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Originally Posted by kiasam111
...The essay is probably the first thing that the judges will see from all of your submissions. This is how the judges will first get to know your team, and what you have done, so take this opportunity to draw their attention....
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True... RCA judges receive the essay packages in advance of the competition. We will also refer back to your essays during our deliberation.
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If you are a veteran team, then at this point, the judges will view your presentation.
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Also true, so long as you are referring to the "in person" presentation, as opposed to the video. You may wish to include further documentary evidence of your team's awesomeness ("sustained excellence") such as photographs, thank-you letters, media clippings, etc. to support your claims. You can include that in a binder or folder to leave with the RCA judges following your presentation.
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In all cases, the judges will make the effort to come speak to teams in the pits, so they can find out a little more.
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Not necessarily true. Depending on the regional, the RCA judges may spend all of Friday and most of Saturday in the RCA judging room. There are other judges that visit your pit area and observe your robot on the field, and while there is communication between the RCA judges and the other judges, you should certainly not count on seeing your RCA judges in the pit area. As much as we'd love to be there... there often just isn't time.
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At this point, the judges have a pretty good idea of which teams they want to give awards, but often have a few teams in contention. At this point, the judges will look at the video.
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Perhaps, "will likely look at the video" is a better way to phrase it. Once a winner is identified, the judges will definitely look at the team's video to ensure it meets all RCA video criteria. Carefully check to ensure your video is suitable... if the video does not meet the minimum published criteria, a team cannot receive Chairman's.
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In terms of how to do the essay and video, a good place to start is to list everything that you want to have in a submission. Then, divy them up into which ones will go into the essay and the video. Keep in mind that these lists may have huge overlaps, so don't worry if they do.
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Excellent advice. For RCA winning teams (or serious contenders) the issue is not "how do we fill up all this space", but "how do we cram everything we've done into it".
It is also important to note that even for teams who are not in serious contention for RCA, your RCA presenation can alert the RCA judges to certain things that the other judges may have missed when they visited you in the pits. The judges like to chat about all the awesome teams we see, so you can't go wrong making a great RCA pitch, even if you know you are going up against "more deserving" teams. At least once I've seen an RCA presentation (from a team that had no real chance of winning RCA) positively influence an award other than the Chairman's.
Jason