[IKE]

For years we put a lot of effort into Chairman's with very little "success" at actually winning the award. We sat back many years listening to the speaches of the award being handed out thinking "We do that, but why don't we win?". Then we had a mentor come on board that benchmarked what other teams were doing and how they were presenting the information to the judges. Remember, if you don't tell them in a way that gets their attention and really sinks in, then they won't know. We have been fortunate enough to win Chairman's at the District and State level the last two years.

There is a good rule in life. Benchmark those that have the success you want, and you will often find the keys. We were fortunate that in our local area we had many chairman greats like 67, 217, 503, 27, 234, 71, 47, 111... This same philosophy is paying dividends for many teams in the area.

One of my biggest gripes is that there is only 1 Chairman's award handed out. As Dean said early on, you get what you celebrate. I would like to see an incentive for participating and presenting a Chairman's award submission. I would like to see a handful of honorable mentions given. I don't think there needs to be any hardware associated with these, but a name on the screen and a pat on the back would be a great start.