Fans

[usbcd36]

Our school is only about twenty minutes away from the regional, but we still can't get people to come because no one really cares about robotics. Any suggestions for getting people interested?

[Kims Robot]

I think the idea of getting kids who are actually interested in it out there is a good idea... if the cheerleaders or football players want to come, hey maybe they will get inspired I wont comment on the awards side of things... thats for a separate topic

As for the 700 kids... we were there that year... and all I have to say, is there were an aweful lot of bored kids there who had no clue what was going on, they just knew they were missing school. I think the concept was good, maybe they would be inspired, but the implementation and lack of adults didnt help.

Long story short, get as many fans as you can, who ACTUALLY want to attend (ie if they are willing to pay or do it outside of school time, they WANT to attend). I think its a good thing. We send out messages at Harris, and put it on the school announcements, maybe in a few years if there is enough interest we could do a bus.

[ChrisH]

Originally Posted by Kims Robot

I think the idea of getting kids who are actually interested in it out there is a good idea... if the cheerleaders or football players want to come, hey maybe they will get inspired I wont comment on the awards side of things... thats for a separate topic

Last year in San Diego there was a team from a small rural school that invited the school cheerleading squad to come with them. The cheerleaders decided that if they were going to do this they should do it right so they spent some time with the team beforehand learning about the robot and the competition. By the end of the Regional the cheerleaders had all decided that they were going to be on the robot team this year. One thing that impressed them was that people appreciated them, including their school's team. Apparently the football squad just kind of expected them to be there.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by ChrisH

Last year in San Diego there was a team from a small rural school that invited the school cheerleading squad to come with them. The cheerleaders decided that if they were going to do this they should do it right so they spent some time with the team beforehand learning about the robot and the competition. By the end of the Regional the cheerleaders had all decided that they were going to be on the robot team this year. One thing that impressed them was that people appreciated them, including their school's team. Apparently the football squad just kind of expected them to be there.

As I recall, the same cheerleaders were with the team in Atlanta that year. (I think the team won a rookie award or something like that.) They helped 330 (and I'm not sure who all else) with a cheer or two as well.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by EricH

As I recall, the same cheerleaders were with the team in Atlanta that year. (I think the team won a rookie award or something like that.) They helped 330 (and I'm not sure who all else) with a cheer or two as well.

One thing I find in FIRST is that there is alot of athletes and cheerleaders who get involved too. It's not just geeks who get into FIRST. I think because they can relate to the competitive nature of the event (I call FIRST high school NASCAR) and it's such an insane amount of fun. I'm not sure if FIRST will ever win over society as a whole (the changing of the games every year is intensely fun for those of us who participate in FIRST but I'm sure it's confusing to the average observer).

[Cooley744]

Since our team is extremely small this year, we are having a few of the team member's friends come and work on scouting and stuff. (Which is only like 4 people). Our fans that are comming and are not really on the team, but are at robotics meetings every once in a while because their friends are there. So in a way, we are having fans come, but they will actually know what to do, and will be an asset not a problem. We are hoping they will join after seeing a real competition.

[lproxster]

I agree, we advertise openly to our student body (our school is about an hour away from the NYC regional) however not many people are interested enough to come.

We had a couple of members last year who brought their boyfriends/close friends along, and they seemed to be enjoying it.

I think one of the best ways to get people interested in FIRST is to bring them to a regional, particularly on the last day, when the competition really heats up.

[Bongle]

As a mostly uninvolved alumni, I (and some friends) came and watched GTR in 2005 and Waterloo in 2007.

This reasoning is based on the idea you've brought a dozen or so people from your high school who have no relation to the robotics team but may be somewhat interested (i.e. not just there to miss school):
I think one problem is that unless you're at a super-regional (the few years when GTR ran double-field), your team isn't up often enough to keep your fans entertained. For the core team, there is always scouting, repairs, preparations, strategy, finding and talking to your alliance partners, etc. You're never idle at a regional. However, for the people from your high school who came to watch, they get to watch a single 2 minute match every 40 minutes. If they go back and say it was the most boring thing they've ever seen, it'll hurt your recruiting efforts in the future. But if each match is exciting to them because they know what's going on.

Based on this, it seems like it'd be important to keep them entertained and informed. Have someone charismatic from your team dedicated to telling them when the next match is, have them analyze the previous match. Maybe they could use some scouting data and give a pre-game preview of the next match, tell your fans what to watch out for. Field some rules questions they might have.