Fun way to involve rookies at competition- would like feedback and ideas

[EagleOne]

Hi All,

Every year I try to figure out ways to get our rookies to go out and engage with other teams at a tournament and pack their brains with some experience and knowledge from others at the event. Of course they find it weird and uncomfortable to "just talk to people for no reason" so I came up with a fun little game. We did a test run with some of our rookies and it was such a success that I thought I would share it with others. I think it might be fun to ask the tournament director at our next regional to put it out to rookies from all teams but I would like to hear what you all think first. Here's the idea.

We gave our rookies the following document:

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Team 1138’s FRC LA Regional
SMARTPHONE SCAVENGER HUNT

Hey Team! We want you to be sure to get some time exploring the pits, learning about FRC Teams and robots, meeting other teams and taking part in the fun and spectacle of the FRC LA Regional. So here is a fun little something to do to get you out there.

Pair up with a partner and go out in search of pictures and videos of the following items. Each time you get one completed, Tweet it with the given hashtags (or if no Twitter, email it to [our team's general email] and still include the hashtags).

The team with the most items submitted by 4:30PM Saturday will each win 2 AMC movie passes, courtesy Eagle Engineering*.

All submissions should start with @team1138 and have the hashtag #FRCscavhunt and as well as a hashtag of your unique team name. Something like #TeamAmateurHour or #TeamFishLegs along with a short description.

Here is your target list
1. Selfie with another team's programmer – 5 points
2. Picture with a team mascot – 8 points
3. Picture of a shirt trade (I’ll give you an 1138 jersey to trade) 15 points
4. Video of someone describing their build season (limit :20). 10 points
5. Picture of your favorite pit. 5 points
6. Video of you dancing with another team (limit to 20 seconds). 15 points
7. Picture of a clever mechanism with a description of its purpose. 10 points
8. Picture of your favorite robot cart/dolly. 8 points
9. Video a lift / climb in a match. 25 points
10. Video of a volunteer introducing themselves 5 points
11. Selfie with (Senior FIRST Mentor) Eileen Kahn 10 points
12. Selfie with (SoCal Regional Director) Dave Berggren 10 points
13. Selfie with a Woodie Flowers award recipient 5 points
14. Selfie with a Dean's List FINALIST (past regional winner) 15 points
15. Picture of the most unusual hat/hair you can find. 10 points
16. Picture with another team's full drive team in their pit. 15 points

*You must complete a minimum of four items to be eligible to win the passes. In the event of a tie, the high score total reached first will win the passes.

A sample submission could look like this: [picture attached]
Item5: My favorite pit is colorful! #FRCscavhunt #TeamMunchy

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Okay, so that's the idea. It turned out to be a lot of fun for the 6 or 8 kids that went out and did it and I'll probably do it again with our team in Colorado. It really got them out of their shell and they ended up doing every single challenge in only a few hours. (You can search #FRCscavhunt on Twitter to see the entries) So now I would like to get everyone's thoughts and opinions on some things:

1. Would this work on a wider scale? Would it be too crazy to have every rookie at the event doing this?
2. How should we apply it to an entire regional? Should it come through official FIRST channels (the tournament director for example?) or should it stay a Team-sponsored activity?
3. Any ideas for other fun photos/videos to collect? I want more things that require a little bit of investigation and outreach.
4. Are there any items on the list that should be replaced if we do it at a higher level? (e.g. It may not be good for a single individual to be targeted for a selfie a 100 times or more)
5. What are some other ideas for fun, affordable prizes?
6. We did this over the course of one day. Should it be expanded to Thursday-Saturday?
7. Should we make it one big contest per tournament or just encourage other teams to do it as their own internal team game with their own prizes and hashtags?

I look forward to hearing what you all think. If we expand to tournament-wide, it will be at the Colorado Regional in Week 4. You are all welcome to borrow the idea for your team or regional. If you do it, let me know how it goes!

Thanks,

Tommy
Head Coach/Mentor
Team 1138 Eagle Engineering
Chaminade College Prep., West Hills, CA

[GreyingJay]

Love the idea!

At Worlds last year our team participated in the FedEx Innovation Challenge which basically had them doing the same thing. It was great to see team members take a leadership role in planning the excursions, organizing the hunts and working with other team members to set up the photos and videos.

Do you intend for the students to post these on their own Twitter accounts? If so, is there any concern about privacy issues? I assume no if the student already has a Twitter account and have allowed you to follow them. I don't imagine it's an issue for an activity that your team put together just for yourselves, but it could become something to think about if this were to grow larger.

I assume this also means that most students on your team have easy access to WiFi at the regional and/or data plans on their cell phones? (As an international team visiting the US, when we were at Worlds we definitely relied on WiFi.)

I may just steal it for our own team rookies as a way to encourage them to explore and talk to people.

[GeeTwo]

Sounds like a winner, especially for teams that send more people to competition than they have jobs to fill. Among drive team, pits (including rookie and other problem pits), Chairmans/Dean's List, volunteering at the Lego table and scouting, we're usually pretty busy.

[D_Price]

Love the idea! Great to have them interact with other teams!

[Richard Wallace]

+1

[Ninjastahr]

Originally Posted by GreyingJay

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I assume this also means that most students on your team have easy access to WiFi at the regional and/or data plans on their cell phones? (As an international team visiting the US, when we were at Worlds we definitely relied on WiFi.)

Technically, you aren't supposed to use any WiFi while matches are going, but if the venue has free WiFi it should be okay.