Hey CD,
Our team, 6367, won the Rookie All-Star award at our first district event, which qualifies us to compete for that award at our District Championships.
I’ve received two pieces of conflicting information. One says to prepare a presentation, another says to not prepare anything.
From an email on March 28th: (emphasis mine)
“Teams that qualify due to AWARDS: Teams who were honored with a Chairman’s Award at one of their first two events will be automatically invited to compete at the NEC. Teams who won Rookie All Star or Engineering Inspiration will be invited to compete for the District RAS awards and EI awards by having a table set up for them to display their team’s accomplishments for judging. They may also earn a space from their point total for their robot to compete at the event fi they are to be one of the 64 teams competing. Of the 20 semifinalist Dean’s List recipients from the 10 District qualifiers, 6 will be notified that they will be honored as finalists to be submitted to St Louis for judging before the awards ceremony on Saturday of NE Championships. All DL semifinalists are invited to participate at the NE championship as Student Ambassadors to act as guides for VIP visitors.”
From an email on March 22nd: (emphasis mine)
“The judging process for teams competing for the Engineering Inspiration Award and the Rookie All Star Award at the District Championship will consist of 10 minute dialogs with a group of judges. The Judges for these two awards will not be visiting teams in the Pits. Instead, the discussions will take place in a judging room at the venue.*** Teams are asked not to make prepared presentations or to create any special material for the judges***.”
What do we do? Also, any tips for RAS judging?
Think of it like when you had judges come to your pit during competitions, only instead of the robot you can have a display about your team. So while you may want to have something setup about your team, the judging itself will be more of a conversation like you had at your first two events.
Good Luck!
Thanks, Jay.
Would you recommend something simple like a slideshow on laptop? Or something a bit more ostentatious, like a poster-board or series of larger displays?
There’s really no wrong answer. I would say do whatever your team will be more comfortable showing off. I’ve seen both poster boards and slideshows used for these awards, or both! When I was on 1058 we would have two binders, one for robot stuff (such as CAD drawings) and another binder for “chairmans stuff” (such as pictures of events your team has attended or proof of how you handle things such as membership or funding).
I’ve personally never been involved in anything RAS so I’m not sure how helpful I can be beyond that, but figure out what makes your team stand out from the pack and what makes you a role model team, and find the best way to show that off.
I would definitely recommend having prepared material for them just so when they go back to deliberations they have something to take in and use for reference. For example, if you want to talk about outreach your team has done, I’d recommend making a picture booklet with explanations for each of the pictures. This way they have proof your team did what you claim, can use that to remember what you guys have done (judges talk to a lot of kids every day) and they have something in their hands with your team number plastered all over it.
For competitions, the standard protocol includes Regional Competitions conducting interviews in the pits, however, at District Championships they can ask you to do a separate interview, somewhat like chairman’s. That means for this event you will most likely to be interviewed in a separate judging room. Even if they ask you not to bring material for the judges I would make some just in case they do take it, even if they don’t review it once again, it’s always good to have your team number out there. A sign-up sheet will probably be available in the pits so make sure you are there early. (Recommendation: don’t go right before or right after lunch, judges are people too and they get tired and hungry, and then tired) 
To be honest, I’m not quite sure what the interview is going to be like, whether they want you to be prepared to give a presentation or just answer questions. You can always contact the regional director or the event coordinator to ask for more information about what is expected of your award submission or who to get in contact with. Good Luck!