I have been to 3 regionals this season - 2 competing and 1 to watch - and want to share a bit of advise for ‘some’ teams. There are many that already have this philosphy and approach so this is not a blanket statement in any way.
On several occasions, I have gone into a pit and started to look over a robot and a tams display information. Sometimes there are no students around at all, sometimes there are. Often, a student would look up at me, smile, then turn away and go back to whatever they were doing. I understand that often there is a critical fix needed or a robot is being readied for the next match, but I don’t think that is always the case.
People that come into your pit want to know about your program and your robot. Go out of your way to greet them and ask them if you can tell them about your robot. Be outgoing and positive about what you do. The person in the pit might be a judge, an visitor, someone looking to start or sponsor a team, an interested individual or someone looking for a possible alliance member.
Many teams, 234 included, identify a few students to always be in and around the pits to talk to visitors. The students rotate in and out, so that a few students don’t miss all the matches, but we try to always have a student nearby. Many other teams take this same approach.
And so, my advice, is to try and always have at least one student available to talk, and to really be outoing and talk. Don’t save the converations just for the judges, share your good news with everyone that comes by!
Thats very good advice Chris, My Last 2 years on the team I was that person, I stood in front of the pits all day talking to anybody who came by, weather it be Judges, Scouters, or Spectators. I had out scouting sheet and gave it to anybody that wanted one. You never know who might have to make a split second decision and quickly see your scouting sheet.
Building off this…
My favorite thing to do, is walk into a pit, and say:
“I’m looking for an excited HS student who can tell me about this robot, can anybody help me?”
It’s much more fun to get the “tour” from a proud HS kid, than from the enginerds… Though, I usually have some questions for the engineers as well.
That really is Great adivce ive always wonderned about ho we could make our pit more infomative I always try to inform anyone who asks a question about the robot or strike up a conversation with those who are just standing there but greaters might be a great addition to the pit, im also working on a display of some sort for next years pit our pit always seems so drab and unifomative becuase we never really have time to focus on how our pit looks.
That is really good advice for a team. Usually, my team sticks me to be the person talking to anyone who comes in the pit, so I may be working on something, and if everyone else is too nervous or doesn’t know how a specific device works, they’ll call me over. And then there are times where I’m away from the pit, getting lunch, water, watching a match, etc. and I’ll come back to find the nervous freshmaen attempting to explain something, and then as soon as I’m there they will point at me and have the scout/judge talk to me. There are a few other team members who step up and talk to them, but an overwhelming majority do not talk to visitors which I believe looks somewhat bad on the part of my team. So next year I hope to get everyone set up to be able to talk to visitors and have a rotating schedule of people designated to do so.
Though, I usually have some questions for the engineers as well.