Dean's Homework for 2008

[Lil' Lavery]

If I were FIRST I would take a step in a different direction. My homework assignment would to become involved in a different robotics/engineering competition in the off-season. This could be FLL, Jr. FLL, FVC, Botball, NURC, MATE, BEST, Battlebots, DARPA Grand Challenge, Odyssey of the Mind, or literally hundreds of others. Then tell every one of your teammates in that competition about the FIRST Robotics Competition and get them to attend kick-off or a competition.
This serves multiple purposes. It exposes FIRST to an audience that is already interested in such competitions, and a vast array of potential recruits. It builds appreciation in the FIRST members for what truly makes FIRST special, and what sets it apart from the rest. It deepens the experience and abilities the participants in both competitions. It shows that FIRST and these other competitions CAN and DO co-exist, and that you don't always have to chose.
Even if it is just JrFLL, FLL, and FVC, you'd be shocked at how many participants don't realize that they can participate at the High School level.

[Nate Laverdure]

Get Publicity
Dean Kamen's Homework 2008

Excerpt from the kickoff transcript:

Originally Posted by Dean Kamen

THIS YEAR'S HOMEWORK.
I'M NOT SURE WHAT METRICS WE'LL USE TO GRADE IT.
SORT OF LIKE THE CHAIRMAN'S AWARD.
NOBODY HAS EVER FIGURED OUT EXACTLY HOW TO GRADE IT BUT YOU ALWAYS SEE AND RECOGNIZE A GREAT WORK.
THIS YEAR I THINK BESIDES CONTINUING TO GET MORE POLITICAL SUPPORT TO HELP PUT FIRST WITHIN REACH OF EVERY KID IN THIS COUNTRY, I THINK WE NEED MEDIA ATTENTION TO HELP US.
SO ONE OF THE THINGS SOME OF YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE NOTICED, YOU GO TO FIRST EVENTS AND THEY'RE FULL OF PEOPLE.
BUT ALMOST EVERYBODY THERE IS ON ONE OF THE TEAMS.
WE DON'T YET BRING PEOPLE FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC.
WE'RE SORT OF PREACHING TO OUR OWN CHOIR.
WE MIGHT HAVE 2,000 PEOPLE IN THE STANDS AND THEY HAVE 50 TEAMS AND EACH ONE HAD 40 PEOPLE.
I THINK WE NEED TO REALLY BE THE SPORT THAT EVERYBODY WANTS TO WATCH AS A SPECTATOR.
AND START TO GET MORE AND MORE AND MORE GENERAL PUBLIC AWARENESS OF WHAT WE DO.
IT WILL HELP US HAVE A MUCH BIGGER IMPACT ON WHAT PEOPLE THINK ABOUT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.
SO THE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS YEAR STARTING NOW, YOU HAVE A WHOLE SEASON TO DO THIS, YOUR MODEL OUGHT TO BE BY THE TIME I GET TO MY FIRST REGIONAL I WANT TO MAKE SURE THERE IS STANDING ROOM ONLY TO GET IN AND CELEBRATE WHAT WE'RE ALL DOING.
WE WANT TO DO THAT BY GETTING LOCAL MEDIA, PRINT PRESS, VIDEO, TELEVISION, NEWS, DOCUMENTARY, WE WANT THEM TO TALK ABOUT US IN THE RIGHT WAY.
IT'S SORT OF LIKE A SCIENCE FAIR BUT THE GEEKS LOOK LIKE THEY'RE HAVING TOO MUCH FUN.
NOT LIKE THAT.
WE WANT TO BE A MAINSTREAM PART OF OUR CULTURE.
THAT'S WHAT WE'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO.
SO YOU FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO IT.
BUT WE'LL HAVE SOME HELP.
JUST LIKE WE DID LAST YEAR.
AS OF THIS AFTERNOON, IF YOU GO TO THE FIRST WEBSITE YOU'LL SEE A COUPLE OF NEW ITEMS.
THERE IS A FIRST MEDIA GUIDE.
IT WILL HELP YOU FIGURE OUT HOW TO WORK WITH AND ATTRACT THE PRESS.
THERE WILL BE A FIRST FORUM ON COLLABORATION AND HOW TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHER TEAMS, AGAIN, TO GET MORE AND APPROPRIATE MEDIA COVERAGE.
AS YOU KNOW, WE HAVE A GREAT RELATIONSHIP WITH GOOGLE AND WITH YOUTUBE.
THERE WILL BE A FIRST YOUTUBE PAGE, A YOUTUBE LINK THAT WE HOPE YOU'LL MANAGE TO GET ALL YOUR GREAT VIDEO AND OTHER PRESS UP ON.
WE'LL PROBABLY FIND WAYS TO VOTE ON WHAT WE LIKE AND WHAT WE REALLY LIKE AND WHAT IS REALLY AWESOME.
MAYBE THAT WILL IMPACT YOUR GRADE.
WE'LL LEAVE IT TO YOU TO FIND OTHER WAYS, CREATIVE WAYS, TO MAKE SURE THAT OUR MESSAGE GETS OUT AND WE'RE NOT THE ONLY ONES THAT ARE CELEBRATING THE EXTRAORDINARY THINGS THAT HAPPEN AT FIRST.
BECAUSE EVERYBODY ELSE OUGHT TO SEE HOW GREAT THIS COMMUNITY IS.
SO AS I SAID, I DON'T KNOW HOW WE'LL GRADE IT.
I DIDN'T KNOW HOW WE'D GRADE LAST YEARS BUT IT HAD A GREAT IMPACT AND I THINK WE AS THE FIRST COMMUNITY THIS YEAR REALLY WANT TO FOCUS ON GETTING MORE AND MORE PEOPLE INVOLVED.

Resources:
OFFICIAL FORUM
FAQ
Key Messages
FIRST Youtube Channel

Highlights from the FAQ:

Q: How do we contact other teams to coordinate our approach to the local media?
A: FIRST has developed a set of forums teams can use for Planning and Coordinating media efforts for each regional. The forums can be found in the FIRST Forums (http://forums.usfirst.org section of the FIRST web site listed under Dean’s Homework. There is one forum for each regional event. The marketing person from any team attending the regional can use the forum designated for their event to connect with marketing persons from other teams attending the same event to plan and coordinate steps to contact local media.

Q: What results should teams report to Dean?
A: Teams should report only the media hits they achieve. A “hit” includes any print story placed, TV segment aired, on-line media coverage, etc. It also includes any success in getting local news anchors to attend the event and participate in a creative way. It is not necessary to report the action steps (e.g. letters, phone calls, etc.) taken in advance to achieve your media hit.

Q: Where do I post my results?
A: FIRST has developed a forum exclusively for posting results. This forum is titled “Results” and is found in the same section as the Planning & Coordination Forum. Teams should only use this forum to post results. Please use one post for each media hit. This forum will be used as to tally the total number of media hits teams achieve, so please do not post any comments to this forum. One post = one media hit.

Highlights from the Key Messages document:

CORE GOALS

FIRST’s goal is to inspire young people’s interest and participation in science and technology.
· Society celebrates achievement in sports and entertainment, yet we do not celebrate achievement in science and technology.
· Societies get what they celebrate. Our society needs to celebrate science and technology.
· FIRST will create excitement, challenge, and fun in science and technology for over 150,000 young people in 2007/2008.
· FIRST celebrates scientists and engineers as heroes.
· FIRST seeks to make being smart “cool.”

Young people’s interest and participation in science and technology will help them succeed in life and will help our society.
· There are great opportunities for young people to build successful careers in science and technology.
· Many of society’s key problems will be solved with science and technology (e.g. water, access to electric power, medical, etc.).
· Conversely, the chances of becoming a sports hero are small; only about 500 jobs for players in the NBA.


IMPACT

FIRST is working; according to an independent study by Brandeis University, funded by the Ford Foundation.
· Brandeis conducted an independent, retrospective study of FIRST participants and compared results to a comparison group of non-FIRST students with similar backgrounds and academic experiences, including math and science. Results showed FIRST students are:
o More than three times as likely to major specifically in engineering.
o Roughly ten times as likely to have had an apprenticeship or co-op job in freshman year.
o More than twice as likely to expect to pursue a science or technology career.
o Nearly four times as likely to expect to pursue a career specifically in engineering.

[lynca]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

If I were FIRST I would take a step in a different direction. My homework assignment would to become involved in a different robotics/engineering competition in the off-season. This could be FLL, Jr. FLL, FVC, Botball, NURC, MATE, BEST, Battlebots, DARPA Grand Challenge, Odyssey of the Mind, or literally hundreds of others. Then tell every one of your teammates in that competition about the FIRST Robotics Competition and get them to attend kick-off or a competition.

I've been involved in FLL, BEST, IGVC, IEEE Robotics Compeitions and DARPA Grand Challenge. I believe people in these competitions do understand the impact of robotics on the community. Attracting them to FRC would become a very valuable asset for FIRST. Maybe teams should focus their media homework on spreading the message to people in other Robotics Competitions. Request every robotics club, organization or group to put a link to FIRST on their website.

[BeckyHand]

I have a quick question about the homework and I hoping you all could help me. I'm on the FIRSTworldtube youtube page and I can't exactly figure out how we are supposed to "manage to get all your great video and other press up on". Any suggestions??
Thanks so much

[Nate Laverdure]

I think that this year's assignment will inform some interesting discussion about next year's.

Here's the trend as I see it:
Dean Kamen's yearly homework assignment is becoming more formal, more concrete, and more important. This year, a free and extensive forum was set up to provide support for efforts relating to the 2008 homework assignment: to get publicity. Team 842's winning chairman's submission ("published in Wired magazine, Reader’s Digest ... translated into 4 different languages") shows that success in gaining publicity was a factor in winning FIRST's greatest honor this year.

In the early half of this decade, teams were encouraged to grow the organization by founding and mentoring other teams. In 2006 and 2007, Dean Kamen told us to reach out to our politicians and get them interested in the program. In 2008, the assignment was to get positive publicity for FIRST teams and events.

Here's my question:
If you were Dean Kamen, what homework would you assign in 2009? Now that you have built a large, self-sustaining, and massively collaborative organization, and now that your organization has reached out to government and the media, how should the teams focus their efforts in the next year? What's the next step in reaching the goals of FIRST?

And after describing your own assignment for next year, I would be interested in knowing how would you help to complete YOUR assignment as a student, mentor, teacher, parent (whatever your position is) as a member of YOUR FRC team.