Should Chairman's Winners Be Required to Publicly Post Essays?

[Kims Robot]

A long time ago, for me, Chairman's was a battle... it was "how to win it" it was "how do we beat XYZ team". And I'd be lying if I said even in more recent years that I didn't research "the competition."

But something in me changed around 2007. Just prior to 1511's first CA, it dawned on me that all of the competition, all of the secrecy, was counter-intuitive to what the whole point of the Chairman's Award was.

Chairman's teams are Role Models for the rest of the community. If we want to rise above having our kids emulate basketball players, actresses and singers... we NEED to get to a point where our Role Models are accessible. Holywood has loads of books published on them, magazines documenting their every move, websites dedicated to everything they do. I can probably go online and tell you what Justin Bieber ate for breakfast yesterday, and I could find out that this basketball player just dumped this actress... yet for many teams applying for the Chairman's award, I couldn't tell you that they just published a childrens book, or they just did a demo for 4,000 people at an event, or they just ran a training session for five local teams. I only find this out if the judges put it into their awards summary.

While some teams are good at publishing what they do online, that is not the case for sooo many teams. In fact if you go on most team websites, its hard to tell that build season has started.

The thing that's nice about seeing other's essays is that the essay is the most concise summary of everything that the team has done. You don't have to dig through hundreds of blog posts, chief delphi threads, photos, videos, etc. The videos are nice, but often don't convey all that the essay does. They are a handful of interviews, or some funny skit and some voiceovers of pictures. All great, but it doesn't always tell you everything special about that team. In order to be a role model and in order for teams to be able to emulate their role models, they need to know what their role models do.

Yes at the lower levels people might just copy the simphone app, or write a sustainability plan like Team 359, or try to create a Girls in Gear program like 341, etc etc... But there are two sides to that. With more resources and programs like that, FIRST and the world WILL be a better place. Even if its just emulation. The other side is that one of the big criteria of the CA is what makes you UNIQUE. Teams won't get to Championship Chairman's status without that. They will have to do something that sets them apart. So honestly, if 50 teams emulate Daisy's Team in a Box - awesome! If 100 teams try and run their own FLL competition... cool! Something good will come out of it.

Personally, I don't get the point in secrecy. I usually say to each their own, but I don't think I would be up in arms about the requirement to publish your essay/video/etc. I could get behind the question of timing (which has been discussed before) ie don't post until after championships for the teams that want the "edge" in their presentations and talking to the judges. But I think once Championships is over, all of the teams that are or wanted to be Chairman's teams shouldn't be hiding what they do or what made them stand out. Role models don't have "secret" sauce. Role models are examples for others to emulate.

Are you more inspired if I tell you I'm a Systems Engineer, or if I tell you that I am a Systems Engineer and walking to the other building yesterday I watched one of the robots my company builds get tested driving across ice? See how the details make a difference?

A perfect example is the year that 842 won Chairman's - they published their essay BEFORE the essays were even due! Any team looking to "get a leg up on them" had plenty of time to do it. They could add to their essay, modify their presentations, prep judge materials. Yet 842 still won. If you want to win, BE AWESOME. Be UNIQUE. But if you want to start heading in the direction of a Chairman's team, emulate them, try out one or two of their programs, see if you can put a spin on their unique style of essay. But if you want to be Championship material... that's when you need to go the step further and do your own thing.

I get it... for many teams, a trip to Championships is on the line. But frankly, it's in the other 300 days of the year that you become a Chairman's team. It doesn't matter if the team down the road knows that you built a microrobot cat toy, or spent 400 hours volunteering at a children's hospital. You need to convey to the judges why your team is truly deserving of the award, and then and only then will you be a real Chairman's team.