"i.am.FIRST -- Science is Rock and Roll" airs August 14th

[JohnBoucher]

Where was the how to get involved message? I totally missed it.

[Mr MOE]

I have not read all the posts on this thread, but I think that the intent of this program was realized. The audience was not us and the program was designed that way. After watching it, I have two main items to take away:

(1) it reinforced some of the main reasons why FIRST is an outstanding organization and why I am proud to be part of it, and

(2) it has provided a tool (the show itself) that we can use to help promote FIRST programs. People who have no clue about what FIRST is will be moved to check it out after watching this.

Combined with the previous CNN special on education/FIRST and the recent public service announcement by Morgan Freeman, we now have more tools than ever to use to help inform the uninitiated.

Go FIRST!

[Eric O]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

Where was the how to get involved message? I totally missed it.

I was thinking the same thing. I was waiting for the usfirst.org URL to pop up, but it wasn't shown once. People have commented that 1 hour wasn't long enough to explain everything about FIRST. Most advertisements today are 30 second commercials which end with a URL to go learn more. Why was there no URL?

In general, I got the message that science was cool, and these FIRST people do, but it was missing the "and you can do it to".

Overall, the special was good, not great. I think Dean hit the nail on the head with creating FIRST based on a sports model, but I am always disappointed that almost all (except for MSC) TV specials show very little match play. I think if Will.i.am produces another special next year it should be a combination of the MSC program and the I.AM.FIRST program. FIRST needs fans, competition brings fans, not documentaries.

-Eric

[nlknauss]

I had the chance to watch the show with my family who all have varying levels of awareness to FIRST, its programs, and the need for broadening STEM awareness. They all enjoyed it on different levels, for its entertainment, the stories about teams, and each of the students' journeys.

One key question my brother had was, "Why does will.i.am care?" I explain to him his story, the best I knew it, and talked shortly about the need for a focus on engineering and technology for the future. He was still confused. I then said, "It's like trying to feed medicine to an animal. You have to sneak it in with peanut butter." For clarifying purposes the medicine is STEM and the animal is the public.

The show wasn't for us but it was a showcase of us. I think in return for his gracious donation, we can show will.i.am how gracious we are by welcoming any new comers and people who want to learn more about what we do.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

Where was the how to get involved message? I totally missed it.

While to some extent I agree, the huge majority of the planet can figure that one out with Google.

[O'Sancheski]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

While to some extent I agree, the huge majority of the planet can figure that one out with Google.

It's still not like having the usFIRST website come up on the screen. Great show but thanks John for making me realize that there was no how-to-get involved section of the program. It could have easily been put into the program right before the credits started. It would have only taken 5-7 seconds and maybe 3 tries to get will.i.am's. voice right. Oh well. Once again, thank you will.i.am. for funding and producing an amazing program to portray to all the others I know that are not a part of FIRST.


Now I won't have to say "IT'S NOT LIKE BATTLEBOTS."

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

I guess there is a fine line between 'nit picking' and 'constructive criticism'. Especially considering they want to do this every year, it is important to look at what work, what didn't and what the special could do better. I don't think anyone bashed the program without offering suggestions and I think everyone is truely grateful for Will's amazing contribution and effort. The special is/will be a resounding sucess, but we should alway look for way to improve, right?

What I think is bugging me is that he keeps going above and beyond just supporting FIRST, he is getting it out there. Not just dropping a line on twitter, facebook, or bringing a team in to demo their robot but he has done so much more than that. I was one of those who didn't like this idea at first but I now realize how much he has done to get the message out there.


I understand that there is a difference between nitpicking and "constructive criticism" but I don't think either are appropriate in this situation.

[Brandon Holley]

To me, there was a clear objective with this special, and I think it was well executed with that objective in mind. I believe the objective was to simply draw in an audience who may be completely unfamiliar with FIRST and have them walk away with some understanding of what FIRST is.

The show was aired at 7pm on a Sunday night, primetime for families to watch TV while winding down from the weekend and getting ready for the upcoming week. It also had an award show, or halftime show feel. Particularly with the promos for segments right before commercial breaks (ie: "Stay tuned to learn more about XXX team and see another performance from the Black Eyed Peas"). That type of promotion is what you see at any big event and is used to keep people tuned in for the entirety of the segment. The way I see it being effective is as follows:

Viewer flips through TV channels, sees Black Eyed Peas performing.
Viewer says to themselves, "Hey, I like the Black Eyed Peas, I'll watch"
Viewer watches performance and the segment following the performance about a particular team or part of FIRST.
Program goes to commercial, but leaves a hook in place for viewer to want to come back (ie: more Black Eyed Peas).
Process continues for an hour.
At the end of the show, the viewer has now learned about FIRST (whether intentionally or unintentionally) because they liked the Black Eyed Peas.

I do partially agree with John though, the biggest question was left unanswered, how to get involved.

-Brando

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

Where was the how to get involved message? I totally missed it.

I guess that's going to be our job to do. I need a t-shirt that says "Ask me about FIRST".

[Duke461]

What's more saddening, i almost want to say insulting (but that's definitely not the right word after all of these amazing things that have happened), is that right at the very end, during the tiny credits in white text with all the bright lights, you can barely make out one second of "For more information on how to get involved with FIRST, go to abc.com". ABC.COM?? What about usfirst.org??
----
Oh well. I really shouldn't be complaining. Just the fact that a top news show in a prime-time slot even mentions our organization is GREAT!

[R2D2DOC]

Go to ABC.COM. Type 'robot' into the website search box and the first thing that comes up is the special's link. The FIRST link is at the BOTTOM of the text describing the tv program.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Duke461

What's more saddening, i almost want to say insulting (but that's definitely not the right word after all of these amazing things that have happened), is that right at the very end, during the tiny credits in white text with all the bright lights, you can barely make out one second of "For more information on how to get involved with FIRST, go to abc.com". ABC.COM?? What about usfirst.org??
----
Oh well. I really shouldn't be complaining. Just the fact that a top news show in a prime-time slot even mentions our organization is GREAT!

No, you have every right to complain about this omission.

I also noted this quick scroll during the credits. It went by so fast, I didn't even realize the link WASN'T to the FIRST website!

If I recall, the recent CNN special was also devoid of any direct "For More Information" graphic displaying the FIRST website during the show.

It's like a cooking show displaying the finished product without giving out the details of the recipe!

Regardless of the quality of the program presented, not giving viewers a DIRECT source of further information is completely and utterly asinine.

In other news, Kate Pilotte sent FIRST suppliers this link to watch the show after the fact - http://iam-fan.com/?p=1449, which links to YouTube videos of the show. Hurray for that!

[Duke461]

Originally Posted by R2D2DOC

Go to ABC.COM. Type 'robot' into the website search box and the first thing that comes up is the special's link. The FIRST link is at the BOTTOM of the text describing the tv program.

That's still in no way the most direct way to get information. and about .001% of the audience would have a quick enough eye to read that on the credits.

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

No, you have every right to complain about this omission.

I also noted this quick scroll during the credits. It went by so fast, I didn't even realize the link WASN'T to the FIRST website!

If I recall, the recent CNN special was also devoid of any direct "For More Information" graphic displaying the FIRST website during the show.

It's like a cooking show displaying the finished product without giving out the details of the recipe!

Regardless of the quality of the program presented, not giving viewers a DIRECT source of further information is completely and utterly asinine.

In other news, Kate Pilotte sent FIRST suppliers this link to watch the show after the fact - http://iam-fan.com/?p=1449, which links to YouTube videos of the show. Hurray for that!

Yeah i actually went to the youtube video and paused it to read it.
I guess im just trying to look on the bright side. i mean, really, what should we expect from cable TV these days? (the answer is not much....)

P.S. Does anyone have the strange feeling that Will.i.am is reading all of these posts?
P.P.S. I have a hard time believing that Miley Cyrus is a "nerd" (as said in the video) :O
P.P.P.S. Did anyone else feel like Bieber (ugh) was being condescending, maybe even insulting, when he said "What you guys do is just as cool as what we do"?

[Molten]

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

No, you have every right to complain about this omission.

I also noted this quick scroll during the credits. It went by so fast, I didn't even realize the link WASN'T to the FIRST website!

If I recall, the recent CNN special was also devoid of any direct "For More Information" graphic displaying the FIRST website during the show.

It's like a cooking show displaying the finished product without giving out the details of the recipe!

Regardless of the quality of the program presented, not giving viewers a DIRECT source of further information is completely and utterly asinine.

In other news, Kate Pilotte sent FIRST suppliers this link to watch the show after the fact - http://iam-fan.com/?p=1449, which links to YouTube videos of the show. Hurray for that!

Thanks for the link, I'll definitely be checking it out at my leisure. As far as the complaints of no posting of the FIRST website, have you ever wrote one down? I mean, how many times have you seen websites in commercials? How many times have you used that web address to find out more? If I saw the special and they posted the link in huge font 5 times throughout the show for 30 seconds at a time, I wouldn't have wrote it down once. Its not in my nature. I'd remember FIRST and look it up later. I think that is the case with most people. In other words, yes it was an oversight. It was something that should have been included at some point. They could have reached some more people had they included it as I'm sure somebody would have actually wrote it down. They could have also got more people by having a smart phone bar code appear on screen that sent them to the site. I'd argue the second one would actually reach more people these days. Though they reached less people then they could have, its not the end of the world. I would hardly dock them for this oversight. If they don't correct it for the next one, then you have full right to complain. As far as a first time goes, that really is a minor detail in the grand scheme of things.

Jason

[gblake]

Hey Will - How about (next time and in recordings (YouTube) of this time) putting a "crawl" across the bottom of the screen (I'm assuming it would be essentially free) that displays a handful of useful facts and encouragements. One item to include would be a simple URL (or search terms) for the audience to use when they want to use the Internet take "the next step". - Thanks for jumping in with both feet - Blake