Media and Outreach

[Penshil]

I am a high school freshman and this year, i have joined the high school's FIRST robotics team. I have been elected as the head of two subgroups, media and outreach. There are about 5-8 people in each subgroup and I need a way to keep them busy. What could I let my team do besides their current role right now?

Role of Media:
Work on website
Weekly updates of social media - Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Role of Outreach:
Plan community service events
Schedule team appearances
Assist with website content
Plan ways for sponsors to meet and interact with the team

ps, our team website is http://team2656.steelcityrobotics.org/wordpress/

[Hallry]

Well, your media subteam sounds perfect for FRC's new New Media Award:

Also, what do Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Flickr, and iPhones have in common? Each was invented after the Website Award – recognizing excellence in student designed, built, and managed team websites – was introduced by FRC. The ways to create and deliver content have grown exponentially over the last ten years, so it’s time to evolve the FRC Website Award. To continue to challenge FRC students, the Website Award has morphed into the New Media Award.

The FRC New Media Award will recognize a team’s creative use of digital media and devices to create and distribute content that is used to promote the team’s profile, achievements, and outreach, along with the FIRST mission. We are working feverishly to ready the New Media Award for the 2013 season. Continue to tune in to the FRC Blog – we’ll keep you posted as the New Media Award takes shape.

And, keep working on your team sites. Websites will still count toward the New Media Award as they are a part of digital media – even though now you have many additional ways to create and spread the word about FIRST and your team. In any case, I’m sure you aren’t working on your websites ‘just’ to win an award! Awards are a wonderful way to recognize a job well done, but if you think about it, letting people know about your team and getting people excited about science and technology is where the real value is.

(Taken from the August 28th, 2012 FRC Blog Post: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr.../blog-08-28-12

Start thinking about ideas for that and what you can do for it. It's never to early to start!

As for outreach, we try to participate and demo our robot at any community events we can. Most recently, the four towns that we are comprised of had their own town days/Octoberfests.

Also, what sponsors do you have? We are sponsored by BMW, and last week went to their North America headquarters (which is one of our four towns). Not only did we show off our 2012 robot to a large part of their staff, but they also showed us some of their new technology and cars (one car that I got to sit in had the price tag of $116,000 ). We also invite sponsors to come see our own facilities as well.

What team fundraisers do you do? Besides for making your team money, they are great for getting your presence out into the community. It is a little too cold now, but in the future, think about doing a car wash, food/clothes/etc. drive, etc. We also just held a FLL Qualifying Tournament at one of our high schools for 22 teams in the region.

I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions feel free to either reply or send me a PM.

Sincerely,
Ryan Hall
2011-2013 Co-C.E.O.
FRC Team 1676, The Pascack Pi-oneers

[Penshil]

Thank you for your help!

Right now my media team is all about improving our website. We try to add as much as we can and whatever is necessary. I will assign people into Facebook and Twitter as soon as the kickoff starts. If you have time to do so, please visit our website and look for something we could improve on. http://team2656.steelcityrobotics.org/wordpress/

To answer your questions, our team is sponsored by companies such as Nasa and Best Buy. We hope to get more as time goes by. Our full list of sponsors are located in our website; http://team2656.steelcityrobotics.or...s/?page_id=759

Right now for outreach, we are selling candy bars and pretzel sticks as they are highly adored at our high school. We try to get as much publicity as we can such as setting up booths in local conventions.

[MARS_James]

For Media:
Take pictures and video through out the season to mark your progress
Make videos for school announcements or just to show the rest of first what you are about.

For both:
Make sure media is informed and attends your outreaches because it helps with the Chairman's award to have photo documentation of the event. Plus the media team (at least on our team) makes the Chairman's video