[EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

The East West Collaboration Project invites you to join us for the next installment of our ongoing cast series. This week, we will have Jim Zondag and Isaac Rife from FRC33 the Killer Bees, on the cast to discuss scouting at FRC competitions. If Justin Foss can make the cast, it will also include an in depth discussion of the scouting system his team, FRC2168 the Aluminum Falcons, developed for the 2011 season, how they used the data, and their scouting system plans for the future.

As always the cast will begin at 5AM Moscow Standard Time (9PM EDT.) Talkshoe opens up 15 minutes early and oftentimes a small informal pre-cast discussion/ Q&A session occurs and most casts are followed by a similar post-cast discussion as well.

The show notes and talkshoe link will be posted shortly. As always, feel free to send any cast suggestions or insults our way. Thanks for listening.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Jim and Isaac are great choices for the cast. I always thought they were one of the best scouting teams in FIRST and I have an even greater appreciation of them after my talks with them at the Championship this year.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

What would CD like to know about scouting?

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

WHat do you include on your scouting sheets?
Do you have your scouters write things down on paper, or put them into a digital database?
Do you solely use info from the competition at hand, or from past regionals, competitions, etc.
How many people on average scout per team?
Do your scouters go through training?
If so, how?

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Some questions I have in particular are:

How do you make sure your new, first-time scouts are prepared at your first competition?

How to keep new, first-time scouters interested in what they are doing, and also to stress how scouting is important?

Practice matches-scout them through the same criteria as regular matches, scout them subjectively, or to even scout them at all?

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

I really enjoyed that talk and hopefully remember a to bring up a good lesson I was reminded of during the discussion.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Talk about what teams like 33 are usually looking for in a 1st or 2nd pick during alliance selection.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

How about:

- Why does my team need to scout?

-the importance of subjective data (I some cases and years OPR and other numerical data can be misleading)

-How to properly utilize the data you collect.

-How to properly pit scout. (The "How many wheels do you have?" question gets old really fast.)

-How to make a pick list, check it twice, and revise picking order on the fly. (during picking)

-How to decide what factors are important to scout?


Are there going to be any example documents published before or after the cast so listeners have a take home example scouting sheet or something along those lines? (This would be pretty sweet!)

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

I assume this will be recorded and made available later?

A couple questions I have:
-- Who scouts on the team? Is it just the everyone who is not on the drive team, pit crew, or chairman's/pr?

-- How do you handle the Friday night pick list meeting when there are team socials or special concerts? Skip all or part of the activity, have mentors and anyone else who wants to make the list (while students enjoy the activity), or do it after the activity and get to bed past midnight?

-- Any tips to make scouting fun or atleast bearable for the students who have little interest in it.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Absolutely.

As I mentioned in our last cast, you don't build a sustainable program by bettering yourself, you build one by helping your community grow. Along these lines we are trying to make as much information available to anyone who wants it. If you have things you want to know or things you want to share let us know and we will work with you.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

The big one for me is making scouting exciting/fun for students. We have HUGE problems in that area.

I'm super excited about this, I'm sort of the de-facto mentor/volunteer thing in charge of scouting on my old team, and I've been working on how to improve our scouting. So kudos on gaining a listener this week :D

Also, since this will be my first time listening and I don't see it in this thread, really stupid question where do I go to listen to this?

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

I will post the link shortly (I don't think the link goes live until 30 minutes or so before the show). It will also appear on our Facebook page. If 830pm EST sunday rolls around and there is no link posted here someone needs to message me (Skype/GoogleTalk are listed) and remind me that it is Sunday. Last cast I totally forgot it was Sunday.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

How to run a scouting meeting.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

In addition to the questions mentioned(how to make it engaging, how to run a scouting meeting), I would like to know, what is the most efficient way to get the information to the drive team?

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

How about how to effectively relay subjective and strategic scouting info to drivers for use in matches? Being a coach I know this can be huge.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

I'm interested to hear how other teams end up making their pick lists.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

How much weight is given to pit scouting information vs. game scouting?
Do top teams scout themselves?
Is pit scouting even really worth doing, or is it used as an exercise for the rookies who have no other tasks? (kinda like the lead screw in the KoP)

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Our team representative brings a metal bingo cage out to the field for alliance selection and picks the team whose corresponding ball comes out first.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Actually, we pick teams in order of best performance on Einstein. Don't you remember 195, then 1124? 177, and 173?

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Can you guys let this one run a tad long if necessary, so nothing gets cut short, because this could be the most interesting one yet.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

I'm looking forward to this cast.

One of the problems we seem to have is consistency in our data collection. Part of the problem is keeping the entire scouting team motivated. (Seems to be a common issue from the other comments on this thread.) One of the things that helps is to concentrate our data gathering on Friday afternoon only and double checking questionable data that night with video review. It is certainly easier to stay motivated when we're winning and the prospect of captaining an alliance is still in the picture. What do other teams do to ensure quality data?

When we have been an alliance captain, picking our first partner has been relatively easy from the list we send down to our representative. Often our list ranks exemplary defensive potential above mediocre scoring and a gem overlooked by others is still available for our second pick. We keep a copy of the list in the stands and if the top available pick is no longer a good fit for the alliance we do have ways of signalling our representative. What do other teams do here? Do they leave it entirely in the hands of the representative or is their some interaction on the final decision with the rest of scouting team? Do other teams have a static pick list, or in what ways do they adjust it based on the picks of other teams?

Pit scouting was critical last year in KC when hardly any practice matches got played due to a technical issue. No one had a good feel for the capabilities of the other teams in their first qualification match. Most years the only value it serves is a medium to say high to other teams and build relationships. We do just as well without paper and clipboard. I usually take a small group of our more mechanically inclined rookies around to each pit and ask them to look at each robot and tell me what they think it is capable of doing based on how its built. Then after we hang back and have our own discussion we approach the team and ask them to explain their design to us. It absolutely makes that group of rookies better at designing for the next build season. Every pit feels like Christmas morning. It is one of my favorite times at each competition. What do other teams use the pit scouting time for? Are mentors involved ever or just students? Do you base your scouting reports on what you see or what other teams tell you? (We all know some teams have hopeful delusions about what their robots are capable of.) Do you incorporate pit data into your pick list?

We do a little scouting report of each alliance partner and opponent for each match based largely on their previous match. The more participants in a tournament the easier this is to accomplish due to turnaround time. Our drive coaches have plenty of time in que to analyze this data and discuss it with our partners. We have found that the more organized you are the more influence you can have with your partners when designing the alliance strategy. If there is time the drive coach and chassis driver come to the stands after their match and the scouts give them a critique and suggest improvements for their next match. How do other teams develop specific match strategies and communicate to their drive teams specific data about their upcoming match?

We have had other teams ask to share scouting data to the benefit of both teams. Is this common? If another well respected team asked you for your data so they could combine it with theirs and then send you back the combined files would you allow it? Is this a good idea to build a relationship with another team, or does it lead to similar pick lists and run the risk of someone else sniping your sleeper pick?

I'm generally one of those silent guests in the chat, but I'll be there hearing every word.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

We have a simple and effective way to do this which we have used for over a decade on our team. We will be sure to touch on this

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Good news everybody, I'm finally learning how to use Talkshoe...

Call information:
TEL: (724) 444-7444
ID: 98466 You may need to register with Talkshoe if you haven't before.


http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/98466 should have a link to the cast once it goes live ~830PM EST

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

One more line of questioning for the cast. I've seen quality teams have mechanical failures or software/electrical issues in their final qualification match. Do your scouts generally cross them off the list or investigate in the pit the details of the malfunction? Do you take teams at their word when they say the problem will solved or do you ask to see proof? If you're team is the one with the malfunction what can you do to let the other scouts know you'll be ready to play?

Ok, 2 more lines of questioning.. :rolleyes:

If you're looking to get picked is there anything you can do beyond robot performance to move up someone's pick list? Does going to the pit of the top 8 teams and telling them how good your robot is do any good? Is it reasonable to show off your best feature in your last match or 2 (instead of trying to do everything) if you think you are on the selection bubble.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Touting your robot to another team's pit crew probably won't help, for two reasons. First, the pit crew generally doesn't have a lot of influence over the scouting group's analysis. Second, the scouting decisions are generally made based on observation of robot performance rather than advertisements, and it might even hurt to be seen as "bragging".

That said, you might get some benefit out of explaining both the cause of a particular performance issue and how you've corrected it.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Our head scout and drive coach always go to investigate any teams with mechanical failures. Never dismiss a team without figuring out what went wrong and how they are dealing with it.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

We'll talk a lot about Saturday scouting in the podcast (it's something I personally think 2791 is very good at), but personally it depends on where they are on the list. If they're near the top, it takes a lot of thought. We'll go down to their pit and figure out what's going on and depending on their response we'll adjust them relative to other teams of their caliber.

Many teams are on the list for "flashes of greatness" and thus need to be thought about differently. Definitely marked down as high risk, but if the reward is high enough then we might want to take it. At CT in 2010, 173 had technical problems all of Friday that stemmed from a defective classmate PC, but they had a strong autonomous mode and consistent hang, setting up us for a relatively easy 4-6 points with their presence alone. Autonomous from the back zone was our priority for a second pick, and they had a hanger that we thought we could use. The position we were in called for a pick like them, so despite their faults we took the plunge. I'd certainly make that same pick again, as despite some ill timed failures they were a huge asset to the alliance.

So basically, you have to weigh their potential over the particulars of their failure and rank them relative to your teams on the board. This is a lot of "gut" work; once Saturday rolls around numbers can only do so much for you.

Oddly enough, sometimes we learn more about the team doing this than if they didn't break. I remember at some event a while back, one team took the time to explain to me exactly what went wrong and how they were planning to fix it for elims. We weren't even in an obvious position to pick them if I remember correctly, but the extra effort put in to communicate with us reassured me that they would be a good pick broken or not.

This depends a lot on how vitally you need something. A good example would be an autonomous mode. If you're picking someone for their autonomous and their arm snapped off, I'd ask to see it if there was time.

Be proactive in selling yourself. Find teams you think you would work well with and have a frank, down to earth discussion. No bragging.

Thanks for the great questions, and I'm sure all of us will go in depth this Sunday. Scouting is more or less my favorite topic in FRC.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

As Alan already stated, going to teams' pits rarely works. Even if the scouts are there at the time, its unlikely you telling them how good you are will change what the see on the field. If you have been having mechanical issues, it may help to explain what the issues are.

In terms of being on the bubble of getting picked or not, its a very good idea to learn what teams are looking for in partners and have an idea of the depth of the field. In terms of knowing what teams are looking for, this year a common elimination alliance consisted of 2 scorers and 1 defense/herder. If your hoping to be one of the last few teams picked, you probably shouldn't spend the entire match strugging to score 0-2 tubes (like so many teams did this year). Instead, you should showcase your ability to play defense and herd tubes.

Its also important to understand the depth of the field at your event. This was big in 2010, but not as much last year. If your a bubble team that plays each zone fairly equally well and you see there are, say, 18 adquate zone 1 robots at your regional, but only 6 that can play zone 3 decent, you should play each match in zone 3.

As least at the regional level (especially at the shallow ones), its rare to see a team on the bubble that 'gets' strategy to take advantage of these two things.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

This is tricky, though, because most of the time your best skill might not be what's needed to win the qual match. Even if we were a great back zone defender, what if we were the only team with offensive quality?

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Entering every event, the goal is to win every match and secure the top seed. But after you are unable to seed high (typically after your 4th or 5th loss) and you know your likely on the bubble, then I think you should consider strategies that put your team in the best position to get selected. Obviously, you never go against what your alliance partners want to do, especially if they are in the race to seed high. It's a lot like the dynamic of the 6-0 matches in 2010, when teams would intentially lose matches to help them seed high to win the event.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Here you go, but I think you have seen these before:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...threadid=98039

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

I'm looking forward to being a part of this cast, below are some of FRC2168's scouting documents from this year

Scouting System http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2450

Draft Scouting Manual http://jwfoss.posterous.com/draft-sc...ining-document

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Sounds like there's a lot to talk about! Hopefully it isn't too late to submit a question.

How do you connect the data you collect to the order you want to pick teams. Is it just sort the data by highest to lowest average number of tubes hung (using Logomotion as an example, obviously different to each game) and there's your list, or do you factor in other things like experience, history (of the team, not with them), and how well you think you could/have work(ed) with them? I know not to mix personal feeling with making a pick list, but how do you guys take it a step beyond that, and mix the numerical data with other things?

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

VERY good question. I'll be sure we talk about pick list methodology, as I have a lot to say on the issue.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

I've collected most of these (I tried to eliminate duplicates) into a google doc which we will try to go over.

As usual these notes are available at http://goo.gl/L2Syu

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

The call is now live, we are just prepping up and waiting for people to log in. Jim Zondag is ready and in the call, so be sure to tune in ASAP!

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

For Jim/Issac, etal. :

For a 2nd season team... what's the 3 MOST important things to do to optimize your chances to be picked by the top 8?

GREAT webcast... THANKS for sharing!!

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Thanks for getting together and doing this!

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

One thing I think we forgot to touch on: selling your team to the top 8. There's a line between trying to talk to a team about alliance selection, and straight up bugging them about it.

Do not try to suck up in a blatantly obvious way or obnoxiously. Teams absolutely dislike that. As Chris mentioned before, try to have an honest conversation with the teams who are in the top 15 at the end of qualifications. Tell them what type of asset you think you can be. Do NOT kid yourself by giving them farfetched data, the top teams scout and know when you are BSing them (sorry couldn't think of a better term). Know your own team's real positives and negatives.

Things you can do during competition to help you get picked:
1) Fix any problems ASAP after they occur.
2) Document your failures and fixes in a journal in the pit.
3) Make sure you have someone ready to speak to other teams when they come to your pit. This is very important because teams can get annoyed if you do not have someone ready to communicate with them to talk strategy or about a match.
4) Be honest. Scout your own team and get data about your team from other good scouting teams.
5) Avoid making simple rule errors (penalties, coaches touching controls by accident, etc.)
6) Be cooperative.

Other than that, I'm sure the other EWCP guys have more to add along with Jim and Isaac.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

In addition to what Akash said, some things I've noticed...

If you're aiming to be a 1st pick, be the highest scoring robot at an event
If that's not possible, be the best at doing something, whether it's autonomous mode or endgame. You can shoot yourself in the foot by spreading your resources too thin and building a robot with a poor autonomous, poor scoring, and a poor endgame. Instead, focus on whatever aspect of the game you think will most benefit an alliance. A perfect autonomous mode isn't common at the regional level, and can easily make up for poor scoring / endgame.

Specific things you can do at competition...

• Don't procrastinate.
• Get through inspection as soon as possible. You really look bad if a team has to help rush you through inspection.
• Once you're through inspection, get on the practice field and give your drivers as much time to practice as possible, make sure your autonomous mode works, etc.
• Be on time for your matches.
• If your alliance decides on a strategy before a match, FOLLOW IT. If teams don't come to your pit to talk strategy, you go to theirs 5-10 minutes before the match starts. If you don't like the strategy, try to politely negotiate. Flat-out ignoring strategy match after match is the type of behavior that gets you on a team's "permanent blacklist."
• Be competitive and motivated, but don't be rude about it. Try to make friends with other teams and their mentors. Long-term friendship can play into alliance selection.
• If you don't end up in the top 8, don't go and beg just before alliance selections. Those top 8 teams are sitting down and putting a lot of thought into their final decisions about who to pick. Begging is tacky and it doesn't work.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

If begging gets you on the pick list, it is not an alliance you want to be part of.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Akash's #3 is a really great way to keep yourself on a team's picklist. Ignoring it... well, it's a good way to get yourself off a picklist. It's happened before.

Just remember: Don't ignore the scouts when they show up. Especially if it's right before selection time.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Download for scouting cast is at http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-98466/TS-550883.mp3

Streaming is at http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web...50883&cmd=apop

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

There are probably a lot more than 3 things, but here goes:

#1. Be good at something. Performance is really the driving factor for most pick-lists. Being really good at something is much better than not good at a lot of things. You don't need to be the best at your competition, but you do need to be within that top 24. Not everyone makes the best picks though, so really to a be a lock, you really need to be within the top 20 or so from a performance perspective (not necessarily rank).

#2. Be consistent. Being consistent or consistently improving. Either of these are good trends to see. Consistency is a nice catch all for realiability, performance, and can lead to dependability.

#3. Be prepared. If your team is prepared, it will show, and people will take notice. Complete your machine early. Test it. Have it looking neat and prepared, and you will do well at most events.

There are a lot of other factors, but these 3 should get you into good position at most events.

As a bonus:

#4 for Chet and other scouts, HAVE CLEAR NUMBERS. If it is difficult to read your numbers, some folks might get you confused with another team. When making your bumpers, set them on the ground and try to read them from 100 feet away. This is especially true if your team has a 6, 8, 9, 5, 3, or 1, 7 in it. FIRST could really take a lesson as their font choice is horrible for the screens.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

That was one of the most interesting casts we've had so far, lots of great information was discussed. Thanks to all of you who tuned into the chat, hopefully you enjoyed it as much as those of us on the call.

A special thanks goes out to the guys from FRC33, your insight and willingness to discuss how you do things is a testament to how great of a team culture you have created. If only all the "elite" teams were this open. I hope we get the chance to talk more in the future.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

To us:
1. Consistency. Usually our top round 2 picks all have this in common. Do not try to be a jack of all trades in qualifying, try to have a specialty which you can go out an do over and over again so you can improve over time and have a noticable value to the picking teams. Last year a few of these specialty items were: Running tubes, playing line defense, autonomous, and minibots. For the most part, the two lead teams in the alliance would have hanging tubes more or less covered, so the other skill sets are what we are scouting for the 3rd partner.

2. Honesty: Self promotion is very important to make sure that you are not overlooked, however you need to be honest about what you can do. A big part of this for me is knowing your own stats. Be sure to have your scouts collect data on your own team so that you can be realistic about your own abilitites. The teams you are talking to will have data on your team, so if they ask specific questions, you need to know the right answers or it will hurt your credibility.

3. Confidence: Highly underrated and often overlooked, I find this very important. Prior to alliance selection, we will usually go through and talk to all of the teams on our list. The ones that stand out are often the ones with a confident, go get 'em attitude. The ability to win and the desire to win are tightly connected. We want a partner with both. Sell yourselves, but be realistic.

(4) Appearence: I know you asked for 3 but this is a 4th item that I think many young teams underestimate. Every year, we go to multiple events and at each event there will be a dozen or more non-descript aluminum contraptions, with no distinguishing elements other that the team numbers on the bumpers. So when it comes to scouting time, we often get into conversations like "was that 35XX or 35YY? I can't remember". This usually does not happen if you have some big colorful adornments on your machine. If you do not want to be overlooked, make your team more memorable. You still need to actually build something that works, but a big part of being selected is awareness. Not all teams in the top 8 will have robust scouting data and in the second round, I have seen many picks be made on "gut feel". Try to be the team that they will rememeber.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Have you looked into getting an RSS feed setup to distribute these podcasts through through iTunes? It would make it a lot easier for many of us to listen if you could.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

I believe Chris Picone is working on that.

Chris? :p

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Is that different then http://recordings.talkshoe.com/rss98466.xml ?

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Nope, I think it is a matter of plugging it into iTunes.

Edit: I'm taking care of this now cuz it will bug me otherwise.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Come on, you guys know I don't wake up until 10 AM...

I forgot that Talkshoe automagically generates an XML file and thought I had to hand write one. Whoops.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

I thought I might have sounded a bit harsh on the "making scouting fun" portion of the discussion. While we had good results with the making it known its importance, being persistent with folks in charge, and rewarding good behaviours, I understand that sometimes you need a hook to get the ball rolling.

The Penny bets are a very interesting thought.

Last Spring many of my team members went to the Strategy discussion at the championship and mentioned the Scouting engagement technique that someone on 1114 was employing with the penny bets. I thought it was based off of this:
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-f...abilities.html

But later checked with Karthik and he said it was not the inspiration, but I think it is a very interesting read none the less.

Reading through the article, you could try some very interesting experiments in order to gauge accuracy. One experiment I have been contemplating is having a bucket or bin for each team in which tickets could be placed. Each team member would be given 24 tickets, and told the rules are they can only use the 24 tickets, and 3 prizes will be awarded based off tickets drawn from the 3 teams on the winning allianes corresponding buckets. You may place as many of your 24 tickets in whichever bucket you like, but you only get 24 total tickets. I feel a challenge like this could make for a very interesting ticket distribution. If you begin to comtemplate the various strategies you could take (1 ticket in each of your predicted 24 vs. all tickets in the best team vs....) there are a lot of interesting possibilities. Concentrating on the second round picks might have higher variability, but would likely also yield lower competition and thus better odds.

The trick to any type of side-instrument is that you want it to improve the end result rather than distract from it.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Don't worry, I got what you meant. I certainly didn't mean to intend that scouting shouldn't be taken seriously. I just sometimes forget that teammates don't always see scouting as important.

For me, scouting isn't the "throw away job" one assigns all the kids who aren't on drive team or pit crew to. It's more or less the role that makes the biggest difference at events. Drive teams prepare before the event with practice. The pit crew prepared by helping build a great bot. But scouting needs to execute right there.

The penny bets, pizza incentives sort of thing is a good way at a less competitive regional to get people to keep tabs on teams. Kind of a head fake to trick people into getting really into scouting.

Absolutely. That's why I like real time bets - asking students to predict how well the team they are scouting will do is certainly a great way to keep them focused. When pizza is on the line, anything is possible.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

One question I just thought of, I know a few of you last night mentioned having 12 scouts so you can switch off and what not, but I was wondering what the best time to switch out was.

We used a system like this this past year, and we switched out every 10 matches, so approximately an hour. But someone (I can't remember who) said they switched out every other match. Just wondering which way has seemed to work better.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

We switch off at 1 and a half to 2 hours. Scout-masters switch off when they feel they need a break. We try to avoid this as it changes the steady pace a scouting team can develop.

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

We switch our scouters out every 16 matches and the students are give schedules, that are based on matches (not time) because at competitions the match schedule determine when things need to get done.

Our schedules consist of:
- Scouting time
- Pit time
- Free time

Students that do the following don't have to scout and their schedule stays the same all day:
- Drivers
- Scouting Data Entry Person
- Battery
- Video Recording (we record all of the matches to review at scouting meetings)
- Safety Captain

Our scouting sheets tend to have 4 matches per page, so the scouts get 4 pages and then switch after completing it.

-Clinton-

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Oh hey, ask and ye shall receive, EWCPCast is now in iTunes.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/e...st/id477122221

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Thank-you, now all I need is internet service and power (outside the office firewall) then I can listen!

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Sorry, I can't do everything for you. ;)

Re: [EWCP] 10-30-11 Cast - Scouting
 

Just listened to the cast, picked up some things we can improve on.

Does anyone else have comments/suggestions?