Chairman's Videos: At what point do they become part of the judging process?

[OZ_341]

You can use the Chairman's Award Video as part of the judging process, if you are willing to risk using 3 out of your 5 minutes to show it. We did this when we won in 2010.

You could also use just a few segments from the longer video. The trick is to integrate the video into the presentation seamlessly, so that the kids are still having a conversation with the judges and conveying their knowledge of FIRST and the team. It can be done effectively, but it is tricky.

Many people think our video was done by professionals with high end equipment, but it was not. Our video was 100% student written, shot, edited, and narrated. But just like with FRC robots, they had dedicated mentors to guide them.

After many years of talking to judges with a basic keynote presentation, we felt strongly that we wanted to use some of the powerful footage that we had to help convey our message. It was a very different and risky approach, but it worked.