[RoboMom]

Each year at our local kickoff I sit in the front row and watch the NASA feed along with reps from most of the teams in Maryland. As the game is released, I jot down the words I can use to describe the game in 30-60 seconds, aka, the elevator speech. Always have to include the part about alliances up front.

During the build season, and during the regionals, I help train students to talk with VIPs. I yak about FIRST to all different audiences all year long.

This year was a challenge on a lot of fronts. Although I understand what the goal was with all the lingo, I never ended up using it. The game was difficult to explain while watching, to someone new to FIRST, like a potential sponsor or the media. The follow-up was difficult, because the real time scoring often was very different from the scores that ended up on the screen (which then involved a side conversation about why that could be and this talk was hard - just enough words without seeming like there were errors).
The GDC has a hard task every year. I'm not saying that this aspect needs to be the priority, but it does need to a priority if we hope to market FRC outside the world of FRC.