What is our Value Proposition?

[rsisk]

In a few weeks, our team will be presenting to the Riverside Chamber of Commerce Business and Education committee. I'm anticipating the opportunity to talk about FIRST Robotics to business people and convince them to invest in the concept. Offering a value proposition is one of the devices I plan to use to persuade them that an investment in FIRST will return value.

So, my question to the brilliant minds of CD is this: What is our value proposition? Why should business invest in FIRST Robotics teams?

Below is a definition of Value Proposition to help the conversation...

Value Proposition

What Does Value Proposition Mean?
A business or marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. This statement should convince a potential consumer that one particular product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than other similar offerings.

Investopedia explains Value Proposition
Companies use this statement to target customers who will benefit most from using the company's products, and this helps maintain an economic moat. The ideal value proposition is concise and appeals to the customer's strongest decision-making drivers. Companies pay a high price when customers lose sight of the company's value proposition.

[James1902]

A community thrives when it's citizens are educated, efficacious and employed. FIRST robotics is a program that ensures future generations success by providing an environment where students can learn, not only technical skills that will help them excel in a more high-tech world, but leadership skills and life lessons that will make them more effective people.
FIRST inspires students to learn by providing an environment where science and technology is celebrated and creative thinking is encouraged.
FIRST produces intelligent, creative, articulate students that will be a benefit to the workforce in any community they live in.


That's all I have so far, hope it helps. Let's us know how it goes

[Al Skierkiewicz]

When my son first came to be on the team, the aspiration was that the students would graduate and come back to work for the sponsor. I liked that idea as Motorola was the largest employer in northern Illinois at the time and certainly the largest in our general area. Students would naturally live and work in the community in which they were born.
It has grown to students learning that there is much more to life than work and playing games. They have come to value helping others, learning something new and passing that knowledge on to younger people. There is no doubt in my mind that our communities have improved over that time. In addition to everything else, our students have learned that it is possible to stare down a problem and find a solution and that there are others who are willing to help.
In my own experience, I have found new methods of solving problems in an efficient manner. I firmly believe that other mentors on the team have as well. FRC has had a great effect on my life and the life of my family and community. You can't put a dollar sign on that improvement but the value is incalculable.

[JohnBoucher]

Do you have any testimonials of how past team members have benefited from being in the program? One or two good stories helps sell the program.

[Alan Anderson]

"A society gets what it celebrates." By celebrating science and technology, and by aiming to expand that celebration, FIRST wants society to benefit.

The 2005 study by Brandeis University shows that FIRST is having a dramatic effect. There are links to the report at http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/content.aspx?id=46 (the "Impact" page of the FIRST web site). Investment in FIRST pays off with more engineering graduates, and more community involvement.

[JesseK]

Running FIRST teams like a small business incorporates all of the technical and non-technical aspects of entrepreneurship in an economy. The lessons learned are higher in quantity than college and tit for tat cost less than a college degree. The real world experience of FIRST students will show a ROI to a community or business that supports the FIRST team, either via innovations*, new businesses, or a generally better-skilled workforce that is able to keep jobs from going overseas.

*As an example of how FIRST has ROI for even the individual adults that support it, I'm about to submit an invention to my company that has many innovative facets in a great multitude of applications. I have only ever learned software and electronics in school and my job, yet this is a purely mechanical invention. Without the networking and inspiration of FIRST, the invention itself would probably not exist for many more years.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

When my son first came to be on the team, the aspiration was that the students would graduate and come back to work for the sponsor. I liked that idea as Motorola was the largest employer in northern Illinois at the time and certainly the largest in our general area. Students would naturally live and work in the community in which they were born.
It has grown to students learning that there is much more to life than work and playing games. They have come to value helping others, learning something new and passing that knowledge on to younger people. There is no doubt in my mind that our communities have improved over that time. In addition to everything else, our students have learned that it is possible to stare down a problem and find a solution and that there are others who are willing to help.
In my own experience, I have found new methods of solving problems in an efficient manner. I firmly believe that other mentors on the team have as well. FRC has had a great effect on my life and the life of my family and community. You can't put a dollar sign on that improvement but the value is incalculable.

Al, your perspectives and insight are invaluable to ChiefDelphi and this is a good example of why. I wish with all of my heart that more of our members who carry history, growth, and development within their experiences with FIRST - would share as generously and as wisely as you do. It deepens the knowledge and widens the thinking, helping to move us into big picture thinking. That is no small thing, esp. for a topic like this.

Jane

[gblake]

Originally Posted by rsisk

... What is our value proposition? Why should business invest in FIRST Robotics teams?

Below is a definition of Value Proposition to help the conversation...

STEM robotics programs create an important difference between communities that have them and those that don't; and that difference attracts both high-achieving employees and their families, and other businesses.

Blake

[Tom Ore]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

...In my own experience, I have found new methods of solving problems in an efficient manner. I firmly believe that other mentors on the team have as well...

I agree - after having been in industry for a long time (28 years, transmission design) I wondered if I was begining to lose my creative edge. Seeing the same problems and same solutions over time makes it is easy to get stuck in a rut. Being involved in FIRST, we are presented with completely new problems to solve, new ways to solve them, new creative challenges, the chance to teach and mentor future engineers. I think this will help us stay creative in our day jobs making it easier to get out of the rut that's so easy to get into.

[rsisk]

I am really glad I started this thread. I was originally thinking only in one dimension, the effect of the investment on the student. But, thanks to the posters on this thread I see at least two other dimensions, the impact on the community, and the impact on the mentor.

This is good stuff and will definitely help our presentation.

Thanks!