Planning Process

[Ravi U]

How do I go about planning and organizing effective ideas for the Chairman's Award? Start with a theme maybe? Not too sure. I'm trying to generate ideas now because I know this'll be quite time consuming.

[Rich Kressly]

Whatever your approach to the submission, the manual clearly wants you to address seven items in those four pages. The questions a team needs to address in their CA submission have not changed in the three years I have been involved (with the exception of "the season" being changed to "year-round"). From the 2003 manual, and I quote:
There is no single “best way” for a team to win the Chairman’s Award. Many factors come into play. The primary factors the judges will evaluate are:
1. How strong is the year-round team partnership effort?
(Partnership can be defined in many ways, including: the partnership among the team’s students/corporate sponsor/engineers; school/university sponsor/engineers; students/adults; community/team)
2. How strongly does the submission document how FIRST impacted the learning experience of the students, school curriculum, engineers, and/or community?
3. How strongly does the submission provide examples of what the participants experienced in the FIRST program (i.e.: challenges, accomplishments, pitfalls, “lessons learned” etc.)?
4. How well has the team communicated its excitement and impact within the entire school, community, and beyond (state/nation) through its participation in FIRST?
5. Has the team documented an innovative way to spread the FIRST message?
6. Has the team explained/demonstrated why/how it should be a role model for other FIRST teams to emulate?
7. As a whole, does the content of the documentation exemplify the true meaning of FIRST?
Your Chairman’s Award submission should include documentation for all of the above factors.

-Remember, in 2004, all submissions will be electronic. The rest of the criteria will most likely stay the same. I'd start by answering those questions for your team, then decide how it all fits together. Also, the submission is merely a representation of your team, what it does, and what it stands for. Just ensure all of those things come out. The process itself should be an inspiring one for your team. Good Luck!