How Does Your Team Recruit?

[TheNotoriousLB]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I just have a couple more related questions:

What about the financial aspect? What is the cost for a student to join your team?

How do you go about acquiring sponsors for the team (do you make cold calls, do they call you, etc)?

[Alex Dinsmoor]

Originally Posted by TheNotoriousLB

Thanks for all the suggestions! I just have a couple more related questions:

What about the financial aspect? What is the cost for a student to join your team?

How do you go about acquiring sponsors for the team (do you make cold calls, do they call you, etc)?

In order to join the team, we ask for a $100 joining fee; although if you cant pay this, then we will not force you to pay in order to be on the team.
That $100 guaurentees you free transportation and housing for 1-2 travel events (MSC and Traverse, or GLR and BMR were the 09 and 08 events). It also helps offset the costs of Championships, so the cost to the student is only $100-$150. Once again covering travel and lodging down to Atlanta (or St. Louis)
It also covers build season meals on saturdays, and the occasional dinner at a competition.

For acquiring sponsors we do a combination of both things you listed. Our main sponsor GM was acquired many years ago, but I believe that we had to apply for that sponsorship ourselves. We also called and demonstrated at many local businesses in order to get some of our smaller sponsorships.

Fortunately we have also been handed sponsorships. This was due to our performance as a team in and out of competitions. Those come far and wide, so don't expect them to just be handed to you.

[Zach O]

For our team the price has been steadily decreasing. The cost to be on the team in 2008 was around $400ish, it stayed there over 2009, and in 2010 it dropped to $250 (and each parent provides a meal over build season). This if for meals at each competition, and one hotel stay.

I don't know about previous year sponsors, but this year our team (probably me with revision from the team mentors) is putting together a power point to show the sponsors about what there money is going to. Then we'll probably have a few students present it to potential sponsors.

[TheNotoriousLB]

Ok. Because our costs for joining run about $250 plus the cost of t-shirts, and I was wondering how that compared to other teams. Do you guys use sponsor money to help kids pay for things, or does sponsor money go right to the robot and supplies that go along with that?

[Dhananjay T.]

Kids usually flock to us at our school.

At the beginning of the school year, our school holds a kind of after school "club fest", where all the clubs hold booths to advertise to the new freshman, and returning students. We're usually the guys in Hawaiian shirts in the middle of our 'commons' with one of our robots out. Our coach puts out a laptop with a sign up excel sheet, and at the end of the day, we'll see a list of more than 50 kids who want to in on the fun.

The demos help a lot. Kids get to see what they're getting into, and they usually find getting pelted with poof balls (06), or lunacy balls (09) very fun .