I need help with our team name.

[kmcclary]

Well, your community has a rich history:
- http://www.wayzatahistoricalsociety....outWayzata.htm
There's some fodder there. (Grasshoppers, etc... A plague of robots?)

Whatever you do though, try to think about mascots, logos, etc.

Whenever I've started a new team (I'm up to four now... <gack!>), I always make sure that only the students are the ones to decide on a name.

But to GET ideas to vote on, I normally go through this process.

- A) EVERYONE must come up with a proposed team name by (xx) meetings from now.
- B) Have a preliminary student vote to reduce the field to the "best candidates". This can resolve immediately, or at least prune out the silly ones no one likes to leave a few (half a dozen or so) "legitimate candidates".
- C) NOW: If anyone likes one of these, then THEY should come in to the next meeting with a proposed concept of either a logo, and/or a mascot. You don't have to be able to draw it well. (We'll hold a "talent search contest" amongst the students later for that!) Just give us the jist of it.
- D) The students then vote amongst the concepts that come out of that step, then ratify it with the full membership.

So far, this technique has ALWAYS resolved the issue within a few meetings.

BTW... You also have to consider your school's desire. Many schools require all groups within them to be some variant of the school's mascot, theme, and/or color scheme. If this is the case, your choices may be limited to a "roboticized trojan" of some kind, in the school's colors. (Sorry...) Now I've seen teams try to get around this, but trust me... whenever they start becoming known, the school often steps in and forces them to change it to match. (This happened to Team 66 "The Penguins", once they won the Championship. They're now "The Flyers"...) So IMHO, I feel it's best to deal with the issue up front with the administration, so there won't be any hard feelings on the team later. If they SAY you can name it anything you want, great! (Get it in WRITING though, by using email...)

Now that said... For ideas, many groups commonly think of:

- "Roboticized mascot animal names" (ie "RoboTigers") Warning: There are a LOT of teams named after common animals (dog, cat, etc), so the more exotic the animal the better, to avoid conflicts. (RoboFerrets, anyone???)

- Mythological creatures. (Hey... Since Wayzata is a Sioux indian term, how about looking into Sioux mythology for a creature???)

- Puns derived from robotics or other terms, or terms taken out of context (like "The Chain Gang", which was a finalist for one of my teams.)

- A cartoonish or famous story character of some kind (non-trademarked!)

- A historical figure (often significant to the locals)

- A job/trade/skill type, often slang termed (ie "The LumberJacks", "The Rockhounds", etc.)

- a Location based name (ie the "Raging River" - it happens...)

- Terminology based (beware of "The Tide", "The Avalanche will get you", etc...)

- A word Acronym (examples from FIRST: the HOT team - Heroes of Tomorow; FIRE, RAGE, etc...)

- Something that "sums up your personality as a team".

I strongly suggest starting by passing a few FIRST Yearbook copies or Regional programs around a team meeting. That way, everyone can see typical team names as a starting point for discussion. The range of them is mind boggling! (...AND this helps keep you from duplicating one!) This is the season to get ahold of programs and yearbooks, but you can also call FIRST HQ and get a few full yearbooks from previous years sent to you.

BTW... There are exceptions to the above. I wasn't there when my latest team chose the name "Technical Difficulties". I thought it strange at first, but everyone seems to love it! We've gotten a lot of compliments on it, so it's OK with me! (In fact, a lot of teams say "we're experiencing T.D.", and we tell them "Hey, don't blame US! We had NOTHING to do with it, uh... THIS time...") So please don't take the above as your only options!

Good luck! I hope this helped. Be sure to post the name you choose here!

- Keith McClary
Chief Engineer, Team 1502 "Technical Difficulties"