Interview room & judging panel (rookie questions)

[richardp]

At the VCU last year they had a giant poster with diffrent time slots and you wrote down your team number next to the time. It was first come first serve, they might try to keep it the same at all the regionals this year but maybe not.
(Mentor,Deep History of the team,.....Dave?)

[Chris Fultz]

Some have been assigned by the judges, and they schedule around matches.
Others have had a sign up sheet at Pit Admin and you pick your own, based on matches and preferences.

[RoboMom]

I have been holding off posting here until I got all my facts straight.

I contacted Wendy Trommer at FIRST to verify my information.
1. Rookie teams do not participate in the interview process at regionals.
2. From Wendy:
" It is clearly stated in the Team Manual in the Awards section, that rookie teams are ineligible for the Chairman's Award, which is about sustained excellence. Rookie teams may use firstawards.org to create a submission (a are required to if they are a NASA grant team), however it will not be reviewed by FIRST judges on line. If a rookie team would like to print out a copy of their submission to give to the Judges in the Pit as part of the Pit interview process, it will be used in consideration of the Rookie All-Star award. However, it is not a required piece for this award."

This means it will be very important for all rookie teams to be prepared with copies of their Chairmans entries and/or other handouts about their team in the pits when the roving judges visit.

[Beth Sweet]

Thank you for the clarification!

[wildcatsfive]

The actual interview takes place on Friday during the regional.

[Barry Bonzack]

Originally Posted by RoboMom

I have been holding off posting here until I got all my facts straight.

I contacted Wendy Trommer at FIRST to verify my information.
1. Rookie teams do not participate in the interview process at regionals.
2. From Wendy:
" It is clearly stated in the Team Manual in the Awards section, that rookie teams are ineligible for the Chairman's Award, which is about sustained excellence. Rookie teams may use firstawards.org to create a submission (a are required to if they are a NASA grant team), however it will not be reviewed by FIRST judges on line. If a rookie team would like to print out a copy of their submission to give to the Judges in the Pit as part of the Pit interview process, it will be used in consideration of the Rookie All-Star award. However, it is not a required piece for this award."

This means it will be very important for all rookie teams to be prepared with copies of their Chairmans entries and/or other handouts about their team in the pits when the roving judges visit.

Is that new to this year? I was on 1390 last year (rookie) and did the interview process. The rules read the same as it does this year, so I have been believing that 1604 this year would also do an interview and our submission would be read over by the judges just as if we were competing for the Chairman's award. I see this did come from an official, but I want to be absolutely sure on this because I have been preparing for the interview process for some time now. If nothing else, could a rookie team possibly sign up to present anyway?

[RoboMom]

From Wendy Trommer at FIRST:

"Rookie teams were not included in the formal Chairman's Award interview process last year. If Regional Chairman's Award judge team did so, they did it on their own and perhaps because they had time (it might have been an event with only a few submissions). Teams should not count on this happening again this year. All teams, including rookies, are interviewed by judges in the Pit. "

Barry, you cannot sign up anyway.
But think of what a great "elevator" speech you will be able to give to the judges in the pits, so all is not wasted. What you have done to prepare will serve you well. It will just be done in the pits.
At the Chesapeake, the Chairman's interview will be held in the Naval Museum. In an alcove. With the public walking by. During the VIP reception with VIP's walking by. Sounds a lot like the pits, only with less music

[Joe Matt]

Quick addition, have a mentor on board, but don't have them speak during the presentation part. Have them help the students if they get stuck, but have them shut up until a question is directed towards them, or the students get stuck or lost on a question.

[RoboMom]

Actually there are many viewpoints on this issue. Whatever works best for your team.

[KathieK]

At UTC we were offered a number of time slots and you could select whichever one you wanted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Be aware that just like with the robot competition matches, these times are estimates - they were running ahead of schedule and came and got us early.

[mhayon]

Actually, Mr. Kloberg (Sr NJ Mentor) affirmed that every team who sends in a Chairman;s makes a presentation- even if their rookies.

[mhayon]

I'm so confused; can somebody please help me?

[richardp]

Originally Posted by mhayon

I'm so confused; can somebody please help me?

Sure, I would be glad but what are you confused about? Feel free to PM me

[Gary Dillard]

Originally Posted by KathieK

At UTC we were offered a number of time slots and you could select whichever one you wanted on a first-come, first-served basis.

Be aware that just like with the robot competition matches, these times are estimates - they were running ahead of schedule and came and got us early.

At Central Florida, there were only 9 teams competing for chairman's award; they posted the time slots late Thursday afternoon, 15 minutes apart starting from 9:30 am until 11:30 am Friday, in numerical team order. They were running a little ahead but one of our team leaders was still on the field with a match, so they let us wait until our designated time when he was available. (We had an alternate identified but I preferred to have the team leader present).

We had 2 judges and a very narrow table, so the presenters were able to get pretty close to the judges while going through the material. It went very well even though we didn't win Chairman's (We received a judges award). We received a feedback sheet that said keep doing what you're doing.

[Lisa Perez]

If, for instance, our team's assigned interview time conflicts with a match (our Chairman's interview team consists of two drive team members), would FIRST reschedule it? Or would it be in our best interest to have "understudies" to fill in for the interview if such a conflict occurs?