guidance needed... please...?

[hacksaw692]

i am currently the leader/captain/president, whatever you wanna call me, person for my team. and i'm stuck as to where to go with the team right now. this is practically our third rookie year, it's a long-ish story really, i'll go into it if you want me to. but i digress for the mean time...

the team's situation is sort of hard to explain really. here's the general gist: we lost our original moderator, lost our engineers, have a new teacher moderating, have no money at the moment, are kind of in a bind with administration/school board, and it's just a really big mess right now. i feel that we are behind, and i need a quick way to catch up. if we don't do anything, i'm afraid that the team may go into extinction.

i'm having an officer meeting set for tuesday, are there any suggestions out there as to what i should propose? i just need a push/shove/headbutt into the right direction. thanks a million...

[Harrison]

I think based on what i just read you need to do 2 things:

1. Get a strong member base in the school (and just FYI, its pretty hard to really be behind at this point).

and 2nd...GET SPONSORS!!! Put together packages, some typed stuff about FIRST, about your team, about your situation, stuff like that. Get it out to the business world/techie world ASAP.

Also, you might want to try get a parents comitee going - Parents can be a lot of help when it comes to fund-raising, and stuff like that.

So, basically get: People and Money.

Good luck!

[Alfred Thompson]

First understand that students can't do everything. Does your moderator know what they are in for? If not, they need to be educated. You would do well to find them (your moderator) a mentor in a near by school with an established team. Building better relationships with the school administration and/or school board is largely going to be the moderators job.
Second, get some parents involved to help the moderator. They can help with the team/school relationship, fundraising (they may work for companies that can contribute) and they can help find engineering support.

[E. The Kidd]

Originally posted by hacksaw692
i am currently the leader/captain/president, whatever you wanna call me, person for my team. and i'm stuck as to where to go with the team right now. this is practically our third rookie year, it's a long-ish story really, i'll go into it if you want me to. but i digress for the mean time...

the team's situation is sort of hard to explain really. here's the general gist: we lost our original moderator, lost our engineers, have a new teacher moderating, have no money at the moment, are kind of in a bind with administration/school board, and it's just a really big mess right now. i feel that we are behind, and i need a quick way to catch up. if we don't do anything, i'm afraid that the team may go into extinction.

i'm having an officer meeting set for tuesday, are there any suggestions out there as to what i should propose? i just need a push/shove/headbutt into the right direction. thanks a million...

we're in the same situation. im me at trueyank32 on aim and we can talk (i'll give u a few secrets to how we're handling the situation)

[mtaman02]

Same situation with us. and as an ex. captain i agree with the rest of the members who post in this thread already. start setting up committees. get rid of the people who don't want to put effort in the team. basically weed out the bad things and keep the good and do this before the first competition otherwise the team will be messed up till next season. on top of weeding out all the useless kids. yes get your name out into the world. economy is bad companies don't have that much money to be given out sso try to be the first team there with a financial situation before they choose a loser team to blow 5 grand on ( no offense to any teams that did bad last year. im expecting at least one PM from 371 about that). but in reality you want to be the first to be chosen for donation. assemble a parental committee. parents want to see there kids let alone the team and school name better themselves. parents are very useful when its time for fundraising and such.


the onl;y time you fall behind on your duties is about a month b4 kickoff or at least during 6 weeks building period. thats the most stressful point in FIRST let alone the competition. from one captain to another. you'll do fine. assemble committees heres the breakdown


Parental and Coach Committee seperate the 2 if u wish
Design and Construction
Fundraising / Treasury
Programming
Web Design / Animation
Team Contact / Team Representative.
Team Chain of Command - asically yourself and a trusted member of the team

Break it down any way u like just make sure the committees listed above are taken care of first. its easier to break everything up. everyone handles what they do best and no one can complain whos doing someone else's job. And of course a team without rules isn't a team so basically come up with rules that will be a benefit to your team rather then a regret.

Good Luck! If YOU NEED ANY ADVISE AT ALL PM me or IM my AOL AIM name dayrunner6969123. I will be more then glad to give you more useful info. Keep up the good work though because the toughest thing you did was take the responibility of being the leader / captain of your team. now its smooth sailing here unless something unexpected pops up.


GOOD LUCK and Hang in there your doing fine

[Kristina]

I very much agree of what has been posted thus far...despite my team's much complaining: COMMITTEES ARE GOOD! They break up the work (and large groups that are difficult to manage) so its not as overwhelming and most importantly, they give everyone work to do so they're not lost amongst the crowd.

Also very important as strong committee leaders, the people who work well with others but are strong enough to control their own peers (its a lot harder than it seems). Even if this means recruiting from the outside, its alright. I'll say it again and again, me and science do not go together at all but I think I had the managerial skills that the team needed.

So yeah, I guess you want to list your most immediate tasks and prioritize. My opinion, here's what's important:
1. Strong Committee leaders: who then in turn can recruit/manage...
2. Strong Member base: get thet people who are willing to make the year long committment, work well with others, and are knowledgable who will then help to find
3. SPONSORS: Raise the bare amount of money at first that you'll need for registration
4. Promo: it will help with getting sponsors, getting mentors, parent support, school support, etc.
5. Find other teams in the area: gain knowledge from their experience, get your teacher to talk to theirs for guidance, etc.

Once those are done you're pretty much ready for the build season so you do have time to do this! Good luck and if you need any more help (this goes for anyone!) just give me an IM or email.

[Jason Morrella]

Your team has done a great job of overcoming adversity the past couple of years, and has represented itself very well at the competitions. It would be a shame to see that momentum end, especially with a Regional now in Sacramento. The suggestions and comments in the replies to your request have all been good.
In case the information has not been passed on to you, a good resource for Northern California teams is the WRRF (Western Region Robotics Forum). This group of teams meets monthly at San Jose State University (which I know is a bit of a drive from Sac), but they also put on some really helpful workshops in Oct, Nov, and Dec. In fact, they are having a rookie/newer team forum and information meeting this Saturday, Oct 5th from 12-3 at San Jose State. The focus of the meeting this Saturday is for teams with exactly the questions and issues you expressed. If you or other team members are able to attend, want more info about the workshops, or want to get on the WRRF e-mail list - just send a request to them at:
wrrf2002@wrrf.org

Hope that helps. Hopefully having a new Regional in Sacramento should make it a lot easier to get school and community people out to see your team and a competition this year - which makes getting support and sponsors much easier.

[hacksaw692]

you guys are awsome. thank you so much for the advice. i'll bring up all your ideas at our meeting. again, you guys rock! and jason, i'll keep in mind WRRF. maybe you'll see us there in november.

[kmcclary]

Sorry for the long post, but you ask some tough questions...

Originally posted by hacksaw692
i am currently the leader/captain/president, whatever you wanna call me, person for my team. and i'm stuck as to where to go with the team right now. this is practically our third rookie year [...]

we lost our original moderator, lost our engineers, have a new teacher moderating, have no money at the moment, are kind of in a bind with administration/school board, and it's just a really big mess right now. i feel that we are behind, and i need a quick way to catch up. if we don't do anything, i'm afraid that the team may go into extinction. [...]

i'm having an officer meeting set for tuesday, are there any suggestions out there as to what i should propose? i just need a push/shove/headbutt into the right direction. thanks a million...

First off, is your new Teacher really enthusiastic about this, or just "baby sitting"? Ideally you want a "Bill Nye the Science Guy" kind of teacher that's WANTS this to succeed.

IMHO, when time is short, it is critical that you get an Adult "Product Champion" for this if you wish it to succeed. A Product Champions is a person who's soul is sold on the concept, and will do whatever it takes to persist and make this succeed. If the Teacher is not it, you need to find another, and fast. This can be a dedicated parent, teacher, sponsor, or other adult. You can work without one, but having an ADULT that can legally commit to deals and talk to OTHER adults greatly facilitates getting things moving, especially with sponsors.

Let's look at your priorities:
1) You need to register for a regional. Covered! Searching FIRST's database, I see you are registered for the Silicon Valley regional.
2) Start thinking NOW about your Regional Signup Strategy. Depending on some financing factors, SVR may NOT be your best choice. More on that later.
3) TOP BIZ PRIORITY FOR YOUR NEXT MEETING: You need get first $5K by 12/10, or you're DEAD. The REST of the money is due later, but that first payment is critical. As Grants and other money sources take time to "mature", you need to get applications into the pipeline NOW. More below.

Nitty Gritty:

Financing: You need your kit money by Dec 10, or you're out. Period. That first $5K is your HIGHEST priority. The rest is due in February. Given the kit, you CAN get a very competitive robot built on a series of $100-200 materials donations from local businesses like hardware stores and lumberyards.

The regional fees are the tricky part.

My best advice is to find educational grants and charitable branches of local businesses for that. Bear in mind though, that there is a "grant cycle time" to contend with. That can run from 1-3 months from application to approval/rejection. It is typically at LEAST a month, because the grant agencies typically collect for 30 days, have a "review day", then those that are approved will get their money [xx] days or weeks later. Therefore, it is IMPERATIVE you get that started with grant applications NOW, with MULTIPLE grant applications (for redundancy) in order to snag ONE of them by Dec 10.

FIRST has links to places about How To Write Grants, but I can tell you in general it is EASIER to get a grant for Capital Equipment (especially something that can be reused) than for a Fee for something. So it helps if you emphasize purchasing the KIT in your application vs "we're paying an entrance fee". Remember, this grant is for an Educational Experience in ROBOT CONSTRUCTION, that models an Industrial Design Cycle. That $5K you are asking for allows you to purchase THE MATERIALS for everyone to work with. That includes the kit, the visualization software (Autocad/StudioMax/Inventor stuff), the project management tools (Microsoft stuff), etc... ALL of that stays with the school, is REUSABLE, and they can MAKE CLASSES around it! But if you only ask for a FEE, they'll probably say no.

You say you're in your third "rookie year". Have you applied to NASA before? If not, try for a NASA rookie grants. Follow the links from the usfirst homepage for them. Benefit: It is $6K, not $5K. They give you your kit, AND $1000 to build the robot (or defer the cost of a SECOND regional so it is only $3K vs $4K. )

The only problem with a NASA grant: You MUST participate in a NASA sponsored regional. The NASA Sponsored Regionals on the west coast are:
Southern CA - Los Angeles, CA (JPL, 20 sponsorships)
Pacific NWest - Seattle, WA (NASA Ames, 20 sponsorships)

This means if you go for a NASA grant you REALLY want the Southern CA regional. As of today there were still 33 open slots for it. Hotel fees can be raised later.

The NASA grant INSURES you your kit, and pushes further money decisions back a couple of months.

If you DO wish to shoot for a NASA grant, make SURE you sign up for the Southern CA regional *ON* 11/3. If you get the grant, and get other money, do both. But by mid January, if you DON'T find additional money, drop SVR and use the NASA money to go to S.CA.

COST CUTTING:

Now I know the SVR is "the big one" in that area, but you also have one a regional in your own home town (the Sacramento Regional) that's open. *IF* money becomes tight and going to the Silicon Valley Regional will cause you to incur excessive travel/hotel costs, then as a last resort consider dropping SVR and going to SR before SR fills up. If you feel you can still swing SVR by commuting, then don't worry about it, but if a change becomes necessary, you should determine that BEFORE 11/3 and make the changes. On 11/3 registration opens up for second signups and that may no longer be an option.

NOW that we have some of the critical dates dealt with, let's talk about the team itself.

First off, get some FIRST mentors. You have colleges near you. Assign someone to get in contact with ALL of the local Engineering departments, and find some Engineering Students that are FIRST Alumni. They are a WONDERFUL resource as mentors. http://BuzzU.org *was* the place to go for anyone graduating from a FIRST High School to register themselves as a college mentor, but it seems to be down. As I am starting my second team in two years, I'm trying to find out what happened to them now.

If you can't find an Engineering firm to help you, you may also find Engineers at the Colleges and Universities. Many colleges out there have Robotics Labs of some kind. They're also a source of enthusiastic robot builders to act as your Engineers.

Next, as others have said, do NOT try to do all the work by yourself. You'll burn out, and too much has to be done in too little time. Delegate specific jobs, and get some parental involvement. You need HELP. Go to your PTA (PTSO, or whatever you call your parent/teacher/student group), and get some assistance from them. Some of them are excellent fundraisers, and/or have great connections with local businesses. Tap them.

You were unspecific about the problems with the Administration. You MUST resolve any problems they have with your team. You NEED them. If the administration withholds resources or gets TOO mad, your problems are tripled, and it will be almost impossible to continue. Go to them and ask "what can we do to make this work?" LISTEN to them, then do WHATEVER is necessary. If the problems are between the Admin and specific individuals on the team, talk to them and insure the Admin is satisfied with the result, or in the worst case if it is totally unsalvageable be prepared to rearrange team personnel or even reform the team from scratch.

You didn't say the size of your team. There is a Critical Mass of students you MUST exceed to get this to work. If you don't have it, it is Recruitment Time! After you have some basic grant and money plans in the pipeline, prepare some presentation materials, and throw a robot demo to get more students in. You should have two robots now. (If not, ask a local team to help.) I've used a "Robots At Lunch" lunchroom demo with GREAT success. Get permission to throw down a scrap of carpet and run some robots in the lunchroom through all the lunchtime periods. Set up a spot in the traffic path with a VCR running FIRST tapes (you can get promo tapes from the FIRST office if you don't have one of your own), some team photo montage boards, signup sheets, and members to chat with the students.

I hope this gets you started. If I can be of more help, please email me.

Good Luck!

- Keith

[kmcclary]

BTW... Another reason to consider getting involved in the Sacramento Regional vs SVR is that you can get the COMMUNITY and the LOCAL MEDIA to show up to "root for the home team"!

THAT coverage alone can be worth one year of being "only local"! The PR could not only insure community support of the team, it could bootstrap you into a better political position in the school, find more sponsors for you, etc...

- Keith