has a story that can capture the imagination, challenge the status quo, and change the culture. It was thrilling to hear students talking about their futures in ways that they would not have thought possible before they joined a team.

It was also very cool to think about the Poofs getting nervous during competition. I've never thought about that.

.. Wonder if Will.i.am knows any country music folks...

Jane

[O'Sancheski]

Thanks will.i.am for producing and endorsing this great feature on FIRST.

[BrendanB]

Wait a second, people are nit picking tonight's show after will.i.am paid for everything and took his time to get our name out there? What more do you want?

Shame, shame, shame!


Thank you so much Will!

[Katie_UPS]

If you go to Will.i.am's tweeter page (http://twitter.com/#!/iamwill), you might be significantly happier. Its not ridiculous amounts of feedback, but there are two that make it worth it (in my eyes), plus compliments from Oprah (and everyone loves Oprah :P ).

EDIT: More than two.

[Walter Deitzler]

The next step in getting FIRST out to the public is selling lightbulbs. They make money for the teams but also spread the word about FIRST. If everyone gives a short speech about what their team is doing whenever they sell a lightbulb, the general public won't be able to help but notice us.

[DSM33]

What i found really interesting is that Will has mentioned multiple times that he wants to/already has plans to do another i.am.FIRST special next year which just confirms the reason of Bill stating in one of his blogs that the field setup will remain the same at Championships. This means another stage but I hope its not the Black Eyed Peas (not that i dont like them) so that it doesnt become repetitive every year.

I think that will.i.am may be one of the best things to ever happen to FIRST. Great show.

[skimoose]

First I have to congratulate Will.I.Am. He definitely lived up to his promise to make FIRST loud. There should be no questioning his commitment to FIRST now. All of the CD speculation after the Superbowl on whether that really was a FIRST logo on his headgear has been answered. Thank you again Will.

The special may not have appealed to some hardcore FIRSTers, but that wasn't the target audience. I think the program portrayed FIRST in a great light for those who know nothing about us. Having attended Championships and the concert, I was amazed by how much I missed seeing it live. It was great to be able to relive the whole experience. While you may feel that the special showed too much of the concert, that will bring in more students, mentors, educators, and more sponsors, and that music was what made this television event possible.

My only down side was that an hour just wasn't enough to cover everything. There was very little coverage of JFLL and FLL. I know these programs are robust and well established, but an interest story on at least the Champion's Award team would have been great. That's what I felt was missed most: Recognition for the Champion's Award (FLL), Inspire Award (FTC Hall of Fame), Chairman's Award (FRC Hall of Fame) teams, and at least some mention of the Dean's List Winners group. I think that would have helped complete the picture of what FIRST is all about. Those teams and students that "get" FIRST. Everyone loves the winners, but Dean has always said its not about the robot, so show what FIRST is about.

I also wish ABC/Disney had more belief in the project. They had a splash page on the ABC website, but I only saw three commercials promoting the special. Two on CNN the night before, and one on ABC Sunday morning of the show. So, I too would like to see the ratings for the show, I hope the numbers will encourage ABC or other networks to believe in FIRST and not just allow the program as a Will.I.Am personal project.

Our team watched the special as a group after our awards ceremony. Was the program successful? Emphatically YES! We all left just as inspired as we would be leaving the Kickoff Presentation each year. I could hear students talking about upcoming projects and other robot related things that they thought would be great to do. I heard parents, mentors, and alumni talking about the upcoming year and what's inspired them to volunteer and stay volunteered in FIRST.

Inspired... Yup, that's what the show was all about.

[DonRotolo]

"That's a FIRST sponsor! That's another FIRST sponsor! That's a FIRST sponsor!"
I'm not sure if everyone knows that will.i.am paid for the airtime from his own pocket. "The preceding was paid programming", just like the Sham-Wow infomercial. Perhaps he made a few dollars back selling those advertisements, probably not. Consider that ALL the pre-show publicity on TV was paid advertising as well.

What do you think an hour on ABC costs at 7pm on a Sunday night?

I thank will.i.am for producing and delivering this program. FIRST got a huge boost tonight. You can't buy this kind of stuff.

You know, I've been listening to will.i.am a lot lately, and my opinion of him goes up a lot every time I hear him speak. This guy is smart, really smart. If this entertainment thing doesn't work out, he has a future in engineering. :)

[pfreivald]

This wasn't for us. If it gets anyone -- ANYONE -- interested, it's awesome.

Look at the story of will.i.am's involvement in FIRST:
will.i.am had no idea what FIRST was. He thought Segways were cool, so he looked up who made them, got impressed with Dean Kamen, and Dean sucked him into our crazy little universe.

Person X has no idea what FIRST is. He thinks will.i.am is cool, so (s)he pays attention when he tries to suck him into our crazy little universe.

Will it work? No idea. But it's awesome that it's being tried.

I dislike the notion that what a celebrity thinks in any way lends the idea validation, but that doesn't change the fact that for many people this is exactly true. If that leads some people to FIRST, sweet.

[davidthefat]

I say I am rather disappointed. My prediction turns out to be true. Great intent, but poor execution. It seems more about the celebrities and less about FIRST and the kids.

[Joe G.]

I say I am rather disappointed. My prediction turns out to be true. Great intent, but poor execution. It seems more about the celebrities and less about FIRST and the kids.

Read pretty much everyone else's posts. We aren't the intended audience. This special is intended for people who have never heard of FIRST, and it did its job. It got them curious. Now, its our turn to capitalize on that, and turn curiosity into culture change.

[PayneTrain]

I'm not sure if everyone knows that will.i.am paid for the airtime from his own pocket. "The preceding was paid programming", just like the Sham-Wow infomercial. Perhaps he made a few dollars back selling those advertisements, probably not. Consider that ALL the pre-show publicity on TV was paid advertising as well.

What do you think an hour on ABC costs at 7pm on a Sunday night?

I thank will.i.am for producing and delivering this program. FIRST got a huge boost tonight. You can't buy this kind of stuff.

You know, I've been listening to will.i.am a lot lately, and my opinion of him goes up a lot every time I hear him speak. This guy is smart, really smart. If this entertainment thing doesn't work out, he has a future in engineering. :)

I've been saying it too, that when you, regardless of who you are, buy an hour of primetime television, you believe you can sell the product (in this case, FIRST) and make a massive return on it (which means me getting more calls from Regional directors to ask for FLL coaches and rookie collaborations). If/when Dean and Woodie get to old to carry on the message about FIRST, will.i.am seems ready to keep perpetuating it.

[gblake]

... Strongmen Competitions and WSOP could take a break for an afternoon of FIRST on ESPN.
Yeah - Really - What's up with that? - You would think that we would at the least qualify for some time on "The Ocho". :cool:

[akeisic]

What I just watched (west coast) on TV is an absolute gift to FIRST. Thank you Will! Thank you for having the curiosity to google "Segway inventor" and thank you for calling Dean. And, naturally, thank you Dean for doing what you do!

Reading through the comments here, I'm surprised by some as this program proves that we are making a difference and changing the culture - one person at a time. I don't think there has ever been an entire hour (including the commercials) devoted to FIRST ever!

We must remember: if you're reading this comment right now you already "get it."

Being the geeks we are, I'd be interested in seeing the web traffic that FIRST generates before and after the program. That might give us a ever so small indication of impact this program just had.

[plasma_54]

Ok just got it uploaded to youtube. Here's the playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2A4640B848F63156

[msimon785]

Thank you will.i.am! I thought that the special was fantastic, and I'm really thrilled to see FIRST portrayed in such a positive, "cool" light. I think that it's important, as many others have already pointed out, to realize that we were not the targeted audience. It was directed at people ignorant of FIRST and its potential, hoping to exhibit the organization as something on par with celebrities and pop-culture in terms of "coolness". On that front, it most definitely succeeded.
It was really great to see several fellow team members on tv shaking judges hands graciously cherishing the title of regional finalists right at the end of the 1717 spotlight. Things like this really make me wonder why it is our school undermines the program, providing countless barriers to our success.
If I had one point of disappointment in the special, it would undoubtedly be the mistake consistent with all tv specials on FIRST. It really bugs me when they say, "Each team gets shipped an identical kit of robot parts to build their robot. They also get a manual which tells them what to do in this years game". This makes it seem like there is no design process and that we *only* use the KOP. On the contrary, most teams only use electrical eq. Drive train parts in the KOP are quite limited.
That said, that did not detract from my appreciation of the special and of will.i.am. I am really glad that he fulfilled his promise made at kickoff, a promise which I thought would fall through as soon as the kickoff ceremony ended.

[Molten]

I've not seen the special yet, so I won't be judging what was on the show. I'm judging your responses to the show.

This isn't the first step on the journey. I've had this in my signature for a long time, but it certainly applies here. "Though the first step is the hardest and the last step ends the quest, the long steps in between are certainly the best."–Gruffi Gummi, Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears. This isn't our first step. The journey has lasted 20 years now(though few of us have been a part of it that whole time). This isn't the last step. We still have a really long way to go. This is definitely a long step though. Lets appreciate it for all it is.

Let's put in perspective what happened here. We needed to get somewhere and we hitch-hiked. We borrowed a ride from complete strangers to get where we needed to go. This was a dangerous move because you never know is going to come of it. All things said, the general response would show that it was a positive experience. Yes, we sat in the back seat for most of the ride. Maybe they dropped us off a little sooner then we would have liked. But the point is we are much closer to our destination and no worse for the wear. It was alot better then walking the whole way on our own. If the opportunity arises(lets hope it does), I say we take the next car to pull over and see where it takes us.

Finally, about the news of this becoming an annual thing. I never even imagined that being a possibility. I thought, this is a great thing to celebrate 20 years then its back to trudging along. will.i.am you impressed me yet again with your generosity. I love the fact that he is choosing to do this with his money. I hope other celebrities choose to help with the expenses in the future. It'd be great to see a group of celebrities that "get it" the way will.i.am does.

Jason

[Akash Rastogi]

Thank you will.i.am for providing us with the grounds to help recruit more students, more sponsors, parents, schools, and the general public overall.

Hopefully this program will do what it intended to do.

.

[Marc S.]

Lol, My computer is more famous than i.am.:p (er... I am.)

[XaulZan11]

Wait a second, people are nit picking tonight's show after will.i.am paid for everything and took his time to get our name out there? What more do you want?

Shame, shame, shame!


Thank you so much Will!

I guess there is a fine line between 'nit picking' and 'constructive criticism'. Especially considering they want to do this every year, it is important to look at what work, what didn't and what the special could do better. I don't think anyone bashed the program without offering suggestions and I think everyone is truely grateful for Will's amazing contribution and effort. The special is/will be a resounding sucess, but we should alway look for way to improve, right?

[Laaba 80]

I believe it will be on hulu, but I am not positive

[Karibou]

You know, I've been listening to will.i.am a lot lately, and my opinion of him goes up a lot every time I hear him speak. This guy is smart, really smart. If this entertainment thing doesn't work out, he has a future in engineering. :)

I think that he's doing great in the entertainment business already ;P

I was surprised at how much Will.i.am promoted this today, on Twitter at least (there was some over the past week, but today it was ALL about i.am.FIRST). Telling everyone from Oprah to Rihanna to tune in, and speaking directly to President Obama. Kim Kardashian even tweeted about it (:eek:). There may have not been a lot of promotion on the television screen, but Kim and Will.i.am have a combined 10 MILLION followers...that's a lot of people seeing someone in the entertainment business talking about FIRST. As sad as it is to admit it, celebrity endorsement makes almost anything cool nowadays.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Ok, for starters, thank you will.i.am. I will admit that I was not the biggest fan of your involvement initially. I found your comments at Kickoff to have the potential to send the wrong message. When I found you would be performing at the Championship Event I got worried since my previous experience with you had involved drug references. (see how important first impressions are kids?) When I found out that half the dome was set up for your stage I was irked because the focus needs to be on the students and I felt you were taking away from that. To put it as bluntly as I can, I was wrong. This wasn't a BEP performing on stage in front of FIRST, it was BEP performing for FIRST. I still had my doubts, I was worried where the money was coming from to pay for it and who had arranged it. When I found out it initiated by you I was impressed. When I found out you were paying for the airtime for tonight's show I was more impressed. I love it when people surprise me in a positive way.

Now, I realize that FLL isn't as sexy as its bigger brothers. I realize that it is easy to dismiss as "those little kids". But it is my opinion that FLL is literally the most important program FIRST has. I've had the chance to work with FLL teams in numerous roles (student->mentor->coach->judge) and I can say that the enthusiasm and passion these students show knocks me off my feet. This special didn't touch on that. For the last couple years I've had the pleasure of judging up in Michigan. I hate waking up that early. I hate being on my feet all day. I especially hate if I have to see a coach who is overbearing. But somehow, despite all of this, I always the events (I did 3-4 events a year) refreshed and wanting to be involved again.

I am still trying to understand my reaction to this special. I recognize I wasn't the target audience though... I'm coming around to this... I was really skeptical at first but, honestly, I think with a little iteration we could turn this sort of thing into a real positive thing for FIRST, for the culture, and ultimately, for the world.

TL;DR - Thanks, mention FLL cuz they are awesome and everyone loves cute kids. Iterate this idea like you are JVN.

[JohnBoucher]

Where was the how to get involved message? I totally missed it.

[Mr MOE]

I have not read all the posts on this thread, but I think that the intent of this program was realized. The audience was not us and the program was designed that way. After watching it, I have two main items to take away:

(1) it reinforced some of the main reasons why FIRST is an outstanding organization and why I am proud to be part of it, and

(2) it has provided a tool (the show itself) that we can use to help promote FIRST programs. People who have no clue about what FIRST is will be moved to check it out after watching this.

Combined with the previous CNN special on education/FIRST and the recent public service announcement by Morgan Freeman, we now have more tools than ever to use to help inform the uninitiated.

Go FIRST!

[Eric O]

Where was the how to get involved message? I totally missed it.

I was thinking the same thing. I was waiting for the usfirst.org URL to pop up, but it wasn't shown once. People have commented that 1 hour wasn't long enough to explain everything about FIRST. Most advertisements today are 30 second commercials which end with a URL to go learn more. Why was there no URL?

In general, I got the message that science was cool, and these FIRST people do, but it was missing the "and you can do it to".

Overall, the special was good, not great. I think Dean hit the nail on the head with creating FIRST based on a sports model, but I am always disappointed that almost all (except for MSC) TV specials show very little match play. I think if Will.i.am produces another special next year it should be a combination of the MSC program and the I.AM.FIRST program. FIRST needs fans, competition brings fans, not documentaries.

-Eric

[nlknauss]

I had the chance to watch the show with my family who all have varying levels of awareness to FIRST, its programs, and the need for broadening STEM awareness. They all enjoyed it on different levels, for its entertainment, the stories about teams, and each of the students' journeys.

One key question my brother had was, "Why does will.i.am care?" I explain to him his story, the best I knew it, and talked shortly about the need for a focus on engineering and technology for the future. He was still confused. I then said, "It's like trying to feed medicine to an animal. You have to sneak it in with peanut butter." For clarifying purposes the medicine is STEM and the animal is the public.

The show wasn't for us but it was a showcase of us. I think in return for his gracious donation, we can show will.i.am how gracious we are by welcoming any new comers and people who want to learn more about what we do.

[pfreivald]

Where was the how to get involved message? I totally missed it.

While to some extent I agree, the huge majority of the planet can figure that one out with Google.

[O'Sancheski]

While to some extent I agree, the huge majority of the planet can figure that one out with Google.

It's still not like having the usFIRST website come up on the screen. Great show but thanks John for making me realize that there was no how-to-get involved section of the program. It could have easily been put into the program right before the credits started. It would have only taken 5-7 seconds and maybe 3 tries to get will.i.am's. voice right. Oh well. Once again, thank you will.i.am. for funding and producing an amazing program to portray to all the others I know that are not a part of FIRST.


Now I won't have to say "IT'S NOT LIKE BATTLEBOTS."

[BrendanB]

I guess there is a fine line between 'nit picking' and 'constructive criticism'. Especially considering they want to do this every year, it is important to look at what work, what didn't and what the special could do better. I don't think anyone bashed the program without offering suggestions and I think everyone is truely grateful for Will's amazing contribution and effort. The special is/will be a resounding sucess, but we should alway look for way to improve, right?

What I think is bugging me is that he keeps going above and beyond just supporting FIRST, he is getting it out there. Not just dropping a line on twitter, facebook, or bringing a team in to demo their robot but he has done so much more than that. I was one of those who didn't like this idea at first but I now realize how much he has done to get the message out there.


I understand that there is a difference between nitpicking and "constructive criticism" but I don't think either are appropriate in this situation.

[Brandon Holley]

To me, there was a clear objective with this special, and I think it was well executed with that objective in mind. I believe the objective was to simply draw in an audience who may be completely unfamiliar with FIRST and have them walk away with some understanding of what FIRST is.

The show was aired at 7pm on a Sunday night, primetime for families to watch TV while winding down from the weekend and getting ready for the upcoming week. It also had an award show, or halftime show feel. Particularly with the promos for segments right before commercial breaks (ie: "Stay tuned to learn more about XXX team and see another performance from the Black Eyed Peas"). That type of promotion is what you see at any big event and is used to keep people tuned in for the entirety of the segment. The way I see it being effective is as follows:

Viewer flips through TV channels, sees Black Eyed Peas performing.
Viewer says to themselves, "Hey, I like the Black Eyed Peas, I'll watch"
Viewer watches performance and the segment following the performance about a particular team or part of FIRST.
Program goes to commercial, but leaves a hook in place for viewer to want to come back (ie: more Black Eyed Peas).
Process continues for an hour.
At the end of the show, the viewer has now learned about FIRST (whether intentionally or unintentionally) because they liked the Black Eyed Peas.

I do partially agree with John though, the biggest question was left unanswered, how to get involved.

-Brando

[rsisk]

Where was the how to get involved message? I totally missed it.

I guess that's going to be our job to do. I need a t-shirt that says "Ask me about FIRST".

[Duke461]

What's more saddening, i almost want to say insulting (but that's definitely not the right word after all of these amazing things that have happened), is that right at the very end, during the tiny credits in white text with all the bright lights, you can barely make out one second of "For more information on how to get involved with FIRST, go to abc.com". ABC.COM?? What about usfirst.org??
----
Oh well. I really shouldn't be complaining. Just the fact that a top news show in a prime-time slot even mentions our organization is GREAT!

[R2D2DOC]

Go to ABC.COM. Type 'robot' into the website search box and the first thing that comes up is the special's link. The FIRST link is at the BOTTOM of the text describing the tv program.

[Travis Hoffman]

What's more saddening, i almost want to say insulting (but that's definitely not the right word after all of these amazing things that have happened), is that right at the very end, during the tiny credits in white text with all the bright lights, you can barely make out one second of "For more information on how to get involved with FIRST, go to abc.com". ABC.COM?? What about usfirst.org??
----
Oh well. I really shouldn't be complaining. Just the fact that a top news show in a prime-time slot even mentions our organization is GREAT!

No, you have every right to complain about this omission.

I also noted this quick scroll during the credits. It went by so fast, I didn't even realize the link WASN'T to the FIRST website!

If I recall, the recent CNN special was also devoid of any direct "For More Information" graphic displaying the FIRST website during the show.

It's like a cooking show displaying the finished product without giving out the details of the recipe!

Regardless of the quality of the program presented, not giving viewers a DIRECT source of further information is completely and utterly asinine.

In other news, Kate Pilotte sent FIRST suppliers this link to watch the show after the fact - http://iam-fan.com/?p=1449 (http://iam-fan.com/?p=1449), which links to YouTube videos of the show. Hurray for that!

[Duke461]

Go to ABC.COM. Type 'robot' into the website search box and the first thing that comes up is the special's link. The FIRST link is at the BOTTOM of the text describing the tv program.

That's still in no way the most direct way to get information. and about .001% of the audience would have a quick enough eye to read that on the credits.
No, you have every right to complain about this omission.

I also noted this quick scroll during the credits. It went by so fast, I didn't even realize the link WASN'T to the FIRST website!

If I recall, the recent CNN special was also devoid of any direct "For More Information" graphic displaying the FIRST website during the show.

It's like a cooking show displaying the finished product without giving out the details of the recipe!

Regardless of the quality of the program presented, not giving viewers a DIRECT source of further information is completely and utterly asinine.

In other news, Kate Pilotte sent FIRST suppliers this link to watch the show after the fact - http://iam-fan.com/?p=1449 (http://iam-fan.com/?p=1449), which links to YouTube videos of the show. Hurray for that!
Yeah i actually went to the youtube video and paused it to read it. :P
I guess im just trying to look on the bright side. i mean, really, what should we expect from cable TV these days? (the answer is not much....)

P.S. Does anyone have the strange feeling that Will.i.am is reading all of these posts?
P.P.S. I have a hard time believing that Miley Cyrus is a "nerd" (as said in the video) :O
P.P.P.S. Did anyone else feel like Bieber (ugh) was being condescending, maybe even insulting, when he said "What you guys do is just as cool as what we do"?

[Molten]

No, you have every right to complain about this omission.

I also noted this quick scroll during the credits. It went by so fast, I didn't even realize the link WASN'T to the FIRST website!

If I recall, the recent CNN special was also devoid of any direct "For More Information" graphic displaying the FIRST website during the show.

It's like a cooking show displaying the finished product without giving out the details of the recipe!

Regardless of the quality of the program presented, not giving viewers a DIRECT source of further information is completely and utterly asinine.

In other news, Kate Pilotte sent FIRST suppliers this link to watch the show after the fact - http://iam-fan.com/?p=1449 (http://iam-fan.com/?p=1449), which links to YouTube videos of the show. Hurray for that!

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely be checking it out at my leisure. As far as the complaints of no posting of the FIRST website, have you ever wrote one down? I mean, how many times have you seen websites in commercials? How many times have you used that web address to find out more? If I saw the special and they posted the link in huge font 5 times throughout the show for 30 seconds at a time, I wouldn't have wrote it down once. Its not in my nature. I'd remember FIRST and look it up later. I think that is the case with most people. In other words, yes it was an oversight. It was something that should have been included at some point. They could have reached some more people had they included it as I'm sure somebody would have actually wrote it down. They could have also got more people by having a smart phone bar code appear on screen that sent them to the site. I'd argue the second one would actually reach more people these days. Though they reached less people then they could have, its not the end of the world. I would hardly dock them for this oversight. If they don't correct it for the next one, then you have full right to complain. As far as a first time goes, that really is a minor detail in the grand scheme of things.

Jason

[gblake]

Hey Will - How about (next time and in recordings (YouTube) of this time) putting a "crawl" across the bottom of the screen (I'm assuming it would be essentially free) that displays a handful of useful facts and encouragements. One item to include would be a simple URL (or search terms) for the audience to use when they want to use the Internet take "the next step". - Thanks for jumping in with both feet - Blake

[Chris is me]

Do keep in mind that Googling just the word FIRST takes you straight there.

[Duke461]

Do keep in mind that Googling just the word FIRST takes you straight there.

Well, not everyone's as smart as you, chris. ;)

[JaneYoung]

P.S. Does anyone have the strange feeling that Will.i.am is reading all of these posts?
P.P.S. I have a hard time believing that Miley Cyrus is a "nerd" (as said in the video) :O
P.P.P.S. Did anyone else feel like Bieber (ugh) was being condescending, maybe even insulting, when he said "What you guys do is just as cool as what we do"?

Does it really matter?

Jane

[Libby K]

OKAY, BIG POST INCOMING.
I'm going to be taking all the snippets and quotes I have seen that I'd like to respond to, and answering them.

Jason, it's an actual ad/trailer. The celebrities take turns saying it. It's a part of the current promotion campaign for the Special.
Jane

The song 'my robot is better than your robot' was made by a child that's in some way related to will, so he wanted to use it in the promotional. It was meant to be light-hearted and in no way was meant to take down the meaning of gracious professionalism. It came across like that a bit, but the concept of GP was somewhat explained in the description of FRC. 'Your opponents in one match may be your partners in the next', etc.


Does anyone know if this show promotes all STEM programs (the many programs that all together are still falling short of what is needed) or only promotes FIRST?
I hope the core message doesn't get viewed only through a single lens or described from a single perspective. That would be a bit disingenuous and would lead viewers in the direction of wasting some valuable resources..


Considering will.i.am googled Dean, found out about FIRST, called him and said 'how can I help?', I think it turned out well as a 'robots are good for education, and here's an organization that's doing that.'. Yes, it's FIRST centric, but that's because will.i.am looked up FIRST and wanted to help.

FIRST is Awesome, if you are posting on ChiefDelphi.com, that means you already know this. The goal is to reach out to people who think completely differently, even backwards from us, and show them why FIRST matters.
My brother watched the special with me, and afterward he put it like this. "If two kids from every school who would otherwise have been uninterested in technology watched this special tonight and was inspired to learn more, then the world just changed because of it."

THISTHISTHISTHISTHIS. Well said, Barry.

I think that the rationale here is that in order to bring FIRST into the spotlight, and to have people pay attention, FIRST has to hitch on to popular people in a mainstream setting to be initially recognized. In this capacity, it was very successful.
... they talk about coopertition, they demonstrate how FIRST can transform peoples' lives, they demonstrate why it's important, and they showed that science and technology can be fun.
...While it may not have been the special that hardcore FIRSTers would have wanted -- it really wasn't made FOR us

Exactly. This special wasn't supposed to be the Einstein Finals. It was a high-level showcase about an organization that's changing lives for students across the world. Mission accomplished. If some kids went 'ooh, Britney Spears tweeted about this show, she must like it, so I'm gonna watch it', and then got turned on to FIRST?! That's exactly what we WANT.

I like how they focused on the message. However: I wasn't a fan of that much music. I have no problem with putting music in; it's a "hook" for the general populace. Just use some slightly shorter songs.

will.i.am paid for the show with his own money. Personally, I think it's fair that his music got a little more airtime than the robots did, for this year, because it's the music that's going to draw them in...and it's what paid for the show.


You know, thinking back to all that annoyance over the fields in the pits because of a concert, I think that the disruption was worth it. This was the final product of that. I only wish that there had been some hint of this back when the announcement was made, so there would have been no tempest in a teapot back in April.

I absolutely agree. Sure, you may not have gotten your time on the dome floor, but think about how great the Championships will be in the future as FIRST continues to grow from this. Small price to pay, huh?

I'm not sure if everyone knows that will.i.am paid for the airtime from his own pocket. "The preceding was paid programming", just like the Sham-Wow infomercial. Perhaps he made a few dollars back selling those advertisements, probably not. Consider that ALL the pre-show publicity on TV was paid advertising as well. What do you think an hour on ABC costs at 7pm on a Sunday night? I thank will.i.am for producing and delivering this program. FIRST got a huge boost tonight. You can't buy this kind of stuff.

'Zactly.


No, you have every right to complain about this omission.
I also noted this quick scroll during the credits. It went by so fast, I didn't even realize the link WASN'T to the FIRST website!
If I recall, the recent CNN special was also devoid of any direct "For More Information" graphic displaying the FIRST website during the show.
Regardless of the quality of the program presented, not giving viewers a DIRECT source of further information is completely and utterly asinine.

Wait a second. You're going to complain that a show called "i.am FIRST", about the FIRST Robotics competition, where they say FIRST at least once a minute, that FIRST got FOR FREE... has a small website link to one of the sponsor's websites instead? That's TRULY asinine.

Sorry, most organizations would kill for promotion like this, even if it means directing web traffic through a sponsor. (if you notice, the ABC website directs people to www.usfirst.org for more information.)

This our big chance to spread the word and change the culture, let's not waste it. So in the words of one Leroy Jenkins, "Time's up, let's do this."

LEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYY ....
JEEEEEEENNNNNNKKKKINNNNNNSSSSSSSSS!

That is all.
:)
LK

[Duke461]

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Libby K again."
Darn......

[lemiant]

First, if anyone who participated in the special happens to read this, THANKS!!!
Now, one complain I've seen a lot of is that they don't show the matches. This could partly be put on the producers but I think you guys need to remember something:
Matches are BOOOOORING.
The GDC has a hard task creating a game that is an engineering challenge and still interesting to watch (even with the possibility of multiple robots dead on the field). In my opinion they have greatly sacrificed crowd appeal. At matches where my team was playing, or even when I was in the stands I found the matches interesting, but once I moved on to the webcasts they weren't interesting. We have too many ways of scoring which are happening quickly and simultaneously without real time scoring. This means you cannot track the whole match through a camera, at best you can watch maybe 1/3rd of it, and have no idea what is going on everywhere else. It's really not will.i.am's fault that there where no einstein finals shown. It wouldn't have interested anyone outside of FIRST.

[Walter Deitzler]

Now you need to take this link:

http://iam-fan.com/?p=1449

and share it with everyone you know that is not in FIRST. Put it on Facebook, show your friends. We need everyone to see this show.

[Joe G.]

First, if anyone who participated in the special happens to read this, THANKS!!!
Now, one complain I've seen a lot of is that they don't show the matches. This could partly be put on the producers but I think you guys need to remember something:
Matches are BOOOOORING.
The GDC has a hard task creating a game that is an engineering challenge and still interesting to watch (even with the possibility of multiple robots dead on the field). In my opinion they have greatly sacrificed crowd appeal. At matches where my team was playing, or even when I was in the stands I found the matches interesting, but once I moved on to the webcasts they weren't interesting. We have too many ways of scoring which are happening quickly and simultaneously without real time scoring. This means you cannot track the whole match through a camera, at best you can watch maybe 1/3rd of it, and have no idea what is going on everywhere else. It's really not will.i.am's fault that there where no einstein finals shown. It wouldn't have interested anyone outside of FIRST.

I have to disagree. If our sport wasn't exciting to watch, it wouldn't have gotten anywhere over the last 20 years. It would take good camera work to make it suitable for TV, but then, so does any sport. If you want to see what good camera work and presentation can do for FRC, watch the Michigan special from this year.

Yes, some matches are slow, due to unresponsive or ineffective robots. Yes, some years the game is easier to follow than others. But every year I've been in FIRST, matches played by top-level teams have been thrilling to watch, both for me, and non-FIRST friends. I've gotten a lot of people involved by bringing them to competitions. And they come back because its exciting.

And in response to earlier comments about nit-picking, I want to clarify that I absolutely mean this as constructive criticism. I thought the special was GREAT, and am THRILLED that FIRST has gotten this kind of exposure. I'm even more excited that this looks to be an annual thing. But we can't just play the same special each year. We need to top ourselves, and draw even more people in. And I think that further illustrating the excitement of a competition could help

[Travis Hoffman]

Wait a second. You're going to complain that a show called "i.am FIRST", about the FIRST Robotics competition, where they say FIRST at least once a minute, that FIRST got FOR FREE... has a small website link to one of the sponsor's websites instead?



Indeed I am. Because I know people living in the rural areas in which I grew up who aren't computer savvy - who might not even use or OWN a computer - who haven't even heard of Google before, but who might be inspired to want to find out more. Why make it such a puzzle for such people? Give them the key - the web address - they can hand that to the local librarian or schoolteacher, and they can readily access the information. Why force the "customers" you're trying to attract to go through even a few seconds more of added inconvenience to find you?

Is FIRST presuming that every family and individual in America knows how to "Google something"?

If you're getting it for free, EXTRACT EVERY BIT OF VALUE YOU CAN FROM THAT OPPORTUNITY. If you're going to put up a still image of the FIRST logo during the program (which was done early on in the show), take the ten additional seconds necessary to post the dang website address underneath it.

If indeed this is going to be repeated for future seasons, make the iteration, add the corrective action to improve the information conveyed to the public during the show, and have a nice day.

:) :rolleyes: :cool:

[lemiant]

I have to disagree. If our sport wasn't exciting to watch, it wouldn't have gotten anywhere over the last 20 years. It would take good camera work to make it suitable for TV, but then, so does any sport. If you want to see what good camera work and presentation can do for FRC, watch the Michigan special from this year.

Yes, some matches are slow, due to unresponsive or ineffective robots. Yes, some years the game is easier to follow than others. But every year I've been in FIRST, matches played by top-level teams have been thrilling to watch, both for me, and non-FIRST friends. I've gotten a lot of people involved by bringing them to competitions. And they come back because its exciting.

And in response to earlier comments about nit-picking, I want to clarify that I absolutely mean this as constructive criticism. I thought the special was GREAT, and am THRILLED that FIRST has gotten this kind of exposure. I'm even more excited that this looks to be an annual thing. But we can't just play the same special each year. We need to top ourselves, and draw even more people in. And I think that further illustrating the excitement of a competition could help

It may be interesting (especially live with the music, lights etc.), but it doesn't begin to compare to normal sports. They are spectator friendly, with relatively few ways to score, only one center of attention at a time, and a little counter telling you what the score is. Like I said even I, a FIRSTie who knows the game, don't really enjoy webcasts.

EDIT: I'm sure better camera work would help. But in the end the camera can only improve the game so much.

[XaulZan11]

will.i.am paid for the show with his own money. Personally, I think it's fair that his music got a little more airtime than the robots did, for this year, because it's the music that's going to draw them in...and it's what paid for the show.

Earlier I posted that I thought the special would be better if it followed a more sports-like structure, showing matches intertwined with the stories and songs like the Michigan State Championship show. While I still think that would be more effective to get people interested opposed to music and a halftime-like show, after more reflection, it makes sense that they structured the show the way they did. Will.i.am did what he knows and that is music and putting on shows, not doing a sportcenter like highlight show. Now it would be really really cool if Will.i.am did his music special each year on ABC before some country concert while some sports star ran a sports-like highlight show on ESPN before some sports game. We only need to find another star to donate his/her time and money like Will.i.am...

[JohnBoucher]

I was very pleased with the program last night. I was especially pleased with the depth of the introduction they gave Dean. They did not just focus on the Segway. It was a nice job.

I complained earlier and still do that there could of been a more direct how to contact us message. I asked one of my friends who watched last night if she wanted more info did she know how to get it. This is her response

I searched the net and found if I used "FIRST" keyword, it brought me to where I could refine search to First Robotics. From there I linked to SSC First Robotics where under "Community" it showed where I could find local teams. Susan Glasspiegel is listed as contact for CT. Roundabout way but if I, as not an especially internet savvy person,.could find it, let's hope any interested young person will, too.

FYI not everyone uses Google. It comes up first in Google because Google gave that to us.

[DSM33]

on the topic of making FIRST a "spectator friendly" sport for TV and such i think the FIRST in Michigan special needs to be looked at. If following a team is hard to follow just check out their personal robocam on either side of the screen. If the scoring is too difficult to follow then look at the score in the top bar (although it seemed mysteriously empty this year)

also the game needs to be spectator friendly. 2010's Breakaway was perfect for that. Simple scoring. No weird multipliers. Overall very uncomplicated gameplay. not that this game should be repeated every year but i think some elements need to stay so that the gameplay is exciting as well as easy to follow.

another problem with airing a FIRST competition on TV: it's two days long. the only real way to do a competition justice is to do eliminations as it should avoid robots breaking down/deadbots, extended periods of time for field problems, and non-exciting matches with the best teams. Again, FIRST in Michigan kept it to the semifinals and that seemed to work perfectly.

Hopefully, next this special will showcase the excitement of the competition as well as showcasing life-changing stories of FIRST and concert/celebrity stuff. I think this special can only get better from here on out.

[plnyyanks]

FYI not everyone uses Google. It comes up first in Google because Google gave that to us.
I can't attest to the accuracy of this statement, but I did try searching for "first" on Google (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=first&qscrl=1), Bing (http://www.bing.com/search?q=first&go=&qs=n&sk=&form=QBLH), Yahoo (http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AkfjPMawjkVUrX.114WFUsWbvZx4?p=first&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701), Ask.com (http://www.ask.com/web?qsrc=2417&o=15527&l=dis&prt=NIS&chn=retail&geo=US&ver=17&q=first&search=search), AOL (http://search.aol.com/aol/search?enabled_terms=&s_it=comsearch50&q=first), and Comcast (http://search.comcast.net/?cat=web&con=homepage&q=first) and all of them had 'usfirst.org' come up as the first hit. Now, assuming you have internet access, it should be pretty easy to find FIRST, regardless of search engine preference (that's a debate for another thread...)

EDIT: actually, maybe not- see below

[Dave Flowerday]

I can't attest to the accuracy of this statement, but I did try searching for "first" on Google (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=first&qscrl=1), Bing (http://www.bing.com/search?q=first&go=&qs=n&sk=&form=QBLH), Yahoo (http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AkfjPMawjkVUrX.114WFUsWbvZx4?p=first&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701), Ask.com (http://www.ask.com/web?qsrc=2417&o=15527&l=dis&prt=NIS&chn=retail&geo=US&ver=17&q=first&search=search), AOL (http://search.aol.com/aol/search?enabled_terms=&s_it=comsearch50&q=first), and Comcast (http://search.comcast.net/?cat=web&con=homepage&q=first) and all of them had 'usfirst.org' come up as the first hit. Now, assuming you have internet access, it should be pretty easy to find FIRST, regardless of search engine preference (that's a debate for another thread...)
An average non-FIRST searcher may not get those same results. See http://dontbubble.us/ for more info.

[Akash Rastogi]

on the topic of making FIRST a "spectator friendly" sport for TV and such i think the FIRST in Michigan special needs to be looked at. If following a team is hard to follow just check out their personal robocam on either side of the screen. If the scoring is too difficult to follow then look at the score in the top bar (although it seemed mysteriously empty this year)


The FIRST In MI special was AMAZING. I'd love to see that as the next step in televised robotics.

[plnyyanks]

An average non-FIRST searcher may not get those same results. See http://dontbubble.us/ for more info.

Ah, right. Forgot about that. Good call.

[pfreivald]

FYI not everyone uses Google. It comes up first in Google because Google gave that to us.

Not everyone watches TV. Are we now going to fault them for not using talk radio, telegraph, and semaphore?

Most people in a position to become interested in FIRST uses the internet. Most of them use Google.

'Nuff said.

[RayTurner1126]

personally i think we should all be greatful will.i.am did this for us. yes, it wasn't what we all expected, but that's because we already know everything the program presented, it's like watching a documentary about yourself or something, you are going to see every little detail they left out. will.i.am didn't have to do this, and neither did any of the celebrities that participated. would you all rather not have a special about FIRST and be left without the publicity it did give us? I wouldn't, I say thank you to will.i.am for helping me in my journey to spread the word of FIRST. Now when I'm recruiting I can say "How many other school functions have the support of so many celebrities?" And that is GREAT to be able to say!

So thank you to will.i.am, ABC, and everyone else involved in making this great program!

[TimSchley]

An average non-FIRST searcher may not get those same results. See http://dontbubble.us/ for more info.

Even using the "non-search bubble search engine" that the website provides, usfirst.org is still the first website that comes up.

http://duckduckgo.com/?q=First

Yes, I know that the search bubble for other people could potentially move usfirst.org DOWN in their results, as well as move it UP for our results, but still the fact is, it is most likely going to be near the top of search results for anybody that is that interested in getting involved in FIRST.


On another note, Looks like the ratings (http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/08/15/tv-ratings-sunday-pga-overrun-delays-lineup-but-cbs-big-brother-still-win-cma-festival-in-the-flow-same-name-marriage-ref-more/100424/ ) are in with the broadcast getting approx. 2.17 million viewers. that's not counting DVR or online viewers. Not too shabby.

[Bill_B]

I guess that's going to be our job to do. I need a t-shirt that says "Ask me about FIRST".

T-shirt should say: "Ask me how FIRST will help you decide about your future."

[Bill_B]

Another thing to consider about the absence of specific coverage of match play is that keeping it to a minimum increases the lifetime of the video. That is, 2012 will have a new match, 2013, 2014 etc. The enthusiasm of the interviewed kids will still apply for several years to come. If too much emphasis had been placed on Logomotion, next year's new spectators might be wondering where the logo tubes are.

[Travis Hoffman]

Not everyone watches TV. Are we now going to fault them for not using talk radio, telegraph, and semaphore?

Most people in a position to become interested in FIRST uses the internet. Most of them use Google.

'Nuff said.

Is this what people think of when they so easily dismiss certain segments of the population from being "worthy" of FIRST's attention as people who have the potential to contribute something great to society?

Jed tells his Pa Cletus:

Hey Pa, I shore wont ta figgur out what all dem fancy contraptions was on da movin pictures show, mebbe lern how ta make sumthin outta mehself among dem dere city slickers.

Cletus: I shore wuld love ta help ya son, but dang gummit the pictures didna tell us nuttin about what ta do next.

Jed: Guessin' I should figgur to go back ta shootin groundhogs and possum on pappy's farm.

******

I surely hope not.

I'll have to watch the show again, but I don't believe any of the team/individual "stories" highlighted students coming from extremely rural areas who had previously never heard of FIRST or related opportunities.

Final input - if there was some significant monetary cost or FCC legal restriction or what have you that prohibits the website address to be displayed on the screen during such network programs, then fine, I can accept that. I've yet to hear anything like that brought to light, though.

Otherwise, people are simply making excuses for an oversight that would likely take minutes, if not seconds for those who produced the show to correct, increasing the likelihood and speed at which those who are not computer literate (or worse) can find out more about our programs. A small addition of input by one person can lead to huge, as yet unrealized gains for many. Simply fix it and move on.

[JohnBoucher]

On a brighter note..... Since this was on ABC, will ESPN get back on board?????

[Chris is me]

An average non-FIRST searcher may not get those same results. See http://dontbubble.us/ for more info.

Though FIRST is also the first result for DuckDuckGo which does not have a filter bubble.

[Dave Flowerday]

Though FIRST is also the first result for DuckDuckGo which does not have a filter bubble.
That's not the point.... most people don't use DDG, they use search engines that do filtering. And if you're the type of person who's currently NOT interested in science & technology, and instead spends all their online time reading about sports, fashion, music, celebrities, or whatever (you know, the type of people FIRST is probably trying to reach the most), the first page of results you get very well might not contain usfirst.org at all.

I've had some surprising difficulty finding information on topics that are outside of my normal interests before when keywords for those topics overlap keywords that do fall within my normal searching habits. Most people don't realize what a large effect this "bubble" has. It really works against you when the word people are searching for ("FIRST") has meaning in just about any context.

[Libby K]

My first response, Travis:

Jed tells his Pa Cletus:

Hey Pa, I shore wont ta figgur out what all dem fancy contraptions was on da movin pictures show, mebbe lern how ta make sumthin outta mehself among dem dere city slickers.

Cletus: I shore wuld love ta help ya son, but dang gummit the pictures didna tell us nuttin about what ta do next.

Jed: Guessin' I should figgur to go back ta shootin groundhogs and possum on pappy's farm.


I really hope you don't generalize or mock people like that in real life. I go to college in a very rural area and I love seeing the change that comes out of the students I work with through FIRST. And absolutely none of them speak like that. Your point, while at least a tiny bit valid, was lessened by your rude and insensitive remarks.

Now, to the actual point.


Is FIRST presuming that every family and individual in America knows how to "Google something"?

If you're getting it for free, EXTRACT EVERY BIT OF VALUE YOU CAN FROM THAT OPPORTUNITY. If you're going to put up a still image of the FIRST logo during the program (which was done early on in the show), take the ten additional seconds necessary to post the dang website address underneath it.

If indeed this is going to be repeated for future seasons, make the iteration, add the corrective action to improve the information conveyed to the public during the show, and have a nice day.

:) :rolleyes: :cool:

Where did I say 'google something'? The show says, for more information, go to ABC.com. From the ABC page for iamFIRST, it directs you to www.usfirst.org

If these people you speak of don't know how to use the internet, as you say, then no matter what URL you give- they just won't figure it out!

I think that, sure, it's something to improve for next year, and if the sponsors agree to it, put both URLs down or something. But if that's the only complaint, then I guess they did an alright job. :)

[Koko Ed]

I think it will be interesting to see what Nielson ratings say.

They look pretty modest, really. (http://www.thefutoncritic.com/ratings/2011/08/15/sundays-broadcast-ratings-modest-start-for-foxs-in-the-flow-390202/broadcast_20110814/)

[Tim Delles]

They look pretty modest, really. (http://www.thefutoncritic.com/ratings/2011/08/15/sundays-broadcast-ratings-modest-start-for-foxs-in-the-flow-390202/broadcast_20110814/)

Just got home from work and checked... haha... These are modest at best, but we will see how it goes with the next viewings... The next airings of the show may increase the unique views.

As for everyone talking about what a search engine will and will not show you, there are a lot of things that go into what is shown to an individual when they make a search query. A users individual pattern online does play a roll, but there is a lot that Google, Microsoft, and the rest of the search engines keep in their 'black boxes' that we don't get to see.

That being said, it is very, very unlikely that FIRST doesn't come up when you search for 'first' in Google, Bing (MSN), Yahoo, AOL, etc. This is for multiple reasons, including link presents, SEO, etc... I've actually checked out FIRST's page before and they have great organic ranking in almost every core keyword you can think of. (Yes I do online marketing and strategy as a job...)

So that being said, if you can't find FIRST online, maybe you should watch the program again and go through abc.com...

My first response, Travis:

I really hope you don't generalize or mock people like that in real life. I go to college in a very rural area and I love seeing the change that comes out of the students I work with through FIRST. And absolutely none of them speak like that. Your point, while at least a tiny bit valid, was lessened by your rude and insensitive remarks.


And I'm with Libby on this, considering according to Travis he should throw me in that bucket...

[JaneYoung]

Jed tells his Pa Cletus:

Hey Pa, I shore wont ta figgur out what all dem fancy contraptions was on da movin pictures show, mebbe lern how ta make sumthin outta mehself among dem dere city slickers.

Cletus: I shore wuld love ta help ya son, but dang gummit the pictures didna tell us nuttin about what ta do next.

Jed: Guessin' I should figgur to go back ta shootin groundhogs and possum on pappy's farm.



Wow, Travis.

You've lost me on this one. What is your point? Who is your target audience here?

Jane

[Barry Bonzack]

Post if you had someone uninvolved with FIRST come talk to you today about the special.

I had someone stop by my cubicle today because he remembered I sent out an e-mail in April that I was would be out of the office volunteering for a robotics competition in St. Louis.

This gave me the opportunity to show pictures of Exploding Bacon, invite him to the regional which is 5 minutes away, ask if he knew students interested in participating, and, oh by the way, we build the robot on location if a he knew any savvy engineers such as himself interested in stopping by. Finally, I asked him to talk to other people today to see if they had seen the special, and have them come to me if they wanted further information.

[DonRotolo]

The song 'my robot is better than your robot' was made by a child that's in some way related to will, so he wanted to use it in the promotional. His niece. He said that somewhere.

Folks, be sure brain is fully engaged before operating fingers.::safety::
I detect some animosity brewing; please maintain the high standards to which we are accustomed.

[CallieJ]

It was also very cool to think about the Poofs getting nervous during competition. I've never thought about that.


Jane

I think that's part of what's great about FIRST. You see these people who are so put together, so professional, that sometimes it's hard to remember that they're 18 year old boys, much like any others. But you get Nick, Sides, Wiggles, Erik, whomever off that field, and they still get stressed and pull all-nighters and go to dances and eat junk food.

In the end, they inspire me, and I hope other members of my team, by being just like the rest of us.

(For those of you unfamiliar with the NASA house team structure, we share the same lab, the same machines, the same tables and occasionally the same food. I am very proud to call the people I mentioned above friends)

[pfreivald]

Is this what people think of when they so easily dismiss certain segments of the population from being "worthy" of FIRST's attention as people who have the potential to contribute something great to society?

I have no idea how you took a statement about the ubiquitousness of the internet (and Google) as a statement of elitism.

Give us rednecks more credit -- if we see it on TV and want to know more, we know how to look for it.

It was an oversight, to be sure, but at most it was a very small one.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Post if you had someone uninvolved with FIRST come talk to you today about the special.

I had someone stop by my cubicle today because he remembered I sent out an e-mail in April that I was would be out of the office volunteering for a robotics competition in St. Louis.

This gave me the opportunity to show pictures of Exploding Bacon, invite him to the regional which is 5 minutes away, ask if he knew students interested in participating, and, oh by the way, we build the robot on location if a he knew any savvy engineers such as himself interested in stopping by. Finally, I asked him to talk to other people today to see if they had seen the special, and have them come to me if they wanted further information.



We watched 79's talk on local TV (aired Sunday morning) followed by this in the software lab at work. We talked about FIRST. For casual friday I am debating between 33, 65, 217, 2337 or 3450 shirts. I also have my CD Webhug tshirt now. So many choices...

[Eagleeyedan]

personally i think we should all be greatful will.i.am did this for us. yes, it wasn't what we all expected, but that's because we already know everything the program presented, it's like watching a documentary about yourself or something, you are going to see every little detail they left out. will.i.am didn't have to do this, and neither did any of the celebrities that participated. would you all rather not have a special about FIRST and be left without the publicity it did give us? I wouldn't, I say thank you to will.i.am for helping me in my journey to spread the word of FIRST. Now when I'm recruiting I can say "How many other school functions have the support of so many celebrities?" And that is GREAT to be able to say!

So thank you to will.i.am, ABC, and everyone else involved in making this great program!


I agree. For a program that was put to gether in a matter of months and one that got all those stars together, it was good! I'm sure if they had more time there would have been more footage of the team's and their experiences :D

[torihoelscher]

Post if you had someone uninvolved with FIRST come talk to you today about the special.

I had someone stop by my cubicle today because he remembered I sent out an e-mail in April that I was would be out of the office volunteering for a robotics competition in St. Louis.

This gave me the opportunity to show pictures of Exploding Bacon, invite him to the regional which is 5 minutes away, ask if he knew students interested in participating, and, oh by the way, we build the robot on location if a he knew any savvy engineers such as himself interested in stopping by. Finally, I asked him to talk to other people today to see if they had seen the special, and have them come to me if they wanted further information.

Multiple people from our second demo from the ABC special on Sunday morning ask us about FIRST and how we got interested. We invited everyone to our events (TNT *September 16th and 17th 2011*, Media Night, and etc.) I believe that the I.am FIRST thing really benefited the whole FIRST community. Now everyone knows what it is, who we are, what we stand for, and etc, its an all win win situation. Today when I went to my high school, I had a lot of people ask what FIRST was and how to join the team. For the Freshman orientation we are setting up a demo for the new freshman to be introduced to this amazing event! Also please come to TNT at the University of Tampa!!! *September 16th and 17th*

[Laaba 80]

Earlier I posted that I thought the special would be better if it followed a more sports-like structure, showing matches intertwined with the stories and songs like the Michigan State Championship show. While I still think that would be more effective to get people interested opposed to music and a halftime-like show, after more reflection, it makes sense that they structured the show the way they did. Will.i.am did what he knows and that is music and putting on shows, not doing a sportcenter like highlight show. Now it would be really really cool if Will.i.am did his music special each year on ABC before some country concert while some sports star ran a sports-like highlight show on ESPN before some sports game. We only need to find another star to donate his/her time and money like Will.i.am...

I completely agree with this. Will.i.am is known for his music, and he has used that to help FIRST more than i possibly could have imagined him doing.

I think having a similar program, however sports based would be awesome. Sporting events have a much more direct connection to FIRST than music does. A FIRST competition is really like a sports season, on a much smaller scale. Being on a team at competition is like being a player/manager/scout/or GM. I think showing Einstein on ESPN, with maybe Chris Berman announcing, would be huge for FIRST growth. People could see the excitement, and look to find out how they can be a part of the action. I'm sure there are many people like John and I out there, that would love being involved on a FIRST team.

Now that I think about it, Im sure many pro athletes would be interested in FIRST. Many for the same reasons as those on the show yesterday, because they like their gadgets. I think there may also be some that would be interested in the technical aspect. The NFL makes players go through 3 years of college. Not all, but some take engineering courses. I know that Gabe Carimi is an offensive lineman that was drafted in the 1st round this year, but he also graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with a degree in civil engineering. A single player, making the NFL minimum salary, could be a pretty substantial sponsor to a team.

I cant wait to see where all of this goes in a few years.

[Hawiian Cadder]

on the topic of making FIRST a "spectator friendly" sport for TV and such i think the FIRST in Michigan special needs to be looked at. If following a team is hard to follow just check out their personal robocam on either side of the screen. If the scoring is too difficult to follow then look at the score in the top bar (although it seemed mysteriously empty this year)

also the game needs to be spectator friendly. 2010's Breakaway was perfect for that. Simple scoring. No weird multipliers. Overall very uncomplicated gameplay. not that this game should be repeated every year but i think some elements need to stay so that the gameplay is exciting as well as easy to follow.

another problem with airing a FIRST competition on TV: it's two days long. the only real way to do a competition justice is to do eliminations as it should avoid robots breaking down/deadbots, extended periods of time for field problems, and non-exciting matches with the best teams. Again, FIRST in Michigan kept it to the semifinals and that seemed to work perfectly.

Hopefully, next this special will showcase the excitement of the competition as well as showcasing life-changing stories of FIRST and concert/celebrity stuff. I think this special can only get better from here on out.


That being said, there are 8 (I think) competitions going on simultaneously. if they were to do a live mash up of the best matches, then they could get a continuous stream during regional. I almost think that CMP would be better suited to being on live TV because there are almost no dead bots, and it might be possible to show all the matches, from all the fields. If the TV ran through lunch to catch up, and they ended matches sooner and added another day to CMP, then it would definitely be possible.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

For everyone looking at the Nielsen's this is one of the areas that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. The one important factor here is that for a 6 PM Sunday night time slot against what is normally a 60 Minutes lock on the national ratings, the show did actually very well. If I was one of the producers, I would see the numbers as being a success. As a matter of fact, a claim could be made on some of the 60 Minutes crowd actually jumping ship to watch this show compared to previous weeks. As a potential sponsor, I might actually be interested in seeing another show. When you can steal from a big CBS production, you see victory.

[IKE]

Post if you had someone uninvolved with FIRST come talk to you today about the special.
.

A few folks stopped by yesterday. One guy has a lot of daughters. He said they were really impressed with "The Space Cookies".

[Ryan Dognaux]

I had multiple people come up to me at work and mention the special. I think it's going to be incredibly interesting to see the ripple effect from this TV special. It'd be very interesting to see how many rookie teams in the next few years for FLL, FTC and FRC started because their teacher or mentor saw the program.

[DSM33]

That being said, there are 8 (I think) competitions going on simultaneously. if they were to do a live mash up of the best matches, then they could get a continuous stream during regional. I almost think that CMP would be better suited to being on live TV because there are almost no dead bots, and it might be possible to show all the matches, from all the fields. If the TV ran through lunch to catch up, and they ended matches sooner and added another day to CMP, then it would definitely be possible.

i could definitely see a highlight reel of sorts for the regional/district competitions but for championships i still think that with four divisions going on simultaneously along with not necessarily amazing robots due to advanced payment would hinder TV airtime for the divisional qualifications but i could see an elimination special with maybe the finals or semis of each division and then Einstein play being a possible future TV special.

[Dave Scheck]

As a matter of fact, a claim could be made on some of the 60 Minutes crowd actually jumping ship to watch this show compared to previous weeks. As a potential sponsor, I might actually be interested in seeing another show. When you can steal from a big CBS production, you see victory.Golf ran late on CBS and 60 Minutes didn't start until 7 cst. Stealing viewers from golf is either really easy because nobody's watching it, or really hard because it's really hard not to take a nap while watching it :rolleyes:

[JaneYoung]

In the end, they inspire me, and I hope other members of my team, by being just like the rest of us.

Exactly.

Sometimes, we (falsely) think that teams and mentors who are our FRC rock stars - no longer deal with the every day emotions and wear and tear of build and competition. It's true that many of these teams have worked hard to establish a consistency in performance and a standard of excellence that the team strives for each season but - it's also nice to know that, in some ways, like being excited and nervous - they are just like the rest of us. :) Very inspiring.

The Space Cookies are setting a bar for many of us to reach up to, too. Very cool.

Jane

[rsisk]

OK, here is a direct report from the field.

We were presenting to the Riverside Rotary club today with two robots present. A lady walks in, her first question: "Are those FIRST robots?"

Then she continues that she had seen the special on TV Sunday and was hooked. She contacted the principal at her son's middle school and her son's scoutmaster and told them what she had seen and wanted their help to get involved.

Well, today she met us, and now we will be working with the school and the scout team to start a couple FLL teams.

Directly as a result of the special on Sunday and being prepared to bring someone new into the FIRST family.

[Koko Ed]

OK, here is a direct report from the field.

We were presenting to the Riverside Rotary club today with two robots present. A lady walks in, her first question: "Are those FIRST robots?"

Then she continues that she had seen the special on TV Sunday and was hooked. She contacted the principal at her son's middle school and her son's scoutmaster and told them what she had seen and wanted their help to get involved.

Well, today she met us, and now we will be working with the school and the scout team to start a couple FLL teams.

Directly as a result of the special on Sunday and being prepared to bring someone new into the FIRST family.

mission accomplished.

[gblake]

...
Well, today she met us, and now we will be working with the school and the scout team to start a couple FLL teams.
...
Sound great except that I would recommend starting VRC or FTC teams for those ages.

[EricH]

Sound great except that I would recommend starting VRC or FTC teams for those ages.
Depends on the age of the Scouts in question.

If it's a Cub Scout pack (8-10, IIRC), FLL would probably be a good fit. Webelos, too (10-11 years old).

But if you've got a Boy Scout troop (11-18), or a Venture crew (16?-21), then VRC, FTC, or possibly FRC would be the way to go.

[DonRotolo]

A lady walks in, her first question: "Are those FIRST robots?"
Very cool.
Yes ma'am, they are.

[Karibou]

But if you've got a Boy Scout troop (11-18), or a Venture crew (16?-21), then VRC, FTC, or possibly FRC would be the way to go.

Venturing starts at 14 (or 13, if they've completed 8th grade). Still at the age where they've outgrown FLL.



Way to go, rsisk.

[Walter Deitzler]

Depends on the age of the Scouts in question.

If it's a Cub Scout pack (8-10, IIRC), FLL would probably be a good fit. Webelos, too (10-11 years old).

But if you've got a Boy Scout troop (11-18), or a Venture crew (16?-21), then VRC, FTC, or possibly FRC would be the way to go.

Venture Crew is 14-21

[dag0620]

By Scoutmaster I'm going to assume you meant regular Boy Scouts, and not Blue Loops or Green Shirts. :D

In that case you could go either way. I know in my troop the younger guys wouldn't quite ready for FTC yet however with the older boys the FLL ship has sailed.

If you did mean a Cub Scout Pack, FLL all the way.

As for Venturing, Obviously FTC, but honestly with funding I could see FRC. Unlike CS and BS, Venturing allows much more freedom with program and what one chooses to focus on. I could see a Venture Crews entire January February Program being based in FRC.

Either way good luck to that unit interested in starting a team. As a Scout myself, I can entertain the fact that many leadership and people skills I've learned in Scouts have come in mighty handy with FIRST.

Yours in FIRST and Scouting,

[Walter Deitzler]

Plus we see so many FIRST girl scout team (i.e the Space Cookies) it would be nice to also see some boy scout teams.

[Molten]

Am I the only one that gets chills reading this thread and realizing the impact of what is happening?

[rsisk]

Am I the only one that gets chills reading this thread and realizing the impact of what is happening?

What do you mean? Good chills or bad?

[Molten]

What do you mean? Good chills or bad?

Good. I just get the feeling that what we experienced might have had great historical relevance. The sheer reach that this had and the impact that it might have made. Its really awe-inspiring really. It will be amazing to see the number of new teams next year and compare it to normal annual growth(which was always large). We had a roughly 14% growth in the number of teams in FRC last year. How much growth will we see this year? I wouldn't be surprised if it hits 30% just reading these stories. We all have something to look forward to.

Jason

[RoboMom]

I had multiple people come up to me at work and mention the special. I think it's going to be incredibly interesting to see the ripple effect from this TV special. It'd be very interesting to see how many rookie teams in the next few years for FLL, FTC and FRC started because their teacher or mentor saw the program.

It appears that FIRST is trying to track this type of information. There was mention of a Brandeis-commissioned longitudinal study of participants, in Bill's Blog-July 27.

[RayTurner1126]

Am I the only one that gets chills reading this thread and realizing the impact of what is happening?

No, you're definitely not the only one :D

[davidthefat]

I was not there at the Championships, therefore I was not at the concert. But I can go by what was shown on TV. I think they should have sung "Where is the Love" over some of their song choices. It has a better message.

[NickE]

I was not there at the Championships, therefore I was not at the concert. But I can go by what was shown on TV. I think they should have sung "Where is the Love" over some of their song choices. It has a better message.It was played at the Championship but didn't make the final cut. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay1JIMxbVFk

[Peter Matteson]

So I finally had time to watch the special last night and after seeing the posts here I thought it was better than the comments here led me to believe it would. I understand the comments of wishing they showed a full match or more actual competition footage but I understand why it was cut the way it was due to the amount of info they had to present in a short time.

I also had a funny (sarcastic) comment from my father (read grumpy old engineer) about the special:

"So all the teams are from California and sponsored by NASA?"

As a viewer he found that the program made it sound like like FIRST only exists in California because all the teams they profiled were from there. Also he understood that the only sponsor mentioned was NASA for show sponsoring reasons. I just found it interesting that this was one of the first things he asked after, "What color was my hair in the opening montage?"

[RoboMom]

"So all the teams are from California and sponsored by NASA?"


I had relatives who asked a similar question. "Why do you think they chose to highlight the California teams?"

[~Cory~]

I had relatives who asked a similar question. "Why do you think they chose to highlight the California teams?"

This is something that I have been wondering myself. What is the distribution of teams in the US? Does there happen to be a larger number of teams on the West Coast?

[OZ_341]

Why California?
My guess is that it was partially a matter of cost and convenience.

The camera crew was probably assigned out of California as most of the ABC footage was shot at SVR. FIRST would know that if the crew went to SVR they would get a nice mix of teams (254, 1538, 1622, 1717, some rookies, etc.) without having to travel very far. Then any footage they feel was missing they could shoot in St. Louis.

Just a theory, but I would not read too much more into the California choice.

Overall the special was a good vehicle for sparking interest and conversation.
Now it is up to us to carry that further.

One of my few disappointments was that they did not recognize Team 359 at all. I know it is hard to explain Chairman's in an elevator pitch, but 359 should have gotten at least a brief mention. I think those new to FIRST would have liked their story.

[RoboMom]

Why California?
My guess is that it was partially a matter of cost and convenience.

The camera crew was probably assigned out of California as most of the ABC footage was shot at SVR.

Thanks Al. That makes sense then.

[NickE]

Footage from the Los Angeles regional was also aired.

[Laaba 80]

I had relatives who asked a similar question. "Why do you think they chose to highlight the California teams?"

Will.I.am was named the director of creative innovation at Intel, which is located out of Santa Clara, CA. They seemed to bring up Intel many times during the show, so I thought the teams shown may have been Intel sponsored teams, or possibly Intel sponsors the regional?

I just looked it up, and it doesnt seem like any of the teams shown, or the LA regional is sponsored by Intel. I still think this may have had something to do with it though.

[rsisk]

Why California?
My guess is that it was partially a matter of cost and convenience.

The camera crew was probably assigned out of California as most of the ABC footage was shot at SVR. FIRST would know that if the crew went to SVR they would get a nice mix of teams (254, 1538, 1622, 1717, some rookies, etc.) without having to travel very far. Then any footage they feel was missing they could shoot in St. Louis.

That pretty much nailed the reason.

[waialua359]

.

One of my few disappointments was that they did not recognize Team 359 at all. I know it is hard to explain Chairman's in an elevator pitch, but 359 should have gotten at least a brief mention. I think those new to FIRST would have liked their story.
Al,
Overall, the TV special did accomplish its goal in FIRST Robotics awareness to the rest of the world. As a team, we all enjoyed the mix between the concert, high-profile guest speaker interviews, and the interviews of various teams.
However, some members of our team were disappointed that we only got less than 1 sec of footage (at driver station during a match) throughout the show.
A mention of the winning alliance but nothing on the CA.
Similar to Championships, our video never got a chance to be shown anywhere during the competition.
My guess is that no one was going to pay for an interview here in Hawaii.

Whatever the Hall of Fame teams and FIRST decides to do next year at CMP, we will gladly share our story at the Hall of Fame booth.

-Glenn

[Travis Hoffman]

How much growth will we see this year? I wouldn't be surprised if it hits 30% just reading these stories. We all have something to look forward to.

Jason

More teams can be a blessing...but also a curse. *Ducks and Covers* ::safety::

Are we veteran FIRST folks ready to take on the added challenge of ensuring all new rookie teams expected to jump out of the woodwork are given veteran attention prior to them arriving at their first competition?

Cuz if not, I'm definitely not looking forward to seeing an even greater number of teams show up at their first event ever completely overwhelmed and underprepared. I also do not look forward to the additional stress such situations bring to the event volunteers and veteran teams who try to support rookies on the fly.

Spending a few hours of vet team time during build season ensuring a rookie's frame is within legal dimensions and their wiring is up to spec and speaking with their mentors on what to plan for ahead of and at competitions can really enhance a rookie's level of inspiration at an event.

Heading into an event with more confidence than trepidation equals more inspiration. Veterans assisting rookies BEFORE competitions makes the event more stress-free and enjoyable for EVERYONE!

You don't have to be on-site to provide support. Choose an appropriate radius of outreach from your team's location - find all rookie teams registering within that zone. Contact them - get connected via Skype and other online means. Check in with them at least once a week. It works even better if veteran teams coordinate their rookie support efforts with other veterans within their region. In checking with other vets, you might even find that the vet teams in your area would benefit by working together to help EACH OTHER out! :)

Think of the benefits a little more effort from veterans up front can have on the FIRST organization. In addition to making sure new teams start out in the "right-sized" FIRST program for their resources and capabilities, let's all make a greater effort to reach out to rookie FIRST teams as early and frequently as possible. I think then the quality of output from rookies may start creeping up to match the quantity, the quality of competition at events will correspondingly improve due to a more competitive field, spectators and sponsors will then be more excited and enthused by what they witness on the field and in the pits, and on and on and on.

[JohnBoucher]

Good. I just get the feeling that what we experienced might have had great historical relevance. The sheer reach that this had and the impact that it might have made. Its really awe-inspiring really. It will be amazing to see the number of new teams next year and compare it to normal annual growth(which was always large). We had a roughly 14% growth in the number of teams in FRC last year. How much growth will we see this year? I wouldn't be surprised if it hits 30% just reading these stories. We all have something to look forward to.

Jason

I hope and pray that this has a very positive impact on FIRST. I hope it leads to sustained growth. Growth has to include sustaining veteran teams. FIRST needs to keep it's core. Mark McLeod's chart of mean team age is flattening out. I would hate to see it trend down.

If we get 30% growth from this, who is going to tell them how few rookie teams get to go to Champs? I hope they join for the right reasons.

[Molten]

I hope and pray that this has a very positive impact on FIRST. I hope it leads to sustained growth. Growth has to include sustaining veteran teams. FIRST needs to keep it's core. Mark McLeod's chart of mean team age is flattening out. I would hate to see it trend down.

If we get 30% growth from this, who is going to tell them how few rookie teams get to go to Champs? I hope they join for the right reasons.

Yes, growth without sustainability is worse then no growth at all. I would suspect that Dean would have thought of this before taking on such an ordeal. Perhaps this will be the homework for this year? There are many things FIRST can do to prepare for this many new students, but it is up to the community as well. As Travis has stated, it would be of great help if the veteran teams helped prepare the rookies. This is going to be an interesting year. Good or bad, I look forward to seeing what happens.

Jason

[rsisk]

More teams can be a blessing...but also a curse. *Ducks and Covers* ::safety::

Are we veteran FIRST folks ready to take on the added challenge of ensuring all new rookie teams expected to jump out of the woodwork are given veteran attention prior to them arriving at their first competition?

<snip>



I know this doesn't solve the problem of a huge influx of teams, but FIRST just doubled the number of Senior Mentors they have in the field. Hopefully that will improve the attention all the new folks will be getting.

[Lavapicker]

I see the good this show and all the work Will.i.am has done for FIRST this year and I know you can't show everything in a TV show like this but I was Very disappointed not to see any mention of 359. I thought for sure we'd see a shot of them on stage getting the award with a short bio of why they got it. Chairmans is the highest award in FIRST since its not about how well we do year to year in competition but how our programs impact our students, community and the world which we all know is more important in the long run than who got first place. That should be the message we get out there to people looking in, even on a "short" recruitment show like this. I think someone dropped the ball on it. They showed bio's from other teams and the impact FIRST had on their students but not the Championship Chairmans winner which is the definition of impact? What happened? Glenn and the gang at McKinley's 368 led the way in Hawaii where I believe we now have the highest percentage of schools with robotics programs in the whole United States. I believe every single team in Hawaii was helped at some point by Glenn. Perhaps if we were a bigger State it would have made the show? Glenn, his team and their story would have been an inspiration to a lot of people out there. I don't want to talk bad about his school (sorry Glenn but people need to know) but His very small school is in a very poor, rural and remote part of the Island and yet he has built a powerhouse program in a place where there was very little going on before him. Again, He accomplished what this show was hoping to accomplish.

[JaneYoung]

I see the good this show and all the work Will.i.am has done for FIRST this year and I know you can't show everything in a TV show like this but I was Very disappointed not to see any mention of 359. I thought for sure we'd see a shot of them on stage getting the award with a short bio of why they got it. Chairmans is the highest award in FIRST since its not about how well we do year to year in competition but how our programs impact our students, community and the world which we all know is more important in the long run than who got first place. That should be the message we get out there to people looking in, even on a "short" recruitment show like this. I think someone dropped the ball on it. They showed bio's from other teams and the impact FIRST had on their students but not the Championship Chairmans winner which is the definition of impact? What happened? Glenn and the gang at McKinley's 368 led the way in Hawaii where I believe we now have the highest percentage of schools with robotics programs in the whole United States. I believe every single team in Hawaii was helped at some point by Glenn. Perhaps if we were a bigger State it would have made the show? Glenn, his team and their story would have been an inspiration to a lot of people out there. I don't want to talk bad about his school (sorry Glenn but people need to know) but His very small school is in a very poor, rural and remote part of the Island and yet he has built a powerhouse program in a place where there was very little going on before him. Again, He accomplished what this show was hoping to accomplish.

I've heard it said that the show is the 'hook' to catch the attention and interest of those who haven't heard of FIRST.

To me, 359 makes for excellent bait and is the fish that could be shared with millions. To add, 359 and the other HoF teams can teach the ignorant and unaware - how to fish. They do it all the time - with or without a boat. To add, they know which ones to keep and which ones to throw back. To add, they provide excellent recipes for preparation of the fish and providing an enticing and fulfilling meal, scaled to size and seasoned for direct impact.

Not sure how such an opportunity was so incredibly missed but it sure was.

Jane

[Carol]

I agree that showing the CA winner would have added a powerful segment to the show. But, as pointed out earlier, the teams were probably selected BEFORE Championships and close to their home base. (I add probably because none of us know for sure and stating it as a fact is dishonest.) Since CA wasn't awarded until Friday night, there wouldn't have been time to do much more than a brief segment.

The producers should have been told of the importance of the CA award, so they could have at least mentioned it. But again, the producers, like most people exposed to FIRST for the first time (no pun intended) focus on the gee-whiz aspect in order to get people interested, and to stop them from changing the channel.

[rsisk]

The producers should have been told of the importance of the CA award, so they could have at least mentioned it. But again, the producers, like most people exposed to FIRST for the first time (no pun intended) focus on the gee-whiz aspect in order to get people interested, and to stop them from changing the channel.

They spent time explaining Coopertition, they could have spent time explaining the CA.

I think it was either missed, or ended up on the cutting room floor.

[RayTurner1126]

check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O7lv3wxJxY&feature=youtu.be

Interview on a YouTube show apparently called "What's Trending" of Will.i.am. I saw it because it was advertised on YouTube's Facebook page.

YouTube's facebook page has over 44 million fans. I like this.

[Walter Deitzler]

check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O7lv3wxJxY&feature=youtu.be

Interview on a YouTube show apparently called "What's Trending" of Will.i.am. I saw it because it was advertised on YouTube's Facebook page.

YouTube's facebook page has over 44 million fans. I like this.

I think that Will.i.am is one of the better things to happen to FIRST. He buys us airtime with his own money so that the message of FIRST can get out, he talks about us at almost every opportunity, and really gets what FIRST is about. All I have to say is that a massive

THANK YOU

and I hope you do too. :D

[davidthefat]

http://www.smartthinkingbook.com/2011/08/why-girls-drop-math-ii-who-wants-to-be.html

Why FIRST is important. I did not want to make a new thread, but I think this might fit in here.

[Andrew Schreiber]

This is something that I have been wondering myself. What is the distribution of teams in the US? Does there happen to be a larger number of teams on the West Coast?

Finally a question I'm qualified to answer...

http://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?snapid=S245937Jy7w is the heatmap of team distribution for the 2010 season. (If that link doesn't work someone shoot me an email and I'll try to fix it)

[ThaineP]

I think that the program was very good for publicity, and surprisingly well 'tuned' to the spirit of FIRST.

I didn't like the music at all, really, but that's probably my musical taste. I was also questioning the 'rock and roll.' I'd personally ship the Black Eyed Peas in with the Autotune-pop-with-vague-techno-elements (like Autotune) genre.

The artist "spots" were actually not bad, some of them 'got' FIRST pretty well. Whoever described some part of engineering as 'goop' made me crack up. (was that Bono?)

From a publicity standpoint, i.am.FIRST was pure gold, but from an artistic standpoint, I thought it kinda sucked. However, publicity is the quality we need, so, good job ABC.