Showing the Chairman's video during the presentation

[runneals]

Originally Posted by Mr. Lim

Why is a good question!

One of our students happens to be an TV/Movie actor, writer, and now aspiring director. He took an incredible amount of initiative in producing a "professional quality" video that he thought could be used to impact a very large number of people inside and outside of our school. Videos, simply put, are an incredibly efficient and effective way to spread the message of FIRST. You can post them on YouTube and link them to massive numbers in a matter of seconds, spreading the message. The video format is an incredibly powerful tool, argubaly far more powerful than a stand-and-speak presentation that can only be seen once by those present at the time.

This particular grade 10 student worked hard to acquire a sponsorship from a local entertainment company to provide cameras and sound equipment for a 1-day shoot for this video. He acted as the director, producer and editor. The storyboard, interview questions, lighting, robot shadow backdrops, cut lists, scheduling were all handled by him and his team of students. The other mentors and I kind of stood in awe as we saw these students run what was essentially a pro-level 1-day shoot happening in parallel and unobtrusively with one of our most hectic late-build season days.

I think they took over 3 hours of footage that day, and it was an experience I'll never forget - being pulling into the school's theatre at my scheduled interview time, walking on to a stage that had been meticuloulsy lit to project team-coloured robot vignettes onto a backdrop. Walking to the sound guy to have a wireless mic fished down the back of my shirt for my interview. Sitting in the interview chair on stage...

... and being GRILLED by STUDENTS to

- watch the umms and pauses
- answer the question again
- shorten the response
- answer the question again
- shorten the response
- answer the question again
- stop staring blanky into a rolling camera thinking about the answer to the question while everyone in the room glares at you impatiently
- sit up straight in the chair
- close my legs
- answer the question again
- shorten the response
- answer the question again
- shorten the response
- watch the umms and pauses
- answer the question again
- (AWKWARD!!!)
- shorten the response
- answer the question again
- okay great, question 1 of 10 done...

A harrowing, but completely satisfying experience once they finally got something acceptable. Even better was getting to watch the "best" footage that was selected (Do I really do that with my hands when I talk? Apparently I do...)

When the video was finally completed, we looked at it, and critically evaluated it against doing a stand-and-speak presentation... simply put: it did a far more effective job detailing our Chairman's work than stand-and-speak ever could. It was concise, immersive, entertaining, jam packed with meaningful content, but paced so it could all be processed, and had no wasted moments. As engineers, when presented with two options, we tend to choose what we feel objectively is the most effective one. The video was the most effective - hands down.

To address Wendy Holladay's VERY valid points about developing our students' presentation skills:

The actual creation of the video gave the students an unbelievable opportunity to refine their skills. Instead of just 3 students who did the chairman's presentation, at least a dozen were involved in the filming and interview process, and went through everything I did above. As a mentor I can say I learned a LOT that day about how I present myself to others. Many others had a chance to witness the process from the sidelines, helping with the editing of the video, and critiquing the weird presentation mannerisms we all have that were caught on film. Those 3 students would STILL get the opportunity to present during the remainder of the time, and answer questions as well.

But back to the original question:

Is showing a video during the presentation illegal? Are videos played during the presentation disregarded or penalized vs the stand-and-speak format?

WOW. I can't wait to see your final video! I think all teams wish they could be like this. I am working on one for our team for our Week 5 regional, and I am just starting to put it together today and need to get it done by Wednesday! Hopefully next year we'll plan in advance and we can do something like this. Kudos to your student director/producer!

[jvriezen]

Our team showed our video during the presentation in Duluth (Northern Lights). While the judges did not stop the students, the feedback sheet said we should NOT (underlined) be showing the video during the presentation. We were confused because the rules specifically state it is permissible.

[Tottanka]

Is there any place where we have a sort of an archive of Chairman's videos? Preferably the winning once?

[dtengineering]

Originally Posted by jvriezen

Our team showed our video during the presentation in Duluth (Northern Lights). While the judges did not stop the students, the feedback sheet said we should NOT (underlined) be showing the video during the presentation. We were confused because the rules specifically state it is permissible.

The feedback is meant as suggestions on how to improve. It is quite possible that the judges felt that the students could have presented their information more dynamically in person than by 'pressing play'.

Just because you are allowed to present video as part of a presentation, doesn't always mean it is a good idea... it takes a lot of work and planning to have video enhance a short presentation, and a poor integration of video will almost certainly detract from the presentation.



Jason

[dcarr]

We decided this year to try something different and show our video to the judges in the presentation, following an enthusiastic 2-minute intro. Our feedback from was very positive, it seems the judges enjoyed the combination and thought we were on the right track (they also had good suggestions for more things we can do). Compared to previous years we've applied, we were very happy with how the video felt this year, so it's something that teams should decide each year how they think they can put their best foot forward.

For anyone wondering, we rolled in a cart with a laptop, speakers, and LCD running off a robot battery. That way it was self contained and the students just had to hit Play once they finished their first 2 minute intro.

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by tplanders

Having judged other FIRST events, if the guidelines ask for a presentation and the team comes in a shows a video, that demonstrates a lot of hard work and preparation, but it is not a presentation.

My thought is that the judges want to hear and see a presentation and interact with students, not watch a video. We have done a video, but won't use it for the presentation.

You're rationalizing based on the faulty premise that a presentation excludes a video.


Since the manual can't really be more clear that using the chairman's award video is permissible, apparently some of the judges weren't paying attention to the portion that concerns the awards they were judging. That's very problematic.

As for a resolution, it's complicated. It's likely possible from a logistical point of view to have them reprise their presentation at GTR West. But teams choose where they make their submissions strategically, and knowing that 610 (a past regional chairman's award winner) was not coming to that event may have encouraged others to submit there instead. Similarly, 610 surely employed strategic thinking when submitting at Waterloo instead of GSR (and possibly even considered this a factor in their selection of regionals).

A possible solution would be for FIRST to allow 610 to submit at GTR West, then open a second non-award-winning spot to qualify for the Championship chairman's award if 610 finishes first or second. That isn't quite fair to all the other teams who qualified elsewhere—but I think a case could be made that the harm was minimal, since all will be freshly re-evaluated at the Championship.

Letting them directly qualify for the Championship chairman's award isn't a terrible idea if the problem is confined to 610 (since they're already going)—at worst, the judges have to consider one terrible presentation that would have been weeded out by the regional process. But if other teams are similarly affected, it might not be feasible to work them all into the judging schedule. As before, since the qualifying teams are all being freshly evaluated, most of the harm is mitigated.

Another possible resolution would be for FIRST to do nothing for 610—because no resolution is satisfactory—but own the error and establish procedures to avoid it and/or establish an equitable response for the future.

No matter the outcome, it's FIRST's responsibility to make a statement explaining their decision, and to do so before GTR West (if the resolution would be implemented there), or otherwise, to do so before the Championship. It is insufficient for that statement to be made only in private to the affected teams. The Q&A is a suitably public forum, so hopefully FIRST makes a satisfactory response there.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by Tottanka

Is there any place where we have a sort of an archive of Chairman's videos? Preferably the winning once?

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/awards

I'll try to get a copy of ours and post it somewhere as well.

[Mr. Lim]

Thanks everyone for all your feedback.

It is very much appreciated!

The manual does appear to be clear in the first part of section 6.4.3.4.

However, at the bottom of this section, Note 2 includes the following excerpt:

"...the Chairman’s judges will not be judging your video as part of your submission..."

Thanks all again for the input and references to the manual, you've answered all my questions!

Since my questions have been answered, I'd like to respectfully ask that this thread be closed.