What did you do to gain an Award?

[SaraBailey]

We made sure that our chairman's committee had at least one alternate. We use posters with out key points as a visual display that stayed up in our pits. One of us (We had two students switch off) would stay in the pits to talk to other teams, Judges, pretty much anyone that would listen. While the other two or three were in the stands. We covered ALL aspects briefly about our team, so the judges could better understand who we are and where we come from.

Also, we didn't win the Sprit award THIS year, but in years past it has been attained. It's courteous to your pit crew to cheer during matches. ESPECIALLY after a math, win lose or draw. It just good team values. Oh, and one more thing... Uniformity. Decide on a uniform, and make sure EVERYONE is wearing the SAME one.
Team 1086 wears our blue polos, cheese heads, and khakis. That's the dress code. It would look messy to have past years polos, or other articles of clothing mixed in. It definitely leaves an impression.

It's not about going for any of the awards. Awards are there to recognize what you are doing for First, your team, and the community. EVERYONE should be doing SOMETHING because it's what you want to do to spread the message of first. Whether it's participating in community events, doing dean's homework, or sharing a row in you stands for a smaller team. Be gracious andd professional, but certainly have fun!

[Salbert]

MARS 1523 (my team) won Chairman's at the FL regional. I was one of the 3 people who presented. I can't stress enough how important a business plan is.

Here are tips:

- Wear nametags
- Firmly shake the judges hand and say "Hello"
- Give them a folder/binder with info and tell them what's in them while others set up. We gave them a business plan and event documentation, I told them about it while my partners set up.
- Leave them goody bags (we had our MARS alien inside)
- Comment on their buttons (one judge had a SPAM button, I told them we did a demo for GE with SPAM)
- Anything you didn't cover in the presentation, try to bring up in the Q & A
- Make a business plan, the judges loved it!
- At the end, shake their hands FIRMLY and thank them for your time

I wish you all the best of luck, and for those of you going to Georgia, MARS will see you there!

P.S. Pink Team 233 was awesome. MARS' friends Swamp 179 was excellent. Cybersonics 103 was good too. The suction cup robot was cool too, it picked itself up when it tipped over.

[Pat Arnold]

Originally Posted by Salbert

MARS 1523 (my team) won Chairman's at the FL regional. I was one of the 3 people who presented. I can't stress enough how important a business plan is.

Here are tips:

- Wear nametags
- Firmly shake the judges hand and say "Hello"
- Give them a folder/binder with info and tell them what's in them while others set up. We gave them a business plan and event documentation, I told them about it while my partners set up.
- Leave them goody bags (we had our MARS alien inside)
- Comment on their buttons (one judge had a SPAM button, I told them we did a demo for GE with SPAM)
- Anything you didn't cover in the presentation, try to bring up in the Q & A
- Make a business plan, the judges loved it!
- At the end, shake their hands FIRMLY and thank them for your time

In addition to the above etiquette used in the judges presentation, MARS takes the approach that "If its not documented, it wasn't done."

We complete a brief one page report following each team activity highlighting "where, what, when, why" & results. Pages are placed in that year's document notebook along with any supporting info such as photos, newspaper articles, flyers, or letters of appreciation. Listing "Results" reminds us to check on/report objectively the effectiveness of our effort (i.e. how many visitors did the museum record during our demo, how many people did the newspaper say were at the parade our float was in, etc.)

Our outreach events have grown as more people learn about the team's existence. We targeted a greater range of age groups (from the ladies in the Red Hat Society to starting middle school LEGO groups). Learning how to write effective press releases and forming community partnerships (our big one this past year has been the South Florida Science Museum) helps.

Hopefully this info is helpful to other teams; we're still learning from FIRST's veterns how best to spread engineering & science excitement.