how do you get new members???
 

hey everybody, first, this isn't a bashing thread to bash someones school, so i would appreciate more advice then criticism. in previous years our school has been very supportive of our robotics program, last year they gave us $12,000 to go to nationals, but this year we have a new principle, and now he says that we have to have a certain numbers of kids in order to get some funding. granted that $12,000 is a lot of money, but that was a special occasion and we didnt expect to get that much from our school nor do we expect to get that much money again. but we now have to a minimum of 50 bodies in order to get some type of funding, and we only have 26. any ideas on how we can get more members?

Re: how do you get new members???
 

Have the 26 kids bring some of their friends in. Think of it this way: if every kid has to bring in one friend, you have a team of 52. Have different teachers from the math and science departments at your school recommend kids to join the team, and speak directly to them, rather than having a mass meeting.

I'd also recommend having the principal come to one of your meetings so that he can get more acquainted with the team and see the dedication of the members for himself. Maybe if he sees that a smaller group of students works more efficiently together (because 50 is a lot of kids. That is a HUGE team), he'll lower the number.

Good luck,

Daisy

Re: how do you get new members???
 

Our team has never recruited much until last & this year, but we always hovered around the 60ish number generally. This year, we did a demo during club day with our '05 and '06 robot and another smaller demo with our '05 robot. We also had a massive poster up for like a month announcing our first meeting and we hung up flyers talking about it too in almost every class room, especially in the math and science building, and had announcements for two weeks or so. Also try emphasizing that robotics is more than just engineering, talk about the operations half too, like media and pr and finance. I think that this year because of that, we got about 10 new members for media and pr. Hope this helped :) Our school offers our team pretty much no support so good luck receiving that grant from your school.

Re: how do you get new members???
 

We reserved an auditorium for a presentation that went something like this.
(while the presentation was happening our mascot roamed the halls with a sign that said where the presentation was. Also we had hundreds of posters all over the school)

1.) Speaker: Welcome to the Fairport FIRST Robotics Team Presentation
2.) (a short description about what first is was said)
3.)Well everyone actions speak louder than words (Video Rolls)
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...99096341&hl=en
4.)we get into the different subteams
5.)then we start talking about this years game
6.)A video at this point is shown explaining the game (the simplified one)
7.)After that we pull out the robot and we demonstrate how it works on the side and shot few poof balls into the crowd.
8.)We then show a video of a match
9.)We thank everyone for coming and finished off with the Be FIRST Video.
10.) Everyone interested in joining runs up to the table and signs up.


Thats how we did it this year... we got a total of 60 members so far.

Re: how do you get new members???
 

hey, thanks for all the advice and tips, ill be sure to put them to good use, please, keep them coming.

Re: how do you get new members???
 

Like Christine [sarcasticmadness] above, our team performs a demo and has a sign up at our school's "clubfest". It serves as a chance for everyone, [but mostly freshmen and new students] to see what interests them, and to ask questions and learn more about what clubs and teams our high school offers. The demo of the robot usually brings in a large crowd, but this year we also had a promotional video of our 2006 season being played on loop on a TV. The students sign up with their name and email addresses on a laptop, and are then sent out information about the team, and come to the first introductory meeting of the team. At this first meeting, we explain to the new members what exactly FIRST is, and the many different aspects of the team, as well as the sub committees. We stress the fact that you don't have to be great or even good at building robots in order to be on the team, because so much more is offered, such as animation, scouting, public relations, programming, the awards team, etc. Each student regardless of their skills should be able to find their own niche on the team, as long as they are willing to learn and work together.

Word of mouth is also one of the best recruiting techniques. If your friends are always hearing you talk about robotics and how much fun it is, then they will be more than likely to want to find out more about it, and become part of the team. Become involved with your township, and make yourself a known team in the school. Community outreach events, and fundraisers are excellent ways to spread the presence of your team to those who might not have even known about its existence. Try having your team be mentioned on the morning announcements when possible. Similar to how the school is informed about whether or not the football team won their latest game, have the announcement congratulate the team on recent accomplishments, such as seeding at a regional/off season competition, or winning an award. Hanging posters around the school promoting the robotics team may also be effective. [Try searching in the white papers section of CD-Media for examples.]

While this may not help your team in its current situation, try to generate an interest in FIRST from the younger generations. (Prime targets are middle school aged kids, who will be entering the high school in several years.) This past summer, Team 25 hosted a summer LEGO camp using Mind storms sets, which was not only successful in introducing a number of younger kids to engineering and robotics, but also peaked their interests in the robotics team at our high school. One day we brought in our 2006 robot to demo, and the kids saw just how much what they were learning about things such as gear ratios, and problem solving went beyond what they were doing with Lego's, and now have their minds set on joining the team upon their entrance into high school.

Re: how do you get new members???
 

I know this might be surprising to some but our team has found a great way of getting people to join. Putting up fliers does bring in people, but not nearly enough to fill in the 50 ish that you guys need. Our team usually has around 30 ish people. But at the beginning of the year we have around 60. This is due to the fact that every year, a couple of our team members get dismissed early from their last hour class. They grab signs and stand in the halls. My sign this year said "if you *heart* robots" and there was an arrow pointing toward our work room (room 213). It might surprise you at how many people are waiting for rides after school and looking for something to do to occupy their time. What I would do is have the principle come in on the day which these "new recruits" come in and let him/her see the giant group you have. This will force him to give you guys some financial help. When presenting, you always show your team at its best. Hope this helps.

Re: how do you get new members???
 

Re: how do you get new members???
 

My sophomore year, another student and I brought the robot to the cafeteria, set up a TV with some old videos, had some flyers to hand out, and sat by the trash can. That way, every student that went to throw away their tray caught a glimpse of the robot.

Bringing friend to meetings is a good idea, but I think this way we got a lot of students who were actually interested in joining to check it out, not just because a friend told them to.

Like Kristian said, word of mouth is the best way to get the name of your team out there. I dont know if your school does this, but make announcements over the intercom, have your friends talk it up on how robotics is "so amazing" talk about how you guys were national finalists! that will definately draw a crowd.

Between 2004 and 2006, our student number has climbed from about 20 students to over 60! Good luck, I know you can do it!

Re: how do you get new members???
 

I understand that you are looking at this recruiting effort as a way to attain a financial goal. Perhaps that won't produce the best outcome for your team in the long run.
Recruiting students also means developing a plan for support and retention. Can you financially support the additional students (even with getting the $12K)? Will you have to do additional fundraising to support the expanded team? Do you have enough adult resources so that the team is mentored/supervised properly? Do you have a physical space which will allow that many students to work on team-related projects? Do you have enough assets to allow students to work (tools, computers, etc.) or will they just be hanging out because they can't get to a computer to work on animation or programming? If you plan to travel by bus, will it mean hiring an additional one to go to competitions? Do you have a team organization/structure in place so you don't have chaos?
Unless your goal is to increase the numbers of students getting involved in FIRST, you may want to start looking at alternative sources of funding.
If you decide you want to increase the size of the team, then think about it like a business would. What skills are you lacking that would help the team grow? Do you need someone who can manage the team budget? Talk to your accounting teachers. Do you need someone who can design a killer logo and t-shirts and marketing materials? Talk to the art/graphic arts teachers. Need someone to work on the words for the website/brochures/Chairman's Award submission? Look for someone who has good writing skills. In other words, don't just think about how to attract people by demoing your robot. That may attract people who think they will be joining the team to build it and drive it. And with a larger team, that opportunity might not be there. Target your recruitment efforts.

Re: how do you get new members???
 

Thats soo true!
After winning the CA last year, our team was IN THE SPOTLIGHT. We used it as a good tool to recruit a lot of members, not only from our base school, but also from near by high schools and even home schoolers. Total Members count is now 60 compare to 25 from last year.
Its all about how one advertise and market their team. Most of the teams have a separate Marketing/Advertising Sub-Team, consisting mostly of DEKA members (Business, Marketing, Advertisement etc classes), who help promote F.I.R.S.T. team, while at the same time gaining practical experience for their classes.

Re: how do you get new members???
 

We have an informational meeting at the end of September or early October. We usually show videos and media about our teams and what we do.

Our school has a TV slideshow that goes on our TV monitors. We post a slide or two on there when school starts and we get an announcement on our morning news during homeroom advertising the robotics team.

A few days before the informational meeting, we do demos in our cafeteria (during non-lunch periods) and we encourage teachers (especially science) to come down with their classes.

We're obviously doing something right, this year we had over 45 new members join!

Re: how do you get new members???
 

One of the best ways our teams have recruited students is through our Lego League Program at our middle school. Nearly every student that has been involved in that team has joined the robotics team. Also success breeds interest. Your National Finalist should be very public. Finally a display case to showcase your team will greatly increase awareness. Hope this helps and that you can get the necessary amount of students.

Re: how do you get new members???
 

Thinking in economic terms, are the costs of adding that many extra members worth the extra $12,000?

Because that is a fairly large jump. Not to say that is a bad thing, but it can also be difficult making sure everyone has a job, etc, etc, and the logistics of running a smaller team like that versus running a huge team are important to consider. You could easily end up adding 12,000 in travel costs alone, which would cancel out the money the school would give you.

That's not to say you shouldn't encourage people to join, because I firmly believe that FIRST is something every kid should have exposure to, but be sure you want your team to grow for the right reasons.

That said, all of the above are great techniques for increasing membership and awareness.

Re: how do you get new members???
 

the school is not offering 12k to us again, that was a special occasion to help us go to national and we dont expect to get that much again. thanks for all the help, i really appericate it.