If you are a pre-rookie or know of a pre-rookie team forming, make sure they notify their FIRST leadership team in their area! We can be of help! That's usually the Regional Director, VISTA Volunteer, FIRST Senior Mentor, FRC Regional Planning Committee Chair.
Step outside of your comfort zone. If traditional methods of learning in the classroom don't excite you, here's your opportunity to learn doing hands-on stuff!
READ EVERYTHING FIRST PUTS OUT - the manuals, the deadlines, the rules updates, the forums, the e-mail blasts - and share the info with the team! This especially applies to you, "main contact" people!
If you're a mentor, join NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization) - every team has a technical side and a non-technical side and we've got a lot of great resources for you (
www.firstnemo.org).
Focus on team organization in the fall (or summer) - and realize that what works for you as a team this year may have to be revised next year. Form your team like a small business complete with a business plan, leadership structure, job descriptions, job application process and termination process, annual review, budget, minutes from meetings, etc. Many of the issues and complaints I hear from teams stem from a lack of any kind of team organization. Take the time to create the team handbook, identify the rules and consequences, decide who will be the ultimate decision-maker if a difficult decision needs to be made, etc.
Do lots and lots of teambuilding exercises before kickoff. FIRST tends to attract us introverts, who are very happy and content doing our own thing, and frankly, our ideas are better than anyone else's on the team, right? WRONG! Get used to working together as a team. Don't like the team t-shirt or color? Learn to love it and respect it. It is your team's uniform and soon enough you will be very proud of it. (I often use the analogy of a freshman football player telling Coach (s)he doesn't really like to wear the color gold, so could they change the uniforms? Or better yet, the freshman showing up with his/her jersey cut at the shoulders or pulled back into a knot so a little bit of skin shows... um, yeah, you'd last how long on the team?)
Speaking of which, team identity has been mentioned - establish your "media look" - will you wear khaki pants with your t-shirts? Ironed clothing looks best before the cameras, and before prospective sponsors! practice your 3-minute elevator speeches!
Prepare a media packet. Prepare a press release you can take on a laptop with you to your event and a list of who to e-mail/fax it to. Prepare a wish list of everything you'd like to have, from a white board to a CNC machine, and hand it out to everyone.
Figure out by October if you will go to Championships if you win the Rookie All-Star Award at your regional event. You DON'T want to have to make that decision at the event in March when emotions are running high. Can you get the time off from school/work? Will the school system allow a last-minute request to travel out of state? Can you fundraise enough to cover last-minute travel expenses? Will the whole team go, or just a few people?
DOCUMENT your rookie season (and every one that follows!). Take lots of photos/videos, identify the people in them, keep a scrapbook, save a t-shirt, use the info to create a website and/or Chairman's Award entry. On your team's 10th anniversary you will wish you had saved these items in a box somewhere. Even if you don't create a CA entry, make it a habit to create an annual report for your stakeholders - sponsors, parents, school administration, team.
Network, network, network. Go to the off-season events in the spring and fall before you start your team. Hang around other teams and explain you are a rookie and ask questions. Most teams will be glad to help you! Be proactive and ask your FIRST leadership team if you can host an event in the fall - maybe a workshop day or maybe just a get together so teams can meet one another.
Be humble and say thank you a lot and celebrate your successes.