[petek]

I attended a team demonstration recently and came away wondering: "how do you get the audience more involved?"

This team was giving a demo/talk in a gymnasium, explaining what they do to a fairly large group. They were doing the typical floor show - running their robot around in front of the assembled crowd - while a spokesman talked and answered questions. Though they did an good job explaining what FIRST and their team are about and answering questions, there wasn't a whole lot of interaction.

With people assembled in an audience, there is really only one channel of communication open at a time, and most people feel inhibited from asking questions in front of so many people. I wonder if teams would be better off setting up a few "pit stalls" where people can meet team members and talk one-on-one. Kind of like scouting and meeting judges in the pits at regionals. This opens up so many more communication channels and gives more team members opportunities to talk.

With pit stalls, you could have one (or more) for FRC, one for VEX and one for FLL, all going at the same time. This could even simulate a little of the activity and excitement of a regional or FLL pit area. Has anyone done this, and if so, do you think it worked?

What other ways do we have to really reach people?