The Chairman's Award Checklist Challenge

[MysterE]

Hello FIRSTers,

I was working last night on what I would call a master checklist for our team - items that we needed to get done prior to the start of build-season. It occured to me that many teams who are just starting on the journey towards a Chairman's award enter a bit blindly. We all know that a lot of it is about what we do - but it also is just as important as to how we get it done, and more importantly how we report it. So - here is my challenge: Post your 'to-do' checklist for Chairman's Award. What does your team do to get ready? What resources do you have to create/design/build/etcetera.

While this may be letting out some trade secrets, it may also help other teams along their journey. I'd be curious to see who has the longest list. And the shortest.

[Alan Anderson]

I only have one thing on my own personal Chairman's Award checklist:

• Do something because it is a good thing to do, not because it lets you check it off on a Chairman's Award checklist.

But I don't speak for the team in general, and I definitely don't speak for the team's Chairman's Award group.

[Qbot2640]

To preface - we submitted our first ever application for Chairman last year. My checklist has only one item as well:

Improve and grow from the previous year.

[Siri]

Originally Posted by MysterE

Hello FIRSTers,

I was working last night on what I would call a master checklist for our team - items that we needed to get done prior to the start of build-season. It occured to me that many teams who are just starting on the journey towards a Chairman's award enter a bit blindly. We all know that a lot of it is about what we do - but it also is just as important as to how we get it done, and more importantly how we report it. So - here is my challenge: Post your 'to-do' checklist for Chairman's Award. What does your team do to get ready? What resources do you have to create/design/build/etcetera.

While this may be letting out some trade secrets, it may also help other teams along their journey. I'd be curious to see who has the longest list. And the shortest.

Are you talking about a checklist for things to do that you will include in your submission, or a checklist for making the submission itself? To the former, we don't have anything that's particularly "Chairman's" (then again, we also aren't exactly the most consistent submitters...). To the latter, I like the timeline here. It's for the video specifically, but you can get the idea of where the written sections should be at each point as well.

[IKE]

Check-List for "RCA" submission:
*RTM-Read the Manual. Verify everyone involved read the *relevant* portion of the rules.
*Benchmark other winning proposals by role model teams.-If you contqact them, many will give you their submissions or pointers.
*Make a list/plan for each requirement (last year for RCA was essay, presentation, video).
*Get above plans approved by mentors.
*Execute the plans in steps.
*Brainstorm and discuss approaches/themes for each finished product.
*Have reviews of "finished" products.
*Submit products that meet requirements on time.
*Don't forget why you are doing this...

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I focused on the submission as the submission is as important as the doing of good stuff towards winning the award. I know several amazing teams that submit mediocre submissions (so I have heard) that don't "win" the award.
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From a content perspective winning awards tend to have a mix of tangible results from various forms of impact. There tends to be a mix of high effort high reward, low effort low high reward, and low effort low reward items showcased. Have at least one new innovative item/effort each year. I know for FRC33, the Gas Station TV stuff was pretty easy to do and had a lot of judge appeal.

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Before I get any nasty grams on "Winning" please continue reading.

In flight checklists, they often have the reminder to "fly the plane" on the list to make sure folks involved don't forget the overall target when dealing with an emergency.
The "fly the plane" for RCA is remembering what the Award and the effort is about. I have seen a lot of non-winning RCA sub-teams in tears when their submission is not selected. While I can understand the dissappointment, there is a lot more to doing a Chairman's submission than winning the award. If you are doing a lot of good at spreading the message of FIRST, and being a Role Model Team for others, then you have a lot to be proud of.

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I still wish RCA committees could give out a RMT banner similar to the old website banners for Role Model Teams. While I understand the need for only 1 winner, I would really like to see an arean of RMTs called out with the winner selected from that group.

[Alpha Beta]

Originally Posted by IKE

I still wish RCA committees could give out a RMT banner similar to the old website banners for Role Model Teams. While I understand the need for only 1 winner, I would really like to see an arean of RMTs called out with the winner selected from that group.

Love this idea.

[BigJ]

Our checklist, though a spiritual and not physical one, is very similar to IKE's. One more thing that 1675 does is try to have a "theme" that ties our submission together, from essay to presentation, props, and judge handouts.

In 2013 we went with a comic book theme, as the "idea" behind our team is that we are a group of STEM superheroes (The Ultimate Protection Squad).

Our judge handouts this year were comic books, with stylized filters applied to our pictures, comic-style speech bubbles, text boxes, and font, and even a full page "ad" from one of our sponsors using an actual magazine ad we obtained from them.

Our presentation aid was a giant comic book that folded out into boards of pictures and text when the pages were turned, retrofitted from a storybook we used for a previous year's theme.

The presentation we did last season was a skit, where 2 of the presenters played the part of the team (superheros), and one was the villain ("Dr. Ignorance"), which along the way explained the partnerships our team has formed and the efforts we make as a team. Some of us were a little uneasy about the skit going "too far" into hokey/corny territory, but it went over well with the judges.