My advice would be to do as much advertising as you can. There are no downsides if you are not annoying about it, and it has the potential to move your team further up other teams’ picklists. Our team always advertises ourselves to teams that are higher ranked than us that we would like to be on an alliance with, even if we know we are going to be captains.
Advertising yourself can be a bit awkward at first, but it gets much easier with experience. Here is generally how I approach this process:
First, know what you are trying to get out of advertising yourself. Are you trying to be a first pick? A second pick? A third pick (at champs)? Is the team with whom you are speaking a 1-3 seed and likely captain? A lower seeded likely captain? A lower seeded likely first pick? The way to sell yourself is different for each of these combinations.
When you go to speak with them, start by asking to speak with someone on their scouting team (lead scout is best, but not always readily available). Smaller teams sometimes don’t have scouts, in which case you should try to talk with their drive team. If you just talk with some random person in their pit, you are wasting your time. Be polite and respect their time. I have found that teams are generally pretty receptive to talking, but if they are busy or do not wish to speak with you, move on and do not pester them. When you find someone to talk with, make sure to keep their time in mind. If you are talking with a scout in the stands, don’t talk during a match, let them work.
Once you find someone to talk with, start by complimenting their team. They have clearly done well or you wouldn’t be talking with them. Mention at least one specific things you like about their robot/strategy (I wish we would’ve thought of…, it was really cool last match when you…, your … is super slick) but don’t spend too much time on this, keep it short and sweet.
Next, and this is really important, you need to tell them things that they might not know just from watching matches. Bring them to the practice field to show them your scaler, and climb 4 times in a row for them. Bring them to your pit and show them the defensive blocker you are building. Tell them that you will be debuting your scoring auto in the upcoming match, so they should keep an eye out for that.
When you have finished with this, ask them if they have any questions for you, and answer them truthfully. I won’t speak for others, but I value honesty a lot. If you tell me that your team scores 5 boulders basically every match, and our data says you only scored 3 in your best match, you are likely to go down a notch on our pick list.
After that, ask them what they would like to see out of your team in the upcoming matches, and demonstrate that ability if you have the opportunity. However, make sure you clearly communicate with your partners what you will be doing every match.
One more thing, it is okay to mention that you seeded low, but don’t whine to them about your poor schedule and the crappy partners you have been getting, they don’t want to hear it, even if it is true. Own up to your own performance. Recognize the failures and limitations of your robot and explain them.
Finally, here are some common situations and key features to sell yourself on in those situations.
- Selling yourself to a 7 or 8 alliance captain. Tell them truthfully how you did in your best match, and explain exactly what went wrong, and how you have mitigated your issues in your poor matches. Remind them they will be up against the number 1 or 2 seeds, and that they really need someone who has the potential to do really well (you), even if you have been inconsistent previously.
- Selling yourself to a higher seeded team as a second pick. Emphasize your consistency, higher seeded teams want reliable partners. Show them your defensive blocker that you are building, and stress that your drivers know how to play good defense without getting penalized. Also, stress your ability to score in auto and the endgame.
- Selling a special/unique ability about your team. Find high-seeded teams that do not also have this ability, and explain how important this ability will be in playoffs. Common examples this year often include crossing A defenses, crossing C defenses solo, climbing, and crossing many defenses in auto.
