[EricH]

Phase 1: Do not reserve seats exclusively for team members. If there's an empty seat, it's open, we'll move stuff as needed. (BTW, whoever put up those "We don't save seats, come sit down" signs at the entrances to the center section of L.A. seating, I want to thank you--regardless of if you're on my team or not.)

Phase 2: Wait for "uninitiated person(s)" to sit down and watch a couple of matches. (Works best if there's clear guidance to seating.)

Phase 3: Slide someone up next to them and ask if they want some explanation of what's going on/how this all works. Now that they've seen a couple of matches, they have a little bit of context to process anything you tell them. Bonus for providing pit escort, etc. Act as a "bonus" play-by-play announcer for the next match or two, to explain what sort of X, Y, and Z the teams are doing, how they designed their robots, what a team is, what different things mean... Basically, anything they want to know, at whatever level they need to know it at.