Submission Award Definitions - Thoughts? Feedback?

[Hot_Copper_Frog]

FIRST debuted these new definitions for teams to use when submitting for awards this year:

Started (a FIRST LEGO League Jr. / FIRST LEGO League / FIRST Tech Challenge / FIRST Robotics Competition team) - A Team has Started a team if they have met one of the following requirements:

• Funded or sourced funding (i.e. grants or sponsorship) of at least 50% of the team registration fee.
• Made the team aware of FIRST and/or the specific program and assisted the team with the official registration process.
• The Started Team would agree that the Starting team did provide this level of support.

Mentored (a FIRST LEGO League Jr. / FIRST LEGO League / FIRST Tech Challenge / FIRST Robotics Competition team) - A Team has Mentored a team if they have met all of the following requirements:

• Providing consistent (at least once a week during the lead up to competitions (e.g. FIRST Robotics Competition Build Season) communication, either in person or via phone/email/video conference, to the Mentored team helping with technical or non-technical FIRST program specific issues.
• The Mentored team would agree that the Mentoring team did provide this level of support.

Assisted (a FIRST LEGO League Jr. / FIRST LEGO League / FIRST Tech Challenge / FIRST Robotics Competition team) - A team has Assisted a team if they have met all of the following requirements:

• Providing communication, either in person or via phone/email/video conference, to the Assisted team, helping with technical or non-technical FIRST program specific issues, OR providing funding and/or supplies to the Assisted team.
• The Assisted Team would agree that the Assisting team did provide this level of support.

Provided Published Resources (a FIRST LEGO League Jr. / FIRST LEGO League / FIRST Tech Challenge / FIRST Robotics Competition team) – A team has Provided Published Resources to a team if they have met all of the following requirements:

• The team has created resources designed to aid teams with technical or non-technical FIRST program specific issues.
• The resources have been published or presented publicly (e.g. presented at a conference, published on a team website, etc.).

Ran (a FIRST LEGO League Jr. / FIRST LEGO League / FIRST Tech Challenge / FIRST Robotics Competition event) - A Team Ran an event if they have met all of the following requirements:

• Team members are involved in the majority of the planning of the event.
• Team members are involved in the majority of the on-site event execution, or have arranged for and are supervising the volunteers to handle the majority of the on-site event execution.

Hosted (a FIRST LEGO League Jr. / FIRST LEGO League / FIRST Tech Challenge / FIRST Robotics Competition event) - A Team has Hosted an event if they have met one of the following requirements:

• The event takes place at a team facility
• The event takes place at a facility arranged for by the team

Assisted (a FIRST LEGO League Jr. / FIRST LEGO League / FIRST Tech Challenge / FIRST Robotics Competition event) - A Team has Assisted an event if they have met any of the following requirements:

• Team members are involved in some part of the planning of the event.
• Team members are involved in some part of the on-site event execution (i.e. Team members have volunteered at the event)

How has this change impacted the way you write your submission or calculate your numbers? Did you experience any questions about it in your interview? What do you think of the change?

Very curious to see what everybody's thoughts are now that Week 7 events have wrapped up!

[Dan Petrovic]

This has been very helpful for us, specifically what qualifies as running, hosting, or assisting at events.

Our best example is that of Week Zero. Prior to this year, we credited ourselves with "hosting" Week Zero because FIRST HQ did most of the field set-up and mostly runs the field.

However, since we provide volunteers to handle queuing, refereeing, and most of the field reset in addition to handling team registration, we're able say that we "run" Week Zero by FIRST's standards.

I believe that "planning" could be defined a bit more, but this is a great start.

[vhcook]

I agree that it was helpful to have clear terminology definitions. It really helped in submission preparation to accurately describe what we had done, knowing the judges would be defining terms the same way we were.

[PurpleInk]

I both love and am annoyed by the new definitions. I enjoy that it somewhat standardizes how everyone speaks about what they do and we can all be on the same page as far as the vocabulary used.

The part that can be annoying is when the team meets more than one of the definitions. We're already limited on characters so having to say that we host, run, and assist with an event can get a little wordy. Or when we started and mentor a team.

I also am picky when I edit writing and I hate it when the same word is used too often. There are paragraphs where the word 'assisted' is used three or four times and I feel as though it disrupts the flow.

I feel like with a few years of practicing, we'll figure out how to work these in so that that everything is less choppy!

[Hot_Copper_Frog]

Originally Posted by PurpleInk

The part that can be annoying is when the team meets more than one of the definitions. We're already limited on characters so having to say that we host, run, and assist with an event can get a little wordy. Or when we started and mentor a team.

It makes me wish we could insert tables into the submission text like in a word document. Tables make everything simpler when it comes to things like this.

[PurpleInk]

Originally Posted by Hot_Copper_Frog

It makes me wish we could insert tables into the submission text like in a word document. Tables make everything simpler when it comes to things like this.

Oh! I like this idea! It would be a good thing to include either in a presentation, in a pit display, or in a business plan under "Services Rendered"

I love tables!

You could list the event, or the team and then check off the boxes that are applicable. It would also be a good way to track things year after year. The goal would be to fill it up more as time goes on.

[Jardanium]

Although the terminology was a bit rough to write with starting out, I felt it ensured that everyone was on even ground when it came to word choice. I found myself able to rest easy the night before our presentation knowing other teams weren't strategically using this terminology different than we were.