Showing the Chairman's video during the presentation

Competition FIRST Impact Award
1

Our team planned to show our Chairman’s video as part of our Chairman’s presentation. The video does a great job of clearly and concisely describing our work over the past few years, and we felt it would simply be more effective than a typical stand-and-speak presentation.

I was pretty sure that several successful teams had used this approach before, and that it was generally regarded as acceptable.

Our concern is that a judge would make us stop playing the video, and/or treat it as “illegal” during the presentation, and choose to ignore or penalize its content because of the video format.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

2

We have no experience with showing the video during the presentation but i must ask why?

you are using more than half of your presentation time with your video that the judges will see anyway. that is an opportunity to let you student’s shine with their learned presentation skills and tell your story in a different way.

3

Generally, it is “frowned upon.” This was our first real attempt at chairman’s so most of my knowledge id really just advice from others.
At the district we attended, there was not even a way to show a video (we were in the counselor’s office of a small school.) Luckily, we had a presentation prepared.
It does kind of sting, though (especially as one of our presenters). The only negative comment the judges gave was “improve public performance skills.” Showing the video night have helped in this regard, and maybe offered us a chance at winning. It’s hard to say.
This was our team’s first real attempt at Chairman’s, and with many of our seniors graduating, it’s sad to think we probably won’t be submitting again in the near future.
Hope this helped (before the Chairman’s masters get a chance to share their experience :D)!

4

There is no problem with showing the video, it’s perfectly legal.
I would suggest bringing your own laptop for that though, dont count on them having what you may need.
Also, someone mentioned that they will be watching the video anyway - that is incorrect. The manual states that the video is not a ‘must’ watch for judges, so bear that in mind.

My personal opinion though - don’t use the video. Let your students show what they got, and practice practice practice.

5

In 2010 we successfully used our video as part of our presentation.
The key, (IMHO) is to integrate the video into the delivery of your students.
The video must be carefully “woven” into the presentation.
Remember that if you effectively use video, you still have 7 minutes of interaction time with the judges.

6

Why is a good question!

One of our students happens to be an TV/Movie actor, writer, and now aspiring director. He took an incredible amount of initiative in producing a “professional quality” video that he thought could be used to impact a very large number of people inside and outside of our school. Videos, simply put, are an incredibly efficient and effective way to spread the message of FIRST. You can post them on YouTube and link them to massive numbers in a matter of seconds, spreading the message. The video format is an incredibly powerful tool, argubaly far more powerful than a stand-and-speak presentation that can only be seen once by those present at the time.

This particular grade 10 student worked hard to acquire a sponsorship from a local entertainment company to provide cameras and sound equipment for a 1-day shoot for this video. He acted as the director, producer and editor. The storyboard, interview questions, lighting, robot shadow backdrops, cut lists, scheduling were all handled by him and his team of students. The other mentors and I kind of stood in awe as we saw these students run what was essentially a pro-level 1-day shoot happening in parallel and unobtrusively with one of our most hectic late-build season days.

I think they took over 3 hours of footage that day, and it was an experience I’ll never forget - being pulling into the school’s theatre at my scheduled interview time, walking on to a stage that had been meticuloulsy lit to project team-coloured robot vignettes onto a backdrop. Walking to the sound guy to have a wireless mic fished down the back of my shirt for my interview. Sitting in the interview chair on stage…

… and being GRILLED by STUDENTS to

  • watch the umms and pauses
  • answer the question again
  • shorten the response
  • answer the question again
  • shorten the response
  • answer the question again
  • stop staring blanky into a rolling camera thinking about the answer to the question while everyone in the room glares at you impatiently
  • sit up straight in the chair
  • close my legs
  • answer the question again
  • shorten the response
  • answer the question again
  • shorten the response
  • watch the umms and pauses
  • answer the question again
  • (AWKWARD!!!)
  • shorten the response
  • answer the question again
  • okay great, question 1 of 10 done… :confused:

A harrowing, but completely satisfying experience once they finally got something acceptable. Even better was getting to watch the “best” footage that was selected (Do I really do that with my hands when I talk? Apparently I do…)

When the video was finally completed, we looked at it, and critically evaluated it against doing a stand-and-speak presentation… simply put: it did a far more effective job detailing our Chairman’s work than stand-and-speak ever could. It was concise, immersive, entertaining, jam packed with meaningful content, but paced so it could all be processed, and had no wasted moments. As engineers, when presented with two options, we tend to choose what we feel objectively is the most effective one. The video was the most effective - hands down.

To address Wendy Holladay’s VERY valid points about developing our students’ presentation skills:

The actual creation of the video gave the students an unbelievable opportunity to refine their skills. Instead of just 3 students who did the chairman’s presentation, at least a dozen were involved in the filming and interview process, and went through everything I did above. As a mentor I can say I learned a LOT that day about how I present myself to others. Many others had a chance to witness the process from the sidelines, helping with the editing of the video, and critiquing the weird presentation mannerisms we all have that were caught on film. Those 3 students would STILL get the opportunity to present during the remainder of the time, and answer questions as well.

But back to the original question:

Is showing a video during the presentation illegal? Are videos played during the presentation disregarded or penalized vs the stand-and-speak format?

7

We are not showing the video during the Chairman’s presentation.

Having judged other FIRST events, if the guidelines ask for a presentation and the team comes in a shows a video, that demonstrates a lot of hard work and preparation, but it is not a presentation.

My thought is that the judges want to hear and see a presentation and interact with students, not watch a video. We have done a video, but won’t use it for the presentation.

However, with your permission, I will copy and use the interview guidelines you have posted. It sounds like you actually got some good coaching from your students! :slight_smile:

8

To answer your question. Showing your video while presenting is not illegal. Section 6.4.3.4 of the 2013 Competition manual states:

“Teams submitting for the Chairman’s Award must provide a DVD to the judges at the start of their Chairman’s Award interview. The content of the video must be in English and should explain what the team has done to earn the Chairman’s Award. The video may be shown to the judges during the team’s 5 minute presentation time or the team can choose to not show the video during the presentation time.”

It is also true that the judges do not have to watch your video during the judging process, but many do. The problem with showing your video during your presentation time is that you now have 2 minutes to talk to the judges to add anything else. This can be a problem depending on the amount of material you need to get to the judges. My team has a 5 inch binder filled with material that we need to get across to the judges. In order to do this we present during our 5 minute window, but during our presentation make subtle hints that more detailed information can be found in the binder or video, thus making them want to see the video and read the binder.

Hope that helps!

9

Certainly not illegal since we used it to win at Philly & Champs in 2010.
However it is a calculated risk. If you use a video you must first ask yourself “WHY” use video? We had very specific reasons.
Then your students must spend some portion of the following 7 minutes proving to the judges that they are knowledgable and not using the video as a crutch.
The video does not replace human interaction. If done correctly, it stimulates conversation.

10

Mr. Lim

i think you original question is answered.

while your video sounds amazing I have to stand by my original suggestion, but why not discuss the video during your presentation. i really feel developing presentation skills for students is so important, even if they are dinged for it. they will learn, practice and improve. i always hear how great my students are at presenting. they did not start out that way. they worked it.

Also to tell our story we have 3 huge scrapbooks and a pocket folder that we leave with the judges to review. the pocket folder has dates of all our events on the inside, sponsor logos on the back and photos of the team on the front. inside it has presentations (a lot of them), give-aways, etc. and all of our material on our website.

we like to take a many pronged approach to telling our story. while our video is good, it is clearly not what yours is, although after 4 years of videos, i will say we may have put just as much time, it is hard to make a good video and easy to make a bad one. please let us know when you will post your 2013 video. i would love to see it.

11

Based on this Q&A, it looks like the judges at Waterloo didn’t allow them to use the video as part of the presentation. I wonder what FIRST will do now.

12

From the manual:

Teams submitting for the Chairman’s Award must provide a DVD to the judges at the start of their Chairman’s Award interview. The content of the video must be in English and should explain what the team has done to earn the Chairman’s Award. The video may be shown to the judges during the team’s 5 minute presentation time or the team can choose to not show the video during the presentation time. Even if the video is NOT shown during the interview, a DVD must still be provided to the Judges in order for the team to be considered for the Chairman’s Award. In addition, the team must provide the equipment for viewing (i.e. laptop/speakers etc.) the video. Teams who do not submit a DVD to the judges will not be considered eligible for the Chairman’s Award and will not be interviewed by the judges. This is applicable at all events including the FIRST Championship.

13

I know it’s legal, but apparently the judges at the competition (note the team asking the question is 610, also the team of the author of this thread) didn’t.

14

I wonder if, since they are going to CMP anyway, they would be allowed to compete for the CCA? Just a thought.

15

On the surface, it looks like the judges at Waterloo did not know the rules.
FIRST should come back to 610 with quick and definitive ruling.

16

WOW. I can’t wait to see your final video! I think all teams wish they could be like this. I am working on one for our team for our Week 5 regional, and I am just starting to put it together today and need to get it done by Wednesday! :slight_smile: Hopefully next year we’ll plan in advance and we can do something like this. Kudos to your student director/producer!

17

Our team showed our video during the presentation in Duluth (Northern Lights). While the judges did not stop the students, the feedback sheet said we should NOT (underlined) be showing the video during the presentation. We were confused because the rules specifically state it is permissible.

18

Is there any place where we have a sort of an archive of Chairman’s videos? Preferably the winning once?

19

The feedback is meant as suggestions on how to improve. It is quite possible that the judges felt that the students could have presented their information more dynamically in person than by ‘pressing play’.

Just because you are allowed to present video as part of a presentation, doesn’t always mean it is a good idea… it takes a lot of work and planning to have video enhance a short presentation, and a poor integration of video will almost certainly detract from the presentation.

Jason

20

We decided this year to try something different and show our video to the judges in the presentation, following an enthusiastic 2-minute intro. Our feedback from was very positive, it seems the judges enjoyed the combination and thought we were on the right track (they also had good suggestions for more things we can do). Compared to previous years we’ve applied, we were very happy with how the video felt this year, so it’s something that teams should decide each year how they think they can put their best foot forward.

For anyone wondering, we rolled in a cart with a laptop, speakers, and LCD running off a robot battery. That way it was self contained and the students just had to hit Play once they finished their first 2 minute intro.