Our Chairman’s presentation team is prepping for competition. We will be performing our presentation to various sponsors and team supporters for practice, but we’d also like to prepare for the interview segment. Could anyone that’s presented or judged for RCA provide some example questions that may pop up? We’re mainly looking for general questions that could be asked to any team (e.g. “How has participation impacted you personally?” not questions about specific team initiatives).
From my experience, it’s rather dependent on the judges. When we submitted at UTC in 2007, the format was very formal and the judges mostly asked about specific team initiatives. Since we were not submitting at our home regional, they asked us why we submitted in CT/how we have impacted that region. That was definitely a question we were not prepared for. I’m not sure if this is a common experience, as I know numerous teams have submitted (and won!) at events that were not their home events.
When we submitted at Hawaii in 2008, the interview was much more conversational, so the judges just sort of asked things to expand on or clarify things as we went through our presentation (they deviated from the 5 min of presentation and 5 min of questions format). The judges did ask us a few personal questions; we had one senior in the interview with us, so they asked him specifically about his plans for after HS and how FIRST influenced him and such.
The best advice I could give is to make sure you bring plenty supplemental materials with you to give to the judges. There’s probably going to be a lot of stuff you don’t get to get into or talk about in your interview, essay, or video. Probably the nicest one we’ve submitted was a portfolio of our team back in 2006, which contained team history, articles/stories from alumni, sections on community outreach, our FIRST RINOS program, testimonials/recommendations from other teams that we’d helped along the way, etc.
Trying to predict what kind of questions will be asked is definitely a difficult but a worthwhile experience. An exercise we’ve done in the past is have our presentation team give the RCA pitch to people who are heavily involved in outreach but not on the presentation team, and then have the latter ask the former as many questions as possible. Our outreach leaders might ask tougher questions that the judges, but its always best to over-prepare. We find simply practicing the format to be helpful, although it normally become silly nonsensical questions if we go on for too long (or if we do this after a long build session).
I would agree with Alexa that they normally ask you to clarify things mentioned in the presentation., to go into more detail about certain initiatives or explain how those has an impact on your team and the community. Questions we’ve been asked include “When do you start working on Chairman’s” (2010 Bayou), “What event do you guys do that best builds FIRST” “Wait so what is a Mardi Gras parade”(2011 CMP) and “So why is the historian giving the presentation” (2011 Bayou, when I, who was at the time our historian, gave the pitch. I will never forget this question because I never expected it). I believe we’ve also been asked what our favorite event was and why.
The Question time is also a good way to squeeze in extra information that may not have made the cut for your presentation. For example, if you couldn’t fit FLL (which you should always put in there =P):
Judges: “You mentioned your involvement in your local FTC team, could you tell us more?”
At this point, you answer the question, then simply segway into FLL.
Presenter: “We supported our local FTC team by providing the with work space, and mentors. We also mentor 2 FLL teams, and volunteer at our local FLL tournament.” etc.
In my 2 years of experience as a presenter, the judges have only asked me clarification questions after the presentation. However in the pits the judges usually ask spontaneous questions because most the time when they are talking to your team excessively in the pits, they are considering your team for an award. So they ask specific questions that will help you stand out from the rest.
Thank you all for the responses, it’s all been extremely helpful!
As far as bringing in supplemental material, are the judges allowed to hold onto any booklets or extra material after we finish the presentation, or are they required to return that when we leave the interview room? We did something similar last year, but brought it back to our pit of our own accord.
They are definitely allowed to keep stuff you give them. Last year, for RAS, our team made judges packets and gave one to every judge that visited our pit so they could read up on our team if they wanted more information.
Generally, supplemental materials from Chairman’s presentations get returned to Pit Admin with the Chairman’s feedback forms after the awards ceremony on Saturday.
In Michigan, we give the judges supplemental material, usually in a 3 ring binder. Once the Awards ceremony is over, an adult mentor retrieves the binder from Pit Admin. What’s in the binder? More details about events, plans, pictures and background materials. Keep in mind that the judges won’t have time to read lots of material, but the visual aid can really help tell your story.
I would agree with what everyone else said. We bring in an significant amount of supplementary material (proclamations, scrapbooks, bursting pocket folders). A note specifically tailored to the Bayou (where I’ll assume 2080 is competing): Last year pit admin returned most of our RCA materials. However they where missing a few things that we really wanted to have for CMP. Another student and myself went on a hunt that involved going into circles several times, but we did get all of our stuff back. You just have to be persistent…
Chairman’s judges really appreciate a well-prepared document supporting your presentation. I’m sure there are many RCA-winning teams with excellent examples they are willing to share.
News clippings, thank you letters, event photos… hard evidence to support your claims of awesomeness are what I tend to look for first.
It doesn’t have to be a binder… a well-organized folder or display board could do the job just as well… what matters is that it has useful information in support of your presentation and written submission.
And while you’ll find plenty of judges coming by your pit area, there is a good chance that they are not the RCA judges. The RCA judges would love to get down to the pits, but in my experience RCA judges have their hands full with presentations and feedback forms… not to mention the task of figuring out the most deserving team. Dang you guys make it hard sometimes!
Of course the judges all have lunch together and share information, so it never hurts to put your “best foot forward”.
As I have told our RCA students in the past, always have 5 main points about our team you could elaborate on.
No matter what the judges throw at you, it always goes back to your key foundation points. I always believed that no matter what the judges ask you, it can always be explained through the strong points of our program.
Whatever you do, just don’t be like this guy when answering questions.
Great advice in this thread. I’m trying to practice with our students as much as possible. Knowing how to present and interview are valuable skills that also are important to have for many aspects of life outside of FIRST.
