New Team

[afowl]

Fundraising:
You always want to be professional when approaching a potential sponsor. Also try to see where you have connections because it can make it easier. They definitely want to know what their money will do so make sure you talk about all the wonderful things you do as a part of the FIRST Robotics Program. Make sure the presenters are passionate (I'm sure that won't be an issue here) and well-versed in what you'll be talking about as well as knowledgeable on every aspect of your team. We typically have 3 to 4 presenters. When my team does a presentation, we wear our professional team polo's (we have two team shirts, a polo with our name and logo etc and crazy silver soccer jerseys) but as long as you look nice you should be fine and I think that having the robot always helps.

Also you might want to try some fundraisers that aren't just looking for sponsorship. Car washes etc bring in a lot of money on our team.

Location:
Make sure you have people that will be willing to go where ever your location is before you find everything else out. If no one wants to go that far,then it's all useless.

Team Communication(outside of meetings):
Our team does so much. we have a Team forum on our website that we use just like delphi for team specific things. We have a team gmail account that is used to sends reminders to everyone's phones and emails. We also use a texting chain, twitter, facebook etc but we have a large team so use what your team members check the most.

Recruiting:
For recruiting, be more fun. Team shirts help get your message across. Go to places in your community, do demos, give out brochures and get yourself known because then people will ask about it. Always advertise that you need members and show them the benefits of being in FIRST. I've always been fond of our movie demos (like Iron Man 2!) because people don't expect to see a robot in the lobby of the theater. I'd say you can't have too many people but depending on the space, you may need to cap the size of the team.

If you have any questions or need any help, feel free to PM me. And sorry if anything I wrote doesn't make sense, I didn't get to proof read it and I've got to get to our Iron Man 2 demo. Good luck with starting your team!