Quote:
Originally Posted by Mackenna
Also we are the only team in Tooele, and do not have much publicity for our team in this area. We only have six members at the moment, not including any mentors, and compared to many other teams we are tiny. We aren't affiliated with any of the local high schools so it is harder that way to get the number of students that we need. Any ideas to drum up our publicity or get the community interested is greatly appreciated!
|
3476 is a community team too. We ask local high schools if we can recruit and put the word out for us. Some schools wont allow it. We mostly recruit through word of mouth and use all the connections we have. Just a few examples have been through various home school groups, local churches, boy and girl scout troops and public demonstrations.
I would recommend starting FLL or equivalent to be in your business plan. Many of our students come from FLL or a similar middle school program so we recruit there too. We have a few cases where our student or an alumni mentors an FLL team.
Lastly, I recommend some sort of team dues or recommended donation. Just charging something changes the perspective from trying something free to investing in the team. We offer alternatives, such as a student spending time calling X number of potential sponsors, sell lightbulbs or equivalent. The actual amount of money is a difficult decision, but even $20 can go a long way of having the attitude that robotics is an investment.