[amymac]

Hi, do you have other sort of mentoring support? Even if its just an adult that spend some time with the team to keep people on track and help out, it may help you be more of a leader, and less of a police captain. Ask the other teams in the area if, they know of someone that can assist you for a while.

An occasional lecture may work, but positive motivation will probably work better. We started have students log hours for pretty much any activity they do for the team this year whether it be work on the robot, sell items for fundraise, update the website, etc. They get a certain amount of points for an hour, and to encourage work on some projects we'll double the points. We have one sign in sheet, its they're responsibility to log in and out and let us know how long they work on any other projects. Every month we have a member of the month. Since you have a shorter time period you could have a member of the week each week of the build season. A lot of members thought it was silly at the beginning but invovlement has increased. We are hoping to expand the program to offer a scholarship to the regional for the most points during the season, and continue giving member of the month, semester and eventually year awards. Also our lettering requirements are attached to membership points. You have to be in the top 25% to letter.

Also your team may not have all the skills to feel comfortable contributing. Build some a tetra, or use the kit to construct the base, something that everyone can work on and uses basic machining skills. Another activity would be to prototype with cardboard, tape, and other disposable materials that encourage people to be active and have an end product, but wouldn't require precision skills. While it would have been better to do it earlier, even if you said in 30 minutes prototype a device to pick up a tetra or whatever strategy your working towards, you'll get people moving.

Its also never too late to get more people involved. Let people know what the game is, ask teachers who teach classes related to robotics(which is pretty much everyone) to announce that you still need help, you never know who might pop up.
Amy