Making FIRST Viral

[protoserge]

Originally Posted by synth3tk

Excellent quote from another thread that I think could help us out.

Flash mob... builds robot, then challenges to frisbee?

[billylo]

How about?

Borrow some ideas from ESPN.

Top 10 winning moments
Top 10 mishaps of our robots (with some humorous) punch lines.
Top 10 incredible moves (buzzer beaters,hail mary shots,trick shots) with colourful commentaries

Borrow other TV ideas

America Got Talent - robots edition
America Got Talent - fans edition
So you think you can dance?

[JohnFogarty]

Originally Posted by billylo

How about?

Borrow some ideas from ESPN.

Top 10 winning moments
Top 10 mishaps of our robots (with some humorous) punch lines.
Top 10 incredible moves (buzzer beaters,hail mary shots,trick shots) with colourful commentaries

Borrow other TV ideas

America Got Talent - robots edition
America Got Talent - fans edition
So you think you can dance?

I really like this idea a lot.
I'm a Drum Corps performer and fan....(for you band people that the brass/drumline only marching bands) and every year we have greatest moment videos....now obviously music and robots are two completely different things but still. Greatest fails, most awesome endgame moments, etc.

The problem I'm seeing is that we don't have access to a lot of premium footage. DCI ...again drum corps....releases a blue ray copy of the performances at the end of the season....could we get a system setup so that high quality video is saved from matches?

[evanperryg]

Originally Posted by Woolly

Another thing we could do is start making/promoting stuff such as: http://i.imgur.com/1nb075o.gif
and the #ThatHit gif

You guys were my favorite FCS this year. New favorite gif, too.

How bout this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBILeHMF_6Y

[billylo]

Awesomeness level = 10!!! 2200 views already. I am sure the CD community's social network can boost this to 10000 quickly. Wanna try?

[runneals]

Originally Posted by apples000

What FIRST needs the most is more recognition. The problem is that nobody will go on youtube and search "high school robot competition". In order to have people searching for FIRST, they need to have heard of it. In my opinion, the championship needs to end up on TV again, like on ESPN like it used to be. Then, people would get interested in it, and look it up on the internet.

Just tossing this out there, but how hard would it be to get it on ESPN3? I would think they would be more prone to put it online on there, than they would on say ESPN. I know that TWC in Kansas City broadcasted elims this year on their MetroSports Net, which was pretty cool I thought!

[lynca]

Originally Posted by billylo

Top 10 winning moments
Top 10 mishaps of our robots (with some humorous) punch lines.
Top 10 incredible moves (buzzer beaters,hail mary shots,trick shots)

I think this is a great idea. We don't need many videos, but a handful of quality viral videos would really help FIRST raise awareness.

In a gaming analogy. We need our Leeroy Jenkins moment

[MelodyPond]

Going back to how to make a video viral that relates to our average Joe and his grandma.. does anyone know a way we can contact Kid President? I love those videos, and they are all about "kids making a difference" and inspiring others.

[Camilo86]

How about we spam everyone on facebook about FRC

[protoserge]

Originally Posted by MelodyPond

Going back to how to make a video viral that relates to our average Joe and his grandma.. does anyone know a way we can contact Kid President? I love those videos, and they are all about "kids making a difference" and inspiring others.

I think the user is soulpancake. They probably don't get a lot of useful emails. It's worth a shot!

[AllenGregoryIV]

I think we need something closer to ESPN Sport Science style videos of awesome robots. People tune in to watch Kevin Love shoot a full court shot or Ray Lewis brake down a door and learn a little about the physics at the same time. If we actually showed how 254's climber used it's power take off to climb and other interesting things about robots the public could understand why these were interesting.

[protoserge]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

I think we need something closer to ESPN Sport Science style videos of awesome robots. People tune in to watch Kevin Love shoot a full court shot or Ray Lewis brake down a door and learn a little about the physics at the same time. If we actually showed how 254's climber used it's power take off to climb and other interesting things about robots the public could understand why these were interesting.

Now we're talking. Showcase the technology and explain how it works and why it's competitive/awesome. We might even learn something while we're at it

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by stinglikeabee

Now we're talking. Showcase the technology and explain how it works and why it's competitive/awesome. We might even learn something while we're at it

It will also be great for people in the community. I think a lot of problems with videos made just for the public is that people in our community (students, mentors, parents, etc.) don't watch them because they already know it. Something like this could be entertaining for everyone.

[billylo]

Let's not mix learning videos and viral promotional stuff together. They have conflicting attributes and it's hard to do them both in one video.

Viral stuff tends to be very short, funny, crazy and unexpected.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old 25 year old but I hate nearly every viral video. I would much rather be popular and have people pay attention for longer than a week and a half. We're trying to change the culture over the long haul not for a minute.

How many people are still playing WOW because they saw the leeroy jenkins video? I imagine not that many.