Tips for being an FLL MC?

FIRST General Forum
1

Our MC had to cancel last minute, so it looks like I might need to step up to the plate.

I did FLL for 4 years, and I’ve got experience doing musical theater and science entertainment/demonstrations.

Do any of you guys who have been an MC before have any advice?

1 Like
2

Be loud, enthusiastic, lots of jokes.

Fart skittles all day long.

Nonsensical catch phrases are a plus.

Note I have never been one of these, just seen ones I deem good.

3

Listen to your field manager. They’re in charge of keeping the event on schedule, but a lot of the influence they have over schedule goes through you. Oh, and be nice to them, because they’ll probably have more going on than you realize.

4

I was the Head Ref last Saturday. The MC was asked to slow things down a bit because they were getting ahead of schedule. She also had to improvise ways to kill time after all the Robot Game matches were done because the Judges had not finished deliberating. She lead the audience in “The Wave”, held a “Dance Contest” and other activities.

You can do short “interviews” of the team members at the tables who don’t look too nervous already. Don’t expect to get into very deep questions. Just ask questions you expect they can easily answer; team name, favorite mission, favorite attachment, etc.

Watch some YouTube videos of FLL competitions to get some more ideas (good and bad).

Don’t worry if you are a student. Our MC was competing on one of the FLL teams last year.

Have FUN!

5

A few years ago at an FLL regional tournament, the [student] MC told a few really cheap lego and robot jokes, then offered the audience a chance to ask their own. We got a lot of “elephant” quality jokes*, but sometimes it was as much fun laughing at the jokes as with them. Also, call out anything you think is anywhere near worthy of applause! It might be a robot, it might be a team with great spirit, it might just be someone who jumps up and down a lot during matches or has a creative costume. Whatever it is, celebrate it!

  • In the essence of full disclosure, one of my middle school teachers actually nicknamed me “E.J.” for “elephant jokes” in reference to my large repertoire of stupid riddles and jokes - better than the guy whom she nicknamed “E.H.” for “excedrin headache”.

Sample starter list from “old E.J.”:

  • If a robot dances the robot, do you just call it dancing?
  • How does an FLL robot designer order breakfast for his or her creation? “Eggo my Lego”
  • What’s the biggest problem with writing up an FLL project? “Writer’s Lego Block”
  • How did Hercules defeat that multi-headed dragon? “Hydra-dynamics”
  • A couple of Lego robots walk into a bar. The bartender yells “Hey, We don’t serve their kind here!” **
6

At the FLL qualifier we host we have teams fill out team info sheets before the formal robot rounds. These sheets include information like team name, team motto, team mascot, robot name, favorite mission, etc. These are similar to the announcer forms you see at FRC competitions.

The beauty of these is they serve two purposes: a) provide teams an opportunity to share their individuality and accomplishments and b) provide the MC with some filler material before, during, and after matches.

I’ve seen a lot of matches that ended very quickly (only one mission run) or had a team struggling to do the same mission for the 2.5 run. That can get awkward to comment about so the sheet allows the MC to throw in a, “The Lego Warriors’ robot is named Awesome-O because he is so awesome! How creative guys!”