Question for Regional Team Organization

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Daniel Krastev

Thank you very much for the answers! I just have a couple more questions that I need clarification on, since we are a rookie high school team.
1) During the 6th, people will question us on the robot. Any restrictions on the amount of students allowed to present the design?
2) Is that same day the day that we get interviewed for the Rookie All Star award?

-Thanks

Judges wearing blue polo shirts & carrying clipboards (not to be confused with Referees on the field with the Zebra striped shirts ) will be conducting formal interviews anytime over the weekend (Friday & Saturday traditionally) to ask your team all kinds of questions about your robot & your team itself - They cruise the pit area & will talk to you about anything they see fit. Greet them warmly when they come by , don't ignore these folks!!

There is no limit of people who can talk to a Judge (or a group of Judges since they seem to travel in pairs), but they like it when only students talk to them about the robot or whatever they are asking.
(An overeager Adult Coach or Adult Mentor answering all the questions could potentially ruin your team's chance of winning an award - or so I've noticed.)
A good practice is to have some presentation materials ready for Judges to look at such as a tri-fold brochure or some flyers, but also make sure the students know what the robot does & that they can answer all kinds of questions - technical & non-technical alike.
We have gotten asked questions from anything about the business format of our team to technical questions involving an item from the kit we made use of on our robot, to questions about our custom crate/workbench.

Remember there are many awards the Judges are looking to judge, so the presentation to them is really a public relations excercise for your students.

For the best results (aka: to be considered for an award) it's best to have the students who know the most about the robot or the team's workings talking to the Judges and/or someone who can talk their way through even a difficult question. - This tends to be a learning process for most students who are doing this for the first time, so encourage the students to just open up as much as they can to the Judges & share some team stories from build season if they find themselves struggling with technical questions the Judges may pose.

As far as Rookie All-Star Awards, I'm not sure if that is a formal interview process (like The Chairman's Award), or just judged by the same folks who come to your pits to ask questions.

Also of note, you will have some folks in green polo shirts talking to your team while in the pits as well.
These are Safety Advisors & they will be asking your team what your safety practices are on the team.
Refer to the manual for more info on this, but just think of them as more than "Safety Glasses Police" & more a helpful reminder to always be safe while at a competition.
The Safety Advisors also have a few awards to hand out as well, so keep that in mind.
You could potentially walk away with a few awards at your rookie event if you play nice with the Judges & Safety Advisors.

Good luck!