How did you hear about FIRST and WHY did you get involved?

Hello Ryan. Thanks a bunch to you and VIAIR for your support of FIRST! We really appreciate not only the great compressors you've made that we use, but also your drive to promote what we do to the outside world. It really means a lot.

I heard about FIRST about 10 years ago back in Elementary school when my friend wanted to start an FLL team. I had no real fascination with robots or building at the time, but I was a little kid and did things with friends, so I figured why not. After 6 years of FLL I moved onto my High School's FRC team since I was no longer allowed to compete in FLL but still wanted to do something similar. 4 years later I've never looked back.

As for the video, I love the current one, but I do agree that anyone who is not already involved in the program may get a little bit confused. One thing I noticed is there is a lot about this year's game, Aerial Assist, and all of the students talk in specifics regarding the 2014 game. So to a non-FIRSTer, it appears as if that's all we do every year. I think showing various competition years and being more general on the games and focusing on the generalities of FIRST would make more sense to an outsider. Also, The technical talk means nothing to most people who are new to the program. Have people talk more about what FIRST is and what they've gotten from the program. I'm sure both you and your marketing team already know this, but for the sake of anyone else reading this post, a big point about any promotion of this kind is being to the point in telling the viewers what they get from it. Why should they spend their time/money on this? We know how great FIRST is, but they don't, and you need to tell them what they get out of it as well as show how exciting it is. The perfect promotion is a well-planned mixture of communicating what the thing is and what the people get from it all while making it exciting and attention-grabbing at the same time. Do that, and its golden.

[Oblarg]

I joined 449 on a whim, as I had no after-school activity at the time and a couple of my friends were on the team and said it was pretty cool.

At the time I joined, I had no idea what FIRST was or even that it was a team rather than a club, as they were doing a VEX-based preseason project. I first learned about the actual competition a couple days before kickoff.

Seven years later, I think it was a pretty fortunate choice.

[SkittlesCharge]

I took 537's summer school class during the summer between middle school and high school. During the course (for which I am now the lead teaching assistant), I learned about FRC and I realized that I greatly enjoyed solving engineering challenges. I naturally joined Team 537 my freshman year of high school and never looked back.

[safiq10]

Hello Ryan! Big thanks to you and VIAR for your outstanding efforts! We greatly appreciate your effort in everything you do.

I joined FLL originally because I was recruited through my Computer teacher. I joined the team because I thought it would be an interesting experience. When I joined the team I was placed on a team of 8th graders and FLL wasnt very fun. But when we went to the competition I saw an FRC robot demoing its abilities and I had one of the students explain it to 6th grade me.
I was inspired and I promised myself I would one day compete in FRC. So I stayed in FLL and moved onto FTC now 4 years later I am the Head captain of our team and I know I will become a Mentor for some team later on in my life. All because of that one team that took the time to explain what they do.

[Rockwind79]

Thanks for joining FIRST. A ton of teams love using your compressor, they are so much better than the old one!!

I started out in FIRST 5 years ago now. My old high school had a robotics(FRC Team 79 Krunch) team that help start the engineering academy there about 3 years before I got there . I joined my freshman year just through hearing about the team around the school and what not.I wasn't that involved through the build season that year(2010 season). I was thinking about quitting the team, that was till I want to the Orlando Regional. That event, best regional ever, with the energy and excitement is what got me to stay in FIRST and does some awesome things as a student. As they say the rest is history. I am now at college and mentor FRC Team 2996. I would not want to change a day I have been a part of this organization, it stands for some great things.

As cool as building a robot in six weeks is, FIRST goes so much deeper. The bonds you make, the people you meet, the stuff you get to do and what you get to learn about! It just impacts so many peoples lives in so many different ways, that is what people need to see about FIRST to get them in. Or just see an event happen and they will be drawn in, I know I was. Hope this can help!